Dear Sunetro et al,

Here is a brief except from "Jane's Mythology page" at
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_mythology/index1.htm -
not too sure of the academic accuracy of it but it may give you some ideas.

Australian Aboriginal bird mythology and knowledge is the subject of a
book I have in preparation and Corvids will of course feature in that work.

For a personal look at how Corvids can really set their talons into you
have a look at Mark Cocker's marvelous book 'Crow Country', published by
Jonathan Cape in August 2007.

"Crow (Waa, Wahn( Crow holds a very important place in the mythology of
the Australian Aborigines. to many he is a moiety ancestor and those
belonging to his moiety are called 'Crow people'. There is an area of
Perth that was once the land of the Bibbulmum, who belong to this
moiety, and the Crow is still held in respect to this day. Crow often is
a trickster character, in sharp contrast to his more sombre moiety
counterpart, Bunjil the eaglehawk. A Koori myth from Victoria tells how
Crow stole fire from the seven women guardians. In the Dreamtime only
these seven women knew the secret of fire and refused to divulge how it
was made. Crow decided that he would get their secret. he made friends
with the women and found out that they carried fire at the ends of their
digging sticks. He also found out that the women were found of termites,
but afraid of snakes. He buried a number of snakes in a termite mound,
then told the women he had found a large next of termites. They followed
him to the spot and broke open the mound. The snakes attacked them and
they defended themselves with their digging sticks. This caused fire to
fall from the sticks. Quickly, Crow picked up the fire between two
pieces of bark and ran away. Now Crow in his turn refused to share fire
with anyone. every time someone asked him, he mockingly called out,
'Waa, waa.' He caused so much strife that even he at last lost his
temper and threw coals at some of the men who were pestering him for
fire. the coals caused a bushfire in which he supposedly was burnt to
death, but the eternal trickster came to life and the survivors heard
his mocking 'Waa, waa' echoing from a large tree.

The Woiwurong Koori people's elders told a similar myth of how once
there were seven young women called the Karatgurk who lived on the Yarra
river where Melbourne now stands. They lived on yams which they dug out
with their digging sticks, on the end of which they also carried line
coals. they kept the fire to themselves. Crow found one of the cooked
yams and tasted it. He found it delicious and decided to cook his yams
from then on. the women refused to give him fire and so he decided to
trick them out of it. He caught and hid a lot of snakes in an ant mound,
then called to the girls that he had found a large ant mound and that
the ant larvas tasted much better than yams. The women ran to the mound
and began digging into it with their sticks. The snakes came hissing out
and chased them away, screaming. but then the women turned and began to
hit out at the snakes with their digging sticks. They hit so hard that
some of the live coals were knocked off. Crow was waiting for this. He
pounced on the live coals and hid them in a kangaroo skin bag he had
prepared. When the women had killed all the snakes, they came back to
look for the coals. They could not find them and decided that Crow had
taken them. They chased him, but he flew out of reach and perched on the
top of a very high tree.

Bunjil saw what had happened and asked Crow for some of the coals, as he
wanted to cook a possum. Crow offered to cook it for him and when he had
done so, threw it down to Eaglehawk who saw that it was still smoking.
He tried to blow it into flame, but failed. He ate the possum and while
he did so, the Koori people gathered around and shouted at Crow to give
them fire. the din scared him and at last he flung some live coals at
the crowd. Kurol-goru the fire-tailed finch picked up some of the coals
and bid them behind his back and that is why these finches have red
tails. Eaglehawk's shaman helpers, Djurt-djurt the nankeen kestrel and
Thara the quail hawk, grabbed the rest of the coals. Then the coals made
a bush fire which burnt Crow black. It also spread over his country and
bunjil had to gather all the Kooris to help put it out. He placed some
rocks at the head of the Yarra river to stop the fire spreading that
way, and they are there to this day. His two helpers were burnt and
became two rocks at the foot of the Dandenong Range. The Karatgurk were
swept up into the sky where they became the Pleiades, the stars
representing their glowing firesticks.

Crow is perhaps one of the most attractive and entertaining of the
ancestral beings. He lived and passed on in mirth. Towards the end of
his stay on Earth, he was travelling down the Murray river when he came
across Swamp Hawk. Crow decided to play a trick on the bird. He planted
echidna quills in the deserted nest of a kangaroo rat and got Swamp Hawk
to jump on them. One of the interesting things about many of Crow's
tricks is that they benefit the person he plays them on, and in this
case Swamp Hawk was pleased, for the quills grew into his feet and he
found that he could catch kangaroo rats easily. Crow continued on his
journey and became caught in a storm. The rain lashed down and he felt
cleansed by it. it was then that a voice was heard. it was Biame the
All-Father. He took the old Crow up into the sky where he became the
star Canopus.
See also Balayang; Bellin-Bellin; bunjil; Eaglehawk and Crow; rober
Carol; Sirius.@

Cheers and best and I'm sure there will be many more examples coming
your way!

Robert Gosford


DJowl@... wrote:
>
> Dear Sunetro,
> There is a very substantial body of information on the
> truly significant relationship that Native Americans have with the
> Corvids (especially the Raven). I do not have specific stories and
> beliefs here, but would kindly suggest that you first do some Google
> searches on this relationship, and then follow up with some queries to
> websites for individual tribes (both USA Tribes and Canadian First
> Nation peoples).
>
> Sorry I can not be of more specific help to you..... but, I hope you
> well with your query.
> Strigologically yours,
>
> David
>
> David H. Johnson
> Center for Biological Diversity
> Director - Global Owl Project
> PO Box 10258
> Alexandria, Virginia 22310
> www.globalowlproject.com <http://www.globalowlproject.com>
> djohnson@...
> <mailto:djohnson@...>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sunetro Ghosal <uncia_nebulosa@...>
> To: ethnoornithology@...
> Sent: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 2:09 am
> Subject: [Ethnoornithology] Corvidae myths
>
> Hello,
>
> I am trying to compile various myths and beliefs associated with
> members of the crow family. Just wondering if anyone on this listserv
> know of any such tales, stories and myths from any part of the world.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Sunetro.
>
> Sunetro Ghosal
> 'Neerh'
> Matarwada Amboli
> Mumbai 400 058
> INDIA
> email: ghosal@..., uncia_nebulosa@...
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