78 THE RAVEN 



made to begin even earlier than in the Hebrew 

 Bible ; for it was a raven who, when Cain, ignorant 

 of the first principles of sanitary science, did not 

 know how to dispose of the putrefying corpse of his 

 murdered brother, Abel, which he had carried about, 

 for a considerable time, upon his shoulders, was sent 

 by God to show him and his descendants how it could 

 be rendered innocuous. The bird killed a fellow raven 

 in the murderer's presence, and forthwith, with beak 

 and claws, dug a hole and buried it out of sight. 



The raven was placed by the ancient Romans at 

 the head of all the birds of omen, the oscines (os cano), 

 as they were called : birds, that is, which, by their 

 weird and startling cries, possessed the curious and 

 enviable privilege of prescribing every detail of the 

 public and social life commanding this or forbidding 

 that of even so severely practical a people. He was 

 again the sacred bird of the supreme Divinity of all 

 the Teutonic and Scandinavian races, our own 

 ancestors, of course, among them. He was the 

 travelling companion, sometimes in person, always 

 in effigy, of the "hardy Norseman," wherever the 

 winds or waves could carry his adventurous bark. 

 More than any other bird if we include along with 

 him his nearest ally the crow, which is, in many 

 languages, confused with him he attracted the 



