White stork bringing children ! - நாராய் நாராய் செங்கால் நாராய்

சத்திமுத்தப் புலவர் சங்க காலப் புலவர்களில் ஒருவர்,  இவர் வறுமையால் தளர்வுற்று தம் ஊர்விட்டு அயலூர் சென்று ஒரு குட்டிச் சுவரின் அருகில் குளிருக்கு ஒதுங்கியிருக்கும் போது நாரை ஒன்று மேலே பறக்கக் கண்டு, வறுமையிலும் தன் பிரிவாலும் வருந்திக் கொண்டிருக்கும் தன் மனைவிக்கு அதைத் தூதாக அனுப்புவது போல் பாடிய பாடல் :

நாராய் நாராய் செங்கால் நாராய்

பழம்படு பனையின் கிழங்கு பிளந்தன்ன

பவளக் கூர்வாய் செங்கால் நாராய்  .. .... ..

செங்கால் நாரை (Ciconia ciconia - White Stork)  நாரை (சிகோனிடே) குடும்பத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஓர் நீர் இறங்கு பறவை ஆகும். இது வெண்ணிற சிறகுத் தொகுதியையும் கருநிற இறகினையும் உடையது; நீண்ட செந்நிற கால்களும் செந்நிற அலகும் இப்பறவையை எளிதில் இனங்காண உதவும்.

 

Long legs, long necks, and long bills – mostly we call them Cranes (kokku)  but confuse them with Herons, Storks and other names that we know  Herons, Storks, and Cranes must all be a part of the same family? As much as they may appear to be relatives, the short answer is that they actually come from three separate families.

 

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100–115 cm (39–45 in) from beak tip to end of tail, with a 155–215 cm (61–85 in) wingspan. 

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (1900 –   1945) was a German politician who was the 4th Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany, and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, primarily known for being a main architect of the Holocaust. 

In 1942 Heinrich Himmler sought to use storks to carry Nazi propaganda leaflets so as to win support from the Boers in South Africa. The idea for this "Storchbein-Propaganda" plan was a secret that was transmitted by Walter Schellenberg to be examined by the German ornithologist Ernst Schüz at the Rossiten bird observatory, who pointed out that the probability of finding marked storks in Africa was less than one percent, requiring a 1000 birds to transmit 10 leaflets successfully. The plan was then dropped. !! 

According to European folklore, the stork is responsible for bringing babies to new parents. The legend is very ancient, but was popularised by a 19th-century Hans Christian Andersen story called "The Storks". German folklore held that storks found babies in caves or marshes and brought them to households in a basket on their backs or held in their beaks. These caves contained adebarsteine or "stork stones". The babies would then be given to the mother or dropped down the chimney. Households would notify when they wanted children by placing sweets for the stork on the window sill. From there the folklore has spread around the world to the Philippines and countries in South America. Birthmarks on the back of the head of newborn baby, nevus flammeus nuchae, are sometimes referred to as stork-bite. 

In Slavic mythology and pagan religion, storks were thought to carry unborn souls from Vyraj to Earth in spring and summer.  This belief still persists in the modern folk culture of many Slavic countries, in the simplified child story that "storks bring children into the world". Storks were seen by Early Slavs as bringing luck, and killing one would bring misfortune. Likewise, in Norse mythology, the god Hœnir, responsible for giving reason to the first humans, Ask and Embla, has been connected with the stork through his epithets long-legs and mud-king.

 
Interesting !
 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
16.6.2024