Eastern motifs have been included in Western literature since ancient times. These motifs are found even in ancient Bible translations and apocryphal texts. Perhaps one of the Eastern themes of Western culture and literature of greatest interest is the Kalīla wa-Dimna stories.
It is clear that The Book of The Beasts of the thirteenth-century Catalan missionary, theologian and poet Ramon Lull was also written inspired by Kalīla wa-Dimna. However, western motifs draw attention in this work. Unlike Kalīla wa-Dimna, the division of animals into herbivores and carnivores, the direct connection of their behavior and character with their diet is more evident here. This was a common way of thinking in Western literature at the time. Meat-eating animals were depicted as noble people and grass-eating animals as symbols of ordinary people.
Our article aims to reveal the similarities and differences between The Book of The Beasts and Kalīla wa-Dimna works about talking animals created in different geographies.