[R. Nemo Hill]

What a great video, Julie!

Nemo

[Janice D. Soderling]

As Eliot almost said, "It seems impossible to explain just what I mean."

Suppose we are discussing a story about a man known for his cruelty who has a collection of knives and the writer, in passing, drops the information that the man owns several dogs and each them has a very short tail.

And I say, "I wonder if the writer has specifically mentioned the dogs' short tails to draw attention to something. Writers don't (usually) waste words."

I'll bet a dollar to doughnut that the Spherical reaction would be, "Ho, ho, I've seen lots of dogs with short tails."

Or, "They might have been Giant Schnauzers."

Or, "Some dogs are born tailess."

Or "Some cats have short tails too."

Or "I had a dog when I was a kid and I was broken-hearted when our neighbor poisoned it. I cried for a week."

Or "I googled short-tailed dogs and found that there is a mutation in a gene called the T-box transcription factor T gene (C189G) which accounts for natural bobtails in 17 of 23 dog breeds studied, but not in another 6 dog breeds, for which the genetic mechanism is yet to be determined".

Or "Samuel Johnson said that a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on its hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all."

All of which proves that Sphere folks are natural-born writers and poets with wide-ranging imagination and immense creative talent.

OK, it was a raven, possibly from Scotland, but definitely a joyous, gentle, intelligent, and probably Christian, raven that woke Beowulf the morning he climbed on his longship and set sail for home.

Love ya all.

[E. Shaun Russell]

Originally Posted by Janice D. Soderling

OK, it was a raven, possibly from Scotland, but definitely a joyous, gentle, intelligent, and probably Christian, raven that woke Beowulf the morning he climbed on his longship and set sail for home.

And 1150 years later, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of said raven tapped upon Edgar Allen Poe's chamber door.

[Steve Mangan]

Originally Posted by Janice D. Soderling

That is interesting, Steve, and I'll certainly put it in the compost heap from which thought grows. However in the text in question, there is no hint of slaughter.

No, but why pick on that part? There is the more relevant joy of Ravens at dawn (the example of Sigrun’s joy/happiness (fegin/fain) being likened to that of Odin’s Ravens ‘when... dewy-feathered, they see the brow of day’). And does 'joyful' need be mean 'melodious' (as in a black-birds song)? Cannot a 'Joyous song' (of Ravens or Warriors) be raucous -- a raucous song Joyful?

[Julie Steiner]

If you can stand yet another bit of trivia, Janice, the Wikipedia article for the dawn chorus lists the blackbird as the first to start singing in the UK, sometimes starting as early as 3am. In an age before clocks, that timing might be considered in the middle section of the night, no?

There's no reference listed for that, so I'll cite the Beatles: Blackbird singing in the dead of night...

[Janice D. Soderling]

Actually, that fact was what prompted me to ask the question in the first place, in my very first post #1.

I had this vision of the blackbird waking Beowulf while it was still dark, joyously singing, "You're homeward bound, B, baby."

I have come to the conclusion that it was not a vision but simply a hallucination.

[Janice D. Soderling]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turdus_merula_2.ogg
Sounds like this.

[Michael Juster]

Thanks, Janice!

[Terese Coe]

Originally Posted by Julie Steiner

The ravens I grew up with in the Mojave Desert (heh! and you all thought I was raised by wolves) weren't "raucous," Janice. Unlike the crows I knew, they had a much broader repertoire than just cawing. For example, they often made a sound that was sort of like a cross between dripping water and rolling dice, and I thought it was beautifully musical. It wasn't exactly like the one in this video, but close.

Julie, I love that video--I'm sending it to my granddaughter, who will flip over it. One of the best, most refreshing creature vids ever! And the human is good too. The way the raven mimics the man is brill. Thanks so much!

[Terese Coe]

And Janice, the Finnish Turdus blackbird song, what a delight! Thank you.