Saturday, January 22, 2011

Curious winter "Gold" story

You all will ask yourself: What does a bird has to do with gold?

So it happens that Aristotle described the migration of cranes in The History of Animals, adding an account of their fights with Pygmies as they wintered near the source of the Nile. He describes as untruthful an account that the crane carries a touchstone inside it that can be used to test for gold when vomited up. (This second story is not altogether implausible, as cranes might ingest appropriate gizzard stones in one locality and regurgitate them in a region where such stone is otherwise scarce)

True or not?

I wanted to share the story and the beauty and powerful appereance of the crane bird that I might take in the future for jewelry inspiration.

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