The camel has a big body, is readily led…and even if a rat takes hold of its halter will go wherever it wishes.
-The Life of Animals, Kamal al-Din Al-Damiri
We told a lot of jokes about mice and once I grabbed KhairAllah’s bare toe when he was looking the other way and said, Khali Bālik Min al-Fīl!, Watch Out for the Elephant!, when I’d meant to say, al-Fār, the Mouse, and then tried to tell him that elephants and mice have a common ancestor, which only ruined my gag even more.