Why crows are black story

China Once upon a time the crow was white, and the peacock a pale yellow. The peacock remembered that the King of Annam was having a house built, which was adorned with carved dragons painted all sorts of wonderful colors. When the workman broke for lunch the Peacock and the crow flew in and stole all the pots of paint that had been left lying around. Peacock insisted that crow painted him first, so crow covered his breast in beautiful blue green, and covered his tail in intricate designs.

When he was finished peacock spread out his feathers to dry out in the sun, and wandered over to the river to look at his reflection. He was so proud of the beautiful way he looked! Instead he called out a warning to crow that Eagle was coming, and pretended to run away, accidently knocking all the paint pots into the river as he went.

Crow looked into the sky, and not seeing eagle called out to the peacock that all was ok. Peacock returned and crow asked how he could paint him now that all the paint was in the river. Peacock produced a single pot and assured crow that everything would be alright. So, crow let him paint him, not realizing that peacock was painting him jet black.

When crow went to look in the river he realized he had been deceived, he let out a scream of anger but it stuck in his throat. That is why the crow is now black and can only utter a hoarse cry. Before he arrived the world was always warm, but once he came he brought the snow and cold with him causing all the people and animals to suffer.

Rainbow Crow, the most beautiful of all the creatures, was selected to go. Once there he sang his most beautiful song, and begged the creator to make the world warm again.

The Creator told Rainbow Crow he was unable to do this, but he thought of fire, and how it could be used to warm all the animals and people. He poked a stick into the sun until it caught fire and gave it to Rainbow Crow, warning him to hurry home. The crow rushed back down to the earth as fast as he could go, but the fire had charred his feathers turning them black, while the smoke had filled his mouth and caused him to lose his beautiful singing voice.

This is why the people never kill crow, for he is honored for bringing the gift of fire, and if you look as his feathers closely enough you can still see the colors shining through. Australia The Wurundjeri people of Australia tell a story about how crow stumbled upon across a cooked yam while out foraging for food one day. They walk the earth cloaked in black, and yet persist with the light of life even we perish through disease or famine.

It is this juxtaposition that I think made our human ancestors look upon those glossy feather and conclude they must have some greater tie to creation than their other avian kin. Apollo, the son of the most powerful greek God Zeus, had an important, albeit tumultuous relationship with crows. According to the version of this story told by Appolodorus, although Coronis and Apollo had been lovers, she left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. This may be one of the earliest stories of a woman marrying below her class for love.

Muhammad, born sometime around CE, is considered to be the founder of Islam and the last profit sent to earth by God, according to the Islamic faith. A popular legend depicts a time Muhammed was hiding from his enemies in a cave. Apollo sent a raven to gather water for a feast but the raven was distracted by an unripened fig tree.

Determined to obtain the figs, the raven waited until the tree ripened, ate his fill, and then captured a watersnake to bring back to Apollo. The watersnake, the raven explained, was the reason he was late and unable to collect the requested water, but Apollo saw through the lie.

As punishment, Apollo declared the raven could never again drink from the stream until the figs ripened. Since the raven must now wait, his voice is hoarse from thirst. According to the great animal epic, the Panchatantra , the birds had come together to elect a king and choose his earthly appearance. They had elected the owl and were beginning to organize his lavish coronation, when the crow arrived.

The crow laughed at their decision, protesting that the owl was too ugly, his features without tenderness, and his nature without pity. Furthermore, Garuda, the eagle mounted Vishnu was already their king and to take another was a sin that could result in severe punishment by the Gods.

They have fought ever since. Ravens have a significant role in the creations legends of many different Native American tribes. He then made humans out of both rock and leaf. The people of rock were as I can well imagine more difficult to shape and were never finished. The people of leaf, on the other hand, were quickly completed and ready to roam the land.

The raven instructed them that, like the leaf, they must eventually fall and rot back into the earth and thus death entered the world. Unlike Greater Raven, Lesser Raven was both a trickster and had a voracious appetite. To satisfy his hunger, Lesser Raven filled the earth with food, but feared he would be unable to find it, as at that time the earth was still dark. Seeking a solution, Raven flew through a hole in the sky where he found another world much like our own.

When he saw the daughter of the Chief of Heaven collecting water he transformed into a needle and floated into her vessel. When she drank the water and the needle, Lesser Raven impregnated her and was later reborn as her son. The infant charmed the Chief and his wife and was granted permission to play with the box containing the light of day. Suddenly, Raven took his original form and flew back to earth through the hole in the sky, taking the box with him.

Later, he broke the box out of anger and filled the sky with the sun, moon and stars. Hunting the big buffalo on foot with stone-tipped weapons was hard, uncertain, and dangerous.

The crows made things even more difficult for the hunters, because they were friends of the buffalo. Soaring high above the prairie, they could see everything that was going on. Whenever they spied hunters approaching a buffalo herd, they flew to their friends and, perching between their horns, warned them: "Caw, caw, caw, cousins, hunters are coming. They are creeping up through that gully over there.

They are coming up behind that hill. Watch out! Caw, caw, caw! The people held a council to decide what to do. Now, among the crows was a huge one, twice as big as all the others. This crow was their leader. One wise old chief got up and made this suggestion: "We must capture the big white crow," he said, "and teach him a lesson.

It's either that or go hungry. He put it on the back of a young brave, saying: "Nephew, sneak among the buffalo.