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Copyright 1898
BY Charles de Kay
TO THE MEMORY OF
supernatural power ?
viii
Preface
New Testament.
I wish to call attention to remains in the
early lore of Europe of a very extensive
gious rites.
out before.
While a realization of the presence in the
song.
XIX
0:>r)-fen^S
Page
Dedication iii
Preface vii
Contents xxi
Index 231
Title-page i
Dedication iii
HalfTitle v
Preface. Head and Tail Pieces, two Vignettes vii
Contents, with Vignette xxi
List of Decorations, with Vignette .... xxiii
Heading, the Ringdove 3
Tailpiece and two Vignettes 24
Heading, the Woodpecker 25
Tailpiece, theCrow, and three Vignettes . . 5a
Heading, the Cuckoo 53
Vignette, the Raven 81
Tailpiece, the Hoopoe, and two Vignettes . . 87
Heading, Pigeon and Pine-cones . . . 88
Vignette, the Vulture 103
Tailpiece, the Vulture-Demon, and two Vignettes 120
Heading, Paan the Peacock 121
Tailpiece and two Vignettes 148
Heading, the Owl 149
Vignette, the Cock 159
Vignette, the Owl 175
Tailpiece, and two Vignettes 178
Heading, the Swan 179
Vignette, the Heron 200
Tailpiece, the Stork, and two Vignettes . . 209
Heading, the Eagle 210
Vignette, the Peacock 220
Endpiece, and two Vignettes 229
Heading to Index 231
Tailpiece 249
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
CHAPTER I
**
" There was the Douv'e with her Eyen Meeke
4
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
storks.
Dodona —
the famous place for oracles deliv-
9
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
12
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
13
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
15
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
23
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
24
CHAPTER II
N OT
in
against an oak,
many
a
miles from Berlin, I was lying
grove with
when I
my back
heard a laugh, a quick,
propped
28
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
3 33
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
overfloods.
35
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
36
Bird Gods in Ancient Euro pe
39
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
diviner.
43
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
efforts.
peacock or cuckoo.
Tereus Woodpecker first marries Philomela
Nightingale, and then, tiring of her, persuades
Pandion (his father-in-law) and Procne Swal-
low (his sister-in-law) that Philomela is dead;
whereupon he gets also Swallow to wife. On
the journey home Woodpecker cuts out Swal-
low's tongue so that she may never tell of his
crime when she discovers that her sister is still
denizens of Greece.
52
The Cuckoo Gods
CHAPTER III
55
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
58
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
63
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
Wainamoinen thus made answer :
64
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
66
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
" golden " and " beauty " also with other
terms of admiration ; but he seems to have
been also feared. Perhaps because he is so
" awke " on the ground, his name is often
cuckoo gods.
Bird lore is even more frequently mentioned
in the Esthonian than the Finnish epic. The
71
Bird Gods in Ancient Euro pe
vocation —
Steer, O bard of honied accents.
Steer the shallop of your ballads.
73
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
74
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
folk-hero.
75
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
76
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
79
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
in midsummer.
How persistent the cuckoo idea was in
CHAPTER IV
Shah Nameh.
The couvade has been sought to be ex-
plained through psychology, as if it were
a superstitious belief in the transfer of the
mother's identity to that of the father; but
for the most part writers have been content
to chronicle the extraordinary freak without
looking for more obvious reasons close at
93
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
mean " Folk of the Dark Gods " not " Folk
of the Two Dananns." They are the Tonn,
Tonni of the Esthonians, spirits whose im-
ages were used in witchcraft, the Tonndi of
the Finns, kobolds and devils, denizens of
Tuonela the under-world. But their pleasant
mother.
"It is this, the beneficent, the avenger of
her brother " says the Hymn to Osiris trans-
birth.
CHAPTER V
THE peacock "with his aungelis clothis
bryghte " is a synonym for brainless-
Vishnu.
From Ceylon to Lapland seems a far cry,
123
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
126
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
128
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
130
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
142
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
M3
Bird Gods in Ancient Euro pe
These parallels do not suggest the derivation
of one god from the other, nor of one legend
from the other, but a provenance from some
early universal stock. Vaino and Orpheus
visit the under-world, Vaino to obtain three
voeu du paon.
In these considerations of ancient bird gods
in Europe I do not wish to be understood to
147
Bird Gods in Ancient Euro pe
148
'lis nothing but a little downy OwV
CHAPTER VI
moon had
IT was near midnight ; the laid the
of the whippoorwill.
149
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
" I care nothing for the Colosseum and its
155
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
a clew.
Pallas. If we suppose
that the Aryan Greeks
ended by assuming va-
rious deities of a Tura-
nian subject-race, we can
easily account for the
true meaning of Pallas f»^
in harmony with her attendant bird.
176
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
178
1 Siveor fey the.Sw(m
CHAPTER VII
recorded of
is King Edward the First of
ITEngland that on a certain solemn occasion
same oath.
man !
" This is called by the dictionaries an
to "gosh."
Arcite, etc.
land.
190
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
The prevalence in Europe of the legends
and fairy-tales just mentioned, in which chiefly
figure youths, princesses and maidens who
turn into swans, scarcely requires specification.
They are found in the Arabian Nights and in
194
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
before the lance of the sun god to his northern
195
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
klee " and " ang " tones of this swan to the
197
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
198
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
14 209
Tbe Bird of fire v^^ Li?htniny-i^
CHAPTER VIII
219
Bird Gods in Ancient Europe
229
INDEX
ACHiLLEUS, son of Peleus Welsh legends, 226; called
and Thetis, xii; "Achilleus" " fiery " and " shrill," violent
once meant eagle, 216; in- eagle traits, 227 ; fight with
structed by Cheiron, 220; he- Scamander has parallel in
roic descendant of an eagle Kalevipoeg, 227.
god, 220; his name same in Adam of Bremen, on worship
root as Kaleva and aquila, of birds by heathen Lithua-
220; son of male pigeon, his nians, ix ; on worship of Tara-
mother thrusts him in flames, pilla, 172.
23
Index
233
Index
Ireland of Finnic "Kukku- in Germany foretells fortune
lind," cuckoo94; scan- bird, for the year, 60; Chaucer's
dalous birth of Cuchullaind, denunciation, 61 ; converses
95 ; cuckoo episodes and with Vaino, 64 ; Lemmin-
dates in his life, 96 looseness ; kainen's bird, 64 Scandina- ;
236
Index
Fenians of Ireland parallels of Graiai, hoary at birth like cyg-
Pans, Panisci and Fauni, 128. nets, 196; swans in shape,
Fiach, Irish for raven, 42. one-eyed, Valkyrs, 196; their
Finn mac Cool, modern Irish terrible names, 197.
form of Pan, Vaino, Faunus, Greece, analysis of myths r^
etc., 132. quires belief non-
in early
Finns, the, xiii; Russian subjects, Aryans akin to Finnic races
liveon Baltic, 70 with Esths
; who gave elements to Greek
worshipped owl gods, 173. mythology, 228.
Fion of Ireland, xvi; regarded Goethe on cuckoo, 60.
as historical person, 91 dives ; Goose-flesh, to feel; its origin
into lake and comes up an suggested, 192.
aged man, 115; rescues Oisin Gorgons, watched by Graiai,
from fairies, 116, 144. 197, 208.
Firbolgs, old subject race of Gubernatis, xiv, 45.
Ireland fly to Ulster and re-
; Gwalchmei, Gawayne of Britain,
turn to Connaught, 114; give 76 ; his name explained, 85.
name to pawns in chess, 114. Gwemabwy, the eagle of, its
Florence, 170, 208. great age, 219.
Florida, egret extirpated from,
23- Harpies and Phoenix, 220.
Fomori, fog and undersea giants Harpy Tomb, 171.
of Irish legend, 202. Helen, born of egg, 164; same
Fylfot; origin of swastika, 165. as Selene, moon, 203.
Hera, peacock assigned to her,
Garuda, Indian bird like Si- 6 ; seduced by Zeus, her
murg and legendary eagles, brother, under form of cuckoo,
214. 68, 86 carries a cuckoo on
;
237
Index
Hierapolis, sacred city in Syria, India, swastika not derived from,
dove not eaten except in rites, 165.
i8 golden image with pigeon Irish ; fosterage among, 57 soft-
; ;
IcARius, father of Penelope, 164. car to scale the sky, 104; his
Icarus, his bird flight, 164. dynasty is a set of birds, 104.
Icelanders on voice of swan, Kalev, god who gave name to
197. Kaleva of the race of giants,
;
238
Index
Kalev same in root as Achil- Kuknos, xii Esthonian kukene ;
239
Index
originally a male god of love, Lochlan, in Irish legends, Scot-
97 ; along with Lemmetar, land or Norway, but really
goddess of love, 114; sent the realm below the sea, 203.
to hell by Louhi, he is cut Longobards used slabs carved
to pieces, 115; fails to get with doves for gravestones, 21.
invited to marriage feast, Louhi of Pohjola sends Lem-
attacks Pohjola and kills son minkainen to Tuoni for swan
of Louhi, 217. of hell, 199, 215, 216, 217.
Lesbos, a centre for bird heroes Lucian, 19, 20.
and birds associated with Lugal-turda, bird god on the
gods, 139. Euphrates, probably a cuckoo
Leucadian Rock, bird worship god, 105.
and human sacrifices attach- Luig, Finn and Esth term for
ing to it, 140. swan, 190; origin of name of
Leukippos, 207. Ligyes, Ligurians, 193.
Leukophrys, island near Troad, Lynceus, 207.
195-
Liban, daughter of Mananan Mahabharata, the, xii.
mac Lir, 202. Mana, king of under-world, 161,
Libya, a dove-woman flies 217,
thither from Egypt, 10. Mananan mac Lir, in Irish
Ligyes, Ligurians beyond the legend fairy king of sea, 202 ;
240
Index
Medea in Argonautica, parallel Oesel, island in Baltic, 172;
of Louhi the Hag of Pohjola bird god and temple, 172, 189.
in Kalevala, 216. Oidipous, son of Laius and
Megarians claim Tereus and Jocasta, xii ; his crimes are
honor him as a god, 31. cuckoo crimes, no; accord-
Minerva, in Etruscan "heavens- ing to Pausanias he was half-
red," 160. brother to the Sphinx, in;
Minervalia, five-day festival in his story in a modern Estho-
March, 167. nian folktale, 112.
Modred, a son of King Arthur, Oinas, old word for rock pigeon
106. in Greek, 14; probably Pelas-
Mohammed, xvii. gian, 14 ; same root as Venus
Moses, xvii, 195. and iEneas, 15, 16.
Miiller, Max, on the swastika, Oisin of Ireland, 91 ; kept by
164. fairies in cave, 116.
Munnapoika, Finnish "son of Orpheus, xii with other Argo- ;
243
Index
with woodpecker on head, goose his bird, 188 his region
;
244
Index
245
Index
Spinning whorls with swastika Apollo and Bacchus, 200;
marks, 165. foretells death, 201 ; in Irish
Stheneleus, father of Kuknos legend, 202 ; Jupiter ap-
king of the Ligurians, 193. proaches Leda as, 203, 204,
Stork, Latin ciconia from Finnic 205 genius of wine with
;
kuik, 190; swan brings babies swan's head for cap, 208.
instead of stork in RUgen, Swannery, a royal preroga-
197. tive, 184 Lord Ilchester's, ;
nian, 190; sacred bird in Cen- ship of, 173 his red-hot iron ;
246
Index
"
164 ; has a son by " she-hawk female Venus in Italy, 12;
who like a cuckoo kills his parallel of male Venus is
father, 164. Finnic Vaino, of female, Fin-
247
Index
nic Aino, 12 bom of sea, 13 ; is Pikker-Picus, 39 brings the
;
249
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