Image: Sancti Martini Avis

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M0805 - M0806 - M0807

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806. Sancti Martini Avis. Quaedam avis dicitur Sancti Martini, parvula, ad modum reguli. Haec graciles habet tibias ad modum iunci et longas. Contigit quod, sole calente, circa festum Sancti Martini, proiecit se iuxta arborem ad solem, et erexit tibias suas, dicens, “Eia! Si caelum iam caderet, ipsum sustinerem super tibias meas.” Et cecidit folium unum iuxta, et avis exterrita evolat, dicens, “O Sancte Martine, cur non succurris aviculae tuae?”

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M0806 = Perry589. Source: Odo, Fable 7. This is Perry 589. Saint Martin’s Day, or Martinmas, is celebrated on November 11, so you could certainly imagine the leaves would be falling at that time. The English phrase “Saint Martin’s Summer” is equivalent to the American “Indian Summer,” referring to a warm spell that would come on in the fall before winter set in. Compare the fable of Hercules and the man bitten by a flea, #703, or the story of the little regulus bird, #411.