By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Coauthors John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell
share a passion for collecting bits and pieces of information about crows and
ravens, not only from their field observations, but from literature.
They didn't say as much, but I'd guess they are the kind of collectors who
also scan the shelves of curio shops, looking for tschotchkes relating
to these corvids.
They remind me of a San Diego friend, Sanford
Goodkin, who has a wonderful collection of Noah's Arks made from all
different kinds of materials and envisioning the old boat and its occupants in
a variety of configurations. He has been able to find these pieces of
art and sculpture all over the world, and is justly proud of his collection.
Ever since my grandson Shor and
I began reading different versions of Noah's Ark stories together, I have
become fascinated by the Genesis figure. Like collectors Marzluff and Angell,
I have been collecting literature on the subject of my hobby, finding that the
more I read the biblical account of the Flood, the more interested I become in
its antecedents and parallels in the mythologies of other nations. I
also like to ponder the many moral questions the episode raises, not the least
of which are, "could every human being, whether a child or an adult,
really have been so evil that God had no choice but to eradicate them?
And what evil did the animals commit that they too—save for the animals on
the Ark—were drowned by God?"
The raven was the first bird that Noah set loose from the Ark in the search
for dry land, so on a hunch I picked In the Company of Crows and Ravens from
a "new books" shelf of the San Carlos branch of the San Diego Public
Library, turned to the index, and sure enough, Noah rated mentions on pages 2
and 111. Except that Marzluff and Angel didn't mention the
"raven" on page 2: Instead they wrote: "We discovered that
crows do not affect just us. They have profoundly affected people all over our
planet at every step of human evolution. Cave dwellers scratched images of
crows on their walls. Early hunters and gatherers built scarecrows to keep
crows from their drying fish and carved totem poles in their honor. Noah
counted on crows to find land..."
Crows, ravens, what's the difference? According to the authors, while the term
"crow" has been used to describe both of them, ravens generally are
larger, "often weighing more than 2.5 pounds...with prominent beaks,
diamond-or wedgeshaped tails, and broad wings spanning more than 4.5 feet...
Crows typically less than a pound, with shorter and narrower beaks, fan shaped
tails, and wings spanning less than a yard...Ravens often soar in flight, but
crows usually flap, and their rate of wing beats is more rapid than the larger
raven...."
On page 111, I read that ravens figured in Norse myths, Native American myths,
and in various flood stories "such as the Christian version in Genesis,
in which Noah first released a raven to find dry land during the great flood.
The raven appears to have had other business, for it failed to return, so Noah
resorted to his second choice, a dove, which proved more obedient and came
back with evidence of land. Jewish folklore tells us that the raven's
reputation had already been sullied in Jehovah's eyes because of its repeated
violations of a decree against love-making."
So, now the authors were saying it was indeed a raven that Noah released. But
with one point of confusion cleared up, I now wasn't quite sure what the
authors meant by the "Christian version in Genesis." I checked
two Jewish translations of the Torah and found that on this point, at
least, Jews and Christians agree. In the Stone version of the Tanakh,
used by many Orthodox congregations, Genesis 8:8 is rendered: "He sent
out the raven, and it kept going and returning until the waters dried from
upon the earth." It the translation of the Torah by W. Gunther
Platt, used by many Reform congregations, it says Noah "sent out the
raven; it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the
earth." In a footnote, Plaut also commented that the Akkadian flood
story also features a raven. {However, in the Gilgamesh epic, Utnapishtim (Noah's counterpart) first sends out
a dove, then a swallow, both of which return. At last, he sends out a raven,
which finding carrion to eat, does not return.)
Perhaps by referring to a "Christian version in Genesis," authors
Marzluff and Angell meant to indicate that they had consulted a Bible
containing both Jewish and Christian Scriptures, such as the King James Bible,
and didn't want to chance that exclusively Jewish sources might be
contradictory.
But what was this business about Jewish folklore? A footnote referenced
Angell's 1978 work, Ravens, crows, magpies and jays, published by the
University of Washington press. I didn't have a copy of that work, but
did find a folkloric reference to the raven's sexual misconduct on the Ark in
the 1983 book, Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis by Robert Graves & Raphael Patai, where I
also had found the above-mention comparison to Gilgamesh.
The raven in the
Jewish folklore reminded me of the tricky little devil that one hears about on
visits to Totem Bight Historic Park in Ketchikan, Alaska, where cruise ship
passengers and other tourists are introduced to the folklore of the Tlingit
people. Raven, a popular totem pole figure, is described as a cunning,
mischievous, naughty bird.
One tale of Tlingit and other indigenous peoples
of the northern Pacific Ocean suggests that raven one day tried to steal a
large fish from a fisherman, but the fisherman resisted. They both
tugged on the net, with a hook embedding itself deeper into raven's beak. The
more they pulled against each other, the more the beak curved from the
pressure. Finally raven opened its mouth to let the net go, figuring this was
far too much work for a fish. But his beak flew off, and the fisherman
would not return it until raven caught sufficient fish to satisfy him.
Only then did raven get its beak back, but not in its original shape.
Compare that explanation for the curve in raven's beak with this Jewish
folktale as retold by Graves & Patai:
"Noah opened a skylight and told the raven to fly
off and fetch back news of the outside world. It replied insolently: ‘God, your master, hates me; and so
do you! Were not His orders: ‘Take seven of all clean creatures, and two of
all unclean?'
Why choose me for the dangerous mission, when my mate and I are only
two? Why spare the doves, which number seven? If I should die of heat or cold,
the world would be bereft of ravens. Or
do you lust after my mate?’ Noah
cried: ‘Alas, Evil One! Did I not order you to see whether the floods have
abated. Be off at once!’ The raven answered impudently: ‘It is as I thought; you
lust after my mate!’ Noah,
enraged, cried: ‘May God curse the beak that uttered this calumny!’ And
all the creatures, listening, said ‘Amen!’
Noah opened the skylight, and the raven—which had meanwhile
impregnated the she-eagle, and other carrion birds besides, thus depraving
their natures—flew out but soon came back.
Again sent out, again it came back.
The third time it stayed away, gorging on corpses.”
As sources, the folklorists cited Genesis 7:4, 17, 24; 8:1-7; B. Berkahot 59a;
B. Rosh Hashana 11b-12a; B. Sanhedrin 108b; Alpha Beta di Ben Sira, Otzar
Midrashim 49a, 50b. I
My interest in Noah led me in and out of Marzluff's and Angell's
book—such being the fun of trying to comprehend stories by
following the hints they drop and the questions they raise. I shall have
to check why the raven in this folktale described itself as a
"clean" animal. As a carrion feeder, it would more than likely
be considered unclean. But that's an investigation for another time.
In reading In the Company of Crows and Ravens,, I found myself
fascinated by the many facts and factlets that the authors had
assembled.
For example, they noted that crows in urban areas exhibit different behaviors
than crows in rural areas—the latter apparently having concluded that humans
are those dangerous beings with shotguns. In urban areas, to the
contrary, crows seem to regard human beings as special benefactors. They
are the ones, after all, who set out all that yummy garbage upon which they
like to feed.
In either rural or urban setting, human beings also drive automobiles which
crows flying over highways have learned how to use as nut crackers. Up
they fly when they see a car coming, drop the nut, the car runs the nut over,
and once the car passes, the crow feeds on the meat of the nut.
Marzluff and Angell also told the 19th century origin of the expression
"to eat crow." As the story goes, an American poacher crossed
into British Canada to hunt birds, but was only able to shoot a crow. An
unarmed British officer asked to see the hunter's rifle, and once he took
possession of it, held it on the hunter and made him eat the crow as a
punishment. Then the officer escorted the hunter back to the American side of
the line and gave him back his rifle. The American turned the rifle on the
officer, and made him dine on the crow. The authors said "crows are
presumed to taste like the offal they often consume."
However, they added, when prepared correctly, crow can be quite tasty.
They sautéed crow breast in olive oil, garlic, and red pepper sauce and fried
it, and agreed "the results were tasty, a far cry from your everyday
chicken, but we suspect that it will be a long time before Americans are
willing to eat crow routinely."
So, humans have influenced the behaviors, or cultures, of crows and ravens,
and these corvids have influenced ours. This interaction between
species is the reason for the authors' deep appreciation for these fascinating
birds.