Fairytales, Mythology, Legends

Stork Bird History of Magic and Mythology

The stork is an interesting bird of magical history and legendary connection through cultures. There are some stories that tell a tale of a stork taking a human form. But why? This is because the stork is fairly large in size and has an erect upright posture, these things proposed the idea of a bond between the two. Also, some Germanic stories say a stork that has been injured will instead cry a human’s tears.

Or a Greek and Arab lore stating that storks will fly away during fall to somewhere else to live like humans. The belief that a male stork would kill its mate if she would be unfaithful comes from the Middle Ages. There are some stories that say storks will fight adulterers or the young storks will be in the older storks’ time of need. And then another story comes from a more modern time period, storks delivering human babies. This myth comes from Germany and simply states that storks would find the babies of humans in caves, then the stork would deliver that child on their backs or in their beaks to the houses of people. And many stories led to the belief that the storks are pious animals, as well as an animal that will bring luck or fortune.

Pelican Bird History of Magic and Mythology

The Pelican is a bird that is sometimes associated with love and affection. This was common to see in the middle ages, the pelican was seen drawing blood from her breast to support their young. Despite all this, the pelican was different in story than in reality. The pelican got a lot of the symbolism from the vulture. One reason is from the Bible, the Hebrew words for ‘Vulture’ and ‘Compassion’ are very similar.

Another reason is that a vulture was seen in Egypt taking the bloody carcass of a dead animal to its chicks. And a story was developed from there. It simply goes that a pelican does love their chicks, but in the future, the chicks would attack their parents. And to put an end to it, the oldest pelicans struck back and killed the chicks. But they were conquered by concern and care, resulting in the mother pelican bringing them back to life by pouring her blood on her. It was stories like this that brought attention to the bird and led Christian writers to take the symbolism in a few ways. One, as previously stated, was the Pelican drawing blood from her breast, this symbolized Christ and the Eucharist.

Swallow Bird History in Magic and Mythology

Swallow Bird History of Magic and Mythology

The swallow is a small bird and always seems to find a way to make its nest. And the swallow is also a small subject in some ancient history. One interesting mention of the swallow dates back to Greece. Aristotle mentioned the swallow in writing ‘One swallow does not make a summer.’ And there are other mentions as well, some in song. But one story of ancient Greece referred to the swallow in the tragic story of Philomela.

In short, Philomela along with Procne and Tereus were turned to birds by the end of the story. Procne was a swallow, Tereus into a hoopoe, and Philomela into a nightingale. Unfortunately for some swallows, they were thrown into water in hope for some rain. This was part of ancient China, as sometimes when a swallow is flying low there is the belief that the weather’s forecast is looking bad. However, there was also the Snag Dynasty relating to the swallow. As a poem once said that swallows will give birth to the Shang Dynasty, so it is proclaimed by heaven. The egg supposedly made the ancestress of Shang line to be pregnant. Also, ancient beliefs say that a human’s soul may take form in as a bird. The swallow also represents great power in healing. Great values of medicine were to be found in red or white swallow stones. This idea developed in the Middle Ages when it was witnessed that a swallow fetched a pebble from shore to restore sight to its newly hatched, this was mixed with an older belief that the swallow would retrieve herbs to give to the newly hatched for restoring sight. And again, the swallow does have the share of bad things, such as in some European regions, a drop of Devil’s blood will form in the cow’s veins if a swallow flew under the cow, or the cow may give horrible bloody milk. And it is considered to brig death if a swallow were to come down a chimney. And finally, a wave of bad luck will come upon you if you ever mistreat the swallow.

Nightingale History in Magic and Mythology

Nightingale History of Magic and Mythology

The lovely chirps of the nightingale will bring a lot of attention to someone who has a great opportunity to listen. The beautiful sound engrosses someone and will captivate their mind. It is a widely praised European bird with a great magick history. One famous playwright of Ancient Athens, Aristophanes, tried to mimic the sound in a play called The Birds. But there are earlier mentions of the nightingale, the Greek myth of Philomela.

In short, the wife of Tereus, who was Procne, asked Tereus to have Philomela stay with her. However, Tereus immediately fell in love with Philomela, and eventually he seized and raped her, he then removed her tongue so that this would remain secret. However, despite Thereus’ attempts to keep Philomela hidden, it was revealed to her sister when Philomela wove the event into cloth which was sent to Procne. Procne in response to the tragedy killed Tereus’ son Itys and then ran from Tereus. Zeus took final action by turning Procne into a nightingale, Philomela into a swallow, and Tereus into a hoopoe. Although it was Procne who was turned into the nightingale, Latin poets misread this story and made Philomela the nightingale. The praise to God also may be in the form of a nightingale’s singing, people rumor that Saint Francis of Assisi had a competition with a nightingale to sing praise to God; Saint Francis after some time surrendered to the Nightingale.

Thunderbird Legends, Tales, and History

We usually assume birds are fragile yet graceful creatures; humble in flight and winsome. There were birds that were the exact opposite and would pepper the land with thunderbolts and brought storms in its wake. These towering birds were praised by North American tribes and carvings exist today and are known as Thunderbirds but the descriptions vary between tribes.

The Hareskin tribe claimed lighting would lash at the Earth when the Thunderbirds shook their tails and piercing flashes were in their eyes. A belief also attributed to the Indians comes from a stone carving of a Thunderbird. According to the Indians, shaking the carving will provoke the ire of a Thunderbird and cause storms. The Dakotas claimed that mature Thunderbirds caused lightning and storms but were careful with their power so they wouldn’t injure the Indians but the young Thunderbirds caused trouble and assaulted the Earth with lightning. The appearance of a Thunderbird is largely different on the North-West coast. According to the tribes there, Thunderbirds had an extra head on its belly and was powerful and monstrous enough to heave whales out of the ocean. This claim gives a general image about the size of Thunderbirds and their power. One tale describes two hunters coming across a lake only to be astonished that a colossal bird with two heads soared out of the water, let out a tremendous, earsplitting roar and then submerged.

The stories about Thunderbirds do not end in North America. Tales of Thunderbirds circle West Africa about a god that flapped his wings and struck the Earth with lightning from dark clouds. In Bantu Tribal culture however, instead of birds causing lightning they stopped lightning. Tribal men would place an image of a bird outside of their homes to protect themselves from the vicious lightning. In the southern areas of Africa there are claims that a man struck by lightning is actually lacerated by the talons of a bird because lightning there are actually birds. The Luyia of Kenya have stated that a titanic bird lives in the mountains and strikes the Earth with his lightning and the deafening thunder is just him crowing.

Herne the Hunter Story and Legend

The story of Herne the Hunter is quite old and tells the tale of a keeper of a forest who was caught committing a crime and hung himself upon an oak tree in Windsor Forest. After his death he couldn’t rest and haunted the area around the oak tree he hung himself from and some accounts state he haunts the forest. Herne isn’t your typical, benign, and harmless ghost but he is malevolent and evil.

His wickedness is fierce enough to cause harm to anyone who catches a glimpse of him. Simply catching him in the corner of your eye may cause you to become ill and the vicious influence causes other anomalies. It is presumed the tree he hung himself from ages ago has died and was cut down. There is a peculiar note about Herne that hasn’t been explained. It is said that he wears horns of a stag, a rather specific note about his ghastly appearance. Unfortunately in modern times he has been somewhat forgotten and has been mixed with other legends and stories. Today, historical evidence is foggy about a real Herne but some records suggest there may have been a Herne. One text clearly states “Rycharde Horne, yeoman charged with unlawful hunting.” It’s probable that the tale of Herne originates from Rhycharde Horne, nothing is definite and it isn’t possible to link the two leaving it as just a speculation. Fortunately there is a significant person that wrote about Herne in one of his own plays. William Shakespeare had put in The Merry Wives of Windsor the following

Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,

Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,

Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns;

And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,

And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain

In a most hideous and dreadful manner.