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ricardienne) wrote2012-07-03 08:52 pm
ricardienne) wrote2012-07-03 08:52 pm
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Hares and Rabbits in Corsica and Fantasyland
One of my favorite parts of Diana Wynne Jones' Tough Guide to Fantasyland is about the relative frequency of hares and rabbits:
Of course, the necessity of using personal up-close experience to determine the truth about misleading reports about the frequencies of hares versus rabbits is nothing new. The pedantic and mostly unbearable Polybius complains about Timaeus (one of the major historians in the generation just before him) and his inaccurate reports on the wildlife on Corsica:
s.v. "Hare" (DAW 1998 pp 118-19)
Hares are a distinct species from Rabbits, which they superficially resemble -- about as close to a Rabbit as a monkey is to a human -- but the Management will always try to kind you that they are the same thing. Hares do not dig burrows, but spend all their life above ground, running very hard. This is probably why they so often end up in Tourist traps. Because of their lifestyle, Hares taste bitter and their flesh is so tough that they should be hung for at least two days after slaughter. The Management, however, will want you to eat the Hare that same evening and will therefore call it a Rabbit. That night's Stew will be unpleasant and very hard to chew.
Of course, the necessity of using personal up-close experience to determine the truth about misleading reports about the frequencies of hares versus rabbits is nothing new. The pedantic and mostly unbearable Polybius complains about Timaeus (one of the major historians in the generation just before him) and his inaccurate reports on the wildlife on Corsica:
Book 12, Büttner-Wobst fr. 3.9-10
καθάπερ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν κατὰ Λιβύην ἀπεσχεδίακεν, οὕτως καὶ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν νῆσον τὴν προσαγορευομένην Κύρνον. [8] καὶ γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἐκείνης μνημονεύων ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ βύβλῳ φησὶν αἶγας ἀγρίας καὶ πρόβατα καὶ βοῦς ἀγρίους ὑπάρχειν ἐν αὐτῇ πολλούς, ἔτι δ᾽ ἐλάφους καὶ λαγὼς καὶ λύκους καί τινα τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων, καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους περὶ ταῦτα διατρίβειν κυνηγετοῦντας καὶ τὴν ὅλην τοῦ βίου διαγωγὴν ἐν τούτοις ἔχειν. [9] κατὰ δὲ τὴν προειρημένην νῆσον οὐχ οἷον αἲξ ἄγριος ἢ βοῦς, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ λαγὼς οὐδὲ λύκος οὐδ᾽ ἔλαφος οὐδ᾽ ἄλλο τῶν τοιούτων ζῴων οὐδέν ἐστι, πλὴν ἀλωπέκων καὶ κυνίκλων καὶ προβάτων ἀγρίων. [10] ὁ δὲ κύνικλος πόρρωθεν μὲν ὁρώμενος εἶναι δοκεῖ λαγὼς μικρός, ὅταν δ᾽ εἰς τὰς χεῖρας λάβῃ τις, μεγάλην ἔχει διαφορὰν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν καὶ κατὰ τὴν βρῶσιν: γίνεται δὲ τὸ πλεῖον μέρος κατὰ γῆς.
Just as he [sc. Timaeus] made made up random stuff about the animals in Libya, so too his claims about those on the island called Kyrnos. For when he speaks about in his Book II, he says that it has wild goats and flocks and lots of wild cattle, and deer and hares and wolves and various other animals besides; that the people spend their time hunting them, and that this past-time occupies most of their lives. But on the aforementioned island not only are there no wild goats or cattle, but there are not even hares or wolves or deer or any other animals of that sort except for foxes and rabbits and wild flocks. Now the rabbit seen from far away seems to be a small hare, but when one takes it in one's hands, there is a great difference in its appearance and in its taste. And it exists for the most part below ground.
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