Folio 70r Illustration detail

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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.