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The metaphor (or meme) of the squirrel that could cross an entire territory without touching the ground is very old and, as far as the Iberian Peninsula is concerned, is attributed (maybe wrongly) to Strabo.

Strabo's squirrel crossing Iberia

I have just learned that this meme was also used to describe the ancient North America, and by googling, I found references of the squirrel crossing ancient Gaul and Britain.

What is the first documented use of this meme? To what territory was it applied the first time?

Lars Bosteen
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Ginasius
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    He probably wasn't the origin of the memes you mention, but in Norse mythology, Ratatoskr was the squirrel that carried messages between the different worlds of the World Tree. – Aaron Brick Nov 12 '17 at 01:39
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    "references of the squirrel crossing ancient Gaul and Britain" - can you cite one or two of these references? – Lars Bosteen Mar 27 '18 at 22:59

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