Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-06-06
LEGENDS OF The WREN.
-. rrlck on an Eagle w ms II Popularity
Among the irish.

. rrirk an Eagle W ms n Popularity
Among tho irish.
+, Ireland the wren is called the
$40 Of birds. One old legend among
=, irish. that dates rs far back as the
S,,. of the Druids, is thus stated by
,bc Boston Globe;
once upon time the eagle, always
,ropd of his strength and valor. called
IN the birds together for trial of
sigbt with this understanding, that he
ono scared the highest would forever
oommand the distinctive title of king
of birds.
The eagle, by common consent, had
hssu invested with the honor from
lime immemorial and be had no idea
If giving il up; but the better to inn
rrsss his superiority on all inferior
! birds he called together the whole
! feathered tribe for this flying tourna-
! meut.
At the appointed time the birds
came. There were thrusheS, linuets,
maapies. crows blackbirds, bluebirds,
hawks. doves, robins, sparrows. night
ipgales larks, game birds from the
forest. seabirdS from the coast and last
Of all, but as noisy AS any of them,
came the turkeys, geese, ducks and
hens from the barnyards.
The eagle surveyed them all with
his piercing eyes. AT some of them
he cast n contemptuous glance, but
when he saw the skylark he looked a
little uneasy This was the only bird
he really feared for the skylark can
fy very high. But his fears did not
last long, for just then he saw some
thing 10 make him laugh. 1t was the
little wren hopping along saucily with
his iauuty little tail perked up with
the utmost assurance. One would
think he surely expected to win the
prize,
The eagle began to poke fun at him,
and all the other birds joined in, so
that the poor little wren was glad to
escape out of sight.
When the signal was given for the
birds to start he was nowhere to be
seen, and if any one thought of him at
all it was probably to conclude that he
had realized the folly Of his trying to
compete with those SO much stronger
than himself and had wisely gone
home to his nest in the hedge.
At given signal away flew the
birds Up, up, upl The wild goose
did very well. so did the hawk, aud
the skylark kept close under the eagles
big wings; but one by one they had to
give up, all but the proud old eagle,
He kept on soaring until he reached
point from which he could not raise
himself another inca.
Then he looked down proudly at all
the representatives Of the fpathcred
tribe below him, and they looked mp
admiringly at him. when suddenly up
above him flew n little dark speck 1t
was bird. and the Mortified eagle
looked up to see the despSed little
wren lowering above him.
All the other birds saw him too, and
they set up great shout. Then down
few the Crestfalen eagle.
As the birds touched the ground
they looked for the wren. and they
saw him hop off the eagles back. He
had been nesting among the feathers,
and the biz eagle did not feel his
weight.
So it was that when the eagle and
the other birds had used up all their
strength he was able to reach point
higher than all of them.
According to the letter of the law the
wren was udiudged king of birds
but as one may suppose, the eagle
was very angry He set to work and
cursed the wren and laid a spell on
him so that he should never again be
able to fly over anything, and to this
day an Irish wren cannot even fly over
a hedge; he must find an opening in it
somewhere before he can PASS from
one field or garden to another.
The druids treated The wren With
great distinction but when christianity
was introduced into the country the
first Christian missionaries. not above
superstition themselves, considered
their admiration "A great otfense and
since then the poor little king has
sometimes had hard time of it,
Another incident to bring the wren
into ilI-repute with the Irish is the
story that once when the Danes had
invaded Ireland party of them while
asleep were about to be surrounded by
the natives when several wrens awoke
them by pecking on their drums. The
same story is told of wrens awaking a
detachment of protestants during one
of the religious wars of Ireland.
Either affair would be enough to
make the Irish hate the poor little
wren, and they set apart ST. Stephens
Day-that is the day following Christ
mason which to prosecute him.
On that day the idle men and boys
60 wren hunting They take sticks
or pIule o.,I ,rt, Tho Md from, bod no
to hedge until they succeed in killing
one. Then they form a procession
and carry about the poor little body,
hung by one leg IN the center of two
hoops crossing each other at right
angles, the whole arrangement deco
rated with bits of colored ribbon.
They march from door to door, and in
iron, of each the funny one Of the
party, called the "drolleen. sings:
IN wren. the wren.