As you may or may not know, I'm quite a fan of myth and legend and I'm
always on the lookout for ferrets (or their close kin like weasels and
polecats) in myth and legend.  While reading this weekend I came across
mention of a myth motif in which some retellings of the story feature a
weasel, an otter, or a polecat.  I'll give you briefly my paraphrasing of
the myth as it appears in one of its oldest recorded tellings (from the
Indian Pantschatantra):
 
    A Brahmin named Devasaman had a wife who gave birth to two children -
    one was a human boy and one was an ichneumon (mongoose).  While the
    mother loved and cared for both children equally, she feared that the
    ichneumon may not love his brother and may someday harm him.
 
    One day the mother needed to fetch some water and told her husband to
    watch over the boy lest the ichneumon hurt the boy.  After she left
    the Brahmin left the house to go begging.  Once he left, a black
    snake entered the house and it tried to bite the boy.  The ichneumon
    rushed the snake and tore it to pieces.  Covered in blood and proud
    of what he had done, the ichneumon went to meet his mother.
 
    When the mother saw the ichneumon covered in blood, she thought the
    ichneumon had killed his brother.  She flung her water jar at the
    ichneumon, killing him instantly.  When she got home she discovered
    her mistake.
 
Source: _Myths of the Middle Ages_ by Sabine Baring-Gould,
        ed. by John Matthews
 
From the above mentioned source:
 
    "The same story is told in the Hitopadesa, but the animal is an otter
    not an ichneumon.  In the Arabic version a weasel takes the place of
    the ichneumon.
 
    The Buddhist missionaries carried the story into Mongolia, and in the
    Mongolian Uligerun, which is a translation of the Tibetian Dsanglun,
    the story reappears with the pole-cat as the brave and suffering
    defender of the child."
 
If you've ever looked for ferret legends you'll know that they are very
uncommon.  Finding mention of a myth that is about, at least in some
retellings, a weasel/polecat/otter is about the closest you can come.  Since
some of the other retellings of this story feature working/companion animals
of man such as dogs, cats, and falcons, a retelling with a ferret hero
doesn't seem that far out of line.  ;)
 
-kim, squirt (ferret of mind), pippi (ferret of spirit),
 atlas (ferret of brawn), and 'jinx (ferret of speed)
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]    |<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 1895]