-
11 Squirrels in Stories and Literature
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
What roles do squirrels play in religion and mythology? Squirrels are incorporated into religious stories and myths, usually for two reasons. One is to promote a moral, and the other is to explain something , usually about the squirrel itself. In the Indian epic, the Ramayana, a squirrel is depicted as assisting in the construction of a bridge from India to Sri Lanka, in preparation for the invasion to free Sita, Rama’s wife, from Ravana, who had captured and imprisoned her. In various versions of the story, the contributions of the squirrel are berated by the monkeys, or the contribution proves to be invaluable. In any case, the squirrel is rewarded by Lord Rama, who strokes the squirrel on the back with three fingers, resulting in the three stripes on the Indian palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum ). The story is recognized in India for its moral, that even the smallest contributions should be valued, and it’s regularly cited in appropriate circumstances. The theme, “how the squirrel got its stripes,” is found in American Indian legends, some with a moral, some without. A common story is that the chipmunk teased a bear, was chased by it and barely escaped, with the bear’s claws raking its back in such a way as to leave the stripes. Among the Iroquois, the story involved the arrogance of the bear and its pride in its strength. The chipmunk asked if the bear could stop the sun from rising, and when the bear failed to do so, the chipmunk ridiculed it and just barely escaped its irate pursuer. The chipmunks still have the stripes to remind them not to tease other animals. In a Seneca myth, a grandmother and her granddaughter shared a bearskin blanket, which came alive and chased Chapter 11 Squirrels in Stories and Literature 142 Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide them. They escaped with scratches, and since they were chipmunks, chipmunks still retain the stripes in memory of the event. In a completely contrary role, the squirrel Ratatosk in Nordic legend, is a messenger conveying malicious gossip and insults between the terrible dragon of the underworld, Nidhogg, at the root of the world ash tree, Yggdrasil , and the eagle at the very top of the tree. Ratatosk is portrayed as traveling easily between all the worlds of Nordic mythology. Despite the unpleasant reputation of Ratatosk, the name is frequently used today in Scandinavia for gossip columns and the like, for a shamanistic group in Stockholm, a computer program, and even a cattery in Cape Town, South Africa. The role of Ratatosk is probably derived from the habit of the European tree squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) to give a scolding alarm call in response to danger. It takes only a little imagination for you to think that the squirrel is saying nasty things about you. It is perhaps a residual influence of the story of Ratatosk that caused the practice of burning squirrels at the Easter bonfire in medieval times in Europe , as reported by Sir James Frazer in The Golden Bough. Frazer gives no explanation for this practice, so we can only speculate on whether squirrels were considered evil in the era of tree worship, because they feed on seeds and nuts, or whether the practice resulted from a desire to burn a malicious gossip. J. R. R. Tolkien seems to have incorporated evil, or at least unsavory, squirrels into his story The Hobbit, which describes the squirrels of Mirkwood as black and bad tasting. One may wonder if this idea derived from The Golden Bough, because Tolkien was a medieval scholar who had read Frazer’s monograph. Tolkien also was very familiar with the Finnish epic, the Kalevala. In it, there are passing references to squirrels, but they do not do anything signi ficant and nothing evil or malicious. It is obvious that the authors were well acquainted with the behavior of the European red squirrel, and there is an interesting allusion to a white squirrel born to a virgin. They probably had firsthand knowledge of albinism in this species. In a Cherokee story, the origin of bats and flying squirrels was explained. Two small mouselike creatures wanted to play in a game of ball between the birds and the mammals. The larger mammals laughed at them, but the birds took pity on them. They took some old woodchuck skin from a drum and fashioned a pair of wings for one of them, which was the bat. For the second...