Porcupine, Badger, Beaver and Rodents in Myth, Mythology and Folklore
by From the viewpoint of the lay observer, rats and mice have always seemed a sort of paradigm for other animals. This extends even to creatures that are not rodents—so pigeons are called “rats with wings”; deer, “rats with hooves”; and bats, “mice with wings”.
Other rodents share the relatively small size and basic form of rats and mice but are usually distinguished by a few dramatic features. There are many varieties throughout the world, many of them picturesque and exotic, including flying squirrels, naked mole rats, kangaroo rats, marmosets, and capybaras.
Among the rodents of greatest folkloric importance is the beaver, which is distinguished by its large flat tail, its huge teeth that can gnaw down trees, and above all, its amazing ability to build. In the ancient world, the most widespread legend about beavers was that they possessed in their testicles a powerful medicine known as castoreum (it is actually in another organ). When a hunter chased a beaver, the beaver would bite off its testicles, giving the pursuer what he probably wanted and thus escaping alive. This was reported by Pliny, Aelian, Horapollo, Cicero, Juvenal, and many others. Priests of Cybele and also a few early Christians practiced self-castration. In Freudian terms, this act might have represented the instinctual renunciations that the founder of psychoanalysis believed were necessary for civilization. Beavers have often been regarded as the most civilized of creatures. At any rate, the legend was often repeated in medieval bestiaries and other manuscripts, where it was interpreted as an allegory of the soul that, pursued by the Devil, must give up all lewdness. The beaver was a popular totem and often a bearer of culture for Native American tribes.
According to the Algonquin, Lenape, Huron, and many other Indians, the beaver first created land, often helped by the muskrat or otter, by dredging up earth from the bottom of the sea. The Blackfoot Indians tell of a man named Apikunni, who had been temporarily banished from his tribe and took refuge during the winter in the beaver house. When he left in the spring, the patriarch of the beaver family gave him a pointed piece of aspen. Using the stick as a weapon, he became the first man ever to kill in war, and so he was welcomed back by his people and made their chief. The Osage tribe traced its origin to a chief named Wasbashas, who was taught to build by beavers after he had married the daughter of their king. Early explorers were amazed by the size of beaver lodges in the New World. Influenced by the tales of Native Americans, they brought back to Europe fantastic stories of a highly sophisticated beaver society.
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