Discovering the Folklore of Birds and Beasts: No. 115 (Shire Discovering) - Softcover

Many of the beliefs and superstitions of early man were connected with animals, which were credited with their own powers of speech and understanding and were also regarded as a source of cures for both mental and physical ailments. Modern expressions of speech still echo these beliefs - 'the hair of the dog that bit you' - 'a frog in the throat', and 'being licked into shape'. In this book Venetia Newall has compressed much of the folklore that surrounded domestic pets and wild animals to make a fascinating and very readable survey from adders to zebras.

Venetia Newall, MA, FRGS, FRSA, is an Anglo-American. She was a former correspondent of The Times who travelled in 120 foreign countries and wrote, lectured and broadcasted on folklore, contributing to many scholarly publications in this field.