THE FOLK LORE OF BIRDS IN RELATION TO ESSEX. 71
way to find the stone and brings it to the nest and when it
touches the eggs they become fresh and prolific. The stone must
at once be taken from the nest. The stone had the power of
increasing wealth, bestowing honour and forecasting the future.
The Nightingale, Swallow and Golden Eagle arc further birds
which have been endowed by the folk with a magic stone. The
story of the Nightingale is of some charm and here it is condensed.
A knight was imprisoned in a dreary dungeon, admitting very
little light. After the daily visits of the keeper, however, a
Nightingale flew in at the window and "sung full sweetly,"
thus cheering the unhappy warrior. After delivering its song
the bird flew to the knight, who fed it. A day came when the
knight was much depressed, so he appealed to the Nightingale,
reminding the bird of what he had done for it, and craved help
in this language. "Remember thyself well, how thou art the
"creature of God, and so am I also, and therefore help me now in
"this great need." The bird flew off and after an absence of
three days returned bringing in her mouth a precious stone and
then flew off. The prisoner touched his gyves and fetters with
the stone, when they fell off, and in a similar manner he opened
the locks of his prison and made his escape. The medium of
talismanic power of other birds is of a varied nature. In the
case of the Hoopoe it was a mysterious springwort before
which rocks and doors flew open. A Jewish fable relates that
it was the Hoopoe which helped Solomon to secure the coveted
"schamir," a very small worm, but able to penetrate the hardest
flint; with the aid of this worm he wrought the stones for his
temple.
Folk lore has had a considerable influence on the status of
some species, some of the stories, having the effect of giving
protection. Thus in Germany the Skylark is believed to be
under the protection of the Blessed Virgin. When in Shetland
in 1923 I learned that on the Island of Yell the nest of the
Skylark is considered to be sacred and that the following
traditional lines serve as a deterrent curse to the violation of
the nest:
" My malediction stick to dee
as tar sticks to the tree
and spread ower dee
as butter spreads ower bread "