Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



" The awkward gawk ! " I murmured, re- 

 membering the common term for him ; and as 

 I beheld his labored gait and bethought me of 

 certain old heroes of Ireland, whose curious 

 traits and adventures have never been explained, 

 I fell to thinking — 



Of elders of olde time and their awke dedys. 



At last I had clapped eyes on a bird whose 

 peculiar ways and life had given me a clew 

 to legends woven about various mighty men 

 of yore, though his familiar name of gawk 

 among the English, Gauch among the Ger- 

 mans, is considered more suggestive of clown- 

 ishness and stupidity than of heroism. For 

 he is the unlucky, left-handed, gauche bird, 

 whose name has enriched the French language 

 with terms for the left hand and lack of dex- 

 terity. The good and bad in him seems to 

 have impressed men and been carried by the 

 old peoples to extremes. 



Since then I have often heard and sometimes 

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