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Two Hedgehogs shown in the Northumberland Bestiary, sticking fallen fruit to their quills and carrying it back to their burrow.
Written and illuminated in England about 1250 – 60 [Getty Museum, Ms. 100, fol. 10]. A similar image is shown in the Rochester Bestiary [Royal MS 12].
Written and illuminated in England about 1250 – 60 [Getty Museum, Ms. 100, fol. 10]. A similar image is shown in the Rochester Bestiary [Royal MS 12].
Here are the Rochester Breviary hedgehogs.
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Hedgehogs were said to creep into vineyards, shake the fruit down to the ground, then turn onto their backs and roll around, impaling the grapes with their quills, before taking the fruit back to their burrows.
blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanus…
Hedgehogs were said to creep into vineyards, shake the fruit down to the ground, then turn onto their backs and roll around, impaling the grapes with their quills, before taking the fruit back to their burrows.
Another fruit-stealing hedgehog, from a bestiary made about 1270, possibly in Thérouanne in the far north of France. [Getty Museum, MS Ludwig XV 3, fol. 79v].
Like much else in the bestiary, the belief that hedgehogs stole fruit originates from Pliny's Natural History [Book 8, 56]: To prepare for winter, hedgehogs roll on fallen apples which stick to their spines, then taking one or more in their mouths, carry them to hollow trees.
