Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



Irish fairy-lore could be cited if we had the 

 space, and since the goose is often put for the 

 swan, it may be that our phrase " I feel goose- 

 flesh " may hark back to the time when that 

 shudder of awe which is accompanied by what 

 is vulgarly termed goose-flesh was assigned to 



the presence of an elfin 

 being in the shape of 

 a bird. Of the swan 

 maiden sort in popular 

 thought was Berchta or 

 Bertha of the big feet, 

 that is, of the swan's or 

 goose's feet ; for she is pointed out in various 

 French cathedrals in the statue of a woman 

 who ends in the webbed feet of a water fowl. 

 She is la reine Pedauque, the mother of Charle- 

 magne. She and all swan maidens, it is well 

 known, are in fact Valkyrs, conductors of souls 

 to the land of shades, who have been taken out 

 of their ordinary rolls and given a fresh lease 

 of life as the wives of mortal king, prince or 

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