Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



allied in the primitive religions with death and 

 the dead-land, should under Greek influence 

 rise to be the symbol of genial, art-loving 

 Apollo and rollicking Bacchus ! 



Among the curious statements regarding 

 Apollo is one that Alcaius, 

 a name corrupted from 

 that of the halcyon bird, 

 leads Apollo at midsum- 

 mer from the Hyperbo- 

 reans (the north) and that 

 Apollo is drawn along by 

 swans. This recalls the 

 swan-borne knight in the 

 story of the Graal which 

 has found its way into 

 modern opera. German local legends retain 

 the idea of the swan as an uncanny bird, pro- 

 phetic of death or the under-world. 



Thus at Heiligensee (holy lake) a peasant 

 digging in his garden struck an iron chain that 

 seemed to have no end. Suddenly a black swan 



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