for bestiary: the fastitocalon (a turtle-whale the size of a small island).

a 4th century description in the physiologus explains this beguiling leviathan like this:

“There is a monster in the sea which in Greek is called aspidochelone, in Latin “asp-turtle”; it is a great whale, that has what appear to be beaches on its hide, like those from the sea-shore. This creature raises its back above the waves of the sea, so that sailors believe that it is just an island, so that when they see it, it appears to them to be a sandy beach such as is common along the sea-shore. Believing it to be an island, they beach their ship alongside it, and disembarking, they plant stakes and tie up the ships. Then, in order to cook a meal after this work, they make fires on the sand as if on land. But when the monster feels the heat of these fires, it immediately submerges into the water, and pulls the ship into the depths of the sea.

unrelated: is not the colour palette used by this illumination drop-dead delightful? i am going to kuler this so hard, so extra hard.

image credit: from ms. ludwig xv 3, by an unknown franco-flemish illuminator (13th century).