| | 1 | Author: | Greenwell
Dora
(Dorothy)
1821-1882 | Add | | | Title: | Camera obscura  | | | | Published: | 1994 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | Chadwyck-Healey, English Poetry | CH-EnglPoetry | | | | Description: | “Why is the
wren, even in our present day, sung and celebrated as such
in Ireland? Why was it the augurs' favourite bird, and
why did the Druids also represent it as the king of all
birds? I find the best answer to these inquiries in Kelly's
‘Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore,’ where it is stated
that, though the exalted pretensions of this smallest of
European birds are not unknown to German tradition, it is
in the Celtic memory they have been best preserved. In
the legends of Bretagne and Normandy, he is spoken of
expressly as a fire-bringer. A messenger was wanted to
bring fire from heaven, and the wren undertook the perilous
task, which nearly cost the bold bird its life, for its plumage
was burnt off even to the down, whereupon the other birds
gave each of them one of their feathers to clothe the naked
and shivering little king.” | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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