Kujata

The bull is variously described as having 40,000 horns and legs, or as many eyes, ears, mouths and tongues in the oldest sources.

[12][13][14] These names are said to be corrupted text,[15] and have been emended to "Leviat[h]an" (Arabic: لوياتان), by German translator Hermann Ethé.

[23] One proposed scenario is that a pair of beasts from the bible were confused with each other;[15] the behemoth mis-assigned to the fish, and the aquatic leviathan to the bull.

[24] Some scholars have shown how the variations of this name may come down to subtle changes in the script and missreadings over the centuries, especially when moving from manuscript to print.

[25] In terms of palaeography, the ductus similarities of the consonants involved would explain the shifs between luyā-, luhā- and kujā-.

[26][27] Borges relied on Islamic traditional cosmography as summarized by Edward Lane in Arabian Society in the Middle Ages (1883).

[28] Lane's summary of Arabic source[b] explains that "Kuyootà" was the name of the bull created by God to hold up a rock of "ruby", on which stood an earth-propping angel.

[30] Al-Damiri (d. 1405) on authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, is one source he specifically named as being used by Lane, in his summary.

[34] Yaqut is thought to have borrowed from al-Tha'labi (d. 1038)’s Qiṣaṣ al-anbīyāʾ ("Lives of the Prophets"),[35] one of the two earliest sources containing the cosmology.

[36] Ibn al-Wardi (d. 1457) (Kharīdat al-ʿAjā'ib, "The Pearl of Wonders"), considered to be a derivative rearrangement of Yaqut,[37] is an alternate source used by Lane who noted variant readings from it.

[40] Its horns extended from the earth to God's Throne (Arabic: عرش, ʿarš), entangling it[41] or lying like a "prickly hedge" underneath.

[42] As for the rock platform supported by the bull, which Lane said was made of "ruby", the Arabic word used in original sources yāqūt (ياقوت) has ambiguous meaning.