WREN LORE 



BOTH Pliny and Aristotle allude to the story; of the 

 rivalry between the eagle and the wren. The same 

 story, with variations, is told by the North American 

 Indians, and it is also common in Germany, France, Scot- 

 land and Norway. 



In early English tradition the wren has the credit of 

 being the robin's wife ; and in Icelandic, of being the mouse's 

 brother. 



Though the wren to-day seems the most domestic of 

 birds, in history she is given a bad reputation, being identi- 

 fied with sorcery, witchcraft, and immorality. In Norse 

 mythology she is a malignant fairy, whose office is to lead 

 youths astray. Until recently, on the Isle of Man, the mas- 

 culine inhabitants turned out to hunt the wren on Christmas 

 Day, believing her to have been once a sort of Lorelei, who, 

 by her songs and charms, had lured young men into the sea, 

 where the waves swept them away to death, and who had 

 assumed this tiny, feathered form when pursued by the en- 

 raged people. For some reason it was believed that this 

 malignant Lorelei wren would always go about working her 

 wicked charms on Christmas Day, till she should perish by 

 the hand of man. For this reason men hunted the wren and 



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