> In the fantasy novel I just finished reading, the evil king (instead of being slain by one of the heroes) is assassinated by a ferret.
>
> Strange but true.

Uh-huh. In this fantasy novel I read recently, there is this character whose name is much like "Running Weasel". Historically (i.e. according to one of his presumed descendants, Kat Weasley) this guy was supposedly a great warlord and a brilliant military strategist, who also never lost a single game of chess. In the end he was said to have been killed by a rat -- one that had been dyed yellow. The rat knocked down a lamp in his house and burnt the place to the ground, killing Running Weasel.

Strange but true?

Wolf "Weasels, of course, being related to FERRETS" spirit