The Strunkelfint

From Introduction:

The poets say “the fabled land of Maldoran is poisoned near to death,” but they cannot make the strunkelfint believe it. This beast is not the largest, nor the most dangerous of creatures on these plains — and nowhere near the smartest—but it can live where so many others cannot. An iridescent pool that would turn a human’s guts to necrotizing sludge is, to the strunkelfint, the sweetest of nectars. It has no fear of poisons, sucking water greedily through its trunk, a filter more advanced than even our technology. This country may be toxic to us, but not to the strunkelfint. And anyway, it does not care for poetry.