The eye-catching crows and ravens play a role in legends and fairy tales around the world. According to this, ancient gods and kings used their wisdom, intelligence and ability to fly. In parallel, these birds also play a role in popular belief and superstition. In many fairy tales, for example, there is often talk of the wise hiker "röiven" (old German), who shows stray hikers the right way (and often gives a few tips on the trip). Well known are the Grimm fairy tales The Seven Ravens and The Raven.
In Norse mythology the raven symbolizes wisdom, the god Odin always had the two common ravens Hugin and Munin with him, who sat on his shoulders and told him what was going on in the world. King Arthur is said to have been turned into a raven. The ravens were sacred to the Greek god Apollon (see Koronis). In the story of the Flood, Noah lets a raven fly (Gen 8,6-7 ELB). According to the Bible, the prophet Elijah is cared for by ravens during a time of famine (1 Kings 17: 6 ELB). In the Babylonian version of the Flood myth, the Atraḫasis epic, Atraḫasis sent three birds after the rain had ended: a dove, a swallow and a raven. The raven did not return, so Atraḫasis knew that the land was accessible again. In both the Judeo-Christian and the older Babylonian version, the earth “fell” after the flood, which contributed to the bad image of the raven as a bird of bad luck. With Christianization, the raven was increasingly seen in Europe as a demonic being or an evil animal, due to its mythological significance in previous cults (e.g. as a Wotans bird, battle leader and hunting companion), which accompanied the devil as a scavenger and announced damage as an unlucky raven. [24] The assumption of a connection between the raven and the devil goes back above all to the church fathers. [25] The corpses of the hanged were often not buried in the Middle Ages, when the raven, like the rook or carrion rook, was given an ambivalent interpretation, [26] and even later; so the raven even became a gallows bird. On the other hand, the tame, affectionate and speaking raven also plays a role as a pet. [27]
The raven also plays a major role in North American Indian and Inuit fairy tales, in which, in contrast to West African fairy tales, it plays a positive role. [28] In India, crows accompany the goddess Kali. In Christian legends, the crow is the messenger of Saint Oswald, and two ravens pursued the murderers of Meinrad von Einsiedeln and brought them to justice.
Up to the present day ravens and crows are frequently found symbols in literature, film and the way of life. Examples are poems and films with ravens or crows as protagonists or at least an essential design element. One of the most famous poems in the English-speaking world is The Raven by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The German writer Wilhelm Raabe was inspired by Poe's poem in his novel Das Odfeld for the battle of ravens that took place in him. Wilhelm Busch also immortalized Hans Huckebein, the unlucky raven, in his literary picture story in the form of a raven. Witches and wizards can do each other. also to be transformed into crows, a motif that the children's book author Otfried Preußler took up in detail in his book Krabat, as well as the makers of the television fairy tale The Magic Raven Rumburak. The children's book The Little Raven Socke is also about a raven or comics like The Crow. In pop music, bands give themselves names such as B. Corvus Corax. The term unlucky raven stands for a person who is constantly unlucky. [29] In his cycle “Winterreise” from 1824, set to music in the song cycle of the same name, D. 911, by Franz Schubert in 1827, Wilhelm Müller lets a crow follow the traveler.
Source: Wikipedia
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