98 THE SWALLOW 



that one day a member of that family will 

 drown. That is why they say of a boy 

 whom evil luck has befallen, " He was cursed 

 by a swallow." 



Worse punishments are reserved for him 

 who wantonly kills the bird. His prettiest 

 cow will die, all his sheep will perish, a 

 stroke of lightning will destroy his house or 

 else he will lose his parents during the year. 

 The French peasants have the strange belief 

 that a swallow passing under the belly of a 

 cow leaves the animal bewitched, and turns 

 her milk into blood. But the milk may be 

 turned back again simply by scalding it at a 

 four corners ! 



The German folk watched with interest 

 the struggle between the swallow and her 

 eternal enemy, the sparrow. In consequence 

 we have these omens : When a" swallow, 

 alights in an open window and twitters, it is 

 a sign that a happy event will come to pass 

 in that house. But if a sparrow alights 

 there and chirps, something unlucky will 



