The owls, who can’t see during the day, and the crows, who can’t see during the night, were foes. So the owls said to the crows, We don’t want the sun as you do ; we can do without him ; we can see in the dark. The crows said, We don’t believe you can […]
Tag: France
Bird stories, the Turtle-Dove
In Swabia doves are much kept, from a belief that they are more predisposed than mankind to rheumatism, and that when this complaint visits a house, it attacks the birds rather than their owners. Mahomet had a dove he used to feed with seed out of his ear, which dove, when it was hungry, lighted […]
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, 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 […]