Research source

THE CUCKOO, THE HERON, THE HEATHCOCK, THE PARTRIDGE, THE NIGHTINGALE, THE SWALLOW, THE SPARROW, AND

Date of account: English edition published 1872
Source: Zoological Mythology; or, The Legends of Animals, Volume 2 (of 2)
Reference: Zoological Mythology; or, The Legends of Animals, Volume 2 (of 2) · selected passage 92
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

The fox (the spring aurora) takes the cheese (the moon) from the crow (the winter night), by making it sing

Published source text

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Source passage

Source text · mention only

The fox (the spring aurora) takes the cheese (the moon) from the crow (the winter night), by making it sing. In the _Mahâbhâratam_,[394] the monster Râhus disguises himself as a god, that he may go and drink the ambrosia of the gods; the sun and the moon denounce the imposture; Râhus is recognised, and Vishnus cuts off his head with his disc; this is an ancient variety of the fable of the crow among the peacocks. This disguise of the crow, however, will appear quite natural when we reflect that Indras is a peacock, and that in the _Râmâyanam_[395] a certain learned crow (pânditas) is called by Hanumant the son of Indras (putrah kila sa çakrasya; in the _Ornithes_ of Aristophanes, I read that at Athens men swore by the crow and by Zeus). I have observed, on a previous occasion, that the Vedic Indras assumes in the Hindoo poems a sinister, and sometimes even a diabolical aspect. In the _Râmâyanam_,[396] a crow attacks Sîtâ with wings, beak, and claws; Râmas hurls an enchanted dart at it; the bird, by divine grace, does not die, but as it flies rapidly, between drop and drop, whilst it rains from the cloud, it sees nothing but darts and shadows of darts in the air.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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