King Redbeard or Frederick Barbarossa of Kyffhaeser

Emperor Barbarossa and his sons, Henry, King of Rome and Frederick, Duke of Swabia

Grimm’s Saga No. 23  Frederick Barbarossa at Kyffhaeuser 

Many stories have circulated about this Kaiser which assert that he is not really dead but shall live until Doomsday. Also no other rightful king shall ever come after him. Until then he sits concealed within the Kyffhausen Mountain and when he emerges he shall hang his shield on a barren branch, whereupon the tree shall sprout and better times shall come. Sometimes he speaks to the people who arrive at the mountain. At other times he shows himself to them. Often he sits on a bench by a round stone table, holds his head in his hand and sleeps. He bobs his head and blinks his eyes. His beard has grown long; some say it has grown through the stone table. Others have said his beard winds around the table in such a way that it must go around three times before he wakes up. But until now his beard has only encircled the table twice.

A farmer from the village of Reblingen wanted to transport his corn to Nordhausen in 1669 but he was stopped by a man of diminutive size and led into the mountain. There he was instructed to empty his sack of corn and fill it with gold instead. This farmer saw the Kaiser sitting but he did not move.

A gnome also once led a shepherd into the cave. He was whistling a song that the Kaiser enjoyed, whereupon the Kaiser stood up and asked “Are the ravens still flying around the mountain?” When the shepherd replied yes the king cried out: “Now I must sleep one hundred years longer.”


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“The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk."

The Owl of Minerva (Roman) or Menrva (Menerva, Etruscan)

Menrva was an Etruscan goddess most like the Greek goddess Athena.  Bearing helmet, lance and shield, the myth surrounding the birth of Athena was also part of Menrva's backstory.  Menrva purportedly sprang from the head of Tinia. Tinia was the Etruscan god of heaven, sometimes depicted with a beard, at other times beardless, but always bearing a bundle of lightening bolts.

Minerva, the Roman goddess, was the protector of skilled manual laborers, craftsmen, and teachers. Her primary festival was held March 19 - 23 and called the Quinquatrus. Because of Minerva's skill and knowledge she was also held in high esteem as the guardian of doctors.

Athena the virgin goddess of Athens has been tied to a Crete Goddess of the Palace and in this regard associated with snake goddesses (picture of Athena as snake goddess appears in the Parthenon). She was allegedly owl-eyed, an all-seeing creature even in the dark and as such an all-knowing being and symbol of wisdom.

“The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk." (Hegel)

To read an owl fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2013/03/an-owl-fairy-tale-from-brothers-grimm.html

And more about owl mythology:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2013/02/they-say-owl-was-bakers-daughter.html

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The Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd

Excerpt from the Mabinogion* via the Wiki-page  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llyn_Cowlyd 

"So they proceeded to the place where was the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd.

"Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, here is an embassy from Arthur; knowest thou aught of Mabon the son of Modron, who was taken after three nights from his mother?"

"If I knew I would tell you. When first I came hither, the wide valley you see was a wooded glen. And a race of men came and rooted it up. And there grew there a second wood; and this wood is the third. My wings, are they not withered stumps? Yet all this time, even until to-day, I have never heard of the man for whom you inquire. Nevertheless, I will be the guide of Arthur's embassy until you come to the place where is the oldest animal in this world, and the one that has travelled most, the Eagle of Gwern Abwy.""



* A collection of medieval Welsh stories based on pre-Christian Celtic mythology.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabinogion


Further owl stories on this website can be accessed by clicking on the links:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2013/04/the-owl-of-minerva-spreads-its-wings.html

Or an owl fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2013/03/an-owl-fairy-tale-from-brothers-grimm.html


Posted by fairytalechannel.com

The Blood-Curdling Call of the Barn Owl

Taken from: British Birds, W. H. Hudson, 1902:

The following account by W.H. Hudson in 1902 describes our strange relationship to the beautiful barn owl, a mingling of fear, respect and awe.

The Barn Owl

"Another general remark about this most strange and fascinating fowl may be made in this place. The barn-owl, being so widely distributed, and in many countries the most common species, and being furthermore, the only member of its order that attaches itself by preference to human habitations, and is a dweller in towns as well as in rural districts, is probably the chief inspirer and object of innumerable ancient owl superstitions which still flourish in all countries among the ignorant. His blood-curdling voice, his whiteness, and extraordinary figure, and, when viewed by day on his perch in some dim interior, his luminous eyes and great round face, and wonderful intimidating gestures and motions, must powerfully affect the primitive mind, for in that low intellectual state whatever is strange is regarded as supernatural.

Before sitting down to write this little history I went out into the woods, and was so fortunate as to hear three owls calling with unearthly shrieks to one another from some large fir-trees under which I was standing, and listening to them, it struck me as only natural that in some many regions of the earth this bird should have been, and should be still regarded as an evil being, a prophet of disaster and death."

Read this alongside the Tragic Tale of the Schuhu by Grimm (See below).

http://www.fairytalechannel.org/2013/03/an-owl-fairy-tale-from-brothers-grimm.html 

Or more about owl mythology:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2013/04/the-owl-of-minerva-spreads-its-wings.html

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