A FLOCK OF MYTHOLOGICAL CROWS. 47 



wolves and ravens were sacred to Odin. In the j)rose or elder Edda, 

 which was the sacred book of the Odinic mythology, it is said, " Odin 

 gives the meat that is set before him to two wolves, called Geri and 

 Foeki, for he himself stands in no need of food." * And, again : " Two 

 ravens sit on Odin's shoulders, and whisj^er in his ear the tidings and 

 events they have heard and witnessed. They are called Hugin and 

 Miinin (mind and memory). He sends them out at dawn of day to 

 fly over the whole world, and they return at eve toward meal-time. 

 Hence it is that Odin knows so many things, and is called the ravens' 

 god.t 



Turning now to the Semitic tribes, we will find that among them, 

 also, ravens were held in greater veneration than any of their feathered 

 congeners ; and more than one mention of them is made in the sacred 

 chronicle as especial messengers of the prophets. In the Biblical nar- 

 ration of the deluge, we read : " And it came to pass at the end of 

 forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had 

 made ; and he sent forth a raven, which went to and fro, until the wa- 

 ters were dried up from off the earth." \ And, again, after the proph- 

 et Elijah had foretold to the wicked King Ahab how the land would 

 be cursed with drought, the word of the Lord came to him, saying : 

 " Get thee hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook 

 Cherith that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink 

 of the brook ; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 

 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord ; for he went 

 and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. And the ra- 

 vens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh 

 in the evening, and he drank of the brook." 



In the Babylonian legend of the deluge, as given in the fragments 

 of Berosus, we have also the episode of the birds being sent out to see 

 if the waters had subsided, but neither the raven nor the dove is es- 

 pecially mentioned by name ; |j while in the legend as given by the 

 old Arabian chronicler, Abou-djafar Mohammed Tabiri, he not only 

 mentions the raven especially being sent forth first, but also gives 

 the reason of his not coming back : " Noah said to the raven, * Go, and 

 place your foot on the earth and see what is the depth of the water.' 

 The raven departed ; but, having found a carcass, it remained to de- 

 vour it, and did not return. Noah was provoked, and he cursed the 

 raven, saying, ' May God make thee contemptible among men, and let 

 carrion be thy food ! ' " ^ 



We have another legend of the raven as a. grave-digger which is 

 given in Baring-Gould's " Legends of Old Testament Characters " as 

 follows : " After Abel was slain, Adam and Eve sat beside the body 

 and wept, and knew not what to do. Then said a raven whose friend 

 was dead, ' I will teach Adam a lesson.' And he dug a hole in the soil, 



* Mallet's " Northern Antiquities," p. 430. f Mallet, he. cit. % Genesis, viii, 6, 7. 

 1 Kings, xvii, 3-6. || Berosus in Cory's " Ancient Fragments." % Tabiri, c. 12. 



