The stories in this post describe the folklore about birds in Ceylon, currently known as Sri Lanka. Dark plumaged birds like the owl, the magpie robin and the black bird bring ill luck and are chased away from the vicinity of houses. The cry of the night heron (kanakoka) as it flies over a house […]
Category: Folklore
Bird stories, Magpie (Pica pica) Part II
In Germany and the North witches often transform themselves into its shape, or use it as their steed. The peasants in Oldenburg consider the magpie to be so imbued with Satanic principles that if a cross be cut on the tree in which the bird has built, she will forsake her nest at once. When […]
Bird stories, Magpie (Pica pica) part I
For anglers in spring it is always unlucky to see single magpies ; hnt two may always be regarded as a favourable omen; and the reason is, that in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the young ones ; […]
Bird stories, Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
Alcyone, daughter of Eolus, the wind-god, impelled by love for her husband Ceyx, whom she found dead on the shore after a shipwreck, threw herself into the sea. The gods, rewarding their conjugal love, changed the pair into kingfishers. What connection exists between this, which is simply a classic yarn, and the ancient theory of […]
Bird stories, Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus)
In Nepal the Mustangi Gurung believe that after hanging the head of Golden eagles and Lammergeier on the main entrance it is believed that the house is safe from evil. A dead Lammergeier corpse and intestine is also an effective medicine for the treatment of diarrhea for the local people and this is still believed […]
Bird stories, House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Canadian Eskimo’s say that in the long ago, before it had all been quite settled whether the human creatures on this earth of ours were to remain in human form or to take the form of birds and animals, or whether the birds and animals were to be changed into human creatures, a group of […]
Bird stories, Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
In a Levant legend it is related that Solomon was once journeying across the desert, and was fainting with heat, when a large flock of hoopoes came to his assistance and by flying between the sun and the monarch formed an impenetrable cloud with their wings and bodies. Grateful for their ready help, Solomon asked […]
Bird stories, Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis)
The Mustangi Gurung of Nepal chop down the dead body for burial into many pieces and offer the vultures. Lama calls the vulture by praying and blowing his trumpet. There is a belief that a skilled lama can invite only the required number of vulture in accordance to the weight of a dead body to […]
Bird stories, Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta)
The Hammerkop Scopus umbretta, if harmed, can wreak vengeance on the perpetrator and his property – the hills around the village could melt, his cattle could be hit by an epidemic, lightning may strike the man or he may die. It also predicts death by lurking in the water and stirring up pictures from the […]
Bird stories, Griffion Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
The Palestines tell tat when the female vulture was ready to lay an egg, her mate would fly off to search for a hadjar al-nasr, a vulture’s stone. This precious rock was to be found only on a select few mountains, and the male vulture sometimes had to fly as far as the islands of […]