TIGER'S TEETH 115 



of these rare birds haunts the solitudes by 

 the sea. No one interferes with them, 

 except the peregrines, but the raven is too 

 much for that fierce swift raider, turning 

 on his back in mid-air and holding his 

 beak upwards like a javelin as the falcon is 

 about to strike. A quick eye the raven 

 needs, for the hawk plunges at about 

 two hundred miles an hour. But they 

 never harm one another, and I know for a 

 fact, having seen it myself, that the ravens 

 practise their turning movement. They 

 love to float in an uprushing wind just 

 below the cliff edge, and roll over like a 

 twirled distaff, sideways, and then back 

 again. And I think that if any stranger 

 tried to shoot one, the Nightcrow Inn 

 would rise in anger against him. The 

 ravens have earned their sanctuary. 



