Page 41 - Book of Crates

Then he took him by the navel and pressing strongly he made it
express an egg of the crocodile.

As I believed that this egg was an egg of rezin (the dragon), I told
the young man: “You are unjust with regard to rezin (the dragon) while
removing one of its eggs.”

“It is not an egg of rezin (the dragon),” he answered, “it is an egg
of the crocodile and this egg does not spoil; it does not dry up; it is not
burnt by blood; it does not destroy itself; but it turns into a rust, of
which one takes advantage. Little by little the stomach cooks the
content and there comes out of this delicate dish the four natures: the
pituity, blood and the two biles.”

“But,” he added, “it is first necessary that I show you what this
dragon is.”

Then we found a rock of batharsous dried by the heat of the sun,
the intensity of which had cracked it. In the crevasses of this rock were
held the dragon and his female; they were so enormous and so languid
that they could not move anymore. The dragon was immobile,
subsided, and had a breath of life only. As soon as it saw me, it
believed that I came to seize it. It immediately left the place where it
was and ran away into one the cracks. The young man showed me a
spear and I saw at this same moment a brilliant light that frightened me.

“Look,” the young man told me, “this dragon, which a few
moments ago was soft and languid, is now ardent and refreshed. I am
going to kill it with this spear.”

“Why,” I retorted, “did you not remove his bright eyes from him,
whereas it was weakened and decrepit and before it became young
again?”

“It is not necessary,” he answered, “that we take his eyes, before
we have seized his female.”

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