112 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



with opposite intent, Umer! Umer!" "Dead! Dead!" 

 Therefore the swallow is blessed, but the sparrow is 

 under a curse, and ever since that time it hops, because its 

 legs are tied together, for its sin, by invisible bonds. 

 Another story is that the sparrow was the bird that be- 

 trayed the hiding-place of Jesus in the Garden at Geth- 

 semane, whereas all other birds tried to entice away the 

 officers who were searching for him, especially the 

 swallow, whose erratic flight still shows that it is seeking 

 to find him. 



The oystercatcher is still known among the Gaels of 

 northern Scotland as St. Bride's lad, says Seton Gordon 

 {Nineteenth Century, 1927,, p. 420) from the fact that 

 when that saint first visited Long Island she carried an 

 oystercatcher in each hand; also, there is an old Gaelic 

 tradition that this bird covered Jesus with seaweed when 

 his enemies appeared in hot pursuit. The oystercatcher was 

 therefore blessed, and still shows, as it flies, the form of 

 a cross on its plumage. 



A Spanish legend asserts that the owl was once the 

 sweetest of singers; but that, having been present when 

 Jesus died, from that moment it has shunned daylight, 

 and now only repeats in a harsh tone Cruz! Cruz! 



Most of the legends of the Cross, so far as concern 

 birds, at least, seem to have arisen in Sweden. The 

 Swedes say, for example, that a swallow hovered over the 

 Crucifixion crying Svale! Svale! "Cheer up! Cheer up!" 

 and it is therefore called in their country the bird of con- 

 solation. A similar story is current in Scandinavia of the 

 stork, which is said to have cried to the Redeemer, as it 

 flew about the Cross, Styrket! Styrket! "Strengthen ye." 

 In both cases there is a play on the Swedish names of 

 these birds; but they testify that the stork, now virtually 



