FABLE AND FOLKLORE 41 



under the double name Eye of Day-Bird of Fire. "In 

 time of pestilence," as Dr. Brinton informs us, 27 "the 

 people resorted to this temple, and at high noon a sacrifice 

 was spread upon the altar. The moment the sun reached 

 the zenith a bird of brilliant plumage, but which in fact 

 was nothing else than a fiery flame shot from the sun, de- 

 scended and consumed the offering in the sight of all." 

 Another authority says that Midsummerday was cele- 

 brated by similar rites. Hence was held sacred the flame- 

 hued ara, or guacamaya, the red macaw. 



The Musicas, natives of the Colombian plateau where 

 Bogota now stands, had a similar half-superstitious re- 

 gard for this big red macaw, which they called "fire-bird." 

 The general veneration for redness, prevalent throughout 

 western tropical America, and in Polynesia, is doubtless 

 a reflection of sun-worship. 



Let us turn to a lighter aspect of our theme. 



France rejoices, humorously, yet sincerely, in the cock 

 as her emblem — the strutting, crowing, combative chan- 

 ticleer that arouses respect while it tickles the French 

 sense of fun. When curiosity led me to inquire how this 

 odd representative for a glorious nation came into exis- 

 tence, I was met by a complete lack of readily accessible 

 information. The generally accepted theory seemed to 

 be that it was to be explained by the likeness of sound be- 

 tween the Latin word gallus, a dunghill cock, and Gallus, 

 a Gaul — the general appellative by which the Romans 

 of mid-Republic days designated the non-Italian, Keltic- 

 speaking inhabitants of the country south and west of 

 the Swiss Alps. But whence came the name "gaul" ? and 

 why was a pun on it so apt that it has survived through long 

 centuries? I knew, of course, of the yarn that Diodorus 

 Siculus repeats: that in Keltica once ruled a famous man 



