Folio 70r Commentary

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f70Text: Salamanders are proof against fire, they can poison all apples in a tree, poison water in a well, killing anyone who drinks from it. They can survive in flames and put a fire out. Illustration: The image of a man lying at the foot of a tree relates to the Tree of Jesse iconography. Above him a salamander plunges into a tub, an episode illustrated in Bern 318 f14v. The other salamanders are poisoning fruit in a tree and surviving in a fire. In certain conditions a bonfire can appear to be releasing live, red, wriggling snakes when the wood is damp and the flying sparks carry long red tails. The star in the top left corner has seeped through from the Next page. The illustration in detail