Language of the birds

According to a suggestion by Walter Burkert, these customs may have their roots in the Paleolithic when, during the Ice Age, early humans looked for carrion by observing scavenging birds.

According to the Poetic Edda and the Völsunga saga, Sigurd accidentally tasted dragon blood while roasting the heart of Fafnir.

The 11th century Ramsund carving in Sweden depicts how Sigurd learnt the language of birds, in the Poetic Edda and the Völsunga saga.

According to Apollonius Rhodius, the figurehead of Jason's ship, the Argo, was built of oak from the sacred grove at Dodona and could speak the language of birds.

The Conference of the Birds is a mystical poem of 4647 verses by the 12th century Persian poet Attar of Nishapur.

[7] In the Jerusalem Talmud, Solomon's proverbial wisdom was due to his being granted understanding of the language of birds by God.

[citation needed] Compare also the rather comical and satirical Birds of Aristophanes, Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowls, and William Baldwin’s Beware the Cat.

In medieval France, the language of the birds (la langue des oiseaux) was a secret language of the Troubadours, connected with the Tarot, allegedly based on puns and symbolism drawn from homophony, e. g. an inn called au lion d'or ("the Golden Lion") is allegedly "code" for au lit on dort "in the bed one sleeps".

Huginn and Muninn sit on Odin 's shoulders in this illustration from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript.
The 11th century Ramsund carving in Sweden depicts how Sigurd learned the language of birds, in the Poetic Edda and the Völsunga saga