IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 



8S 



Duna by tying fire to the tails of a vast 



number of swallows and then setting them 



■:::------ free. The birds flew over 



the city and kindled the 

 buildings into flames. 



This seems almost like 

 ie, but we must re- 

 member that in those 

 very early times 



roofs were made of 

 thatched straw, and 

 not as now, of fireproof materials. 



As we have learned in the tales just 

 told, the appearance of a swallow upon 

 land foretold disaster. Upon the sea, 

 on the other hand, the sight of her was 

 taken as a good omen. Alexander the 

 Great once owed his life to a swallow. 



