Month: January 2019


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Turning the Skelk’s Tail

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A common amusement of children is to lure skelks out of their holes by tying a string to a crumb or piece of cheese. Once the skelk comes out the child will move the bait, causing the skelk to run in circles after its own tail. The phrase ‘turning the skelk’s tail’ has therefore also come to encompass the idea of someone telling a tall tale, a trick, or a jest.


Skin of Your Knuckles

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Once the warrior Tasiver Tod was beset by a hungry oswagi. She thrust her sword blade down the gullet of the beast and managed to slay it, but when she withdrew her sword she found her gauntlet had been chewed through and she had lost the skin from her fingers. From that day forward a close call is often referred to as escaping by the ‘skin of your knuckles.’