id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
grbs-2171	Lavers, Chris	The Ancients’ One-Horned Ass: Accuracy and Consistency	1999	26	.pdf	application/pdf	8829	324	60	Some wild asses, for example, the type of animal Ctesias claims to be writing about, are so fast and sure-footed in their own en- vironments that healthy adults are almost impossible to catch, even with the aid of a horse.20 A mounted rider chasing an ass at full tilt while watching it recede by increments ever further into the distance may well conclude that the animal “increases its speed as it runs,” the truth of the matter notwithstanding. THE ANCIENTS’ ONE-HORNED ASS tributed to the cranial ornaments of other animals, none fits Ctesias’s description of the horn’s specific beneficence as closely as that of the rhinoceros.14 It is just possible, however, that tales of the medicinal properties of chiru horn may also have reached Ctesias’s ear (see below; chiru horn is still used in Tibet as an antibiotic and to cure diarrhoea).15 Indian rhi- noceroses are found in southern Nepal, southern Bhutan, and northeast India16 and were more widespread in the past, so travellers familiar with northern India may also have been familiar either with rhinoceroses, or with stories and legends associated with them.	cache/grbs-2171.pdf	txt/grbs-2171.txt