All peoples of the world have legends about virgins - birds. At first, these creatures were not at all harmless, but over time their image changed for the better. And, most interestingly, stories about some flying humanoid creatures continue to appear in various parts of the Earth …
Greeks didn't like them
The ancient Greeks very clearly distinguished between good and evil bird-maidens, believing, however, that only good can not be expected from either one or the other.
Sirens - half-women, half-birds killed seafarers. With enchanting songs they lured travelers passing by to the reefs. The maidens pounced on the corpses thrown out by the sea, tore them apart with their clawed bird paws and devoured them. Odysseus managed to outwit the insidious sirens only thanks to Circe's warning: he covered the ears of his companions with wax, and ordered himself to be tied to the mast.
But the Argonauts (participants in the campaign to Colchis led by Jason) escaped death due to the fact that Orpheus drowned out the sirens with his singing and playing the lyre.
The Gorgons, of which the most famous Medusa killed by Perseus, from whose gaze all living things turned to stone, were also very unpleasant maidens-birds: huge wings, clawed paws, and Medusa, among other things, instead of hair, wriggled a ball of snakes on her head.
Erinius (in ancient Rome - furies) was depicted with a hairstyle of snakes, a black dog's muzzle instead of a face and the wings of a bat. They pursued the offender until they were killed, while an unbearable stench spread around them.
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Harpies are archaic pre-Olympic deities, personification of various aspects of the storm. In myths, they are represented as vicious kidnappers of children and human souls, suddenly flying in and also suddenly disappearing. The word "harpy" itself comes from the Greek harpazein - "to seize", "to abduct". They were also depicted in the form of bird-maidens of a disgusting appearance and spread the same disgusting smell as the Erinia.
Complex relationships
Pitchfork, samovilya - in the folklore of the Slavs - female creatures, whose cult has been known since the 13th century. Typically, the pitchfork was described as tall, slender, pretty girls with long, flowing hair and light-colored clothing or bedspreads. But often they also had demonic features: donkey, horse, cow or goat legs with hooves, which were usually hidden under clothing; wings are the focus of their supernatural power; huge breasts thrown over the back; unpleasant smell coming from the hair. It was believed that they live in a community under the leadership of the leader.
The habitats of the pitchfork are mountains, rocks, caves and pits remote from people.
The ancestor of the pitchfork is believed to be the God-damned sister of Christ, who boasted that she was more beautiful than her brother. According to other beliefs, the pitchforks are the daughters of Eve, whom she hid from God. The pitchfork is mortal. They can be both good and bad: to dirty people, punish them for harm or unrighteous behavior; send disease, maim and even kill. They are envious, they can take away water and dry up fields, destroy crops, lime cattle.
Other peoples also have many legends about the bird-maidens, and all of them undergo a strange transformation over time.
Wondrous transformation
In classical antiquity, the bird-maidens underwent a wonderful transformation - the sirens, for example, dramatically changed their disgusting disposition, and with it their appearance: each of these beauties sits on one of the eight heavenly spheres of the world spindle of the goddess Ananke, creating with their singing the majestic harmony of space.
Harpies from stealers of souls and children turn into guardians of the law, punishing criminals. There is a story about how they tortured King Phineus, cursed for an involuntary crime and, stealing his food, doomed him to starvation.
Erinyes also change their evil nature and become patrons of law. The image of Erinyes went from chthonic (associated with the underworld) deities to the organizers of the cosmic order. Later they were called seeds (venerable) and pontias (powerful).
The bird-maidens came to Russia completely whitewashed. In various legends, three types of birds with the heads of women are mentioned: sirin - singing joy, alkonost - singing sadness and gamayun - carrying wisdom.
And yet the transformation of winged monsters into angelic creatures was not entirely complete - medieval moralists often used harpies in their writings as a symbol of greed, insatiability and uncleanliness, sometimes combining them with furies.
They are far from ideal
Unlike the mermaids, which newspapers and magazines report from time to time from eyewitnesses, the media remain stubbornly silent about the wondrous bird maidens. But eyewitness stories about very strange flying creatures sometimes get into the press.
1909, USA, New Jersey. An eerie monster with black leathery wings and an ugly head (nicknamed the Jersey Devil) flew over the city and perched on the rooftops of buildings. During January, similar reports were received from Comden, Woodbury, Burlington, Gloucester and other cities in Pennsylvania.
1932, Cameroon. Assumbo mountains. In May, zoologist Ivan Sanderson was attacked by a bat with a wingspan of three and a half meters.
1947, Brazil, Manush (on the Amazon). In February, a traveler came across five huge birds that looked like pterodactyls, their bodies and wings covered with skin.
1951, USA, Houston, Texas. Several witnesses saw a strange, human-like creature with wings landing on the Tree.
1959, in Chief Cornstolk, the hunting grounds of West Virginia, in June, a humanoid figure with wings was seen, which, standing in the middle of the state's main thoroughfare, Highway 2, rose vertically and disappeared into the night sky.
1966, near Clendenine, West Virginia. On November 12, five men were in the cemetery when something that looked like a "winged brown man" flew from nearby trees and flew over their heads. At least 100 people personally saw this creature in the fall of 1966 and 1967. According to their reports, it was 2 or 2.5 meters in height, broader at the shoulders than a man, had human legs and, like a bat, wings.
1969, Vietnam, near Da Nang. During August, American sailors saw a creature they nicknamed "Bird Woman" with black leathery wings.
1976 - USA, Rio Grande Valley. In January-February, many residents saw a "flying creature", which was recognized as a pterodont (a type of flying dinosaur, which, according to paleontologists, has not existed for about 150 million years).
1977- year, USA, Logan County, Illinois. In July-August we saw several times huge birds, similar to overgrown hawks. On July 25, two creatures dived down and tried to drag off ten-year-old Marlin Lowe, carried him six meters and thrown.
1983, USA, near Los Fresnos, Texas. James Thompson, an ambulance driver, saw a low-flying pterodactyl above Highway 100 in September.
1986, Greece, Asterussia mountains, Crete. In early summer, hunters saw a huge pterodactyl flying.
1990, Isfahan, Iran. The family on the picnic was attacked by an unknown bird, larger than an eagle, which carried away in its claws a two-year-old child. Neither the child himself nor the bird's nest were found.
Isn't it a ground for a myth?
No one argues that many legends are based on some real events and phenomena. Could, for example, the ancient Greeks have mistaken for a harpy a familiar eagle? Hardly. But a rare creature with webbed wings, probably, could serve as an impetus for creating the image of a fantastic creature. Of course, the question arises, why are these creatures in all myths of the female sex? However, one reason is easy to name - the screams emitted by pterodactyls, according to paleontologists, resembled the screams of angry women …
Nikolay BELOZEROV. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" № 25 2009