THE SPEECH OF BIRDS
(To the Editor of '‘The Press”) Sir.—As an addendum to Professor Arnold Wall’s most interesting article in “The Press” last Saturday on "The Speech of Birds.” many of your readers -may like to know the following legend which I cull from a recent book on Ireland by Richard Hayward. He writes: “. . . two Roman soldiers were standing on guard on the Hill of Calvary, with a cock boiling in a pot beside them against the time they’d be hungry. Says gru? soldier to the other. ‘The People believe that Jesus of Nazareth above there will come back to life in three days’ time’; and the other says, ‘I heard that myself, but I’d as soon believe that the cock in the pot there would rise up and let a crow out of himself.’ Whereat the cock rose from the pot and sent a clarion call across the countryside that still echoes through the seven valleys ot the world. It is the same call every cock uses to this day. for he has no other song at all—mac-navhoige-slan—- ' pronounced mock-na-hoe-ya-slawn).” This is q sentence in Gaelic which means “The Son of the Virgin is safe.” —Yours, etc.,
A. H. McC. ACHESON. May 29, 1950.
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Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26129, 3 June 1950, Page 3
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206THE SPEECH OF BIRDS Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26129, 3 June 1950, Page 3
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