[286] i. 76.
[287] Amongst the Romans, on the contrary, the flight to the left was an excellent omen; thus Plautus in the Epidicus: "Tacete, habete animum bonum, liquido exeo foras auspicio, ave sinistra." (But this change from right to left may depend upon the various positions taken by the observer in placing himself.) In the mediæval legend of Alexander, a bird with a human face (a harpy) meets Alexander and advises him to turn to the right, when he will see marvellous things.—Cfr. Zacher, Pseudo-Callisthenes, Halle, 1867, p. 142.
[288] Râmây. iii. 64.
[289] Pra çyenaḥ çyenebhya âçupâtvâ—Aćakrayâ yat svadhayâ suparṇo havyam bharan manave devaǵushṭam; Ṛigv. iv. 26, 4.—The somaḥ çyenâbhṛitaḥ is also mentioned in the Ṛigv. i. 80, 2, iv. 27, ix. 77, and other passages.
[290] Çatam mâ pura âyasîr arakshann adha çyeno ǵavasâ nir adîyam; Ṛigv. iv. 27, 1.
[291] Yam te çyenaç ćârum avṛikaṁ padâbharad aruṇam mânam andhasaḥ—enâ vayo vi târy âyur ǵivasa enâ ǵagâra bandhutâ; Ṛigv. x. 144, 5.
[292] In the Mahâbhâratam (i. 2383), the ambrosia takes the shape of sperm. A king, far from his wife Girikâ, thinks of her; the sperm comes from him and falls upon a leaf. A hawk carries the leaf away; another hawk sees it and disputes with it for the possession of the leaf; they fight with one another and the leaf falls into the waters of the Yamunâ, where the nymph Adrikâ (equivalent to Girikâ), changed by a curse into a fish, sees the leaf, feeds upon the sperm, becomes fruitful, and is delivered; cfr. the chapter on the Fishes.
[293] Çyeno 'yopâshṭir hanti dasyûn; Ṛigv. x. 99, 8.—In the Russian stories the hawk and the dog are sometimes the most powerful helpers of the hero.
[294] Ghṛishuḥ çyenâya kṛitvana âsuḥ; Ṛigv. x. 144, 3.—Yam suparṇaḥ parâvataḥ çyenasya putra âbharat çataćakram; Ṛigv. x. 144, 1.
[295] Sa pûrvyaḥ pavate yaṁ divas pari çyeno mathâyad ishitas tiro raǵaḥ sa madhva â yuvate yeviǵâna it kṛiçânor astur manasâha bibhyushâ; Ṛigv. ix. 77, 2.