peernne wereronns

 

 

Cornell Muiversity Library

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
FROM THE

SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND =
THE GIFT OF

Henry W. Sage

1891

 

 

 

 
pz 8.1.P68S9. University Library

OT,
3 1924 028 149 221

 
THE SWALLOW BOOK

,

THE STORY OF THE SWALLOW
TOLD IN LEGENDS, FABLES
FOLK SONGS, PROVERBS, OMENS
AND RIDDLES OF MANY LANDS

GATHERED BY is
DR. GIUSEPPE PITRE :

UNIVERSITY OF PALERMO

 

RENDERED INTO ENGLISH AND
ARRANGED FOR THE USE OF OUR
BOYS AND GIRLS

BY

ADA WALKER CAMEHL

NEW YORK -: CINCINNATI -:- CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

Aa

“e
 

eye

A264 46

‘CopyRIGHT, 1912, BY

ADA WALKER CAMEHL.
CopryriGHT, 1912, IN GREAT BRITAIN.

CAMEHL’S SWALLOW BOOK.
W.P. I
TO

GIUSEPPINA D'ALIA PITRE

This little book, dear, was to have been dedicated to your mother,
when she, alas, was snatched from us in the terrible disaster of Mes-
sina, while she was transcribing for me notes and material concerning
the Swallow.

Now that your dear mother and father live in you, I offer this book
in your name, sweet Giuseppina, as an augury of bright days for you
—our happiness and our care.

May the good-omened little bird of gladness and of joy be to you
a messenger of perennial spring, and may your life be always strewn
with the roses, gladdened with the golden dreams, crowned with the
happiness invoked for it by

YOUR GRANDFATHER.

 
 
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

Because of her sociable habits and her friendly
disposition, the swallow from earliest times has
been observed and beloved by all the peoples of
the world. Her springtime comings and her au-
tumn goings, they have celebrated in proverb and
in song; her physical features, they have made
the subject of legend and of fable; and for each
of her peculiar habits, they have found an expla-
nation in their own lively fancies and imaginations.

The Folk Literature of nearly every country in
the world —from icy Lapland in the north to
torrid Africa in the south, from eastern Siberia
to the prairie lands of our own West — contributes
a share, sometimes large, sometimes small, to these
swallow traditions. They are replete with the art-
‘ lessness, with the spiritual faith of the various peo-
ples — and at times they are fraught with wisdom.

This swallow literature has been gathered by
the eminent Folklore scholar, Dr. Giuseppe Pitré.
As reward of his many years of painstaking and
loving research in this field (resulting in twenty-

five published volumes), the Italian Government
5
6 TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

established for Dr. Pitré a Folklore Chair in the
University of Palermo, his native city.

These tales, many of which tell of the love of
the children of strange lands for the swallow, I
have rendered into English and arranged for the
children of America, with the hope that the knowl-
edge of them may serve to create in our growing
generation a tender and cherishing interest, not
only in this friendly little bird, but also in every
other creature of our feathered kingdom.

With the exception of the Folk Songs, I have
translated this work from the Italian. The songs
I have taken from the different languages in which
they had their origin, and in the rhyming of them
I have endeavored to preserve, so far as possible,
the form as well as the meaning of the original
verse. For two of the songs, from the Greek,
I have used the English version of the charming
writer upon Folklore, the Countess Evelyn Mar-
tinengo-Cesaresco. For the Roumanian song I
have taken the translation by Henry Phillips, Jr.

For assistance in arranging the material of this
book I am deeply indebted to my sister, Miss Flor-
ence Mercy Walker, and to Mr. Brayton L. Nichols.

ADA WALKER CAMEHL.
CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE SWALLOW . . . z . . . : 9
II. THe SwALLow IN LEGEND AND FABLE ; 7 » 25

III. THE SWALLOW IN LEGEND AND Hisrory . . - 63
IV. THE SWALLOW IN BELIEFS AND OMENS 5 ‘ - 92
V. THE SWALLOW IN PROVERBS AND RIDDLES . . - 105
VI. THE SWALLOW IN FOLK SONGS . . . . . SII7
VII. THE SWALLow IN MEDICINE. . : . . + 139
VIII. Our Dest TO THE SWALLOWS. . . . « It

 

 
 
THE SWALLOW BOOK

CHAPTER I
THE SWALLOW

Who does not know and love the friendly
little swallow? Each year after her long
absence in the warm lands of the south
she comes to us with the sunshine and
the flowers, and she tells us with her merry
chatter that spring is on the way.

There are about seventy species of swal-
lows scattered over the entire world, but
only five of these are to be found in the
United States, and six in Europe. The
swallow whose story we tell in these pages
is our common barn swallow, whose sum-
mer home is under the eaves of our barns
and outbuildings. In Europe she is called
the house or chimney swallow, and there

9
Io THE SWALLOW

et

she builds her nest not only in barns and
ruined buildings, but also in the chimneys,
and sometimes even inside the rude stone
houses of the peasants, or farm people of
the country districts.

This swallow has a graceful and pretty
body. Her back is black and shiny, with

 

deep violet reflections ; and her throat and
breast are tinged with dull red. Her wings
are long and pointed, tail forked, claws
very short and weak, and eyes tiny, bril-
liant black, and keen to Spy an insect a
long way off. She is almost always on
the wing and darts about very swiftly and
THE SWALLOW Il

gracefully, feeding upon the insects which
she catches in the air.

When drowsy nature awakes in the
spring, then come the swallows to the
places they left long months before. How
do they cover the great distances from
their winter homes? What guides lead
them? What signs point the way in their
long journeys? No one knows. No one
has ever been able to discover with cer-
tainty.

So much is sure, however—they go
and they come. Where have they been?
They have been under other skies, in far
distant lands, where sunny days have
changed into starry nights, and rosy dawns
into golden sunsets. Nature has showered
upon them smiles of sunshine, abundant
food, kindly welcome — blessings they have
had to renounce when called away by the
longing for the old nests and the joys of
rearing their young.

It was once thought that swallows were
1 THE SWALLOW

able to cover great distances of sea with.
out stopping to rest. But rest is mneces-

       
  
   
  

 

 

 

 

_ sary for them, and

aa they stop now and

Wh ~~ « then upon _ light-

{1h ~ ~ houses or upon the
ST sails and rigging of

; / MINS ep ships, when they are
Air 277) i ff obliged to pass over
: A Ht y long stretches of sea.
HE Hi C4 Though their

HE course might be in

Fi a direct line, it never is,

ea for the need of getting food

We makes them break their
He flight of a sudden and turn
Hs HH i this way and that, as they

| TT "| spy insects a long way off

}: "upon which to feed. They dart

 

 

off to right and to left in pursuit of

them, and so greatly lengthen their journey.
By no means all of them are able to endure
the terrible fatigues of the flight. Many
THE SWALLOW 13

become exhausted and perish in the sea, or
else fall to the deck of some passing vessel,
where they arouse the tender pity of those

 

on board. Only the youngest and the strong-
est succeed in reaching the goal of the old
familiar nesting places.

The returning swallows often find that the
winter’s storms have wrought havoc in their
homes; but if any of their nests have been
injured or destroyed they are quick to re
pair or to build anew. Then, after the
wearisome journey and the home building,
follow the courtships of the birds and the
sweet idylls of the baby brood. And soon
the warm air of spring is perfumed with
14 THE SWALLOW

flowers, alive with the busy little pilgrims,
gladdened with their merry chatter and their
fleeting song.

The nests which these swallows build are
curious works of art. The outside they
make of mud, which they fetch from some
pond or river bank, and with the mud they
mix hairs and bits of straw to hold it to-
gether. The inside they line with soft leaves
and feathers. There are two settings of eggs
each year, the first of five or six eggs, the
second of three. The eggs are white,
speckled with dull red spots. Their nests
they place, not apart by themselves on some
lonely tree top like many other birds, but
side by side with the nests of their com-
panions in a little colony under the eaves
of our barns, or along the beams just under
the roof. In certain lands of southern Eu-
rope this sociable little bird is allowed to
build her nest in the windows of the houses,
and in the crevices of the tiles of the roof.
In the Orient she sometimes even puts it in-
THE SWALLOW 15

side the door, and by so doing she brings, as
the people believe, good fortune to the dwell-
ers within. Travelers in that eastern land

age have brought back
fp strange stories il-
ee lustrating this sociable
habit of the swallow, one of the
strangest being that of a noted Frenchman,
who visited Asia in 1844. This is what he

 

wrote :—
“The swallow has so much love for man
16 THE SWALLOW

and so great confidence in him that she
dwells not only in the eaves and porticoes of
his palaces and in the porches of his houses,
but she penetrates even to his bedchambet
and establishes herself upon his bed. This
I saw, myself, many times, in the city and in
the country, but more often in the country.
I saw those good people, visited by this
chosen creature of the good God, surround-
ing the bird families with every care, opening
the windows in the morning to let the parent
birds go out and gather food, tolerating the
filth they made in the room, upon the furni-
ture and the bedclothing, and spending hours
together in observing and showing to others
the doings of the old birds, the number of
the young and the progress of their educa-
tion. And what I saw took place every-
where here.” ?

Let us now look at the baby swallows.
Four or five little heads are peeping over the
edge of the nest, while a lively chirping from
all the little throats in concert announces the
THE SWALLOW 17

arrival of either the father or the mother
bird. Cautiously the parent approaches,
chirping contentedly: the while and bringing
the food in its bill. It flutters to the edge of
the nest, alights there, and drops the morsel |
into the open mouth of the first youngster, i|

 

who, after receiving his portion, turns il

 
 
 
   
  

his back, while the fond parent carefully
picks up all the leavings
in the nest, flies off
a little distance |
and drops them
to the ground. = q

i
turns and repeats the |
scene with the second, with the third, and so
on to the last one. Then it begins anew
with the first and continues until all are
satisfied. So it does every day from morn-

Then it goes away in ===

        

 

search of more food. ===

eyes
=)

 

After a while it re __. ~

ing until night, till at last the fledglings are
able to feed themselves.

CAM. SW. BK. — 2
18 THE SWALLOW

Then begins another training — the nest-
lings are taught to fly. Let us look on
here also. We see both of the old birds
giving this lesson
to their young.
Notice how they
cy cheer on _ their
| pupils with — their
voices; how they offer them
food a little way off, then slowly
Tee 7 move it farther back as the young-

  
   
 
   
  

gently and anxiously they push
them out of the nest; how they
4! play around before them in the air in
order to encourage them with the sight
of help always at hand; and finally,
| how they carry on the lesson with such
expressive chatter which sounds like caresses,,
exhortation, reproof, and applause all in one.

As the summer grows warm, our little
guests, who dislike intense heat as well as
severe cold, break out into their first gay
THE SWALLOW 19

notes at early dawn when every other feath-
ered songster is silent. They leave their
warm nests and ascend aloft to the infinite
spaces of heaven; they descend with dizzy
haste; they whirl; they. soar; they skim
the low grasses and the shining surfaces of
lake or stream; and with noisy cries they

 

meet, they separate, they dart away—and
then they turn to meet again, ten, twenty, a
hundred times — now appearing, now disap-
pearing like flashes of lightning. They send
out shrill cries as they whirl and soar, and if
they stop for a moment, impatient of rest,
their trills and quavers sound like questions
and answers in a brisk conversation.
Swallows, besides being on good terms
20 THE SWALLOW

with man, are kindly in their dealings with
one another. If one of them is injured, it is
no reason for leaving her alone to suffer.
Many incidents might be told which would
illustrate this good trait. We will relate but
one, the story of an injured swallow in the
streets of Paris. This is what an eyewitness
tells : —

“A swallow, through some accident, I don’t
know what, was one day caught by the foot
in a slipknot of a rope which had been
stretched to the eaves of one of the public
buildings. She had tried to free herself and
then, becoming exhausted, was hanging from
the rope, crying aloud and now and then
making fluttering and vain attempts to get
away. All the swallows round about, to
the number of several thousands, had gath-
ered around her. They made a dense cloud,
and all the time they cried aloud in alarm
and pity. After awhile they seemed to hold
a noisy consultation and one of them evi-
dently hit upon a plan to free their com-
THE SWALLOW 2I

7 Ae » > “wwe = be 7
~ . Ye
~ ~ ee |
= ~ ve
ae = y ~ Nees wy e \ whe ~
Saya Oy OE 4
Soe ae * it
so a MP a sg |
= a Nee ¥ f
ea y
ey 7 »> MM i a
we ae }
wt . hy
Pas a

 

panion and _ to
make it known to the
others. For all at once
they set to work. One after
another flew swiftly to the

   

knot and gave it a blow
with her bill in the same spot.
In about half an hour the string
was broken and the prisoner set
at liberty. The swallows re-
mained about the place until
evening, flying about and chatter-
ing as if congratulating them-
selves upon the success of their maneuver.”

The summer passes, and at last the gentle
little birds, whom we have learned to love,
22 THE SWALLOW

make ready for their departure. Upon the
house tops, along the eaves, on the walls and
the fences, among the cane fields, along the
edges of streams, and upon the telegraph
wires, they gather in large flocks, all the
time chattering and chirping. What are
they saying? No doubt they are talking
about the coming journey, and the older
ones are instructing the younger about it.
If we could understand the language of
birds we might at this time be able to learn
where they go, the dangers which beset
them, and the hardships they must endure.

After much noisy chatter at last they are
ready to start. The signal is given — first
one, then another, ten, a hundred, an army,
rise into the air and circle around as if to
take their bearings. Then they set out in a
compact mass and are soon lost to sight in a
black cloud.

All summer long these gay little guests
have been with us, enlivening the cool shad-
ows about our houses, our barns, our public
THE SWALLOW 23

monuments, our country places—and now
they go away to regions “where never falls
the snow, where the land is never hardened
by frost.” Our swallows go to the northern
countries of South America and to the is-
lands about our tropical seas. The swal-
lows of Europe fly south to the monuments
of Egypt and to the minarets of the
mosques of Asia.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

‘i ihe:

a

is,
\

Se)

wp
CHAPTER II
THE SWALLOW IN LEGEND AND FABLE

THE swallow is connected with so many
legends that from them might be formed
a true cycle, all of “Why.” Why is the
swallow’s note sad? ‘Why does she wear
a black mantle? Why has she a forked
tail? Why has shea reddish breast? Why
does she twitter, and not sing? Why does
she live in warm climates? Why does she
build her nest in windows? Why does the
swallow go about unmolested? Why is she
blessed? Why does she dwell with man?
Why did the northern princesses seek the
swallows? Why is the swallow SHPetIOR to
other birds and animals?

Let us see if we can answer all these
Whys.

But first, we must take note of three

25
26 THE SWALLOW

legends, from countries far remote from one
another, which tell us how the swallow came
upon the earth. The oldest of these leg-
ends, the one most important in the his-
tory of the swallow, comes to us from the
ancient land of Greece, and has its origin
in those times when gods and godesses
peopled the green slopes of Hellas, and
when fables were recounted to interpret
the mysteries of the natural world. This is
the Greek legend.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SWALLOW
A LEGEND OF GREECE

Once upon a time Pandion, King of
Athens, had two daughters named Procne
and Philomela, whom he dearly loved. One
daughter, Procne, he gave in marriage to
Tereus, King of Thrace, who took her away
to make her home in his own country.
Many years of happy married life went by
for Procne, but ever she kept the memory of
her dear sister Philomela in her heart, and
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 27

the hope one day to see her again. At last,
ovetcome by her longing, Procne asked her
husband to go to Athens and bring back her
sister for a visit. Tereus at once set out,
and upon reaching Athens he begged the old
King Pandion to allow Philomela to accom-
pany him to his home in the north coun-
try.

After much persuasion Pandion consented,
and Tereus set out upon the sea with the
young girl. While on the voyage he fell
very much in love with his pretty sister-in-
law, but in return she only scorned his affec-
tion. Then, instead of taking her to her
sister, Tereus led Philomela into a remote
part of his kingdom and there he kept her a
prisoner for many months. At last, he went
alone to his wife with the tale that her father
had refused to allow her sister to return with
him.

The unhappy Philomela passed a wretched
life in the place where Tereus had confined
her, and in vain she sought to free herself
28 THE SWALLOW

from her prison. At length she found a
way to send word to her sister. She em-
broidered upon a peplos, or linen robe,
the story of her misfortune, and sent the
robe to Procne. Upon receiving the gar-
ment Procne read the tale, and, taking
advantage of a public feast in honor of
the god Bacchus, she pretended that she
was mad, made her way outside the city
walls and hastened to her sister. She
found Philomela in her prison, set her free,
and took her at once to her home in the
royal palace of Tereus.

From that day the two sisters thought
only of vengeance for the cruel deed, and
they, found a revenge so terrible as almost
to surpass belief. Procne had a little son
by the name of Itys. The sisters resolved
to kill the boy. As soon as Tereus dig-
covered the plot he seized an ax and _pur-
sued the two sisters to kill them. -As he
was almost upon them, they prayed to the
gods to change them into birds. Procne
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 29

at once became a nightingale and Philomela
a swallow. Tereus was also changed into
a hawk, which chases
other birds.

In this manner the

   
  

Greeks related theorigin
of the swallow and of the
nightingale. In later cen-
turies, the Latin poets of
Rome (Horace, Vergil, and
the rest) often made reference to
this legend. Sometimes they

sang of Procne as a nightingale, as in the
original Greek version, but more often they
reversed the ending of the legend and
referred to her as a swallow, and

 
  
  
 

. to Philomela as a nightin-
gale. Thus Horace, in
an Ode to Vergil in which
he invites the poet to pay
him a visit at his Sabine
farm, assures Vergil that pleasant weather
has come by saying that the “Thracian
30 THE SWALLOW

winds, the companions of spring” are blow-
ing, and “the unhappy bird, mourning for
Itys” is building her nest.

The poets of England and of America
follow the Latin version of the legend in
their frequent mention of these two favorite
birds, and when they sing of “sad Philo-
mel” or of “Santa Filomela” they mean
the nightingale.

Why is the swallow’s note sad? If you
will listen to the twitter of the swallow as
she sits alone upon a beam, you will hear
her say over and over to herself: “Itys,
Itys, Itys.” Is it not poor Procne calling
and grieving for her little boy? And the
nightingale, sad Philomela, as she warbles
at evening in the tree. tops of southern
Europe, does she not put into her song
real sobs of mourning? :

These sad bird notes have many times
been interpreted as expressions of grief by
our greatest writers. If we look into the
Book of the Prophet Isaiah, we find that
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 31

he likened his cry to the voice of the swal-
low: “Like a crane or a swallow, so did
I chatter.” Dante caught in the swallow’s
note the echo of far-off mourning, and he
has passed it on to us in the exquisite lines
with which he prefaced the description of
his awakening in the Flowery Valley on
the Mountain of Purgatory :—

Just at the hour when her sad lay begins

The little swallow, near unto the morning,

Perchance in memory of her former woes, —

But this:old tale of pagan Greece does not
suffice for the people of later times, when
they wish to relate the origin of their favor-
ite bird. The devout folk of Spain tell
the following pretty legend, in which the
Boy Jesus is said to have fashioned the first
swallows with his own hands : —

THE CREATION OF THE SWALLOW

A SPANISH LEGEND

It was on a Saturday, and Jesus, then a
little boy, went out to play with his compan-
32 THE SWALLOW

ions, little like himself. He took some white
clay and with it he made little birds with
outspread wings, and he put them in the
sun to dry.
ee A Pharisee then passed that way and
“. was angry to see the children at work
a upon a Saturday, which day is the
_ Jewish Sabbath; and h¢ began to
“4, trample upon and to destroy
2% those little clay birds. But Jesus
clapped his little hands and
2... the birds at once took flight
“e:-\y and flew away.

   
 
     

Then, upon the house of the Child Jesus,
with some of the same clay from which they
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 33

had been made, the swallows began to build
their nests in the eaves of the roof of tiles.
And from that day to this they have con-
tinued to make their homes upon the humble
little houses of the poor and to bring to
them peace and good fortune.

When Jesus was on his way to be cruci-
fied upon Calvary, the disconsolate little
swallows followed him with the holy women,
and when he hung upon the cross they
pulled the thorns from out the crown which
had been placed upon his brow and which
pierced his sacred head.
' When he died the swallows at once put on
mourning, covering themselves with a black
mantle, which they wear to this day. And
in Spain there is sung a little couplet in
memory of this pious service, which runs : —

On the mount of Calvary,
The swallows, pitying,

Drew out ten thousand thorns
From the poor Christ, suffering.

Our third legend which has to do with the

CAM. SW. BK. — 3
34 THE SWALLOW

origin of the swallow comes from the Navaho
Indian tribes of our own western country.
In it we find the swallows, before coming to
earth, occupying one of those heavens which
so often figure in Indian traditions.

NAvVAHO ORIGIN LEGEND

Tue Story OF THE EMERGENCE

They went in circles upward till they
reached the sky. It was smooth. They
looked down; but there the water had risen,
and there was nothing else but water there.
While they were flying around, one having a
blue head thrust out his head from the sky
and called to them, saying, “In there, to the
eastward, there is a hole.” They entered the
hole and went through it up to the surface
of the second world.

The blue one belonged to the Swallow,
People. The Swallow People lived there.
A great many of their houses, rough and
lumpy, lay scattered all about. Each tapered
toward the top, and at that part there
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 35

was a hole for entrance. A great many
people approached and gathered around the
strangers, but they said nothing.

The first world was red in color; the
second world, into which the people had
now entered, was blue. They sent out two
couriers, a Locust and a White Locust, to
the east, to explore the land and see if there
were in it any people like themselves. At
the end of two days the couriers returned,
and said that in one day’s travel they had
reached the edge of the world — the top of a
great cliff which arose from an abyss whose
bottom they could not see; but that they
found in all their journey no people, no ani-
mals of any kind, no trees, no grass, no
sagebrush, no mountains, nothing but bare
level ground. The same couriers were then
dispatched in turn to the south, to the west,
and to the north. They were gone on each
journey two days, and when they returned
related, as before, that they had reached the
edge of the world, and discovered nothing
36 THE SWALLOW

~~ but an uninhabited waste.
~.¢ ° Here, then, the strangers
se i found themselves in the cen-
_ ~ ter of a vast barren plain where
there was neither food nor a
kindred people. When the cou-

a riers had returned from
, the north, the swallows
-~ visited the camp of the
newly arrived people, and
asked them why they
hee had sent out the
agus ue COUFiers to the east.
Bil th, “We sent them
out,” was the reply,
“to see what was
in the land, and to
see if there were

  
    
  
     
  

any people like our
selves here.”

“And what did your couriers tell you?”
asked the swallows.

“They told us that they came to the edge
IN LEGEND AND. FABLE 37

of the world, yet found no plant and no liv-
ing thing in all the land.”

(The same questions were asked and the
same answers given for the other points of
the compass.)

“They spoke the truth,” said the Swallow
People. “Had you asked us in the begin-
ning what the land contained, we would have
told you and saved you all your trouble.
Until you came, no one has ever dwelt in
all this land except ourselves.”

The people then said to the swallows:
“You understand our language and are
much like us. You have legs, feet, bodies,
heads, and wings as we have. Why can-
not your people and our people become
friends ?”

“Let it be as you wish,” said the swal-
lows, and both parties began at once to treat
each other as members of one tribe. They
mingled one among the other, and addressed
one another by the terms of relationship, as
my brother, my sister, my father, my son, etc.
38 THE SWALLOW

They all lived happily and pleasantly to-
gether for twenty-three days, but on the
twenty-fourth, one of the strangers -was rude
to the wife. of the Swallow Chief, and the
next day when it became known, the Chief
said to the strangers: “We have treated
you as friends, and thus you return our
kindness. We doubt not that for such
crimes you were driven from the lower
world, and now you must leave this. This
is our land, and we will have you here no
longer. Besides, this is a bad land. People |
are dying here every day, and, even if we
Spare you, you cannot live here long.”

The Locusts took the lead on hearing this.
They soared upwards. The others followed,
and all soared and circled till they reached
the sky.

Let us now see if we can solve the Whys
concerning the swallow. First, why has she
a forked tail? We find the answer to this
Why in several curious legends, the first of
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 39

which comes to us from the land of Siberia
in Asia. There the folk tell why the swal-
low’s tail is forked.

Wuy THE SWALLOw’s TAIL IS FoRKED
A L&cGEND oF EASTERN SIBERIA

A species of marmot is native in Poland
and in near-by Galicia, as well as in the lands
to the east as far as central Asia. It is also
very common in Eastern Siberia. There,
as elsewhere, the little animal is called
Bobac.

Under the shoulder of the Bobac, in the
flesh, may be found a whitish piece which
must not be eaten, for it is the remains of
the man who was transformed into Bobac
by the wrath of the Evil Spirit. For you
must know, O stranger from a far land, that
all the Bobacs were once upon a time men,
who lived by hunting. And they were the
most skillful of all hunters. But with the
passing of time they became such braggarts
40 THE SWALLOW

as to boast that they could kill on the
wing, with the first shot, any bird whatso-
ever. These boasts aroused the wrath of
the Evil Spirit, and he at once went among
them, and ordered the best marksman to kill
a swallow in flight. The
hunter fired and hit the bird, :
but instead of killing it he
shot away only the middle of ¢ «
the bird’s tail.
Then, as a punishment for
their boast-

 

   

Evil Spirit changed all those hunters into
Bobacs. And from that day to this, swal-,
lows’ tails have been forked.

Also from eastern Europe comes another
ancient legend, giving another reason for the
forked tail of the swallow.
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 41

Wuy THE SWALLOow’s TAIL IS FORKED
A Circassian LEGEND

In the good old times, Solomon, son of
David, ruled over all things. He understood
the language of animals and of plants, and
to each animal he assigned a given food —
to the serpent he assigned the blood of man.
But man, knowing not how to resign him-
self to the assaults of the serpent, cried out
against the allotment.

King Solomon, impressed with the just
complaints of man, one day gathered. to-
gether in a large field all living creatures,
and he began to question man. The ani-
mals all began to talk in a loud voice, but
Solomon listened only to man. After hear-
ing him, Solomon decreed that the tiniest of
the animals, the mosquito, should go about
and find out which was the sweetest and
most delicate blood of creation, and that this
should be assigned as food to the serpent.

On New Year's Day another reunion was
42 THE SWALLOW

% ordered by Solomon,
» 4 and the mosquito was
on his way thither,
when on the street he
met a'swallow, and, —
“Where are you
going?” the swallow
asked.

“To the reunion of Solomon, as you know.”

“T had forgotten it. And what did you
find to be the sweetest blood?”

“That of man,” answered the mosquito.

“That of —?” asked the swallow, feigning
not to have understood.

“Of man,” replied the mosquito, and as he
opened his mouth, the swallow with one peck
pulled out his tongue.

In the reunion, the mosquito, upon being
questioned, could express himself only by,
making the sound Xssss. The swallow
stepped up and interpreted it thus, “The blood
of the frog,” at the same time observing that
she had heard this answer from the mouth

 
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 43

of the mosquito before he became dumb.
Thereupon Solomon decreed that the serpent
should feed upon the frog.

Asthe animals were separating after the
meeting, the swallow passed near to the ser-
pent, who, furious over the ugly
affront he had received, made a
grab at her. Theswallow was .°

w

   
 
 
  
 
 

on the watch and quickly flew
away, but not before the
serpent had pulled some
feathers from the
middle of
her tail.

From that day the swallow’s tail has been
forked.

A similar reason for the forked tail we find
in the following legend from eastern France.
44. THE SWALLOW

Wuy THE SWALLOW HAS A ForKED TAIL
A Lecenp OF FRANCE

After the Deluge the animals, as they
left the Ark, bethought themselves to look
about in the world for a food which would
please them, each according
to his taste. The wily
serpent sent out the

 
 
   
 

mosquito with in @&%
structions to find &
out, by tasting,

al

which one of all living creatures had the
sweetest blood. When the mosquito, who
found the blood of man better than that of
the animals, came back to render account.
of his mission, the swallow with one peck
plucked out his tongue. The serpent was
furious at the affront and seized the poor
swallow by the tail to devour her. But only
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 45

the feathers of the center of the bird’s tail
remained in his mouth. Those feathers
never grew again in the swallow’s tail, and
the mosquito is dumb to this day, able only
to make his zum, zzzz, zzz.

The following legend tells us not only why
the swallow’s tail is forked, but also why her
breast is red. It shows our bird in rather
an unfavorable light.

Wuy THE SWALLOW HAS A FoRKED TAIL
AND A ReEpD BREAST -

A SWEDISH AND NoRWEGIAN LEGEND

Once upon a time there was a young girl
in the service of a Fairy. One day. the
girl stole from her mistress a spool of red
thread and a pair of scissors. For this theft
she was changed into the bird called the
swallow; and also, as a further punishment,
she was condemned to carry about with her
forever the signs of the objects she had stolen
—the spool of red thread upon her throat,
and the scissors in her tail.
46 THE SWALLOW

And ever since then, in the summer time,
when the swallow is sitting upon a beam,
alone and pensive, if you listen carefully, you

will hear her repeat sadly and slowly, over and

 

over: “My mistress—has lost—my mistress
— has lost —her spool — of red thread —her
spool—of red thread —and— her— scissors!”

The swallow has no song like other birds.
Upon the wing she gives a shrill cry, in
repose she chatters and chirps, but scarcely
ever does she utter a sound which might«
be called a song. ;

To account for this peculiar trait the
German folk tell the following three pretty
legends.
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 47

WHY THE SWALLOW DOES NOT SING
A German LEGEND

vw

: Once upon
ae v x =

gus “a time the
swallow was a sing-
ing bird, and sang a
m* song as melodious
ies as the nightingale’s.
‘= But after atime she
became weary of dwell-
ing in the lonely
forests where there
was no one to hear
and admire her beauti-
ful voice, except the
busy peasant boy
and the innocent little shep-
herdess tending her flock.
The swallow then left her
humble home in the country
and went into the big city.
What happened there? In the
= city all the people were so busy

 
  
   
 
  
  
  
48 THE SWALLOW

that no one had time to listen to the bird’s
divine voice, so little by little she forgot her
song, and she learned instead to be an archi
tect and to build her wonderful mud nests.

Wuy THE SWALLOWS DO NOT SING
A LEGEND OF FLANDERS AND OF THE GERMAN TYROL

Once upon a time the swallows knew well
how to sing and to find their food upon the
surface of the earth, instead of on the wing as
now. When Jesus was suffering upon the

x cross, many swal-
oe ~e
2% | lows came and

ron KS.
xe ae xy rested upon the
we ae

# 3 “y arms of the cross
ve By oe ~. and they set up
a a loud singing,
~.4 The agony of
res ae Jesus ate SO,
te great that the songs of the
: birds became unbearable

Bo 8 him, and he said to them, —

muieer “ Because you come and annoy me with

vid

2
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 49

your song, from this time on you shall only
chatter and the land shall contain no more
food for you.”

And from that day to this the swallows
have not known how to sing,
and they have fed only on

the wing.

|
i ree THE SWALLOWS AND
rs ) THE SWANS

  
  
  
   
  

 
 
    

Sis From THE GERMAN
WY > One day some _ swallows
vR ) F{ » were singing in the presence
NT f Vie of some swans. The
Hi Vg swallows boasted to the
as f\; Es swans :—

 
  

p i
+ Hy
bike: Hy

| ae “We sing, aS you

= see, for
the pleas-
ure of all
people,
while you

——— ae [SS 8

Sia sing for your

CAM. SW. BK. — 4
50 THE SWALLOW

own pleasure alone, and that rarely and in
lonely places.”

“But it is better,” replied the swans, “to
sing little and well for a few choice souls
than, like you, to sing much and poorly
for all.” .

Why do the swallows choose warm cli-
mates in which to live? We know that at
the approach of the cold season they migrate
each year to the south. To explain this
habit we have a fanciful legend of the Rou-
manian folk.

Wuy THE SWALLow LIvEs IN WarRM
CLIMATES

A LEGEND OF ROUMANIA

Saint Domenica had a maid-
servant, and one day before go-.
ing out she told the girl to pre-
pare her dinner and to be very
careful to get it neither too hot
nor too cold.

 
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 51

The maid forgot the instruction, and when
her mistress sat downat table the dinner was so
hot that it burned her mouth. Bj
The mistress was very
angry, and said to her
servant : —

    
   
   

“Because you NS
have disobeyed me,
I, for your negli- === yam
gence, change you et uh
into a bird. And asa F| vi !
further punishment for ey
getting my food too
warm, I condemn

  

    
 
 

|
Ne

      

   

you to live always
in warm climates.” Bz
And the servant” fi
was changed into the swallow, and forever
after she has lived in lands where the climate
is mild.
From the peasant folk of northern France
comes the answer to our next question: “ Why
do swallows build their nests in windows?”
so THE SWALLOW

Wuy SwaxLtows BuILD THEIR NESTS _ IN
WINDOWS

A Lrcenp or BRITTANY

A mother swallow who was recovering
from a long illness, and who had been aban-
doned by her husband, went for three days
without food, so as not to cool the eggs
upon which she was sitting. Along came a
little mouse and asked if he might stay all
night. The swallow told him that he might
stay in the nest if he would promise to keep
the eggs warm. The little mouse then sat
on the eggs, but behold, when they were
hatched, out came some little bats! When
the poor mother bird saw the ugly little
creatures she felt so badly that she died of
grief. Then all the swallows in the neigh-
borhood gathered around the little dead body.»
They greatly mourned the loss of their com-
panion, and after they had buried her they
took charge of the little orphans. Then the
Queen of the swallows decreed that because
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 83

the poor dead mother had built her unfortu-
nate nest in a chimney, from that time on
swallows should be allowed to put their nests
in windows. sa ro  -
And shealso _ 2
decreed that Jw,

Sey ll

   
 
 

poor - which hatched out in the nest,

should never again be able to

see by daylight. This explains why bats are

blind ‘by day, and why swallows build their
nests in windows.

Our next legend gives another reason for

the daytime blindness of bats. I will tell

    
54 THE SWALLOW

you this legend in the words of the little old
woman who told it to me, in her home on
the slopes of Mount Amiata in Tuscany.
You will learn from this why the swallow
has the right, according to the good people
in that part of Italy, not to be molested, and
why she must not, ltke other birds, be caged
or killed. And you will also learn why she
is called blessed, and why the people love to
have her in the eaves of their houses —a
morning awakener and a true prophet of the
springtime. This is what she said.

Wuy THE SWALLOWS ARE NOT MOLESTED
A L&cEenp or TUSCANY

The good Jesus was suffering on the cross
in the terrible hour of his agony. A thorn
of the crown which was fixed upon his brow
was piercing his eye, and was penetrating,
more .deeply:' with every movement of his
weary head. A bat was flying about the
cross, and at that time the bat was a bird
like any other. Jesus called to him :—
IN LEGEND AND. FABLE 55

Little bat, little bat, come to me, I pray,
And from out my eye, take this thorn away.”

But the bat flew off, pretending that he did
not understand. Then a swallow flew about
the cross. Jesus called to her :—

“ Little swallow, little swallow, come to me, I pray,
And from out my eye, take this thorn away.”
And the swallow hurried to the cross, searched
and searched with her bill for the head of the
thorn, found it, and pulled it out.
Neo One drop of blood spattered,

the breast

of the dear
little bird, as
Jesus with a sigh of relief looked Iai
upon her as she gently moved away.

Then Jesus said to her: “May you be
blessed, little swallow! From this time on,
no one shall do you harm. You shall build
your nest secure under the roof of man. To
him you shall be of good omen. You shall
announce with your song the hour for him

 
56 THE SWALLOW

to arise and go to labor. Go. May you be
blessed |”

The bat, who was not far away, and who
heard these words, then set up a screech of
scorn.

“Naughty little bat!” then said Jesus;
“Never more shall you sing, but you shall
henceforth shriek as you have just now
done. From this time on you shall be a
bird loathsome and wild. You shall rise
but a few, cubits from the earth, and only at
night time, in the dark, shall you flutter
about in abandoned houses or in melancholy
graveyards. Go, naughty little bat!”

And so it has been. From the pretty
bird it was at first the bat became what you
all know. And the swallows became known
as “ The birds of God.”

One thing I nearly forgot. The swallow ,
has on her breast a little red spot, like blood”
long dried. May it not be a sign of this
merciful act performed for the good Jesus
upon the cross?

hh
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 57

We will close this Chapter with a pretty
legend of the northland. It is partly fairy
tale and partly myth, and in it we shall learn
how the swallows bring the summer to the
frozen countries of the far north.

THE ScotcH PRINCESSES AND THE
SWALLOWS

A LEGEND oF LAPLAND

A certain king of Scotland was in the
habit of having his wives strangled as soon
as a son came. He had already sent five
wives into the other world, when he sought
and obtained as his sixth companion Tuigga,
the lovely daughter of the king of Ireland.
After a few months had passed, her husband
had her shut up in a tower under the guard
of an old woman named Odaffa and an old
man Ulfeld, the same who had performed
the five services of which you know. But
one or the other of them took pity on the
poor queen, and when two little daughters
came to her they concealed the fact from the
58 THE SWALLOW

Le king, and fled away with them in a
ship towards the north.

Pe During the voyage Odaffa died.
The queen landed on “The Island
of the Whale,” where the old sailor

~~ built a hut out of the sails and wood

= = of the vessel. And there they all dwelt.
Six years they lived there and the little

 

princesses had no other amusement than play-
ing in the snow. So long as the queen had
| IN LEGEND AND FABLE 59
money, the little party did not want for food
nor fuel from the inhabitants of the island, but
as soon as her money was gone they left her
alone, and then she began to cry. The little
girls asked her: “Why doesn’t the summer,.
which, they say, makes the grass grow and
the roses bloom in Ireland, also come here?”

“It is said,” replied the queen, “that the
little swallows who bring the summer do
not want to come so far north as this. They
stop on the other side of the Gulf.”

“Very well; don’t cry. We will go and
beg the swallows to come here.”

The queen smiled sadly at their innocence.
The next day the princesses began to run,
hand in hand, over the frozen Gulf so as to
reach the other side and talk with the swal-
lows. But soon they were caught in a dense
fog and knew not whether they were going
forward or backward. They began to call
for their mother and to shed tears so warm
that they melted the ice they fell upon.
Then from out a cave near by came a Fairy
60 THE SWALLOW

who asked them what they were seeking.
They told her they were going to call the
swallows. The fairy then said to them :—

“The land of the swallows is a long way
from here, and to get there one must travel
over many countries, where there are bad
men and wolves. Come with me and I will
put you to sleep. When you shall awake
the swallows will be here.”

The princesses hugged the Fairy, i she
led them into her underground palace, where
she warmed them and put them to sleep by
rocking them gently, and she kept them in
bed for a hundred nights and a hundred
days. At the end of that time the ice. walls
of the Fairy’s palace were melted away, and
the eternal snows which had covered every-
thing around had disappeared, and the earth
began to grow grasses and flowers. ee

_ The gay song of a bird awakened the little
ladies from their slumber, and they ran away
to their mother to tell her that the swallows
had come. But the queen had died of sor-
IN LEGEND AND FABLE 61

row, grieving for her lost children. And the
good Fairy of the ice, not being able to endure
the heat brought by the swallows, or the
sight of any green thing, suddenly melted
away and her body mingled with the ocean.
But the god Odin, to repay her for her kind-
ness to the little princesses, raised her on the
breast of a wave and gave her in marriage
to a god of the sea.

 
 
CHAPTER III

THE SWALLOW IN LEGEND AND HISTORY

In addition to her peculiar physical traits,
accounted for in the legends of the preceding
Chapter, the swallow’s moral qualities, as
shown in her relations with other birds and
with various animals, have been made the
subject of legend. The blackbird, the mon-
key, the raven, the cock, the cuckoo, and the
sparrow — each, in contrast with the swallow,
falls short of her in wisdom and _ sagacity.
The swallow’s association with man, some
times bringing him good and sometimes evil
fortune, forms a curious chapter of legendary
history.

The first two legends make plain the swal-
low’s superior foresight in her dealings with
other birds.

63
64 THE SWALLOW

THE SWALLOWS AND THE FLAX
A LEGEND OF VENETIA

mg ‘ =

Sas \

     
    
   
 
  

Once upon a time the swallow gy
passed her life in the companion- \
ship of other birds, lived among
them and fed with them. In sk
the spring, she was the first to
see the flax sown, and she
told the other birds
that they must eat
all the flaxseed or
it would
spring up
and bring «©,
harm to them.
The birds
laughed at
her. The
flaxcame
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 65

up, and the swallow warned the birds that
they should pull it all out of the ground —
and again they laughed. The flax matured,
and once more the swallow advised them to
carry it away. At last, seeing that the
birds paid no heed to her counsels, she
withdrew from their companionship and at-
tached herself to man. With him she still
lives and sings, secure in his protection.

The birds, out of scorn, dubbed her “ false
prophet,” but they were blind to one thing
which she saw clearly — that out of flax men
weave cords and snares to capture birds.

THE BLACKBIRD AND THE SWALLOWS
A LitTLe Fase oF ITALY

Some swallows were flying away to the
south one day when a blackbird begged
them to take him along with them as one
of their flock. They consented, and together
all flew away. After a time they came to
a lake with a surface smooth and shiny like
a mirror. The vain blackbird saw the lake,

CAM. SW. BK.— 5
66 THE SWALLOW

and, wishing to admire his own beautiful
image which was reflected on the water, he
stopped his flight and stretched out his feet.
-~ Suddenly he fell headlong into
the water. As he was falling,
he looked up and saw the

4 swallows flying on without

ee

him, and he called out to them
Pe in his distress : —
“Wait! Wait! I’m drowning!”
- But the wise swallows paid
no -heed to their foolish com-
panion and they flew on

  
 
    

and on until they came to
their destination.
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 67

The next tale is one which is told by the
natives of a small island far away on the
southern coast of Africa. They too believe
in the good sense and foresight of the little
bird.

THE SWALLOW AND THE MONKEY
A FABLE OF THE IsLaND OF MAaurRITIUSsS

Once upon a time a swallow formed a
friendship with a monkey and together they
opened a drug store. One day the swallow
bought a citron and sat down and ate half _
of it with a neighbor. The other half she —
hollowed out so it would float like a canoe.
Then the swallow and the monkey got into
the citron and began to sail. By and by
the monkey became hungry and took a bite
out of the side of the boat. The prudent
swallow warned him of the danger they both
would be in should the rind of the citron
become too thin. After sailing a little
farther, there was more hunger on the
monkey’s part, more eating of the boat,
68 THE SWALLOW

and more anger and reproof from the
swallow.

Finally, at the third bite which the mon-
key took, the little boat sprang a-leak and
bottom. The monkey
drowned on account
stupidity, but the
swallow saved
her life by

went to the

  
  
    
  

was quickly
of his own

The swallows shrewdness reaches even
to cunning in the two following fables, one
of which comes from the far north ‘and the
other from the far south. In these tales
our clever little bird outwits two feathered
creatures much larger than herself, a raven
and a cock.
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 69

THE SWALLOW AND THE RAVEN

A Fase or FINLAND

The swallow and the raven were singing
one day. The raven was making ugly
croaks, and the swallow reproved him
thus : —

“You do not know how to sing. You
shriek as if you were

   

hovering over the carrion

 
      
 

of beasts. I, instead,
Am. celebrate my Creator
with my song.”

The raven replied: “You may know how
to sing, but you cannot rival me in flying.
Though you may be very swift at the start,
you will tire in a long flight.”

Then they both began to fly.
70 THE SWALLOW

After a while the swallow became tired
and she settled herself upon the wings of
the raven, and in this way she was able to
keep pace with him. When they came to
their destination the swallow quickly leaped
down from the raven’s back, looked up at
him and said : —

“Well, here I am, too!”

THe SWALLOW AND THE COCK
FABLE OF MOZAMBIQUE

A swallow one day went to pay a visit to
her friend the cock. The cock offered her a
sweetmeat made of almonds. While eating
it, the swallow observed that at her house in
preparing this delicacy she always cooked
herself in the kettle with the almonds. The
cock could scarcely believe such a. tale,
whereupon the swallow invited him to come
to her home and see for himself.

The next day he came, and there was the
sweetmeat boiling on the stove. Soon he
saw the swallow flying high above the boil

\

eri
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 71

ing kettle, and almost concealed in the steam
which issued from it. In a little while she
reappeared covered with steam and assured
her friend that she had been cooked
along with
the sweet-
meat in “ “me
the kettle. YX
The cock went i
home and told

 
  
 
   
  
  
  

his wife about the delicious morsel and how
he had seen it made, and he said that he
wanted to be boiled in the kettle with some
almonds so as to improve the flavor of the
delicacy. His wife then put him in the
kettle and covered him up and he boiled
and boiled. Along came the swallow then
and ordered the kettle uncovered, and there
72 THE SWALLOW

| « she found her too credulous friend
; all cooked and ready to be eaten.

  
 
    
   

The European cuckoo is a bird
who builds no nest of her own, but
lays her eggs in the nests of other
| birds. By so doing she shirks the
if cares‘and responsibilities of rais-
| _ ing her own family. What
ip quality in the swallow does

=

THE SWALLOW AND THE
Cuckoo.

A Fasie oF FINLAND

A cuckoo asked a swal-
low if, for the sake of
economy, they might share
, a nest in common. The,
“\ swallow at once demanded

of him :-—
“What can you do to earn a living ?”
“TI bring the cry of summer at a given

4
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 73

time each year,” the cuckoo answered. “ All
men listen for the cuckoo’s cry.”

“And I bring the warmth of summer,
together with the springtime,’ replied the
swallow, “and so in this cold land where the
summer is so late in coming we cannot pos-
sibly have a nest in common. The climate
will not permit.”

We are all familiar with the enmity be
tween the sparrow and many other birds —
how the naughty sparrows drive away the
rightful owners from their nests. Hatred
of the sparrow is the motive of the next two
tales.

THE SPARROW IN THE SWALLOW’S NEST
A Tae or FINLAND

When the swallow comes here (to the
land of Finland) in the beginning of the
summer, the sparrow chirps to her from the
edge of the roof: —

“T have been here long. I have shivered
with the cold. I was always cold. I have
74 THE SWALLOW

kept your nest closed and warm, and now
you come back to work all done.”
The swallow replies: “Tins! Tins!
I will pay, I will pay! I bring scissors,
wax, and needle from abroad.”
se “The sparrow cries:

 
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
  
 
  

“T don’t care for your
needles and your scis-
sors. I had my own
we tools for the work.”
The swallow begs:
“Never mind!
Never mind!
~ Let me into
== the nest!”
The sparrow
=replies: “ How
Ve can I let you in?
ssf os brought the feathers. I broughte:
all that is within it.”
The swallow begs and begs: “Let me
stay! Let me stay! I will stay only three
months in the home.”
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 75

The sparrow observes: “Having cared for
your nest for nine months, I will not let
you enter it for { , So short a time.”

Andthenthey f | ¥ begin to quarrel.

, ‘gf The sparrow
, says: “There

    
 
 

*
Si

ae yonder is a
| \ ‘ beam. You can build a nest
| i there and I will help you. Go
and get the foundation for it from
the mountain tops of Lapland.
The swallow leaps up and the sparrow
comes down from the roof. The swallow
says, “I am a master mason.”
76 THE SWALLOW

“And I,” says the sparrow, “am a fine ar-
chitect.”

“Must the clay for the pots and kettles be
brought from afar?”

“You,” says the sparrow, “have many
brothers to help you.”

“But perhaps they have all died in the
long journey oversea and through violent
winds.”

“Perhaps I will help you,” relents
the sparrow, “if you will give me good
things to eat—rye, barley, and seeds of
hemp.”

“But I have none of these.”

The sparrow then becomes angry. “Very
well, I will tear down your nest, and you can
build another. You are a nuisance to man.
You live in his courtyards.”

“That,” says the swallow, “is my own af.

fair. I ama friend to man. Ido not steal. _.

The sparrows steal. I.am allowed to live
on friendly terms in the courtyards of

”

man.

1
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 77

How THE SPARROW WAS PUNISHED
A FasLe or Huncary

A swallow returns to her nest in the spring
and finds it occupied by a sparrow. She
cries and shrieks to attract the attention of
her companions, who soon come hurrying
from all directions. They at once pitch upon
the usurper to make him leave the stolen
nest. But the sparrow refuses to move.
The swallows then hold a brief consultation
and decide to punish the sparrow for unjustly
keeping the nest. With one accord they all
fly away and get some moist earth, and, quick
as a wink, they put a layer of mud over the
opening of the nest, thus hermetically sealing
it. The sparrow and his wife, deprived of
food and air, both quickly die.

The folk of the country of Hungary have
this little song, which records this punish-
ment by the little mud plasterers: —

Quick the swallows hither fly,
And wall the foolish sparrows in ;
So the stupid creatures die, —
A warning sad to all their kin.
78 THE SWALLOW

Three charming legends record the swal-
low’s association with saintly men of olden
time. The first is the familiar story of

SAINT FRANCIS AND THE’ BIRDS

Francis, the gentle saint of Assisi, was
preaching one day to a company of people

he SS Z

    
  

in the open country.
Some birds in the trees
_ near by disturbed him
with their loud
chirping. The

\
\

3 ( i ‘Saint at once
eo turned to them and
courteously asked them to be

silent — and they reverently obeyed him.
At another time Saint Francis, who loved
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 709

all creatures of the earth and air, and who
called them his “little brothers” and “little
sisters,’ addressed a sermon to a multitude
of swallows and other birds in a field, by the
roadside. The birds flew down from the
trees and pressed close about the saint and
listened devoutly as hespoke. He told them
of their Creator and of the many blessings he
had bestowed upon them, in giving them the
air in which they lived, the raiment which they
wore, the food and shelter which they enjoyed.
And he told them always to be grateful for
these benefits. The birds listened devoutly
and made visible signs of understanding the
words of the saint, opening their beaks and |
spreading their wings. Then, after the saint
had blessed them, they flew away, filling the air
with a wonderful song in which they sought
“to praise and to thank the good Jesus.”

In the second legend we find the swallows
visiting one of the old convents of Italy.
It was situated in the midst of dense woods,
and far from cities.
80 THE SWALLOW

SAINT GUTHLAC AND THE SWALLOWS

One day Saint Guthlac was receiving a
visit in his cell from his friend Wilfred,
when two swallows flew in and made the
little place resound with their merry chatter.
They lit upon the shoulders and upon the
head of the saint, and they caressed him
with their black wings. Wilfred marveled
at the actions of the birds, and said to
Guthlac : —

“Oh, my brother, how is it that you have
inspired such confidence in these little winged
creatures of solitude?”

“Do you not know,” replied the saint,
“that he who is united to God in pureness
of heart sees, in his turn, all created beings
joined to him? The birds of heaven recog-
nize those who are of this brotherhood of
man.”

At these words the swallows fluttered their
wings the livelier and set up loud, plaintive
cries, as if they wished to speak and to ask
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 81

some question. The saint, who understood
their language, fetched a little basket made
of rushes and bits of , straw and put it on the
floor, And the birds at once began
to make their
it.

     
 
  
 

nest in

  
    

- . And since then, every year, on
the very same day and at the
very same hour the swallows come and ask
for the little rush basket for their nest, and
for a refuge under the roof of the cell.

Our next legend takes us to a famous
shrine of the Middle Ages, the reputed rest-
ing place of the bones of Saint James, he
“who was buried more distant from his
country than any other of the Apostles.”
This shrine, which for centuries was the
most favored gathering place for pious pil-

CAM. SW. BK.—6
82 THE SWALLOW

grims from all Europe, is in Galicia, in the
northwestern corner of Spain.

SAINT JAMES OF GALICIA AND THE
SWALLOWS

A LEGEND oF SPAIN

Saint James was grieving one day because
no one came to his Festival. But Galicia
is so very far away that only Saint Alexis
dared to make the long journey.

Then, to console Saint James, Jesus said
to him : — .

“Be of good cheer, James. All those who
cannot visit you while they live will come to
see you after death.”

And from that time there has been a con-:
stant knocking at the little door of the shrine
—and no person touches it! It is the pro-
cession of the dead, who continually come
and go on their visits to the saint.

And through that same little door come
also all the swallows in the world, and each.
one bears in her mouth an olive. From
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 83

these olives oil is made for the many lamps
which adorn the shrine and which burn there
day and night.

We should scarcely expect to find the
swallow playing a part in the serious annals
of the world. But in that
derland of history, midway
true and the fabled, where
confused with fact, there we
bird flitting about from 4¥
country. Here, she

ancient bor-
between the
legend is
discover our
country to

E-—---—

is saving the life of a

   

famous general fi
—there, sending ) i i ;
another to tardy j
justice, and more
than once, by
her timely warn. [&
ing, deciding the |
fate of nations.
Even so great a historian as the Greek
Xenophon tells us that just before King Cy-
rus set out to fight the Scythians, some swal-
84 THE SWALLOW

lows appeared to him and warned him of
defeat. And he also writes in his account
of his times that both the kings, Darius and
Antiochus, were forewarned by swallows not
to engage in battle.

Some swallows, by building their nests in
the sails of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra's
barge, foretold the death of her lover, Mark
Antony. It is to this same ancient swallow
superstition that Shakespeare alludes in his
Antony and Cleopatra, when he makes
Scarus say (IV, 10):—

Swallows have built
In Cleopatra’s sails their nests ; the augurers

Say they know not, —they cannot tell, —look grimly,
And dare not speak their knowledge.

A famous Roman consul named Hostilius
Mancinus was also warned of defeat by a
swallow resting among the sails of his
galley.

We read in an old history, and in a pretty
Italian poem, a tale of how Olaf the Great, a
king of Denmark, destroyed the city of
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 85

Duna by tying fire to the tails of a vast
number of swallows and then setting them
free. The birds flew over
the city and kindled the
buildings into flames.
This seems almost like
fable, but we must re-
member that in those
_very early times

  
 
 
 
 
    
  

roofs were made of AE, Wy
thatched straw, and =—t—~S ti. Me fms Lp
not as now, of fireproof materials.

As we have learned in the tales just
told, the appearance of a swallow upon
land foretold disaster. Upon the sea,
on the other hand, the sight of her was
taken as a good omen. Alexander the
Great once owed his life to a swallow,
86 THE SWALLOW

 

if we may credit the following popular
story :—

While besieging the city of Halicomaseus
one day Alexander was so worn out that he
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 87

slept until midday. While he was asleep
“a swallow lit upon his head and gave a
loud cry, then flew round and round over
the bed, all the time keeping up a very
strange noise. Alexander was so exhausted
by fatigue that it was some time before he
awoke, but finally aroused by the noise, he
struck the swallow with his hand. The bird
instead of flying away insisted upon lighting
upon his head, nor would she leave until the
king was fully awakened. Alexander then

 
88 THE SWALLOW

called to mind the omen of the swallow, and at
once sent for Aristander, his diviner, who told
him that the swallow’s actions signified the
treachery of one of his friends, and also that
this treachery would be brought to light.
He explained that the swallow is a bird
which is reared among men, is a friend to
man, and is more talkative than any other
bird. It was shortly discovered that a
certain Alexander, son of a trusted captain,
was plotting the king’s death. And perhaps
he would have succeeded in his wickedness
had it not been for the clever little swallow.

Another swallow who had her nest in the
chapel of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus, fore-
told to him a coming disaster. And still
another, building her nest in his tent while
on the march against the Medes, told Anti-
ochus that evil was about to befall him, —
and so he hurled himself down from a steep.
precipice.

Because of her free flight in the air, the
swallow has long been looked upon as a
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 89

symbol of liberty. Several historical tales
are based on this fancy: Pliny tells us that
swallows never entered the houses of the
Greek city of Thebes, because it had been
many times besieged. Nor would they ap-
proach the country of the Bizyz, because
there lived the wicked Tereus who we learned
in the Greek legend made the pretty Philo-
mela prisoner—as a result of which act
swallows came into the world.

Swallows have sometimes been made to
carry messages between men. Pliny re
counts that at the time of the celebrated
chariot races in Rome, a citizen of Volterra
(a city about fifty miles north of Rome,
which may be visited to-day) by the name of
Czecina was the owner of several chariots or
“dominus quadrigarum ” as you will read in
your Latin. He was in the habit of having
swallows caught and carried with him to
Rome when he went to compete in the Cir-
cus. Upon‘ gaining a victory he would send
the news home to his friends by the birds.
go THE SWALLOW

M4 He did this by staining them with
ty . his colors and then setting them
rK
Orn «ee free; and they at once made
ae “= their way to their old nests.
r-

 

Fabius Pictor, the ancient historian, re-
lates in his Annals how one day a Roman
garrison was being besieged, when a swallow,
who had been taken away from her young in
the nest outside the walls, was ‘brought to
him inside. He tied a string to her foot,
making as many knots in it as the number

  
  
      

   

       
   
      

   

     
 
  
   
 

       

 

  
  
 

   

Distal N Fan vl i

  
IN LEGEND AND HISTORY gt

of days the garrison could hold out. Then he
set her free and she flew to friends outside
the walls. They understood the meaning of
the knots and at once came to their relief.

Plutarch tells this story: A certain Bessus
had killed his father, and for many years he
had kept the murder a secret. One evening
he went to sup in the house of one of his
friends, and while there he angrily struck
to the ground a nest of swallows which
was in the house. Then in great wrath he
trampled upon and killed the little birds in
the nest. When asked why he did such a
cruel thing he replied: “ Didn’t you hear
those birds saying over and over that
I had killed my father? It is a lie.”

His friends wondered greatly at his words,
and they went at once to the king and told
him what had taken place. The king then
made diligent inquiries through his minis-
ters, and after finding certain proof that this
same Bessus had réally murdered his father,
he ordered the culprit put to death.

¢
 

g2
CHAPTER IV
THE SWALLOW IN BELIEFS AND OMENS

As we have learned from the stories of
natural history and legend, the swallow is a
very sociable bird. She lives not only in
large communities of her own kind, but she
loves and seeks the companionship of man,
building in the eaves and windows of his
barns and houses, and rearing her young
family in his very dooryard. It is natural,
therefore, that the folk of all countries have
come to be familiar with her daily habits.
They observed her busily fetching mud and
fashioning it into her curious nest. They
saw her fighting her old enemy, the sparrow,
in his attempts to rob the pretty new home.
They watched her, when the heavens were
clear, soaring almost out of sight in the blue
above; and again, when dark clouds hung

93
94 THE SWALLOW

low, skimming the shining surfaces of ponds
and the waving fields of grain. Then, when
the first cool winds of autumn chilled the

air, they saw her _, gather her family

together and fly oS away to some
>». * unknown land.

Paes ~ , Asa result of this com-

    
   
   
 

:*  panionship, curious beliefs
"and omens have sprung up
mm and flourished in many lands. The
gypsies of Hungary, perhaps be
cause of the bird’s ceaseless chatter,
relate that the first two swal-
(9) lows in the world were once
upon a time a quarrelsome man
and his wife, who passed all
' their days in bitter disputes
over their children. For this
sin they were at last changed,
into chattering swallows.
Other beliefs are more pleas-
. ing. The Chinese claim that
\ the birth of one of their myth-
IN BELIEFS AND OMENS 95

ical heroes named Hesie was thus ordered
by heaven. One day the Princess Shung
was bathing in a stream, when a swallow
flying above let fall an egg upon her mouth,
—and from this egg the Prince was born.

The Arabs call the swallow the “ Bird of
Jesus,” and the Algerians consider her sacred
like their priests, and not to be touched by
human hands. In certain tales of the Mid-
dle Ages we read that one important duty
of the town guards of German villages was
to announce with trumpets the springtime
arrival of the swallows, for the old Germans
held the bird in high esteem, even fabling
her an assistant of the Lord in the making
of heaven. According to a Belgian fable,
swallows were the bringers of water to earth.
The children of Portugal will tell you that
every day the swallows fly up into the sky
and wash the feet of God, and if one of them
is harmed it “makes the Mother of Jesus
weep.”

About her mud nest cluster charming say-
96 © THE SWALLOW

ings and beliefs. “Swallow, come and
build your nest in my little window!” cry
the boys and girls of Brittany in the early
Springtime, for, unlike the raven, swallows
bring good fortune to the homes that har-
bor them. But the homes they favor with
their presence must be the abodes of love
and peace, for, according to the Germans, the
slightest quarrel'in a family makes the swal-
lows abandon their nests in the eaves and fly
away, taking the good fortune with them.

The ancient Romans gladly allowed swal-
lows to build in the eaves and roofs of their
houses, for one of their legends taught that
the spirits of the little dead babies of their
household came back from heaven to visit
them in the form of swallows.

But beware of harming the nest! Ter-
rible are the misfortunes which will fall upon,
your head for the offense! Sicilian boys are
taught not to harm the nest for fear of being
stricken dumb, and Norwegian mothers
warn their children that they will become
IN BELIEFS AND OMENS 97

blind or crippled if they disturb a nest. In
other countries the retribution is less severe
—the cow’s milk is soured, the flock of the
wicked one is scattered, his house falls
down or sudden death visits his household.
- _ In Jutland, as_ she
leaves the in-
jured nest,

    

the swallow touches the arm of the rash
youth and leaves it paralyzed. Sometimes
the poor mother bird in her great grief curses
the offender even to the third generation.
She picks up a little stone and drops it into
a pond for an evil omen, the act signifying

CAM. SW. ‘BK. — 7

 
98 THE SWALLOW

that one day a member of that family will
drown. That is why they say of a boy
whom evil luck has befallen, “ He was cursed
by a swallow.”

Worse punishments are reserved for him
who wantonly kills the bird. His prettiest
cow will die, all his sheep will perish, a
stroke of lightning will destroy his house or
else he will lose his parents during the year.
The French peasants have the strange belief
that a swallow passing under the belly of a
cow leaves the animal bewitched, and turns
her milk into blood. But the milk may be
turned back again simply by scalding it at a
four corners |

The German folk watched with interest
the struggle between the swallow and her
eternal enemy, the sparrow. In consequence
we have these omens: When a swallow,,,,
alights in an open window and twitters, it is
a sign that a happy event will come to pass
in that house. But if a sparrow alights
there and chirps, something unlucky will
IN BELIEFS AND OMENS 99

happen. If a sparrow throws a swallow out
of the nest, a son will be born and a daughter
die. But if the swallow pushes the sparrow
out, then a daughter will be born and a son
die. A sparrow flying towards a house is a
sign of the birth of a son, while an approach-
ing swallow foretells a daughter.

The folk have noted the swallow’s small,
weak feet, and the fact that, unlike other
birds, she is almost always on the wing. So
they have styled her a bird of heaven, and
added that when she alights upon a tree or
barn she cannot again fly away, but perishes
there, as the earth is not her element. They
account for her swift, tortuous, and appar-
ently capricious flight by the fanciful notion
that some invisible monster7y a dragon or
hobgoblin, furiously pursues her.

As the swallow flies so swiftly and easily,
why not ask her to bear messages to distant
loved ones, even to friends in heaven? A
learned man of Venice writes : —

“Tt-is believed here that swallows have
100 THE SWALLOW

a mystical correspondence with certain men
and women, who get from them mysterious
messages from the skies. I could tell you
of an old woman, held to be a saint, who
is said to talk with the swallows.”

By carefully noting her actions at the
approach of a storm and when the skies
were clear, the people have discovered in
the swallow one of our surest prophets of
the weather. To this office we owe our
most familiar swallow omens, common to
many languages and countries. Swallows
announce the approach of rain by flying low
over the fields and the ponds, so

When swallows fly low,
A storm will blow,

say the Italians. The French have it: —

Swallows skimming o’er the plain
Are sure messengers of rain.

@rbbbh

When sunny days are at hand, swallows
mount high into the heavens and lose them-
selves from sight in the blue sky —and the
English poet sings : —
IN BELIEFS AND OMENS IOI

When swallows fleet soar high and sport in air,
They tell us that the welkin will be clear.

Perhaps because of her ability to foretell
the weather, the folk appeal to her to decide
other and more important matters. The
French peasant who wishes to marry and

knows not which maid to choose, awaits
~ the coming of the first swallow in the spring.
As soon as he spies her, he looks down at
his feet, and there upon the ground he finds
a hair, which is the color of the tresses of
the lass he must marry.

The Polish youth who needs a new horse,
and knows not which to choose, also con-
sults the swallows. He goes out into the
fields, and when he sees a swallow he whirls
around three times on his heel, saying as
he does so, “ Tell me, O swallow, what color
my horse shall be.” Then he steps to one
side and examines the mark made by. his
heel, and there he finds a hair the color of
which tells him the color of the horse to
buy. But he must quickly say, “I’ve found
102 THE SWALLOW

it!” in order to ward off the evil spell of
witches.

‘The Italian peasant who sees the first
swallow in the spring at’ once stops where
he is and with his knife digs a hole in the
ground near his left foot, and there he finds
a little piece of coal, which has the wonder-
ful power to cure fever. This magic piece
of swallow coal, the youth of Denmark,
when he finds it in the same way, ties to
his spade handle as a talisman against
disease. In Chapter Seven we shall learn of
many other strange practices of healing.

Where do the swallows spend the cold
months of winter? The answer to this
question, so simple to us to-day, was until
quite recent years the subject of astonishing
beliefs. Among the many curious things
which Pliny taught in his Natural Historyeu
was the belief that swallows go to the bot-
toms of lakes and cling there close together
in bunches like grapes, until spring comes.
This. solution of the mystery sufficed for
IN BELIEFS AND OMENS 103

many generations of men, and even yet
a similar notion may be found among the
ignorant peoples of northern Europe. As
every fall they see the swallows gather in
large flocks upon the margins of lakes and
ponds, and then in the dead of night they
disappear, they say the birds have gone down
to the bottom of the water to remain there
under the ice until the end of bad weather.
This absurd belief has not been confined
to the ignorant, for listen to the learned
Izaak Walton, in his immortal discourse
upon the gentle art of angling:—

“Tt is well known that swallows and bats
and wagtails, which are called half-year birds,
are not seen to fly in England for six
months in the year, but about Michaelmas
leave us for a better climate; yet some of
them that have been left behind their fellows,
have been found many thousands at a time
in hollow trees, or clay caves, where they
have been observed to live and sleep out the
whole winter without meat.”
 

104
CHAPTER V
THE SWALLOW IN PROVERBS AND RIDDLES

Just as little by little the peculiar habits
and traits of the swallow were translated into
beliefs and omens, so gradually these beliefs
and omens crystallized into proverbs and
riddles, and as such they became a part of
the common speech of many peoples. The
bird’s springtime coming and autumn de-
parture, her hatred of the sparrow, her curi-
ous nest, her incessant chatter and continu-
ous flight—each serves as a means for the
fanciful expression of some simple fact.
The proverbs have often a deeper meaning,
and under many a plain statement we may
find concealed a wise and homely truth.

The coming of the swallow depends upon
‘the state of the weather; therefore the precise
date varies from country to country. In Italy

105
06 THE SWALLOW

she appears about the 21st of March, which
is Saint Benedict’s day, and the people greet
one another with this proverb: —
By Saint Benedict the Blest,
The little swallow’s on her nest.

She is first seen in France on March 25,
or sometimes as late as the roth of April,
and the folk, happy to be out in the spring
sunshine, repeat : —

When their nests the swallows make,

We no longer shelter take.
Then, as they see the fresh young green of
their grain fields, they add :—

The swallows to the wheat fields bring

All the joys of fruitful spring.
Berlin sees the swallow about the 18th of
April, but she does not reach Copenhagen,
Denmark, until May 5th. In England, April
15th is called “Swallow Day,” but if a bird
chances to be seen sooner, then may be
heard the familiar

One swallow does not make a summer.
IN PROVERBS AND RIDDLES 107

This proverb. is old, going back to Greek
times when its form was : —

One swallow does not make a spring.

A quaint combination of the two proverbs is
current in the Balearic Isles, near the coast
of Spain : —

One swallow makes neither a summer, nor two springs.

As the swallow leaves Italy about the
middle of August, the devout folk naturally
_associate the event with the feast days of
their August saints, Saint Roch (August 16)
and Saint Bartholomew (August 24), and we

hear : —
On Blessed Saint Roch’s day,
The swallows fly away,

and
O Saint Bartholomew,

With God the swallows flew.
Instead of suggesting a saint, the bird’s de-
parture from Gascony calls to mind the
work to be done in the fields : —

When the swallows go away,
Get the plow and work all day.
108 THE SWALLOW

A homely German proverb says : —
When the swallows go away, the flies stay,

which means that the birds are a benefit by
ridding the land of -.. .

flies, and also, in an- gee
othersense,thatsome-.. +
times bothersome
people remain ‘

  
  
    
   

around after ~~~

serious ones ee
have departed. The Danish ae

people have a proverb which attributes a
selfish reason to the summer visits of our
bird, but we are well aware of its untruth :—~

The hypocrite is like the swallow — with us in the sum-
mer, and away at the approach of bad weather.

Some proverbs combine both the coming
IN PROVERBS AND RIDDLES 10g

and the going of the swallows. From
France we have:—

The swallows in March arriving,
Not always make the spring ;
And in September, departing,
The clouds of autumn bring.

The Austrians say that the swallows come
on the day of the Annunciation (March 25),
and go away on the birthday of Mary, the
Mother of Jesus (September 8) and they join
the events thus : —

On the day of Mary’s birth,
The swallows fly away —
And they come again to us,
Annunciation Day.

In the proverbs which voice the quarrel
between the swallow and the sparrow, the
inner meaning meant to be conveyed is
that one should attend carefully to his
own household lest harm come unawares.
“When the swallow allows the sparrow to
enter her nest, she must make another for
herself,’ and “While the swallow is away
after food, the sparrow robs the nest” say
IIo THE SWALLOW

the Germans. The Dutch put it this way:
“When the swallows go, the sparrows re-
main.”

The swallow loves her pretty nest and the
Germans love their comfortable homes, so
naturally we havea .-- group of German

* proverbs’ which
; “ express this

 

common sentiment: “An old mother swallow
knows her own nest,” “The swallow gladly
returns to her nest,” “ When the swallows go
IN PROVERBS AND RIDDLES III

away, the nest remains empty.” When they
_ wish to say in metaphor that a successful
home is one for which both husband and wife
labor, they have this: “When both swallows
fetch mud, the nest is soon made,” and when
they warn a friend not to expect the impos-
sible, they say to him: “ Never look for eagles
in a swallow’s nest.” Affection for the bird
and their own proverbial hospitality the
people of the Fatherland make plain in this
proverb: “One swallow and a guest bring
good luck into the house.”

The ceaseless chatter of swallows is sug-
gestive of the endless tattle of gossips, and
is the inspiration of a group of proverbs
aimed against this idle and harmful habit.
“Do not receive swallows into your house,”
said old Aristotle, and so say the modern
Italians, meaning that you should not make
friends of persons who cannot bridle their
tongue. The Germans remark of one who
talks too much: “ He went to school to the
- swallows.” “Swallows come chattering to
112 THE SWALLOW

their nests, and go away silent” is an old
Latin proverb.

When a little German boy salutes a friend
by raising his hat in nervous haste, the
people joke: “ He has some swallows under
his hat,” and when he plays truant, they say
of him: “ He has been to school to the swal-
lows.” By these they mean that, like the
swallows, he is restless and would rather
roam about at his own free will than spend
his time in one place.

“A swallow without a louse” is a man
without a cent, or a beggar, in a homely and
common proverb of Holland. In a certain
city in the north of Italy, they name a
“ swallow” the black silk ribbon with which
the engaged girls tie their braids, which rib-
bon distinguishes them from the girls who
are not yet betrothed. We all know what a
“ swallow-tailed coat” is. °

The beauty and grace of young girls is
sometimes compared to the beauty and grace
of swallows, as in Tuscany : —
P;

IN PROVERBS AND RIDDLES 113

Little flower of myrtle bright —
I like my sweetheart lythe and light,
Like a swallow in her flight.

Many years ago in a little village in the
western part of the island of Sicily, there
lived a very old man who, it was rumored,
made tails for swallows. He was very poor
and very small and very pious, and so they
gave him the name of Saint Miserino, which
means all those things. To-day the people
who live in that village recall him in a say-
ing addressed to a person who attempts to
do the impossible : —

For Saint Miserino you I’d mistake,
Who tails for swallows thought he could make.

In Italy, the beatings of a pretty girl’s
heart are called “ swallows’ wings,” and when
a child is exceptionally bright in his studies,
they say of him: “He must have eaten a
swallow’s heart.” In the Chapter on Medi-
cine we shall learn the meaning of this
saying.

The answer to each of the following rid-

CAM, SW. BK.-—8
II4 THE SWALLOW

dles is “ The Swallow.” In two of them her
forked tail, you will notice, is compared to a
pair of scissors— perhaps an echo of some
of the legends.

A Greek riddle runs :—

Needle in front,

Scissors behind,

Black as a monk on top,
White as cotton beneath —
What is it?

From Roumania come the next two :—
What is that which has a head like a
woman, and a tail like a fork ?

Now on high,
Now down low,
It is black,
And not a cat.

The Portuguese children ask one another : —

What is that,

Which does not belong here,
Eats and drinks here,
Sleeps here,

Yet doesn’t live here ?

Another Portuguese riddle describes the
little bird thus : —
IN PROVERBS AND RIDDLES TIS

A spinner who spins not

And cures not in March;

Comes from the sea, flies to the sea,
Builds her home without hearth,
Without spade, without mattock,
And without help of male.
Chirrichiz!

In the island of Sardinia there runs a pretty
riddle, which has for answer, “ The Swallow’s
Nest ” : —

I know a palace
All made of lace,

All made of lace;

No stone, nor plaster —
Guess what it is,

Guess what it is —

No plaster, nor stone.

 

 
 

116
CHAPTER VI
THE SWALLOW IN FOLK SONGS

WHERE can we find a more charming in-
spiration to song than the little swallow, with
whom the children of many lands live the
long summer through in close companion-
ship? To her who brings them, as they be-
lieve, the sunshine and the rain, and who
sets them the example of her cheerfulness
and her industry, they turn with pretty songs
of welcome, of entreaty, and of longing; but
when the hateful sparrow .appears, then the
bird herself tells us in mournful cadences the
sad tale of thievery and destruction.

As soon as they hear the twitter of the
first swallow upon her arrival from over
the desert, the children of Greece arise at
the peep of dawn and call upon the hills

and the flowers to rejoice with them at the
117
118 THE SWALLOW

coming of the swallows; and they ask the
‘bird to tell them where and how she has
passed the time since her departure : —

March has come! It fills the air!
Rejoice, ye birds and hills and flowers!
And tell us, swallows, of the hours
That you have passed, and where.

Then, after the manner of children, they
beg to know what she has .. , &

“
-
Lbs

bv,
brought them from afar; U8

and the bird answers that “=> 34

   

she has
brought them,
besides the

health and
joy of -
IN FOLK SONGS 119g

the new season, some bright eggs for the
coming Easter: —

Little swallow, joyous one,

Joyous one, my swallow;

From the desert what dost bring?

“ Health, red eggs, and joy I sing!”

The swallow builds her nest, and, perch-
ing upon the edge of it, she recites to the
children all the delights of the new season.
She tells them that the trees will soon be
green, the hens will cluck and lay, the herds
will skip to the mountains, and all created
things will rejoice in the departure of the
snow, and the coming of the sun :—

From the Black Sea the swallow comes,
She o’er the waves has sped ;
And she has built herself a nest,
And resting there she said : —
“Thou February cold and wet,
And snowy March and drear,
Soft April heralds its approach,
And soon it will be here.

The little birds begin to sing,
Trees don their green array,
Hens in the yard begin to cluck,

And store of eggs to lay.
120 THE SWALLOW

The herds their winter shelter leave

For mountain side and top ;
- And goats begin to sport and skip,

And early buds to crop;

Beasts, birds, and men all give themselves
To joy and merry heart,

And ice and snow and northern winds
Are melted and depart.

Foul February, snowy March,
Fair April will not tarry.

Hence, February! March, begone!
Away the winter carry!

Pritz! Pritz!”

— Translated by COUNTESS MARTINENGO-CESARESCO.

A cordial and unique welcome was given
the swallows to the Island of Rhodes about
twenty-five centuries ago. In the month of
Boedromion (our February) the children were
accustomed to go about the streets of the
villages singing the “Swallow Song,” and
demanding of the people gifts of cakes, wine,
cheese, etc, for the swallows. They even
threatened to break down the door and carry
off the little wife of him who dared to refuse
them. This was their song, in the charming
IN FOLK SONGS 121

English version of the Countess Martinengo-
Cesaresco :—

The swallow comes! She comes, she brings
Glad days and hours upon her wings.
See on her back
Her plumes are black,
But all below
As white as snow.
Then from your well-stored house with haste,
Bring sweet cakes of dainty taste,
Bring a flagon full of wine,
Wheaten meal bring, white and fine ;
And a platter load with cheese,
Eggs and porridge add — for these
Will the swallows not decline.
‘Now shall we go, or gifts receive!
Give, or ne’er your house we leave,
Till we the door or lintel break,
Or your little wife we take ;
She so light, small toil will make.
But whate’er ye bring us forth,
Let the gift be one of worth.
Ope, ope your door to greet the swallows then,
For we are only boys, not bearded men.

This custom was continued through the
centuries, and, as late as one hundred years
ago, a traveler in Greece saw the little boys
122 THE SWALLOW

  

» of Athens going about the streets
| each carrying in his hands

 
  

pees 2 crude wooden image

 

of a swallow attached to a
little windlass, which made
it spin rapidly round and round. They
stopped before the doors of the principal
houses and sang this song : —

O’er the white sea the swallow is winging,
She rests; and she’s singing : —
“To March, my good month of March,
And to you, February,
All snowy and dreary,
The fragrance of springtime you’re bringing.”

Then they received gifts of eggs, cakes, fruit,
etc.

From these old Grecian swallow greetings
sprang a custom, common still in several
countries of Europe, for the children, and
sometimes older people as well, to go about
in bands on New Year’s Eve, Easter Eve,
and Martinmas (or Feast of Saint Martin,
celebrated on November 11). They sing
IN FOLK SONGS 123

before the houses of the chief citizens and
the shops of the sellers of eatables, and
accept in return gifts of money and of food.
To these same pretty songs we trace our
own gift-giving customs of the New Year,
the Easter, and the Maytime.

The children of Albania, the country lying
along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea,
beg the swallow for good tidings to cheer
them after the dreary winter, and she tells
them to go out into the bright sunshine and
there they will find happiness : —

Welcome March, mild month and stormy,
Bringing sunshine with the rain,
Bringing flowers to fill the meadows,
Bringing mountain snows again.

O Lady Swallow, Lady Swallow,
Dancing there upon that beam,
If you have some news to tell me,
Tell, that I may happier seem.

—“O wretched youth, the news I bring
Is posted far and near —

Happiness is out of doors,

And the sea is calm and clear.”
124 THE SWALLOW

Then they invite the bird to come and
build her home in the eaves of their houses,
promising her to care for. her young : —

O-swallow, little swallow,

Welcome as you now appear!

The snow has gone from off our mountains,
Winter’s ended, spring is here,

With all its little flowers and sun,

Because of your return.

Build your nest beneath my window,
Wake me with your morning song,
And I'll give you and your nestlings
Food for all the summer long.

O swallow, little swallow,

Welcome, as to us you come!

But these promises are not always kept, for
from Spain there comes to our ears the bird’s
wail of anguish over a wanton injury to her
newnest. The wicked one tells us himself:—

To St. Felix, on the way,

I met a swallow one bright day ;
Her little nest was nearly done,

When with my sword point, just for fun,
I struck away the tiny thing.

You should have heard her loud wail ring!
IN FOLK SONGS 125

She wept, she cried: “Oh! My poor home!
I'll build no more where armed men roam,
But on a mountain top so high
That cruel men will not pass by;
Only perchance the King of France
May come that way, by some good chance,
If so, my love I’ll manifest
By giving him my little nest.”

But alas for the nest! The home which
the returning swallow left in the fall, so
= : pretty and so well

y stored, has been
robbed and in-
jured. Listen, as

 
 
   
  

the poor bird grieves:—

When I went away
In the fall, —
Full was all;
When I come again
In the spring,
Not a thing —
\ Eaten all! Eaten all!
\

i go
KON
As she examines os \ more closely

the ruin of her home, her \\ sorrow in-
iN
creases, and she sobs: — ’
126 THE SWALLOW

Pretty was my nest,

When away I flew;

Ruin covers all,

As I come anew!
Soon she discovers that it is her enemy,
the sparrow, who is the robber, and she cries
out in anger : —

My house was full of food,
When I went away last fall;
And now, come home, I find
A sparrow’s eaten all!

Overcome with grief, she looks about to

discover some friend to whom she may

tell her troubles, but, instead of a

+ Z friend, she spies another enemy
and she sighs :—

How nice it would be,

How nice it would be,

To sit down and chat

With my neighbor, were
she

Not a horrible cat!

Not a horrible cat!

At last,as she cannot gossip with her neighbor,
she goes out for a walk and meets with another
misfortune. Listen to her woeful tale: —

 
IN FOLK SONGS 127

I went for a walk,

Tore my coat to a shred!
To mend it I’d like—
But I have no thread.

But the good-natured little bird soon for-
gets her wrongs, and she goes about her
tasks so contented and gay that the Italian
youth who live in the Valley of the Magra
river beg her for a song to encourage them
as they labor : —

Swallow, lift your little voice,
~ And cheer me in my work;

*T will aid me in the task I do,

And shame me when I shirk.

Hark! From across the sea floats an echo
in accents soft and musical. It is a little
Spanish swallow telling the young men that
to accomplish their tasks they must be up
betimes in the morning. She recites to them,
as an example, all that she has done while ©
they were asleep, even making the long pil-
grimage to the famous shrine of Monser-

rat: —
T rose very early,
I ate in a hurry,
128 THE SWALLOW

I went to Monserrat ;
In bed you are still?
Get up with a will!
Get up and equal that!

In place of good cheer and homely advice,
some children ask the friendly swallow for
sympathy in their sorrow. A Greek maiden
who is grieving over the departure of a
loved one begs the swallows to cease their
gay chatter and to join in her lament : —

To Sweet Basil I cried,
When behold! I espied
In its branches widespread,
A rose rear its head.

- Then the swallows there clinging
Set up a loud singing, —
O, my swallows! I pray,
Cease your songs on this day,

For my heart’s core, my own,
Far away has he gone;

Far from port he is sailing,
Where tempests are wailing.

O, my swallows, I pray,
Do not sing on this day!
But change your gay ditty
To low sobs of pity.
IN FOLK SONGS 129

a In a little Servian swallow song
, our bird appears in the rdéle of
afr} a comforter to some neglected

~ age young eagles. She promises

—

 

to take the fatherless little ones far away to
a happier land: —

“QO silent dew, why fallest thou not on me?”

The small-leafed Basil made her plaintive cry.
“Two mornings now, my moisture freshened thee,”
The dew, reproachful, whispered in reply.

“This morn an eagle and a sprite I saw,

A mountain spirit, quarreling o’er yon mount —
‘The mount is mine, ’twas given me by law!’

The spirit cried. The eagle took no count.

CAM. SW. BK.—9
_—

130 THE SWALLOW

“’Tis mine!’ she said — and now with broken wings
Atones her boldness. While the eaglets small
Bemoan their fate, a kindly swallow sings : —
‘Comfort, young eaglets, I will take you all

Unto the land of Ind, far, far o’er seas,

Where to the horses’ shoulders clover grows,

And amaranth reaches even to their knees.

The sun sets never on that happy shore.’

And now the little eaglets mourn no more.”

A bird of the south, the ortolan, which is
much liked as a food, asks the swallow how
it is that so many of them come back in the
spring, when so few went away in the fall.
The wise bird answers them with another
question. Portuguese children sing this dia-
logue: —

Little swallow, whence come you,
That return so many, and were so few?

The swallow answers :—

Foolish ortolan, whence come you,
That were so many, and return so few?

As they see the swallow flying so swiftly
and easily through the air, the children natu-
rally ask her to be a messenger to distant
IN FOLK SONGS 131

friends, to carry sighs and
notes —and sometimes
the petitioner himself!
The Spanish

    

 

Province of
Galicia, where

s rest the bones

 

of Saint James, asks only that she carry a
sigh in her gentle little beak : —

Oh! Thou who far away dost fly,
Away to shores less bleak ;
Carry to my love a sigh,

In thy gentle beak.
wo
132 THE SWALLOW

The young man of Roumania is not content
with a sigh — he begs her to bear a note to
some far-away land: —

Swallow, little bird free,

Will’st a message bear for me?
Take this note to far off land,
Drop it in my sweetheart’s hand.

Should she ask from whence it came,
Should she seek the writer’s name,
Say: “The one from whom I’ve flown ‘
Loves thee, darling, thee alone.”
— Translated by Henry PuIutps, Jr.

The Italian wants still more—he would
have a feather from her wing with which to
pen the note for her to carry, using his own
heart as a seal : —

O swallow, flying o’er the sea,

Stop awhile and list to me.

A feather from your wings so bright
Give, that I to my love may write.
With my lifeblood I'll reveal it,
With my own heart I will seal it,
And when all is neatly done,

Take it to my dearest one.

Neither sighs nor notes will satisfy the
Portuguese youth. He asks the little bird
IN FOLK SONGS 133

to take with her no less than his own sad
and lonely self : —

Sad, sad is my life to me,

Sad as ever can be;

Take me with you, let me follow
Where you wander, little swallow.

But in France, sighs, notes, and companion-
ship, all are of no avail. There the young
man longs to be the bird herself. He re-
turns from the wars to his own city, and
knocks at the door of his promised bride.
She refuses to open the door. Listen to his

plaint :—
A swallow I’d be,
And then I would flee
To the arms of Marrianne ;
There I'd alight,
And from her face white
Sweet kiss take by right.

But the maiden saucily replies : —

No branches are my arms
For you to rest upon ;

In father’s garden, see,
You'll find rosebushes three,
That'll furnish rest for thee !
134 THE SWALLOW

The children of Parma, Italy, believe that
the swallows can bring the rain or make

    
  
   

: the sun to
te oka , // shine, so they
‘+ petition them in pretty
little ditties. When they
want the rain to come, they go
out into the fields and call : —
Little swallow, fly down low,
Pray God a storm may blow ;

Pray God that it may soon appear,
Pray God it’s coming near!

And the swallows skim low over the land,

and down comes the rain! When they

want the sun to shine, they look out of

j the window at the falling rain, and they.
sing this little song, certain that the birds
will bring the bright sunshine: —

git
IN FOLK SONGS 135

Little swallow, God’s loved one,
Pray Him to send the sun;
Pray God it soon shine low —
Ah! There it’s coming now!

And the sun soon scatters the clouds and
sends its rays down upon them. When rain
is threatening, and the swallows still persist
in twittering cheerily, the Spanish boys and
girls of Andalusia sing to them :—

Little swallow,

Why so gay?

March has not yet

Gone away.

To-morrow, plain,

We shall have rain.

Dofia Beatrice.

When September approaches, and the
children see their little friend making ready
to depart for warmer lands, they turn to her
with songs of sorrow, chiding her for not tell-
ing them when she will return : —

O swallow, when I’ve nourished thee,
And given thee wings of gold;

Up to the sky so blue thou’rt gone,
Nor thy return hast told.
136 THE SWALLOW

One child asks her to find and salute her
pretty godmother over the sea: —

Thou who art setting out o’er sea,
Salute my godmother there for me;
Take her my love, I fondly pray,

Her with the wig and the ribbons gay.

Another mourns because the bird will find a
new nest over the seas, but where will his
own home be?

The swallows have all flown away, —
To a land that is warmer, more gay;
New nests they will make o’er the sea,
But my nest — Ah! where shall it be?

I would build it, my love, in your heart,
I would bide with you never to part.
-There let me rest, let me stay,

Till life and the world pass away.

After listening to all these sentimental
songs, a practical little swallow from the
shores of Greece tells the children that the
harvest remains for them to gather, and that
she will return after it is all stored away : —

Iam going away — and with you I leave
The figs and the nuts, the grapes and the grain,

Which stored away in the bins will be,
When I come back to this land again.
IN FOLK SONGS 137

But the French children are curious to
know where their little companion is going,
and where she will pass the cold months, and
they ask her : —

Swallow, pretty swallow,
In winter where do you go?
“To Athens I fly,

To Stephen I hie, —
Why do you ask me so?”

Let us hope that Stephen is one of the
little Athenian boys who is watching and

waiting for her coming, and who will wel-
come her in the pretty Greek way.

Bayo, ae 2
Pa ae
Ph xe
» coe me
&
wy
>
oN
aoe wa sie
a =
4
= cal *
 

        

  
 
        
   

       

-

Hi
Ht Sh Mi

| ne

A ae Hi if mM i

138
CHAPTER VII
THE SWALLOW IN MEDICINE

STRANGE and varied are the powers which,
we have learned, are attributed to the swal-
low, but the strangest of all is yet to be told
—her power to lessen human ills. With
the little swallow stone taken out of her
stomach or from her nest, with the burned
ashes of her body, and with her warm bleeding
heart, she was said to perform marvelous
cures. Even more than this, a small plant
which springs up in the fields each year upon
the arrival of the swallows was held to pos-
sess the same magic virtue.

Let us first examine the swallow stone
and its manner of use. Faith in the healing
power of this little stone is very old and
comes to us originally, with our prettiest
songs and legends, from the ancient land of

139
140 THE SWALLOW

Greece. In the Middle Ages its use spread _

over into Italy and Spain, and thence into
northern Europe, — and is it not possible
that the eyestone of to-day, which is some-
times used to remove foreign particles from
the eye, is a remnant of this old super-
stition ?

The swallow stone of popular medicine
was a tiny oval-shaped pebble, generally
white in color, although Pliny tells us there
were two kinds of swallow stone “ renowned
in magic art” —one white and the other
red. German scholars also mention two,
one red or speckled with red, and the other
black, the red one alone possessing heal-
ing virtue.

Where was this stone to be found?
Among the peasant folk of Denmark you
may still hear it said that out of one hun-
dred little swallows which have never
touched earth, one has in its stomach this
healing stone. The Germans will tell you
that if a swallow returns to the same nest
IN MEDICINE 141

year after year for seven consecutive years,

at the end of the seventh summer she will

leave this precious stone in the nest. A

French fable gives still another version. It

tells us that the parent swallows search for

the stone in the sands of the sea, and when

found they take it home and use it to heal

the eyes of their nestlings, even restoring the

sight when they are blind. It is to this folk

tale that Longfellow refers in the opening

lines of Evangeline : —

Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests on the
rafters,

Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, which the
swallow

Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight of its
fledglings ;

Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the
swallow!

How was this magic stone used by man?
For long centuries it was a popular remedy
for all manner of eye troubles; and many were
the cures, including even blindness, which it
was claimed to perform. But more astonish-
142 THE SWALLOW

ing still were the other uses to which it was
put. It was ground fine and taken as a
powder to heal tumors, to soothe con-
vulsions, and to cure “falling sickness,”
as the disease called epilepsy was then
known.

A learned man of the Middle Ages styled.
the stone a “noble and efficacious stone,”
and said that it might be taken internally or
else wrapped in a little piece of cotton or silk
and worn in the armpit, around the neck, or
upon other parts of the body which needed
healing. Others recommended that it be
done up in the skin of a raven or of a calf,
and tied under the left arm as a talisman
against dizziness, falling sickness, melan-
cholia, or fainting spells. Physicians bound
the stone upon the insane and upon children
suffering from croup. When they wished toe»
relieve a baby in convulsions, they wrapped
the stone in a piece of cloth and tied it
around its neck like a charm, at the same
time saying prayers over the child — “three
IN MEDICINE 143

Paternosters and three Ave Marias, to de-
liver it from the evil.”

A curious old book called 7he Secrets of
Medicine gives us careful directions as to
the finding and use of the swallow stone. It
says the stone must be extracted from the
belly of the first-born swallow, just before
the full of the moon or when the sun is “in
the sign of the Lion,” and before the bird
has touched earth. The author calls it a
ready remedy for falling sickness “ because it
has the power to scatter that tenacious and
glutinous humor which is the source and
seed of this disease.” Strange medical prac-
tices indeed !

More curious still than the remedies of
the swallow stone are the medicines which
were made of the bird’s little body. About
seven hundred years ago, if you had gone to
a doctor in Italy and asked for medicine to
cure your eyes, you probably would have
been given a mixture containing the burned
ashes of a swallow. If your eyes were very
144 THE SWALLOW

much inflamed, the ashes of an old mother
bird mixed with honey would be handed to
you. Or, the ashes of the swallow’s heart
stirred into white wine would be prescribed.
A very special eye remedy was then con-
cocted from the ashes of the bird taken in
the days of hatching, mixed with certain
waters “at the full of the moon,” together
with other absurd observances, — all of
which seem to us very ridiculous.

To heal other bodily ills in those ignorant
and superstitious times, they made as many
as seventeen different kinds of healing lotions
out of our bird. In one, her ashes were
stirred into castor oil, and in another her
blood was mixed with incense. The people
treated all diseases of the throat and of the
skin with this absurd medicine, as well as
fever and ague, drunkenness and hydrophobia..

The mud nest also had a place in the
medieval doctor’s medicine case. He ad-
vised its use for sore throats and for aching
teeth, for deaf ears and for weak brains.
IN MEDICINE _ 145

It was even given to cows suffering \
with dysentery ! :

   
 
  
 
  
  

Do you know a little plant with a
tiny yellow blossom, which grows
wild in our fields and which is
called celandine or swallowwort?
It appears in the spring with the
.swallows, and it withers at their
departure, hence its name
which means “swallow” in
the Greek language. Spanish
folk say that this herb cannot **
be seen by human eyes, being
visible only to the swallows. But
our poets have surely looked upon
its bright sunny blossom, else how \\e
could one have sung : —

There’s a flower that shall be mine,

Tis the little celandine.
* * * * * * *

. .. The thrifty cottager

Who stirs little out of doors,
Joys to spy thee near at home;
Spring is coming, thou art come!

CAM. SW. BK.—— 10
146 THE SWALLOW

Swallowwort, in the far-away and ignorant
times of which we are learning, was believed
to have the same healing power as the swal-
low stone. It was fabled that swallows
used the herb upon the eyes of their young,
and that they first taught its use to man.
But whether this be true or not, swallow-
wort was once so common and well recog-
nized a remedy that an old scholar wrote
of it: “When a child loses its sight through
some disease they apply an herb called
celandine, which heals the eyes and restores
the sight.”

We must also mention another practice,
one which was very common many years
ago in the countries of the south of Europe.
It was to kill a swallow, take out its warm
beating heart, and give it to a boy or girl
to eat. Why did they do this? Because
the parents believed that the swallow’s heart,
if eaten, would make the child grow up wise
and learned. In different places they looked
for different results from this strange diet.
IN MEDICINE * 147

Some believed it would strengthen the mem-
ory, others that it would bring wisdom and
love of study. The parents of the children
who lived in the land of Dalmatia forced
their boys and girls to swallow not one, but
three hearts. And in order to make the
hearts more palatable, they covered them
with sugar.

In contrast to these grim usages of the
south lands, the youths of northern Europe
look upon the heart of the swallow as a
symbol of affection. The young man of
Denmark who wishes the maiden he loves
to love him in return, wears a swallow’s
heart in a charm. When he has won_her
love, he gives her a ring which has lain for
nine days in the nest of a swallow. The
boys and girls also take a swallow’s heart,
embed it in white wax and wear it as an
amulet or charm, which is sure to bring
good fortune.

We will close this Chapter of the story
of the sufferings inflicted upon our beloved
148 THE SWALLOW

and gentle little bird, sufferings caused by
the folk’s belief in her power to do them
all kinds of good, with the explanation of
a pretty symbol. On the first day of March
the children of the country of Roumania
hang from their necks a charm in the form

 

mr
of a heart, which they call the “ Martzisor.”
On one side is engraved “March 1,” and
on the other are pictured swallows and
roses, symbols of the return of spring.
Around the pictured swallows are the words
which the Hungarian maidens say when they
spy the first swallow in the spring: “I see a
swallow! Now I wash my freckles!” This
charm is made of brass, silver, or gold,
IN MEDICINE “ 149

according to the wealth of the owner. All
through the month of March they wear it;
then they take it off and carefully lay it.
away in a bed of dried rose leaves until
the next spring comes round.

 
 

150
CHAPTER VIII
OUR DEBT TO THE SWALLOWS

A curious old legend of Naples tells us
how the poet Vergil once rid that city of its
pest of flies. One day Vergil, who for cen-
turies after his death was looked upon as a
wizard by the folk of southern, Italy, met the
young Marcellus as he was going fowling.
Vergil asked him which of two blessings he
would choose —a bird which would catch all
other birds, or a fly which would drive away
all flies. Before deciding upon such an im-
portant question, Marcellus consulted the
Emperor Augustus, who, mindful of the city’s
need, promptly voted in favor of the fly.
Thereupon Vergil made a huge bronze fly,
and set it high upon one of the gates of
Naples. As long as that fly remained in
place it banished every other insect from the

town.
151
152 OUR DEBT TO THE SWALLOWS

To-day we have no enchanted fly to rid us
of our harmful insects, but have we not its
equivalent in our birds? And should we
not, therefore, have a wise
care for their preservation, AVA
so that, like Naples of old, Ny /
we may not one day be
tempted to seek the aid of - ithe Si
some enchanter to save vn :
us from suf-
fering and
possible destruction ?

   
  

our campaigns against g 1 \
those vast hordes of / \
enemies, the insects.
By warring against the i ciple
moths, caterpillars, worms, ‘ ; gles
and lice which feed upon our grains and
orchards, and by devouring the seeds of
noxious weeds, they do what man unaided
is unable to accomplish. Seventy-six mil-
OUR DEBT TO THE SWALLOWS —_— 153

lions of dollars a year is calculated to be
the money value of our birds to agriculture.
In the state of Illinois it has been estimated
that if the operations of birds were stopped
for a period of seven years, the entire state
would be covered with insects to the number
of one to a square inch.

Because of their habits of living in the air
and feeding upon the insects they catch on
the wing, the several species of the swallow
family known to us form one of the most
serviceable divisions of this vast, protecting
army. Our Department of Agriculture, in a
recent paper, says :— ,

“From the standpoint of the farmer and
the orchardist, perhaps no birds more useful
than the swallows exist. They have been
described as the light cavalry of the avian
army. Specially adapted for flight and un-
excelled in aérial evolutions, they have few
rivals in the art of capturing insects in mid
air. They eat nothing of value to man ex-
cept a few wasps and bugs, and in return for
154 OUR DEBT TO THE SWALLOWS

their services in destroying vast numbers of
noxious insects, ask only for harborage and
protection. It is to the fact that they cap-
ture their prey on the wing that their pe-
culiar value to the cotton grower is due.
Orioles do royal service in catching weevils
on the bolls; and blackbirds, wrens, flycatch-
ers, and others contribute to the good work ;
but when swallows are migrating over the
cotton - fields, they find the weevils flying in
the open and wage active war against them.
As many as forty-seven adult weevils have
been found in the stomach of a single cliff
swallow.”

We, of this country, are not alone in rec-
ognizing the valuable service of swallows.
An Italian journal states that no less than
five hundred insects make up the daily por-
tion of one swallow, a total of about four
thousand in one week; and that one swallow
can save in a day thirty-two hundred seeds
of grain and one thousand bunches of grapes.

In addition to destroying insect pests,

eli
OUR DEBT TO THE SWALLOWS ts

swallows aid farmers by eating the seeds of
weeds which choke the grain fields. Ex-
amination of the contents of the stomachs
of swallows in our southern states has shown
that many species of them eat, on an average,
more than twenty thousand seeds of weeds
in a day.

Still another asset of the swallow is to be
noted — her zsthetic value. The beauty,
the sociability, and the graceful flight of
swallows are a keen source of pleasure to
every lover of nature, and go far to endear
the little birds to all hearts.

As a return for these varied services to
man, and as a provision for their continu-
ance, should not our birds be protected and
their nesting encouraged? In olden times
the snaring and killing of birds was such a
favorite sport that elaborate bird decoys
were a carefully planned feature of pleasure
gardens, the remains of which may still be
seen in the ruins of old European gardens.
But public sentiment in Europe as well as
156. OUR DEB], TO THE SWALLOWS

ef in this country has so changed
»- that now, instead of

‘ oe :
x =. . Snares to capture birds,
om. w y
et _ » we learn of the newest
fC | y . + devices in artificial nests to

@ attract and house them. In Ger-

m 8 # | many, low-growing nesting bushes

, | |’ are being planted, nesting boxes
ay | carefully placed on trees, and

 
 
  
  
    

winter feeding houses arranged,
s as polite invitations to the birds

& to come and settle near man.
%

 

The presence of swallows
is so much desired around
houses in that country, that
artificial nests of clay are
made and offered them rent-
free for dwellings. The
city of Hamburg has a
Keeper of Birds appointed
by the state, whose duty it
is to assist in their preservation. And we
of this country have our many Audubon and
OUR DEBT TO THE SWALLOWS” 157°

other societies whose aim it is to help
in the conservation of our own feathered
tribes.

Everywhere to-day not superstitious fear
of evil omens, as in the days of old, prompts
kindly treatment of swallows, but a true ap-
preciation of their practical and zsthetic
value. Although now we may not stand in
fear of being stricken blind or dumb if we
are tempted to injure a swallow or her nest,
is it not through regard for her and her
benefits to us that we refrain? Although in
these days we do not greet the swallows
with spring songs, as the Athenian children
of long ago, nor preach sermons to them,
like Saint Francis, may we not, with Saint
Guthlac, welcome the tree swallows and the
beautiful martins with a little rush basket or
a bird house carefully placed in our gardens ?
May we not make a convenient opening in
our modern tightly built barns for our friend,
the barn swallow? And, perhaps more help-
ful than all, guard them from the prowling
158 OUR DEBT TO THE SWALLOWS

cat and wage war against their worst enemy,
the English sparrow ?

We may have grave doubts to-day as to
the healing virtue of the ashes of the swal-
low’s body, but, through a knowledge of her
and of the strange beliefs and superstitions
which cluster about her, we may at last come
to realize the true worth of our little bird
friend — that, like Vergil’s enchanted fly, she
sits continual guard over our forests, our
grain fields, our vineyards— yes, over our
very homes and lives.