When his miserable life is over they lay him out—that is, they pull his legs, and try to uncrisp his fingers,

Cephalopods, like fishes and aquatic amphibians, have a mechanoreceptive system that is highly sensitive to local water movements.

With fire and sword the country round / Was wasted far and wide, / And many a childing mother then, / And new-born baby died; / But things like that, you know, must be / At every famous victory.

Some sort of renal pathology was suspected, but imaging and even biopsy found no discernible pathology, glomerular or otherwise.