[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-129454-en":3,"doc-seo-129454-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},129454,1099523882182,"Eliana","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8",2,"Literature","Flights of Fancy - Birds in Myth, Legend and Superstition","Flights of Fancy - Birds in Myth, Legend and Superstition traces the wide-ranging folklore that cultures across the world have attached to birds. Through selected tales and recurring motifs, it explores beliefs that explain omens, punishment, transformation, and medical or ritual practices, from simple warnings—such as bad luck in killing a robin—to elaborate Greek folk cures. The book connects migrations and symbolic birds with human fascination, showing how familiar backyard species also belong to an imagined, myth-making realm.","[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFLIGHTS OF FANCY  \nA Delacorte Press Book  \nPUBLISHING HISTORY Random House UK hardcover edition published 2007 Delacorte Press hardcover edition / November 2008  \nPublished by  \nBantam Dell A Division of Random House, Inc.  \nNew York, New York  \nAll rights reserved Copyright © 2007 by Peter Tate  \nDelacorte Press is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data  \nTate, Peter.  \nFlights of fancy : birds in myth, legend and superstition / Peter Tate.  \n[p. cm](p. cm).  \nOriginally published: London : Random House, 2007.  \neISBN: 978-0-307-78397-4  \n1. Birds—Folklore. 2. Birds—Mythology. I. Title.  \nGR735 .T37 2008  \n398.24′528—dc22 2008023169  \n[www.bantamdell.com](www.bantamdell.com)  \nv3.1  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFor Anne  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nContents  \nCover  \nTitle Page  \nCopyright  \nDedication  \nIntroduction  \nBlackbird  \nCockerel  \nCrane  \nCrossbill  \nCuckoo  \nDiver  \nDove  \nEagle  \nGoose  \nHoopoe  \nHouse Sparrow  \nKingfisher  \nLapwing  \nMagpie  \nNightingale  \nNightjar  \nOwl  \nPeacock  \nPelican  \nQuail  \nRaven  \nRobin  \nRook  \nStonechat  \nStork  \nSwallow  \nSwan  \nWoodpecker  \nWren  \nWryneck  \nAuthors quoted or mentioned in the text Gods and goddesses  \nBibliography  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nIntroduction  \nFrom the significance of the first cuckoo to rhymes about magpies, an astonishingly large and varied body of folklore has grown up around birds. Some of the stories that have been handed down through the generations are quite straightforward, such as the belief that it’s bad luck to kill a robin. Others are amazingly elaborate or bizarre, such as the Greek folk-cure for a headache, which involved removing the head of a swallow at the full moon, then leaving it in a linen bag to dry. They can be found in all parts of the world, from the story of Yorimoto in Japan, who hid from his enemies in a tree and was protected by two doves, to the strange tale of Gertrude in Germany, who was turned into a woodpecker as punishment for her miserliness. What they all show is just how fascinated mankind has always been by birds. They are, after all, creatures that occupy a very particular and unusual place in our lives. On the one hand, they seem very familiar: they build nests in our gardens or in the eaves of our houses; some have even been domesticated and play an important role in agriculture to this day. On the other hand, they also inhabit a completely different realm from our own – one that we land-bound creatures can only imagine and wonder at. It seems scarcely surprising, therefore, that they should have proved such a rich source of speculation and myth-making.  \nWhat I have tried to do in this book is not to attempt an exhaustive survey of traditional beliefs about birds – such a survey would take up many hundreds of pages – but to select the stories that have most intrigued me in the course of a lifetime’s study. For example, I knew that migration was not fully understood before the eighteenth century, but I was fascinated to discover that many people used to believe that cuckoos turned into hawks when they departed for the winter months. I’m also intrigued by stories that recur in different traditions. The belief that birds with black plumage, such as crows and ravens, originally had white feathers but were punished for some crime or other, for example, is very widely spread. Similarly, tales of swan maidens can be found as far afield as India, Greenland and Ireland. Perhaps the strangest example of a well-travelled tale is that told of cranes.  \nI first came across the belief that every winter migrating cranes do battle with pygmies in Aristotle’s History of Animals. I was astonished, years later, to come across precisely the same story among the Cherokees of the south-eastern USA. I still have no idea how the same story came to be told in plac","cbCaisVTPLhKlscn","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisVTPLhKlscn","pdf",4764880,9,1,149,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Bird folklore across cultures\n## Recurring myths and origins of stories\n## Examples from different regions\n# Blackbird\n## Species overview and symbolism\n# Cockerel\n# Crane\n# Crossbill\n# Cuckoo\n# Diver\n# Dove\n# Eagle\n# Goose\n# Hoopoe\n# House Sparrow\n# Kingfisher\n# Lapwing\n# Magpie\n# Nightingale\n# Nightjar\n# Owl\n# Peacock\n# Pelican\n# Quail\n# Raven\n# Robin\n# Rook\n# Stonechat\n# Stork\n# Swallow\n# Swan\n# Woodpecker\n# Wren\n# Wryneck\n# Gods and goddesses\n# Bibliography","[{\"question\":\"What kinds of stories does Flights of Fancy select about birds?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on folklore tales that most intrigued the author during a lifetime of study, ranging from straightforward beliefs and omens to elaborate or bizarre traditions. Stories may involve luck, transformation, and practical rituals.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the book connect birds to human life according to the introduction?\",\"answer\":\"Birds are described as both familiar—nesting in gardens and under house eaves, sometimes even domesticated—and part of another imagined realm. This duality makes them a rich source of speculation and myth-making.\"},{\"question\":\"What is an example of a recurring tale mentioned in the book’s introduction?\",\"answer\":\"The belief that migrating cranes battle pygmies is introduced as appearing first in Aristotle’s History of Animals and later among the Cherokees in the southeastern United States. The text notes surprise at how the same story traveled across thousands of miles.\"}]","Flights of Fancy - Birds in Myth, Legend and Superstition | PDF",1786105977,229,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":29},"flights-of-fancy-birds-in-myth-legend-and-superstition","",{"@graph":37,"@context":86},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/flights-of-fancy-birds-in-myth-legend-and-superstition/129454/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-05","2026-08-07",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What kinds of stories does Flights of Fancy select about birds?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"It focuses on folklore tales that most intrigued the author during a lifetime of study, ranging from straightforward beliefs and omens to elaborate or bizarre traditions. Stories may involve luck, transformation, and practical rituals.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"How does the book connect birds to human life according to the introduction?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"Birds are described as both familiar—nesting in gardens and under house eaves, sometimes even domesticated—and part of another imagined realm. This duality makes them a rich source of speculation and myth-making.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"What is an example of a recurring tale mentioned in the book’s introduction?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"The belief that migrating cranes battle pygmies is introduced as appearing first in Aristotle’s History of Animals and later among the Cherokees in the southeastern United States. 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