ABSTRACT
Though much smaller than wolves, bears, or bucks, predators of the marten and weasel family (mustelidae) are as fierce and bloodthirsty, lending themselves well to warrior identification. They were mythical beings too: several Asiatic tribes, notably Huns and Indo-European Mitanni, claimed the wolverine, a relative of the marten, as their forebear. Animal sympathy among Indo-Europeans thus extended to the marten and weasel family.
