Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-02-23

easy matter, he said all that it was ne
cessary to do was TO cover over the crow
with silver and gold after the fashion man.
kind had of decorating the images. But
previous to setting out to look for the
materials he smeared the crow all over
with the black pitch of the rakh tree,
without which the silver and gold leaf
could not be got to stick on. The peacock
WAS away some time gathering together
the requisite amount of tinsel, AMI the
restlessness of the crow in the meanwhile
proved his ruin. He could not bear to
remain doing nothing, and in his hoppings
about and peerings into holes and corners
he came upon decayed carcass in the
underwood. Upon this he set to work
with his accustomed good appetite and
when the peacock came back there was
the crow irving and tugging away at a
mass Of rotten carrion. This was too
much for the delicate nerves of the nok-
jung. He was so disgustcd at the sight
that he utterly refused to have anything
to do with gliding the offender; and SO,
as the pitch would not come off, the crow
has had to remain ever since in his black
dress, and has nothing to remind him of
his former sprightly appearance but the
title COrcgS SpieHdeHS, of which poor
consolation even unappreciatiye and sin
lister naturalists would fain rob him. The
crow and peacock have naturally been on
very stand-offish terms ever since, and
this unfriendly state of affairs is unfor-
tunately perpetuated as well as aggravated
by the pitiful and vindictive malice of the
peacock, who takes an unworthy pleasure
i'll expanding his tail into resplcndent
wheel whenever he sees his victim. This
Eastern fable finds corroboration in the
classical legend of Ovid that ravens were
once as white as swans, but lost their
beauty through the family characteristic
of undue meddlesomeness III matters
which do not concern them at all. A
raven one day told Apollo that Coronis, Il
Thessalian nymph whom he passionately
loved, was iaithless, and the god shot the
nymph with his dart but hating the
tell-tale bird,
| "lIe clacked the raven DER,
And bid him pratc IN his white plumes no more.
1t is evident, therefore, that the title of
| Corrus specimens is no ill-natured sneel
as the unlearned would have us believe
but is an interesting bit of history en-
balmed, and therefore to be cherished as
against the modern emcndation of impu-
dicus, which is only redeemed from the
charge Of iinpertinence by the fact that it
amply and unduly urges the gracclcss-
ness of the crow, II trait which no one is
i'll any way concerned to deny Ill the pre-
sent day. 1t is almost rs gratuitous an
insult as appeared in the custom winch
used to prevail among the Greeks and
Romans. The children of their wealthy
families frequently kept birds for their
amusenents, and among these the crow
was very often found. In their childish
quarrels the boys used to pull the feathers
ont Of each others pets, rs n means OF
making them and their owners ridiculous.
No doubt the crow very violently resented
this dignity hut still the fact is pre-
served for us i'll the phrase, 81 have a
crow to pluck with you, and the selection
OF him MS the specimen bird is compli.
ment to the crow, i'll so far rs it pro es
that i'll his case to the qualification of ir.
rit0ting his owner was added the excite
ment of avoiding the angry resentment OF
the insultod bird. 1t is not Cften, how.
ever, that we find the crow figuring i'll tho
position of Il victim. He is usually
triumphant III the guise of an aggressor
AS the raven he appears on the standard
of Odin, the Danish war flag, with the ex,
pressive name If Landeydu-- the desola
ton of the land. He is said to bodt
famine, and when he forsakes the woods
and comes into the open country, the in
habitants may prepare themselves for ia
mine and mortality =; for the bird bears
the character OF Saturn, who is the au
thor OF these calamities, and has an early
perception of the bad dispositions of tina
: planet. There is here therefore direct ac
acknowledgement Of the crows familiarit,
with the occult sciences, though it is tru,
that there have, as usual, been fount
grIdging people to grid at the belief il
the fashion Of the Carneades, "as if tin
=, great Jupiter hadde nothing else to do
l but to dryve about JACKIE dawes an,
crows. But the consensus of nations i
, against these carping critics, and tn
! Scandinavians triumphantly place on tn
4 shoulders OF Odin the two crows calle
K Huggin and Muggin-Mind and Memor
: and there they remain jogging up hi
: faculties and carrying ont his behests
!. This Northern belief i'll the crow or rave
i as ambassador and kings messenge
: might not find credence in generation
o where the claims to sovereignty are no
G generally known, and might possibly b
II scofled at if set forth, were it not born
. out by the tales of the sunny Soutl
X where the crow is much more general
IS respected and does not need to dodg
d every man he sees lest he should have
?, gun about him. In Siam, they say til
a crow comes out of the woods to tell til
r news lac has heard there. He is so fre
II of the towns, and makes such diligent us
/ of the latitude granted him-impertineI
Is use, those unimpressed by his merits al
e APT to call it, when i'll Oriental houses
'i makes light Of the dinner table, and drol
" meerchaum pipes over the edge of IL
re yeranda, and purloins soap from the be-
ot rooms-that there is obviously no reasC
lie why he should 60 into the woods for al
but intelligent purposes. Consequent
!, the Siamese say "Ka box khao," the Gro
ao is bringing information, when they he
m, him cawing, Whenever he hears Il
~ sound, the wise householder rushes i
ly doors to the basket where lie keeps ma
,is of boiled rice dyed some bright color Al
do specially prepared for the occasions SUI
90 as this. he comes out again ms fast as
as can, and throws a solid lump of rice (
the roof of his house. If the messeng
crow stops to eat it, then the good man
Dr. persuaded that the intelligence broug
on has special significance for him, and til
u the crow wishes to demonstrate his go'
,.n faith by accepting the offered hospitalit
wa What the actual piece Of news is, is Il
IN ~. fortunately left in doubt but it is usu'
m ly revealed by the arrival of some friel
n. later on. Otherwise there is nothing
EN- it but guessing, which is not the fault
the crow, but OF the absurd friend W