1 64 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



One hermit subsisted many years on a daily ration of 

 half a loaf of bread brought him by a raven, and one 

 time, when another saint visited him, the bird pro- 

 vided a whole loaf! Fish was frequently brought: and 

 once when a certain eremite was ill, the bird furnished 

 the fish already cooked, and fed it to the patient bit by 

 bit. Miss Walker 39 shows that as a companion of saints 

 this bird has had a wide and beneficent experience, which 

 may be set against the more conspicuous pages of mis- 

 deeds in his highly variegated record. Thus we learn 

 that St. Benedict's raven saved his life by bearing away 

 the poisoned loaf sent to this saint by a jealous priest. 

 "After his torture and death at Saragossa, when the body 

 of St. Vincent was thrown to the wild beasts it was res- 

 cued by ravens and borne to his brothers at Valencia, 

 where it reposed in a tomb till the Christians of that place 

 were expelled by the Moors. The remains of the saint 

 were . . . again placed in a tomb [at Cape St. Vincent] 

 to be guarded forever more by the faithful ravens." 

 Have you doubts about this story? Go to that wild head- 

 land, where Portugal sets a firm foot against the Atlantic, 

 watch the ravens hovering above it, and be convinced! 

 And to many other holy men did these noble birds render 

 substantial service — to St. Meinrad especially, as is 

 affirmed by no less an authority than the great Jerome. 



"In some parts of Germany,'' Miss Walker records, 

 "these birds are believed to hold the souls of the damned, 

 while in other sections wicked priests only are supposed 

 to be so re-incarnated. In Sweden the ravens croaking 

 at night in the swamps are said to be the ghosts of mur- 

 dered persons who have been denied Christian burial." 

 A local and humorous touch is given to this conception 

 by the Irish in Kerry, who allege that the rooks there 



