Page 277 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 270
often singinggirls into the bargain. A ‘wild oriole’ is a free-lance prostitute, i.e.
non-registered. An ‘oriole-swallow’ is a bar-maid, and ‘oriole-flower-halls’ are top-rank
brothels.

Oriole on cherry twig

Otter

shui-ta

Literary evidence goes to show that even in the Middle Ages otters were being trained
to catch fish. The otter is the symbol of sexual activity, indeed hyper-activity: according
to popular belief its sexual appetite is so insatiable that when it cannot find a female
partner it embraces a tree and dies in the process. That is to say, its penis remains fixed in
the tree, and can then provide a very trustworthy aphrodisiac.
There are many tales of otters in female guise seducing men.