Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



the animal guardians of Walhalla, where the 

 gods of the Norse feasted ; why the symbols 

 in war round which the legions of Rome rallied 

 were called eagles, as a generic term, just as we 

 should say banners or flags. 



Eagles not only renewed their own life 

 through fire, but began existence with a fire test ; 

 for the young eagle which could not look the 

 sun in the eye without blinking was said to be 

 killed by its parents as a creature unfitted for 

 the lofty career before it. Aetites or eagle 

 stones found in the eyry were still greatly 

 prized two centuries ago for a variety of virtues. 

 They are pebbles or roundish stones of clay, 

 rusty with oxide of iron, having loose stones or 

 crystals within their hollow hearts, and they 

 show plainly enough the action of fire. We 

 may guess the eagle was thought to bring these 

 wonder stones down from the sun or from some 

 volcano ; at any rate they cured diseases of the 

 eyes, aided women in labor, and, oddly enough, 

 detected thieves, perhaps because, coming from 



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