es of goddesses. Throughout Asia and Europe
ravens are birds of ill omen. In Scotland there still linger curious
folk beliefs regarding the appearance of ravens and doves after death.
Michael Scott, the great magician, when on his deathbed told his
friends to place his body on a hillock. "Three ravens and three doves
would be seen flying towards it. If the ravens were first the body was
to be burned, but if the doves were first it was to receive Christian
burial. The ravens were foremost, but in their hurry flew beyond their
mark. So the devil, who had long been preparing a bed for Michael, was
disappointed."[481]

In Indian mythology Purusha, the chaos giant, first divided himself.
"Hence were husband and wife produced." This couple then assumed
various animal forms and thus "created every living pair whatsoever
down to the ants".[482] Goddesses and fairies in the folk tales of
many countries sometimes assume bird forms. The "Fates" appear to
Damayanti in the Nala story as swans which carry love messages.[483]

According to Aryo-Indian belief, birds were "blessed with fecundity".
The Babylonian Etana eagle and the Egyptian vulture, as has been
indicated, were deities of fertility. Throughout Europe birds, which
were "Fates", mated, according to popular belief, on St. Valentine's
Day in February, when lots were drawn for wives by rural folks.
Another form of the old custom is referred to by the poet Gay:--

Last Valentine, the day when birds of kind
Their paramours with mutual chirpings find,
I early rose....
Thee first I spied, and the first swain we see,
In spite of fortune, shall our true love be.

The dove appears to have been a sacred bird in various areas occupied
by tribes of the Mediterranean race. Models of a shrine found in two
royal graves at Mycenae are surmounted by a pair of doves, suggesting
twin goddesses like Isis and Nepthys of Egypt and Ishtar and
Belitsheri of Babylonia. Doves and snakes were associated with the
mother goddess of Crete, "typifying", according to one view, "her
connection with air and earth. Although her character was distinctly
beneficent and pacific, yet as Lady of the Wild Creatures she had a
more fearful aspect, one that was often depicted on carved gems, where
lions are her companions."[484] Discussing the attributes and symbols
of this mother goddess, Professor Burrows says: "As the serpent,
coming from the crevices of the earth, shows the possession of