Ox
Latin name: | Bos |
Other names: | Bova, Buo, Enchyros, Uri, Urus |
Category: | Beast |
The ox is a strong beast that can predict the weather
General Attributes
Oxen can predict the weather, and knowing when it is about to rain, refuse to leave their stalls. They do not like to be separated from their kind; an ox wants to be with its usual partner when pulling a plow, and they will roar if separated. There are several kinds of ox: in India lives a particularly cruel sort with one horn, that cannot be tamed. Ox horns are used to make drinking cups.
Uses Magical, Medical, Alchemical and Culinary
The dung of an ox cures the bite of a water snake called hydros (Isidore, Etymologies, 12, 4, 22).
Reality
The enchyros, a kind of ox found in De animalibus by Albertus Magnus, may be the Tibetan yak (Scanlan, page 140 note 96.1).