21 DECEMBER 2021

THE EAGLE & THE WREN

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL · PART II

On the Fifth Day of Creation, God said: "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."
And God saw that it was good: but his work was not quite done. ‘There must be a ruler in the Kingdom of the Birds,’ He said. ‘For all of Creation must obey the Great Chain of Being, in the Kingdom of Animals as in the Kingdom of Man, and the Kingdoms of Plants and Minerals. So which one among you, the birds of mountain and sea, of forests and plains, deserves the highest station among birds? Which of you should be chosen King or Queen?’

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Welcome to the 2021 Christmas Special! In this set of episodes, we return once again to the Christmas Court of King Arthur at Camelot. The Christmas Specials tell of the custom of King Arthur's Christmas Feast, where those in attendance must bring stories of marvellous wonders and great deeds, and often, marvels and deeds come to the very hall itself!

Legends of the Birds

Aesop's wren was carried along on the shoulders of the eagle;

then all of a sudden he flew off and beat the eagle to the finish line.

- Plutarch, Political Precepts 12.806e

The Tale of the Eagle and the Wren is an old tale with a strong legacy in the folklore of the British Isles. Derived from Aesop's Fables, it tells the archetypal story of how the strength and might of the eagle is outwitted by the cleverness and cunning of the small wren-bird, and appears to be the inspiration behind a common set of folk beliefs and customs practised across the British Isles. As with many folk traditions, it is difficult to date the origins of the custom and practise. Our projection of the story and the custom back to Arthurian Britain is, obviously, a simple convenience for the sake of our chosen vehicle of storytelling!

This telling of the story also touches on a story about God or Mother Nature gave all of the birds their coloured and patterned plumage by painting them, a story collected and recounted in Taffy Thomas' wonderful collection of bird stories and folklore, The Magpie's Nest: A Treasury of Bird Folk Tales (See sources below for reference). Other tales of avian folklore tell variously of different 'battles' or 'conferences' of the birds. The Conference of the Birds or Speech of the Birds was a poem by Attar of Nishapur, telling of a great journey of birds which acted as a spiritual allegory in the tradition of Sufism. Chaucer wrote The Parlement of Fowles, depicting a debate amongst male and female birds about the nature and proper conduct of love, and is one of the earliest sources to link love with the feast of St. Valentine's. J.F Campbell’s Popular Tales of the West Highlands collects a Scottish folktale from Argyll about a 'Battle of the Birds', though its subject and significance are in that story obscure. And of course, the choice of the Parrot for this episode's storyteller is based in a long and rich folklore about the magical speech of parrots recounted in previous episodes of the podcast.

Imagined in the mouth of a medieval teller, this story also the medieval image of the cosmos 'The Golden Chain of Being' in which every level of Creation, physical, social and spiritual, mirrors the others in their structure and inner essences. Thus, the medieval belief in the divinely ordained rights of kings and monarchs was said to be mirrored in the animal kingdom, and even in inanimate things, 'the kingdom of minerals'.

Wren Day or the Day of the Hunting of the Wren takes place on St. Stephen's Day, the second day of Christmastide, involves the literal or symbolic hunt, capture and public showing (and possibly sacrifice of) a Wren bird. The Wren, is held to be a 'Winter King' and symbolises the passing from the old year into the new. In this it mirrors similar customs and narratives like the traditional combat between the King of Holly and the King of Oak which symbolise the displacement of winter by the spring. Wren-day traditions are observed today in places in Ireland, Wales, and particularly the Isle of Man.

Wren Day celebrations involve 'guising', with men and boys adopting costumes of motley or straw, and visiting the households in their community begging for charity and prevailing on bonds of social reciprocity. The leader carries the captured Wren, or a symbol or effigy of the same: sometimes a bird in a box, or tied to a pole, or in some examples suspended between metal hoops. The wren-day revellers typically receive money or food in return for singing Wren-day songs. Examples of these songs include 'The Wren', 'The King', 'The Cutty Wren', with the most common line or verse being:

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
St Stephen's Day was caught in the furze.

As hinted at by this line, additional stories have attached themselves to these traditions to link the Christian Saint Stephen to the Wren. This and other stories explored in Part III, The Hunting of the Wren.

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SOURCE MATERIAL

Texts
238. The Eagle and the Wren - Perry 434 (Plutarch, Poliical Precepts 12.806e) on Aesopica: Aesop's Fables in English, Latin & Greek, from Aesop's Fables, Trans. Laura Gibbs (2002)

'The Wren' & 'The Skylark' in Taffy Thomas, The Magpie's Nest: A Treasury of Bird Folk Tales (2019).

'How the wren became the King of the Birds', Leo S. on Random Times
'Folklore Thursday-Wren king of the birds' on Wild Parenting Blog
'How the Wren became the King of all birds in Ireland' on The Storyteller Blog (23 Nov 2013)

'The Wren / The King / Joy, Health, Love and Peace' [Roud 19109 ; Ballad Index FO059 ; trad.] on Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music
'The Wren Song' on Mama Lisa's World: International Music & Culture

Research Sources
"Wren Day." on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 13 Oct. 2021. Web. 12 Dec. 2021.
"Hunt the Wren." on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 7 Oct. 2021. Web. 12 Dec. 2021.
"Saint Stephen's Day." on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Oct. 2021. Web. 12 Dec. 2021.
"Saint Stephen." on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Nov. 2021. Web. 12 Dec. 2021.
'The Wren: Power, Sex, Death, Jollifications' on The Irish Times, Sat, Oct 25, 1997, 01:00

"The Conference of the Birds." on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Nov. 2021. Web. 12 Dec. 2021.
"
Parlement of Foules." on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Nov. 2021. Web. 12 Dec. 2021

.
'The Battle of the Birds' in Allison, Daniel. Scottish Myths & Legends (Celtic Myths & Legends Retold) (p. 79). House of Legends. Kindle Edition

EPISODE CREDITS

Stories interpreted and performed by Rick Scott.
Sound editing, audio design and original illustrations by Rick Scott.
Lore & Legend Series Theme composed and performed by Robert Bentall.
Original incidental music and chords also by Robert Bentall.

Podcast hosting by Anchor. Video and audiogram creation using Headliner.

AUDIO CREDITS

'Christmas Day' by Derek Fiechter on Album: Winter Wonderland

'Winter Festival' by Brandon & Derek Fiechter on Album: Christmas Land

'Santa's Elves' by Brandon & Derek Fiechter on Album: Mists of Ice

'Legend of the Night Blossoms' by Derek Fiechter on Album: Winter Wonderland

'King of the Pixies' by Brandon & Derek Fiechter on Album: Treefolk

Brandon & Derek Feichter Music on:

Bandcamp

Spotify

Youtube

'The Castle Feast (A Bard's Song)' by Caleb Henessey on Album: Celtic & Medieval

Caleb Hennessy Compositions on:

Bandcamp
Facebook

YouTube

Additional incidental music, background ambience and sound effects by multiple authors sourced from Freesound.org.

See below for the full list of audio files and attribution credits for the 2021 Christmas Special Episodes:

Sound

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RICK SCOTT
STORYTELLER

THE EAGLE & THE WREN

LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUR PLATFORM

SOURCE MATERIAL

EPISODE CREDITS

​

Stories interpreted and performed by Rick Scott. Sound editing, audio design and original illustrations by Rick Scott. Lore & Legend Series Theme composed and performed by Robert Bentall. Original incidental music and chords also by Robert Bentall.

Podcast hosting by Anchor. Video and audiogram creation using Headliner.

​

​

​

Additional incidental music, background ambience and sound effects by multiple authors sourced from Freesound.org.

​

See below for the full list of audio files and attribution credits for the 2021 Christmas Special Episodes:

​

Stories interpreted and performed by Rick Scott.
Sound editing, audio design and original illustrations by Rick Scott.
Lore & Legend Series Theme composed and performed by Robert Bentall.
Original incidental music and chords also by Robert Bentall.