MOBBED BY SMALL BIRDS 29 



Folk-lore is the debris of paganism, often 

 colouring or coloured in its turn, by early Christian 

 legends or traditions. The folk-lore connected with 

 four-footed animals, is, unfortunately, fast dying out 

 in civilised and Christian countries ; but it is other- 

 wise, for pretty obvious reasons, with birds, in whose 

 case, in out-of-the-way districts at least, it is still hale 

 and vigorous. Legends still cluster thick round all 

 the more favourite or remarkable birds ; the cuckoo, 

 the woodpecker, the magpie, the raven, the nightin- 

 gale, the robin, the wren. And folk-lore has, of 

 course, not least to say about the owl. How 

 does it explain the outcast condition of the owl, 

 and does it throw any light on the well-known 

 but mysterious line of Shakespeare, which tells us 

 that " the owl is said to have been the baker's 

 daughter ? " The birds were, once upon a time, 

 so runs the legend, without fire. The wren, tiniest 

 of them all, volunteered to bring it down from 

 heaven, when all the rest demurred. She succeeded 

 in her errand, but all her feathers were scorched off 

 her body. The grateful birds contributed, each one 

 of them, a feather of its own to make up the loss. 

 The owl alone refused ; he could not spare one, he 

 was so cold in winter. He was condemned, in con- 

 sequence, to be always cold and always solitary. 



