[444] We may also record here another Italian proverb, "To take two doves with one bean." In Italian anatomy a part of the phallos is called a bean (fava). The birds, and especially the thrushes and the doves, according to the popular belief, not only have the faculty of making other birds, but even plants fruitful. The words of Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvi. 44, have already been quoted by Prof. Kuhn: "Omnino autem satum nullo modo nascitur, nec nisi per alvum avium redditum, maxime palumbis ac turdis."
[445] Çvasity apsu haṅso na sîdan kratvâ ćetishṭho viçâm usharbhut; Ṛigv. i. 65, 9.
[446] Bîbhatsûnâṁ sayuǵam haṅsam âhur apâṁ divyânâṁ sakhye ćarantam; x. 124, 9.
[447] Haṅsâir iva sakhibhir vâvadadbhir açmanmayâni nahanâ vyasyan bṛihaspatir abhi kanikradad gâ; x. 67, 3.
[448] Sasvaç cid dhi tanvaḥ çumbhamânâ â haṅsâso nîlapṛishṭhâ apaptan; vii. 59, 7.
[449] Cfr. the chapter which treats of the Bee.
[450] vi. 2.
[451] Adhi bṛibuḥ paṇînâṁ varshishṭhe mûrdhann asthât uruḥ kaksho na gâñgyaḥ; Ṛigv. vi. 45, 31.—Bṛibuṁ sahasradâtamaṁ sûriṁ sahasrasâtamam; vi. 45, 33.—Cfr. also the 32d strophe.
[452] Ṛigv. vi. 46.
[453] The goose is found in connection with robbers in the twenty-third story of the sixth book of Afanassieff. Two servants stole a precious pearl from the king; being about to be found out, they give the pearl, by the advice of an old woman, to the grey goose in a piece of bread; the goose is then accused of having stolen the pearl. It is killed, the pearl is found, and the two robbers escape.