Ravens

What do you guys know about Ravens in mythology? I remember only two references to them in mythology, and both suggest different aspects of what a raven could be an omen or a symbol for.

In Norse Mythology, there are two ravens who are Odin's pets and are seen as symbols of knowledge and good luck. Yet, in native American mythology, the Raven is often seen as a cunning and deceitful trickster, along the same lines as the coyote(sp?) and often as a bad omen.

Generally, in today's world, Ravens are viewed along the same lines as crows from what I've heard from people, as bad luck or a bad omen of things to come.

In an old mythology I can't remember it is said that ravens are friendly beings that are able to talk with humans and do chores for them in return of companionship
crows on the other hand are the "carriers of the soul" when one dies a crow brings his/her soul to heaven... or hell?

Then there's also the one where the raven was originally a beautifil, white-feathered bird, but safter unselfishly bringing fire from the sun tho the inhabitants of the earth, it had become malformed and its feathers were all charred. Generally, ravenbs are supposed to be good luck. It's really only when they're confused with crows, when someone has a narrow point of view, or when they gater near a battlefield (implying many deaths in the upcoming battle) that I recall them being seen as illl luck.

Ravens were said to, specifically, foretell the death of a person close to you. Or perhaps that it was crows; honestly, I do not quite recall. But it goes without saying that these two particular birds have intrigued mankind for quite a while, and so, they have their global mythology.

The Raven stole a piece of cheese from the dairy farmer, grasping it in his beak and flying as far away as his wings could carry him before he had to stop. He rested upon the branch of a tree to rest, making sure to keep holding onto the piece of cheese so that he would not drop it onto the ground and lose it.

A Fox just happens to be walking along and sees the Raven resting in the tree with the delicious piece of cheese firmly clasped in it's beak. He get's an idea.

"Hello there beautiful Raven, I have been swooned and enraptured by your presence." Commented the Fox to the Raven. "May I have the pleasure of hearing the beauty of your song?"

Moved by the sudden rush of attention and giving in to her own vanity, the Raven forgets all knowledge of the cheese she held so dear up to that point and begins to sing her horrid shrieking caw.

The Fox is somewhat horrified by the sound; however, all displeasure is forgotten as he swallows in one gulp the falling piece of cheese that the Raven let slip as it opened it's beak.

The Fox runs away, leaving the Raven alone and hungry.

God, ravens are so fucking stupid aren't they? o.O

Ha ha, I remember reading this story in school.

Dumbass raven...XD

Actually, ravens are unusually smart. Smarter than freaking owls, the overrated daft birds, flying around with their big eyes and sppoky voices.

Anyway, I;ve always found the Trickster raven to be poretty cool. Aesop's fables were mostly interesting, but I don;t like a lot of the mistranslation and imitations that are floating around nowadays.

Ravens are cool. (and i've actually hear the fox&cheese story with a crow rather than a raven)

Eh, crow, raven... whatever. *holds breath until I pass out*

Ravens are just as ovverated as owls, if not more.

I think owls are kind of neat. They can twist their heads almost completely around, and their eyes look like they glow in the dark. And they make a really cool sound in the dead of night that makes your blood run cold. And they kill disgusting rats.

And owls are nocturnal of course, much like me. Owls are cool.

I like snowy owls too. They are not nocturnal, but are so pretty. I want one. XD

Kestrels are purty, and represent Yorkshire my homeland ^^

Owls are cool, but I'm biased against them because they're overrated. Actual ravens I don;t find partivcularly interesting, but ravens in most fiction are cool. I suppose my favorite bird would probably be some sort of hawk (probably red-tailed), falcon (probably peregrine), or osprey.

Favorite raven would have to be Quoth, who tags along with the Death of Rats and Death's granddaughter in the DIscworld books. My second favorite would be either the Morrigan (if she counts), or one of the ravens oof Odin;s (I can;t remember which, though)

I do not remember their names either...but Vikings do not believe in syllables much, do they? Sleipnir, Gungnir, Szlmbrg...XD

SZLMBRG... WTF! How do you even pronounce that wicked word?

its pronounced somewhat like sizzlemberg. Or so I believe, if my ability to instantly know how words are pronounced has any bearings on things....but I do think it is pronounced like for another reason too. I love Norse mythology, and basically there are very few words like that one that don't have at least three to four different spellings, and I think I've seen another spelling of it and its a bit easier to know how to pronounce, but its still pretty bad spelling wise.

but, beyond that, I started this thread about mythological ravens and I saw like four posts about owls...

Or zlamburg, really I've no clue.

AND OWLS RULE.

I know this thread is supposed to be about ravens... but there has been a lot of talk about owls as well... and I have an owl story so I am placing my post here. XD

I live in an apartment building and on the deck railing on the floor above me there is an owl who is making a terrible racket. It is making the stereotypical "hoot hoot" sounds that owls make. But it is also making this really weird bird sound that resembles someone saying "Hello". Haha, it's so freaking weird.

I don't want to go out and try and scare it away because that will just wake up the neighbours as well. It's like... 2AM here. So I'm hoping it just flys away on it's own soon.

I cannot see it, only hear it... but I wonder if it is a snowy owl. I doubt it, I've only seen ashy brown ones before around where I live.

Eeep, are there snowy owls where you live? I have no idea but I think those require extremely cold temperature...and they are also the only non nocturnal owls, I believe. Still, weird. Look for its nest during the day, and subtly put it elsewhere. XD

Well it is gone now, I only heard it the one night, but it was creeping me out. And yes you are right Terminus, I do not think there are any snowy owls in my part of the world. Just those ashy brown ones I mentioned before.

It was kind of a nice visit though, he is welcome to come back any night. We fellow nocturnal creatures have to bond somehow.