234 RAVENS. 



devoured it. He then hopped down for the other 

 piece, and regaining his perch a second time, con- 

 sumed that, much to the annoyance of his com- 

 panion, whom he thus artfully and cleverly contrived 

 to outwit. 



No wonder that so knowing a bird, gifted, at the 

 same time, with a voice so deep and solemn, as to 

 command attention whenever it is heard, should, in 

 all ages, have impressed superstitious people with a 

 notion that it had something unearthly in its nature ; 

 and in heathen countries especially, should have been 

 respected by the ignorant as interpreters of the will 

 of their idol-gods. Thus, in the remotest periods of 

 antiquity, the Raven was consecrated to Apollo, one 

 of their chief deities, and by the priests and people, 

 was therefore considered as a foreteller of good or 

 evil. Through a long course of centuries it has 

 borne the same character, and even to this day there 

 are not a few who believe that 



a Havens give the note of death 



As through mid-air they whig their way." 



It is most probable that their supposed prophetic 

 power, respecting battles and bloodshed, originated 

 in their very frequent presence on these occasions, 

 drawn to the field of slaughter by an attractive ban- 

 quet of unburied bodies of the slain. Hence, poets 

 have described it as possessing a mysterious know- 

 ledge of these things. 



" 111 omen'd bird ! as legends say, 



Thou hast the wondrous power to know, 



While health fills high the throbbing veins, 

 The fated hour when blood must flow." 



The Icelanders, notwithstanding their endeavours 



