page 85 of 234 of The Medieval Shepherd

The term bellwether comes from shepherding where the shepherd puts a bell on his best ram because that animal ‘speaks’ for the entire flock (knowing when it will rain, be cold, etc).

I love how he compares the bowel cords of a sheep and a wolf by saying if you used them as strings on an instrument the melody would not be in harmony. Very clever.

I had no idea rain was so bad for sheep.