Questionable Creatures

Book excerpt: Bestiaries are the most gloriously entertaining books to have come from the Middle Ages. Written and illuminated by monks, they describe every creature thought to exist in the medieval world and include all manner of fish, fowl, and mythological beast, however far-fetched. Pauline Baynes, whose original line illustrations for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are known to millions, has revived twenty medieval and mischievous beasts, basing her tongue-in-cheek descriptions on various English bestiaries. Her delightful recreations of these fabulous beasts -- from phoenix to manticore, from bonnacon to yale -- hop, swoop, and gallop through the pages in antique splendor and will charm today's readers as readily as they astounded audiences centuries ago.