British Traditions – Walking the Weasel

An excerpt from the book 40 Humourous British Traditions

One particularly cruel mayor, Edgar Stride, decided to ride around the paths on a horse as he didn’t want to be bitten in the ankle by the weasel. However, his fear caused his death. The weasel’s leash wasn’t quite long enough for it to walk on the ground. Not wishing to be strangled, the weasel fought and writhed against the leash until it managed to sink its teeth into the horse’s haunch. This powerful nip caused the horse to bolt – Stride was knocked from the horse’s back when it ran under a low branch. Stride hit the ground hard and died from his injuries. His quick-thinking deputy, Mortimer Sanderson, jumped over Stride’s body and managed to pick up the weasel’s leash before it could effect an escape. He walked around the rest of the paths without further mishap. This act of quick-wittedness is now enshrined in the ceremony. Since that day, when the mayors approach the area known as Mortimer’s Leap, they have to sprint for approximately one hundred yards, ensuring that the weasel is keeping up.
Only when the role of ‘The Walking Weasel’ became an officially recognized position in 1661, to commemorate the
restoration of the monarchy, did the same weasel perform the ceremony more than once. Indeed, it’s understood that the
walk began to appeal to the weasel, as it came across the warrens of the local rabbits, which it could visit at other
times of the year. The record for the number of walks undertaken by one weasel is 6 between 1872 and 1877 by
Walter the weasel, whose son Barney succeeded him for a further 4 years. The ceremony has been performed nearly 540
times in a continuous line that hasn’t been broken by World Wars, Civil War, or the election of Margaret Thatcher.