[396] Ib.
[397] ii. 105; cfr. also Du Cange, s. v. corbitor.—In the German legend of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, the emperor, buried under a mountain, wakens and asks, "Are the crows still flying round the mountain?" he is answered that they are still flying. The emperor sighs and lies down again, concluding that the hour of his resurrection has not yet arrived.
[398] In the Ornithologia of Aldrovandi. The messenger crow is of frequent occurrence in legends.
[399] In Plutarch, two crows guide Alexander the Great, when he goes to consult the oracle of Zeus Ammôn.
[400] Hence the name of Avis S. Martini also given to the crow, because it often comes about St Martin's day. In Du Cange and in the Roman du Renard we also find indicated the auspices to be taken from the crow's flight; for the same custom in Germany, cfr. Simrock, the work quoted before, p. 546.
[401] Horace, Carm. iii. 27.—In Afanassief, again (iv. 36), the rook is asked where it has flown to. It answers, "Into the meadows to write letters and sigh after the maiden;" and the maiden is advised to hurry towards the water. The maiden declares that she fears the crab. In this maiden, that is afraid of the crab, I think I can recognise the zodiacal sign of Virgo (attracted by the crab of the summer),—the virgin who approaches the water, the autumn and the autumnal rains; the virgin loved by the crow, who is the friend of the rains.
[402] Horace, Carm. iii. 27.
[403] Sâkaṁ yakshma pra pata ćâsheṇa kīkidîvinâ; Ṛigv. x. 97, 13.
Saróvka, saróvka,
Kasha varlla
Na parók skakála,
Gastiei saszivála.