"Beaver Testicles," OR "What I have learned today"

Yep, you read that right. Today, courtesy of a grad student at U/R and a couple of websites, I have discovered what medieval people thought about beavers. And their testicles. There's an allegory, folks, don't worry. And an illustration.


I copy and paste directly from this bestiary site

HEADLINE: Hunted for its testicles, [the beaver] castrates itself to escape from the hunter.

General Attributes
The beaver is hunted for its testicles, which are valued for making medicine. When the beaver sees that it cannot escape from the hunter, it bites off its testicles and throws them to the hunter, who then stops pursuing the beaver. If another hunter chases the beaver, it shows the hunter that it has already lost its testicles and so is spared.

The allegory is that those who want to live a proper life should cut themselves off from sin, so that the devil, seeing nothing he wants, does not pursue.

There are sources, too, but the icing on the cake is truly the manuscript illumination.



The first is from the site mentioned above, from BL MS Harley 4751; the second from a Flemish MS on a different site, mythfolklore.net . Its priceless contribution is its "discussion questions," e.g.

"1. Beaver "in malum." The Physiologus provides an interpretation "in bonum" of the beaver's behavior, showing how the beaver sets a positive example that we should follow. Can you provide an interpretation "in malum" of the beaver's behavior, so that the story of the beaver and the testicles and the hunter is turned into a negative example of temptation and sin?"

The answer that springs to my mind draws on the debates about Origen -- he cut them off, so he is thus not resisting sin, since he has removed the site of temptation.

Oh, wait, it just keeps getting better. I bring you "Question 3, Aelian's beaver":

There is a version of the beaver's story in the Greek encyclopedist, Aelian (who was born around 170 C.E.). It is like the story of the beaver in the Physiologus, but with some differences:

6.34 The beaver understands the reason why the hunters eagerly rush off chasing after it, so it bends over and with a bite it cuts off its testicles and throws them to the hunters, just as a wise man who has fallen into the clutches of bandits gives up whatever he is at hand in order to save his life, giving it all up as a ransom. But if the beaver who has saved itself by cutting off its testicles is being chased again, then it stands up and shows that there is no reason for them to continue their hurried pursuit, and so the hunters are spared any further effort since the beaver's flesh is less well regarded than the testicles. But it is often the case that beavers who still have their testicles will run as far as they can and pull in the desired part of their body, playing a trick which is very wise and cunning, as if they did not have what they have hidden.


Beavers hiding their genitalia and flashing hunters. That's even better than cutting it off. Things like this remind me why I can't wait to teach certain medieval things, like bestiaries! It also makes me wonder whether I can do it with a straight enough face. As I told the student who did the initial research that located this information, "That'll make a GREAT jobtalk one of these days!"

[edit: no this is not a blatant attempt to get comments, but I would love to hear reactions, on here, e-mail or wherever!]