Between elephants and dragons is everlasting fighting; for the dragon with his tail spanneth the elephant, and the elephant with his nose throweth down the dragon....

The cause why the dragon desireth his blood is the coldness thereof, by the which the dragon desireth to cool himself.

Jerome saith that the dragon is a full thirsty beast, insomuch that he openeth his mouth against the wind to quench the burning of his thirst in that wise.
Therefore, when he seeth ships in great wind he flieth against the sail to take the cold wind, and overthroweth the ship." These ideas of Friar Bartholomew spread far and struck deep into the popular mind.

His book was translated into the principal languages of Europe, and was one of those most generally read during the Ages of Faith.

It maintained its position nearly three hundred years; even after the invention of printing it held its own, and in the fifteenth century there were issued no less than ten editions of it in Latin, four in French, and various versions of it in Dutch, Spanish, and English.
Preachers found it especially useful in illustrating the ways of God to man.