Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



once worshipped under, the woodpecker ; his 

 name contains our word to tap, strike, and the 

 German word tapfer, brave. In that epic our 

 friend the woodpecker is not directly named, 

 perhaps because he was so very sacred ; but 

 the minor wood god Nyyrikki, upon whom 

 Lemminkainen calls in his distress to help 

 him track the magic elk, is, like his father 

 Tapio, evidently a survival of Pikker. We 

 can see that from his red cap and blue mantle 

 and the prayer addressed to him that he shall 

 blaze a path through the woody wilds. 



O Nyyrikki, mountain hero. 



Son of Tapio of forests. 



Hero with the scarlet headgear. 



Notches make along the pathway. 



Landmarks upward on the mountain. 



That the hunter may not wander. 



{Rune XIV, Cra^vford's translation) 



In German legends the woodpecker appears 

 as a magic bird that knows where the spring- 

 wurzel grows, a flower we have reason to 



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