"Scholarship has been faced with two problems in the Old English Physiologus: (1) Does it constitue a small cycle complete in itself, or is it only a remnant of a longer series? (2) What is the bird of the fragment? There has been no unanimous decision. ... The answer to the complex question of the cycle seems to lie in the identification of the bird in the third poem. If the writer selected the bird that succeeds the Whale, the longer-cycle theory is left with argument; if he mechanically followed his source and took the next member, the longer-cycle theory is given substantial credence. The matter of choice is crucial." - Cordasco

Language: English