OWL LORE 



A STORY similar to the Gertrude story of the wood- 

 pecker is told of a baker's daughter refusing a cake 

 to our Lord when ahungered, and who was for her 

 selfishness transformed into an owl. 



From her habit of moving her head from side to side, 

 another legend represents her as an old weaver, silently weav- 

 ing her silver web of the moonbeams. 



To the Etruscans the owl was a psychopompos, or soul- 

 guide — Ceres turned a son of Styx into an owl because he 

 blabbed the secret of Persephone eating pomegranate seeds 

 in the realm of Hades. 



According to Ovid, in old Rome it was believed that 

 witches could transform themselves into screech owls and 

 return to human form at pleasure. In owl form they throt- 

 tled or sucked the blood of babes asleep in their cradles, as 

 cats suck their breath. 



