Armadillos

O dilloing in his armour

An armadillo is a mammal noted for its armour and ability to curl into a ball.

Quotes

• ‘Son, son!’ said Mother Jaguar ever so many times, graciously waving her tail, ‘a Hedgehog is a Hedgehog, and can’t be anything but a Hedgehog; and a Tortoise is a Tortoise, and can never be anything else.’

‘But it isn’t a Hedgehog, and it isn’t a Tortoise. It’s a little bit of both, and I don’t know its proper name.’

'Nonsense!' said Mother Jaguar. 'Everything has its proper name. I should call it "Armadillo" till I found out the real one. And I should leave it alone.'

• • Rudyard Kipling: The Beginning of the Armadillos

• I've never seen a Jaguar,
  Nor yet an Armadill-
  o dilloing in his armour,
  And I s'pose I never will,
  Unless I go to Rio
  These wonders to behold--
  Roll down--roll down to Rio--
  Roll really down to Rio!
  Oh, I'd love to roll to Rio
  Some day before I'm old!
  • Rudyard Kipling: The Beginning of the Armadillos

• The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
  Hastily, all alone,
  a glistening armadillo left the scene,
  rose-flecked, head down, tail down
  • Elizabeth Bishop: Poem: The Armadillo

• For a single armadillo, you will own,
  On Salisbury Plain in summer is comparatively rare,
  And a pair of them is practically unknown.
  • Michael Flanders: Song The Armadillo

• Dada doubts everything. Dada is an armadillo. Everything is Dada, too. Beware of Dada. [1]