The Story of the Raven 



THE beautiful story of the brave mother raven who 

 clung to her nest, while the woodman cut down 

 the nest-tree beneath her, shows that good words 

 could be spoken even for the bird whose character 

 was as black as its coat in the days when ravens were 

 more common than now. The story does not say much 

 for the good hearts of the men who cut down the tree. 



A companion story is told of a mother squirrel. 

 Some tall trees were being cut down in Richmond 

 Park ; on one some squirrels had built their nest, or 

 drey, and hi the drey was a happy party of young 

 ones. Then came the woodmen, with axes, beetles, 

 and cords ; the axes began their work, with the cords 

 the tree was swayed back and forth, and all the time 

 the mother squirrel remained in the nest to guard her 

 young. At last the tree fell, " and the affectionate 

 mother," the story ends, " was killed in the fall, 

 refusing to the last to quit her hapless offspring." 



The raven in appearance is a very large rook, with a 

 harsh, croaking voice. A noble bird he looks when he 

 soars aloft to a great height, gliding majestically on 

 his long pointed wings, rising and falling on a wavy 

 line. Like the rook, he performs at times strange 

 antics, tumbling and recovering himself. Gilbert 

 White noticed how they would strike and cuff each 

 other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish, and 

 turn on their backs with loud croaks, as if falling 



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