Perhaps the two most ubiquitous biblical references to animal and saint stories are PSALM 91: 13 ("Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot") and LUKE 10: 19 (where Christ states "Behold I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.") Saint Anthony's ability to keep his mountain hermitage free of wild beasts at one point receives scriptural explanation from JOB 5:23 ("For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.")
Another biblical reference NUMBER 22: 27 - 30 ("Balaam's ass") may well lie behind a passage in the third century apocryphal Acts of Thomas. Here, as the Apostle is speaking to the crowd, the colt of an ass crosses to stand before him, and piously declaims a speech in praise of the Apostle. The same text gives long speech to a dragon also, in which it reveals itself essentially as a symbol of the devil. Other apocrypha also contain talking animals. The Acts of Peter, written in Greek probably before 200, tells of Peter loosing a dog, which then "received a man's voice" and asked the Apostle for his commands.
[from Saints and Animals in the Middle Ages by Dominic Alexander, Boydell & Brewer, Inc. Rochester, NY]
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