That’s why I like feeding the rat. It’s sort of like an annual checkup on yourself. The rat is you, really. It’s the other you, and it’s being fed by the you that you think you are.
-Feeding the Rat, A. Alvarez
Like a rat, roaming close to its hole.
-Arabic Proverb
I didn’t know the Arabic word for hyrax, of which there are many in the Red Sea Hills, so I called them Big Mice and told KhairAllah they were the closest cousins of Elephants, which on the evolutionary tree they are. Wallahi. Lane gives the translation of both Mouse and Rat as Fār, and more curiously defines Fāra as A Flatus which Collects in a Camel and Issues when Stroked. Wallahi.