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Least weasel
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== In folklore and mythology == === Macedonian and Greek culture === [[File:Wenceslas Hollar - The basilisk and the weasel.jpg|thumb|17th century print of a least weasel confronting a [[basilisk]]]] The [[Ancient Macedonians]] believed that to see a least weasel was a good omen. In some districts of [[Macedon]], women who suffered from headaches after having washed their heads in water drawn overnight would assume that a weasel had previously used the water as a mirror, but they would refrain from mentioning the animal's name for fear that it would destroy their clothes.<ref name="Abbott">Abbott, G. A. (1903), [https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich ''Macedonian Folklore''], pp. 108β109, Cambridge University Press</ref> Similarly, a popular superstition in southern [[Greece]] had it that the least weasel had previously been a [[bride]], who was transformed into a bitter animal which would destroy the wedding dresses of other brides out of jealousy.<ref name="Abbott"></ref> According to [[Pliny the Elder]], the least weasel was the only animal that was capable of killing the [[basilisk]]: <blockquote>To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Natural History|author=Pliny the Elder|editor=John Bostock|editor2=Henry Thomas Riley|editor-link=John Bostock (physician)|editor2-link=Henry Thomas Riley|year=1855|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=8:chapter=33|access-date=23 August 2022}}</ref></blockquote> === Ojibwe and Inuit culture === The [[Ojibwe]] believed that the least weasel could kill the dreaded [[wendigo]] by rushing up its [[anus]].<ref>Barnouw, Victor (1979). ''Wisconsin Chippewa Myths & Tales: And Their Relation to Chippewa Life'', p. 53, University of Wisconsin Press, {{ISBN|0-299-07314-9}}</ref> In [[Inuit mythology]], the least weasel is credited with both great wisdom and courage, and whenever a mythical [[Inuit]] hero wished to accomplish a valorous task, he would generally change himself into a least weasel.<ref>Dufresne, Frank (2005), ''Alaska's Animals and Fishes'', p. 109, Kessinger Publishing, {{ISBN|1-4179-8416-3}}</ref>
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