The young man, hearing the words of the cock, which the old woman tried in vain to drive away, sent his servant into the house to find out whether it was so. He lifted the trough and found there the other girl, clothed in dirty rags and huddled up. The woman, seeing that the girl had been discovered, said to the man, “Do not take any notice of her; she is a dirty slut and an idiot.” But the cock again sang out, “O that old crone is telling lies; it is the daughter of the old man, and she is very wise.” The young man, who was waiting outside, became impatient, and calling for the servant, he told him to bring the girl out. He tried the slipper, which fitted like a glove, and there and then he married her.
And this is the origin of the dove.
XC.
WHY DOES THE RAVEN FEED ON CARRION?
The Story of Noah and the Raven.
The Rumanian story about the raven is more or less the well-known story of the raven in Noah’s ark as told in the Bible. But it has not reached the people in that simple ungarnished form. It has been embellished with legends. Those found among the Rumanian peasants agree in the main with those told by oriental writers and found in “historiated” Bible’s—that great treasure-house of legendary Biblical lore and the depository of many of the legends of the past.
It is important to see how stories, the literary origin of which cannot be doubted, have penetrated among the people and have become actual popular legends. We can almost trace the way which they have come. And this lends a special value to such popular Biblical legends.
The story runs as follows:
The raven was originally a bird with white feathers. When Noah sent out the raven to find out how things were in the world, the raven espied the carcase of a horse floating on the waters which had begun to subside. Forgetting his errand, the raven settled on the carcase and started eating, and he continued eating for three days and three nights. He could not get satisfied; only at the dawn of the fourth morning did he remember the errand on which he had been sent, and started on his return. When Noah saw him at some distance, he cried, “Why hast thou tarried so long, and what is thy message, and how does the world without look?”