1923.] The Owl in Folklore, 53 
flesh. There can, however, be no doubt from the general 
description given in the texts that the animal alluded to is an 
29} 
The Pahlavi rendering of it is? kafik, P. 4,5 (kf), which 
means ‘‘a large owl.” * A Persian lexicographer, quoted 
by Dastur Hoshang,* renders this word (kif) by ax (bam) 
which means an owl. The Persian lexicographer says it is 
known for its inauspiciousness (be nuhtsat ma’aruf). The 
lexicographer quotes a poet, Ibn-Yamin, as differentiating a 
literate from an illiterate, as the auspicious bird humai (phcenix) 
from anowl. Hesays: ® 
pe al Glew Leif le (2 oils 
poled dy G 5,5 5 wl 05 es ds 
le., he made an unintelligent person sit in the place of the 
intelligent and made no distinction between an owl and a 
pPheenix. 
The Reason why an Owl is held to be inauspicious. 
Che reason, why an owl is held by many people as 
inauspicious presaging evil to the house or place where 
1b 1 is this: t 
of-the-way places for sitting and resting. When it comes 
to towns or cities, it generally seeks ruins and deserted places 
for its rest and abode. It very rarely comes to inhabited 
or frequented places. Hence, it is always associated with ruins, 
deserted places and wilderness. That being the case, when it is 
‘een on rare occasions in inhabited or frequented places, people 
associate with those places an idea of ruin or mishap in future. 
So, the bird is al ways looked at withdislike. Countess Cezaresco 
thus refers to the cause of the unpopularity of the bird 
~ Besides, the prejudice against reptiles, modern popular super- 
‘tition has placed several animals under a ban, and especially 
the harmless bat and the useful barn-owl. Traditional reasons 
€xist, no doubt. in every case; but stronger than these, are the 
associations of such creatures with the dark in which the sane 
man of a certain temperament becomes a partial lunatic; a 
prey to unreal terrors which the flap of a bat’s wing or the 
Screech of an owl is enough to work up to the point of 
frenzy.”"* ‘This idea of superstitious dislike lurks, not only 
among the ignorant or the illiterate, but also among some 
educated people. 7 

! Tid. 2 Ibid, p. 455, 1. 12. 5 Steingass. 
* Vendidad, Vol. I, p. VIi, n. 1. 5 Ibid, 
_***The. Place of Animals in Human Thought,” by the Countess 
Cezaresco, p. 112. , 
T Lremember well an instance of my boyhood, when I was a student 
