A CREATION LEGEND ABOUT THE SEAGULL

A CREATION LEGEND ABOUT THE SEAGULL

Laketempest 2010/09/19 14:02

There is a legend from Asia which tells of the time when the universe was still one great ocean. Then, two seagulls were born from the leaves of a magical, primordial tree. These seagulls created the sky, the stars, the earth and mankind. There is yet another legend, told by the Lilloet Indians from British Columbia in Canada, that says that a seagull created day and night and give the gift if life to man. In both of these stories, even though they are tild by very different and distant peoples, the seagull appears as responsible for creation. Considering that the first form of life appeared in the shallow waters of coastal lagoons, it is extrordinary to learn that this particular role is assigned to the saegull, a typical bird of shore waters. The one bird that loves huge stretches of open ocean is the small and elegant Kittiwake. For months and months, this bird migrates over the oceans in company with skuas, storm petrels and terms, avoiding islands and coastlines. It lands only between March and June on high, rocky coasts, where it nests. It remains there for only the short time necessary to produce its young, and then it departs again.