Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



The prevalence in Europe of the legends 

 an i fairy-tales just mentioned, in which chiefly 

 figure youths, princesses and maidens who 

 turn into swans, scarcely requires specification. 

 They are found in the Arabian Nights and in 

 Chinese tales. Usually the hero of the Euro- 

 pean tale catches the swan maidens bathing 

 in the same way as his Chinese semblant, and 

 by seizing one of the swanskin cloaks on the 

 shore obtains power over the magic woman. 

 Also he is incautious enough or sly enough in 

 later years to show his wife the swanskin, 

 whereupon she puts it on and flies out of the 

 window. Another German expression to in- 

 dicate uncanny knowledge is : Es wachsen mir 

 Schwan-federn " swan*s feathers are growing 

 on me." 



The Chinese envoy Li Tung Yuan reported 

 from Lew Choo the legend of a swan woman 

 whom a peasant found bathing in his well. 

 He seized her and made her his wife for ten 

 years. Similar tales in Persian legend and 

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