SOURCE: The Princess and Curdie (1882) by George MacDonald

DESCRIPTION: "...At the very first blow came a splash from the water beneath, but ere he could heave a third, a creature like a tapir, only that the grasping point of its proboscis was hard as the steelof Curdie's hammer, pushed him gently aside, making room for another creature, with a head like a great club, which it began banging upon the floor with terrible force and noise.  After about a minute of this battery, the tapir came up again, shoved Clubhead aside, and putting its own head into the hole began gnawing at the sides of it with the finger of its nose, in such a fashion that the fragments fell in a continuous gravelly shower into the water.  In a few minutes the opening was large enough for the biggest creature among them to get through it." (The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald)

NOTES: The Tapir is one of the 49 Uglies found living in the dark forest on the way to the king's castle. His animal looks can be deceiving for his nose is not a trunk but fingers that can grasp with incredible force. His hide is impenetrable as steel. He was one of the guards of the conspirators in Curdie's takeover of the castle.

HISTORY: Macdonald's inspiration seems obvious. Tapirs.