Beast

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).