IT IS A TRANSMOGRIFIED PARSON. 391 



According to another legend, the time was when all the 

 animals of the creation were gifted with the power of speech ; 

 and that at their religious convocations, the stork always 

 officiated as the clergyman. 



The belief is also very prevalent that the souls of men are 

 embodied under the feathers of these birds. They are 

 imagined by some to have been originally parsons, who, for 

 their greediness and avidity, were metamorphosed into their 

 present shape, and now wander about the earth constantly 

 occupied in plucking up all the good things they can meet 

 with. This is in unison with the jest recorded in the 

 Bibliotheca Britannica, Tom. xix, that the storks always 

 shun those cities and towns in Germany, where people do 

 not duly pay the clergy their tithes. 



There is a superstition, moreover, in Germany, that a 

 stork never builds on a wicked man's house ; and to such an 

 extent does this notion prevail, that if a man were suspected, 

 even of murder, the people could scarcely be induced to 

 bring him before the magistrates, if a stork was known to 

 build on his house. 



Owing to these and similar traditions, the stork is a wel- 

 come visitor everywhere ; and the peasants so far from wilfully 

 injuring it, protect it to the utmost of their power. This 

 kindly feeling is carried to such a length, indeed, " as not 

 only to subject a person shooting it to the risk of unpleasant 

 consequences, but to actual danger." In parts of the country 

 it is looked upon as a sort of sin to molest it in any way. 

 When I was on a visit to a friend, in the province of 

 Halland, the lady of the mansion told me that, " some 

 time previously, a peasant in the vicinity had shot at, and 

 maimed one of these birds; that shortly afterwards he 



