The mauger was a mythical beast believed to exist in medieval times. The only known depiction of the creature was a spectacular illustration found in the Voynich manuscript (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, catalogue number MS 408), in which the mauger was shown with the shoulders of a road, the seat of a chair, the eyes of a potato, the head of a bed and the jawbone of an ass. Sadly that page of the manuscript was destroyed in a particularly unlucky game of quarters.

The mauger was believed to hypnotize maidens with the recitation of poetry in an unknown language. In Mallory's Morte d'Arthur Sir Bedevere encounters the carcass of a mauger in Palestine.


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