An inexperienced heraldist resembles a medieval traveler who brings back from the East the faunal fantasies influenced by the domestic bestiary he possessed all along rather than by the results of zoological exploration.—Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory, Ch. 3
Discuss.
Even experienced ones fall for it: the lion and the unicorn, anyone? I'm disappointed that Nabokov couldn't spell traveller correctly - it does detract from the thesis, such as it is!
I nearly put a '[sic]' after the 'traveler', but I thought that might detract from the reader's enjoyment of the passage in hand.
Domestic Bestiary? Is that the sort of thing you do to cat when nobody is watching, or does it involve green wellies & the back legs of sheep?
Either way, you're a bad man Richard!
Isn't that one of Richard's taglines? "Bestiality breeds contempt"?