The primitive meaning of the myth may perhaps be found in the Greek tradition which regarded the quail, because it was a bird of passage, as a type of revival of spring or of life. Hercules awakes from his swoon when his companion Iolaus (from the Greek ιουλος, youth), holds a quail to his nose. Hercules suffered from epilepsy, for which disease the ancients thought the brain of a quail was a specific. The placing pieces of a quail, by the gypsies, in the corners of a field when corn is sown, connects the bird with spring. Artemis, a goddess of spring and life, was called by the Romans Ortygyia, from ορτυξ, a quail. Therefore, as signifying new life, the quail became itself a cure for many diseases. And it seems to be like the Wren, also a bird of witchcraft and sorcery, or a kind of witch itself. It is a protector, because, owing to its pugnacity, it was a type of pluck, battle and victory. In Phœnicia it was sacrificed to Hercules, and the Romans were so fanatical in regard to it that Augustus punished a city-father for serving upon his table a quail which had become celebrated for its prowess. And so it has become a devil’s bird among the gypsies because in the old time it was regarded as a devil of a bird for fighting.
The gypsies are hardly to be regarded as Christians, but when they wish to contend against the powers of darkness they occasionally invoke Christian influences. If a cow gives bloody milk it is thought to be caused by her eating Wachtelkraut, or quail weed, which is a poison. In such a case they sprinkle the milk on a field frequented by quails and repeat:—
“Dav rátá tumenge
Adá ná hin láče!
Ráyeskro Kristeskro rátá
Adá hin máy láce
Adá hin ámenge!”
“I give to you blood,
Which is not good!
The Lord Christ’s blood