there is no higher form of literature than olde-ass europeans trying to explain the skunk
“The other is a low animal, about the size
of a little dog or cat. I mention it here, not on account of its
excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or
four of them. It has black fur, quite beautiful and shining; and has
upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and
tail, making an oval which adds greatly to their grace. The tail is
bushy and [163] well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Fox; it
carries it curled back like that of a Squirrel. It is more white than
black; and, at the first glance, you would say, especially when it
walks, that it ought to be called Jupiter’s little dog. But it is so
stinking, and casts so foul an odor, that it is unworthy of being called
the dog of Pluto. No sewer ever smelled so bad. I would not have
believed it if I had not smelled it myself. Your heart almost fails you
when you approach the animal; two have been killed in our court, and
several days afterward there was such a dreadful odor throughout our
house that we could not endure it. I believe the sin smelled by sainte
Catherine de Sienne must have had the same vile odor.”
europeans had so little frame of reference for the very concept of a skunk that when they first met the skunk’s closest relative they named it the stink badger because that was the best they could come up with on their own
