Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



swollen foot seems an echo of the feathered 

 legs of the cuckoo. The crimes of Oidipous 

 consisted of his slaying the father, who, be- 

 cause of a menacing prophecy, had sent him 

 away, and of his marriage to his own mother. 

 His fate includes the crime of Conchobar of 

 Ireland, who married his mother, and KuUervo 

 of Finland, who killed his father-uncle, perhaps, 

 also, Kalevipoeg of Esthland, if we regard the 

 Finnish magician as his real father. When 

 the mother of Oidipous discovers the situation, 

 she kills herself, just as Aino 

 drowns herself because of 

 Vaino, and the sisters of Kul- 

 lervo and Kalevipoeg throw 

 themselves into the water. 

 In connection with Oidipous we find the 

 sphinx, who puts each aspirant to the kingship 

 a question he cannot solve and kills him when 

 his ignorance is shown. Pausanias explains 

 that the sphinx, that four-footed creature with 

 head and breasts of a woman, was the daughter 

 no 



