Chapter 35

And it becomes to my mind doubly clear by the clergyman being put in the like case: a consecrated priest, says Berthold, is accounted of ill omen to such as meet him. I can produce another pretty old proof from Hincmar 1, 656: 'sunt etiam qui dicant, quando in venationem pergunt, quod obviam sibi non debeant habere clericum;' and more modern ones from Reginald Scott's Witchcraft (Lond. 1665 fol.) p. 114: 'if any hunters, as they were a hunting, chanced to meet a frier or a priest, they thought it so ill luck, as they would couple up their hounds and go home, being in dispair of any further sport that day;' and from Pauli's Schimpf und Ernst (1555) cap. 358: 'there went an old dame to church betimes o' the day, and a parson meeting her, did cross herself some six times privily. Wherefore sign you yourself so at sight of me? quoth the priest; I hope I be not the devil. The woman answered, It hath never failed, an I came upon a parson betimes of a morning, but some untoward thing befell me the same day.'

When a company of people suddenly fall silent, they say 'there's a priest passing,' Nethl. 'er gaat een predikant voorby'; every one feels confounded at the omen. And in a better sense also it is said 'an angel flew across the room,' Ermhj epeishlqe. In Switzerland they say, there is bad weather when a clergyman walks out (Tobler 436b).

The sudden appearance of a holy man interrupts and breaks up worldly business. Those who met him were bound to show respect; paganism may have prescribed in such a case the immediate performance of a certain formality. Christians would transfer the omen from the pagan to the christian priest; that of the heathen priestess or wise woman must have passed over to night-wives and witches, as the clerus admitted no women into its ranks.

Why should the meeting of a blind (or one-eyed) man, a lame man, a beggar be considered bad, and that of a hunchback or leper good? why what of a walker be interpreted less favourably than that of a rider (Sup. K, 129 Dan.), and that of a water-bearer also unfavourably (I, 257)? The blind man, the cloaked (rider) suggest Wuotan. It seems more intelligible why a man did not care to have his sword handed him by a woman, and why in the Edda the sight of two warriors is a pledge of victory.

To lovers the sight of the loved one must have been the welcomest of signs: 'swer si des morgens angesiht, den tac im niemer leit geschiht,' who upon her at morn doth look, that day no manner harm shall brook, Ms. 2, 23b (see Suppl.).

Animal encounters have their origin in pastoral and hunting life, they are based on contemplation of nature and on fabulous opinions about the habits of beasts. Under this head there must be a vast deal in Slavic, Esthonian, Finnic and Lithuanian tradition waiting to be collected, which at present I must do without. Even Norse tradition seems not to have been accurately noted down in this respect. Saxo Gram. p. 321 says of Slavs, not of Northmen: 'ad varia quoque negotia profecturi ex primo animalis occursu votorum auspicia capiebant; quae si laeta fuissent, coeptum alacres iter carpebant, sin tristia, reflexo cursu propria repetebant.' The animals in question he omits to name. Important above all is that omen in the Edda of the wolf howling and going onwards, whom we may fairly take for the victory-boding beast of Oðinn (p. 668). All other evidence agrees with it, even the superstitions of today. Everywhere the brave undaunted wolf, the sight of whom awakens the heart and hope, is set off against the timid cowardly hare, the type of faint heart and failure. Sigeb. gembl. ad an. 1143: 'obiit etiam Fulco rex Hierosolymorum; qui dum venationi insistens leporem insequitur ex improviso sibi apparentem, equus cui insidebat se super ipsum praecipitem dedit, ipsumque vita et regno privavit;' conf. Vintler, Sup. G, 11. 52-55. Again: 'on the way there chanced a hare to run across their road; the driver was troubled, and spake, This betokeneth no good. If contrariwise a wolf had crossed the road, it were a good sign,' Ettner's Unw. doctor 575-6; conf. Simplic. 2, 74. In Pauli's Schimpf u. E. cap. 138 (ed. 1550 cap. 135): 'in the morning they set forth, and being come wellnigh unto the wood, Master, quoth the man, there ran a wolf before us. The master said he had seen him well enough, it meant sheer luck.' In Albertini's Narrenhatz, Munich 1617. p. 96: 'superstitious numskulls are affrighted if a hare cross the path whereon they shall walk or ride, supposing that they shall on that day abide a misadventure.' Göz von Berlichingen in his Life p. 179: 'and as we came on, behold, a shepherd feeding his flock hard by, and for a token, there fell five wolves upon the sheep, that laid hold of them roundly, the which I gladly heard and saw, and wished them luck, and us too, and said to them, Good luck to you, good fellows, good luck everywhere, and I deemed it luck, for even so should we lay hold one of another.' (23) Here we have no angang proper described, but we can see the meaning that warlike nations at first put into it. Wolf, stag, boar and bear all stand exactly on a par in respect of their meaning, Sup. I, 128. The Norwegian thinks it a bad sign to meet a hare, a good one to meet a bear or a wolf (Danske's Reiseiagtagelser 1799. 2, 297): here the bear, whom the lay of the Raven's wedding calls the 'ypperste karl i shoven,' is justly placed before the wolf. (24) Roman accounts take no notice of the bear, but they do of the wolf; Pliny 8, 22 [34]: 'inter auguria ad dexteram commeantium praeciso itinere, si pleno id ore lupus fecerit, nullum omnium praestantius.' Pliny also tells us the effect of a footprint of the wolf, if a horse treads on it: 'tanta vis est animalis, ut vestigia ejus calcata equis afferant torporem' 28, 10 [44]; and 'rumpi equos, qui vestigia luporum sub equite sequantur' 28, 20 [81]. Both John of Salisbury and Peter of Blois have 'occursum leporis timere.' In addition to Berthold and Hartlieb (Sup. H, cap. 67), the Cod. pal. 241. 163a has a passage in point. Feldbauer 240:

Dar zuo sâh wir einen hasen (hare),

der widerfuor uns (met us) an dem weg;

dô dâht ich deiz niht eben læg:

er tet uns den êrsten aneganc,

wan daz er snelle für mich spranc.
To Greeks and Romans apparently it could under favourable circumstances be a good omen (aisioj). (25) The weasel (galh) had a bad name among them: when it ran across the road, a public assembly was postponed (Potter 1, 746). Theophrastus in Charact. 16 says, if a weasel run past you, you must not go on till some one else has paced the road, or you have picked up three stones from it. So Centonovelle cap. 31: 'quando l'uomo trova la donnola (26) nella via.' The fox's angang is interpreted variously: as bad in that passage from Ihre, as good by Lithuanian Superst. N, 9. Domestic animals, such as the traveller keeps on his own premises, and does not meet for the first time in the woods, are hardly available as omens: they are too common, too tame and dependent on man, to become significant to him. Yet they say, if on setting out early you meet swine, you will not be welcome where your steps are taking you; if sheep, you will. According to some, the wayfarer is a welcome guest if the sheep present themselves on his right hand, and unwelcome if on his left. The Etruscans, when a new magistrate rode into his province, observed what horses and oxen he fell in with (O. Müller 2, 118). Compare the prophesying by horses (p. 662-4), where it is true there is no chance meeting of the beast, yet stress is laid on his planting of the right foot or the left. An instance in Procop. de b. Pers. 2, 5 p. 172 ought to be added.

The observation of birds was even more minutely carried out than the encounter of quadrupeds, their free unhindered motion through the air being of itself enough to invest them with something marvellous and spirit-like. The Greeks had a comprehensive oiwnistikh (Suidas sub v.), the Romans reduced auspicia and auguria to a system. (27) Boh. ptako-prawiti augurari, ptako-westec augur, Pol. ptaszo-wieszczek. And heathens of the Teuton race equally regarded birds as messengers of the gods and heralds of important tidings (pp. 672, 763). 'What bird has brought that to your ears?' means: who made you believe that, put it into your head? (28) 'A bird sang that to me: jag hörde en fogel så sjunga, en fogel var här, och sade för mig det eller det,' said so and so, Ihre de superst. p. 51. Mod. Greek and Servian folksongs not unfrequently open with birds on the wing wheeling this way and that, holding a conversation, Wh. Müller's Saml. 1, 66. 102. 2, 164. 178. 200. Vuk, 3, 326. Two black ravens (dva vrana gavrana) caw from the white tower, Vuk. 2, 151. The prophetic call of the cuckoo has been dealt with, p. 675 seq.; he too belongs to angang, his voice in the wood falls unexpected on the traveller's ear, a good sign if on the right hand, a bad if on the left. Pliny 30, 10 [25]: 'aliud est cuculo miraculum, quo quis loco primo audiat alitem illam, si dexter pes circumscribatur ac vestigium id effodiatur, non gigni pulices, ubicunque spargatur;' conf. p. 1093 on cutting out footmarks. The Indic. superst. xiii. touches on auguria avium. Eligius, Sup. A: 'nec in itinere positi aliquas aviculas cantantes attendatis.' Birds whose encounter is prophetic are called wegvögel, way-fowl, Sup. I, 600, but by far the best qualified for the purpose were the krimmende raubvögel (rapaces aves) that won victories over other birds, and could predict the same happy event to heroes; (29) accordingly birds of prey play the foremost part in dreams. An anecdote in Procop. de b. Goth. 4, 20 (ed. Bonn. 2, 560-1) shows how early this superstition was domiciled among German nations: Hermigiscl king of the Warni, riding over field, noticed a bird (of what kind, is not said) on a tree, and heard him caw (so prob. a raven or crow). Understanding the song of birds, the king informed his followers that his death in forty days was foretold. (30) It is igðor up in the trees that prophesy to Sigurðr (p. 672); it is not settled whether they were swallows, or perhaps she-eagles? Dagr has a sparrow of understanding, Ingl. saga cap. 21. Several passages in the O. Span. Cid prove the observation of birds: 867 al exir de Salon mucho ovo buenas aves; 2376 con Dios e con la vuestra auce; 2379 con la buen auce (see Suppl.).

And as it was a principal point with the ancients whether the flight was from right or left, Hartlib also (Sup. H, cap. 67) pronounces flying on the right hand lucky, on the left unlucky. He says the eagle must fly pouch-side of the traveller, i.e. on the side where his travelling-pouch hangs. Nowhere else do I find the 'ar' mentioned, but often the mûsar, in Hartman, Wirnt, Berthold; which Benecke's Dict. to the first-named makes a small bird of prey, the same that Burchard (Sup. C, p. 198c) calls muriceps and explains as mouser. The poem of the Uebel wîp says 297-301:

Swenne ich nâch gewinne var,

sô ist durft daz mir der mûsar

über die strâze vliege

und mich des niht entriege,

ob ich ir niht enbringe;
i.e. when I bring her nothing home, I have to make that my excuse. This bird's flying over the road is a favourable sign. In the Iliad 10, 274 a heron (erwdioj) flying on the right brings luck. The raven, a bird of victory to the heathen, is spoken of in the Norse quotations p. 1123 as 'accompanying,' but nowhere else in connexion with angang; of the crow we hear plenty. It was lucky 'si cornicula ex sinistra in dexteram cantaverit,' Sup. C, p. 198c; the same in Petr. Bles., except volaverit for cantaverit; Kolocz. 146 says of children brought up in luxury, who never felt the heavy hand of fate: 'si enwizzen wannen die krân sint gevlogen,' they never knew whence the crows flew. Walth. 94, 39: 'ein unsœligiu (unblest) krâ begonde schrîen.' MS. 2, 80: 'ez hab ein swerziu krâ gelogen,' told lies. On the other hand: 'alba solet cornix affectum scire tacentis,' Reinard. 2, 657. With the crow some would identify the Martin's bird, whose flight is so fraught with meaning in Peter of Blois and in Renart 10472, Reinaert 1047, Reineke 942. 'Sant Martins vogel, wol über her! daz ist nû gar der niuwe hant,' Liederb. der Hätzlerin 241b; i.e. such careless calling upon St. Martin's bird is all the fashion now (conf. 'diu niuwe hant, alte hant,' Renner 2087-2111). A similar invocation in Reinaert: 'al heil, edel voghel, kêre herwaert dînen vloghel!' But Nemnich would make the falco cyaneus, a small bird of prey, the Martin's bird, Nethl. Martens vogel, Fr. l'oiseau S. Martin, Span. pajaro S. Martin; and this would fit in with John of Salisb.'s albanellus (Fr. haubereau), which expressly points to good hospitium, like Martin's bird in Reinhart (and Petr. Bles.). I find no clue in the ordinary legends of the saint, to whom the bird must have brought something. (31) Again, in Vintler (Sup. G, 1. 158) sant Martis-vogel betokens luck; this spelling would almost lead to the supposition that Martinsvogel was a corruption of 'Martis avis,' which would be the woodpecker, the Märzafulli (p. 673). In Ls. 3, 543 we read: 'sant Martins vögalin diu machent mangen umbecreiz;' while another passage (which even Reinh. cxxvii borrows) in a Pal. MS. (Altswert 77, 19) has again 'Mertiss vogelin,' and we are told it points the way to the Venus mount, which adds to its mythical character. Our nursery rhymes give sunte Martens vögelken a red coat or golden wing, but they are sung on Martinmas-eve, and bring us back to the saint. So I can come to no certain conclusion about this bird. Coming back to the crow, we have yet more credentials, old and new. Virg. Ecl. 9, 15: 'ante sinistra cava monuisset ab ilice cornix.' Poema del Cid 11. 12: 'ovieron la corneia diestra,' and 'siniestra.' Renart 10473, speaking of the oiseau S. Martin: 'assez si le hucha à destre, et li oisiax vint à senestre.' The ancients do not leave out the raven, as Plaut. Aul. iv. 3, 1: 'non temere est, quod corvus cantat mihi nunc ab laeva manu, semel radebat pedibus terram, et voce crocibat sua.' Olaf Tryggvason, though a christian, noticed whether the krâka (crow) stood on her right or left leg, believing it to bode good or evil to him; whence his enemies nicknamed him krâkubein. The ON. hûngr-krâka foretold famine, and illviðris-krâka ill weather. Cento nov. ant. 32: 'segnor, je vit una cornacchia in uno cieppo di salice.' 'Or mi di, donna, verso qual parte teneva volta la coda?' 'Segnor, ella avea volta verso il cul.' (32) Conf. the charadrius or galadrot p. 853n.




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