Note 378 — Chapter IV · (continued 2)
Reading edition
This curious fact is thus stated in the preface to Fossombroni (Memorie sopra la Val di Chiana, edition of 1835, p. xiii), from which also I borrow most of the data hereafter given with respect to that valley: "It is perhaps not universally known, that the swallows, which come from the north [south] to spend the summer in our climate, do not frequent marshy districts with a malarious atmosphere. A proof of the restoration of salubrity in the Val di Chiana is furnished by these aerial visitors, which had never before been seen in those low grounds, but which have appeared within a few years at Forano and other points similarly situated."
Is the air of swamps destructive to the swallows, or is their absence in such localities merely due to the want of human habitations, near which this half-domestic bird loves to breed, perhaps because the house fly and other insects which follow man are found only in the vicinity of his dwellings?
In almost all European countries, the swallow is protected, by popular opinion or superstition, from the persecution to which almost all other birds are subject. It is possible that this respect for the swallow is founded upon ancient observation of the fact just stated on the authority of Fossombroni. Ignorance mistakes the effect for the cause, and the absence of this bird may have been supposed to be the occasion, not the consequence, of the unhealthiness of particular localities. This opinion once adopted, the swallow would become a sacred bird, and in process of time fables and legends would be invented to give additional sanction to the prejudices which protected it. The Romans considered the swallow as consecrated to the Penates, or household gods, and according to Peretti (Le Serate del Villaggio, p. 168) the Lombard peasantry think it a sin to kill them, because they are le gallinelle del Signore, the chickens of the Lord.
The following little Tuscan rispetto from Gradi (Racconti Popolari, p. 33) well expresses the feeling of the peasantry toward this bird:
O rondinella che passi lo mare Torna 'ndietro, vo' dirti du' parole; Dammi 'na penna delle tue bell' ale, Vo' scrivere 'na lettera al mi' amore; E quando l' avrò scritta 'n carta bella, Ti renderò la penna, o rondinella; E quando l' avrò scritta 'n carta bianca, Ti renderò la penna che ti manca; E quando l' avrò scritta in carta d' oro, Ti renderò la penna al tuo bel volo. O swallow, that fliest beyond the sea, Turn back! I would fain have a word with thee. A feather oh grant, from thy wing so bright! For I to my sweetheart a letter would write; And when it is written on paper fine I'll give thee, O swallow, that feather of thine; —On paper so white, and I'll give thee back, O pretty swallow, the pen thou dost lack; —On paper of gold, and then I'll restore To thy beautiful pinion the feather once more.
Popular traditions and superstitions are so closely connected with localities, that, though an emigrant people may carry them to a foreign land, they seldom survive a second generation. The swallow, however, is still protected in New England by prejudices of transatlantic origin; and I remember hearing, in my childhood, that if the swallows were killed, the cows would give bloody milk.