More than a hundred manuscripts copied throughout Europe contain the text of the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, most probably written for the first time by a scottus peregrinus or a monk from an Irish foundation in Lotharingia, around the second half of the 10th century. This renowned work condenses a number of features cherished by the clerical authors of the time: a voyage narrative retelling a pilgrimage to the Promised Land adorned with the natural wonders of Creation; the presence of supernatural and thaumaturgical forces; the use of biblical and allegorical elements; and a hagiographic development in a monastic context, with a corresponding liturgical timing.

The presence of animals, strange beasts, and birds is fundamental for the voyage narrative itself: we find common island fauna and the seabirds, but also Jasconius the whale, the monstrous fish, the threatening gryphon, the friendly otter, the flock of underwater creatures, and the great, wonderful and helping bird which brought food to the monks and defended them against the gryphon.