King Arthur in the Form of a Chough
KING ARTHUR IN THE FORM OF A CHOUGH.
I QUOTE the following as it stands :-- [a]
"In Jarvis's translation of ' Don Quixote,' book ii. chap. V., the following passage occurs --
"'Have you not read, sir,' answered Don Quixote, 'the annals and histories of England, wherein are recorded the famous exploits of King Arthur, whom, in our Castilian tongue, we always call King Artus; of whom there goes an old tradition, and a common one, all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that this king did not die, but that, by magic art, he was turned into a raven; and that, in process of time, he shall reign again and recover his kingdom andi sceptre, for which reason it Cannot be proved that, from that time to this, any Englishmen has killed a raven ?'
."My reason for transcribing this passage is to record the curious fact that the legend of King Arthur's existence in the form of a raven was still repeated as a piece of folk-lore in Cornwall about sixty years ago. My father, who died about two years since, at the age of eighty, spent a few years of his youth in the neighbourhood of Penzance. One day he was walking along Marazion Green with his fowling-piece on his shoulder, he saw a raven at a distance, and fired at it. An old man who was near immediately rebuked him, telling him that he ought on no account to have shot at a raven, for that King Arthur was still alive in the form of that bird. My father was much interested when I drew his attention to the passage which I have quoted above,
"Perhaps some of your Cornish or Welsh correspondents may be able to say whether the legend is still known among the peopleof Cornwall or Wales.
EDGAR MACCULLOCH.
"GUERNSEY."
I have been most desirous of discovering if any such legend as the above exists. I have questioned people in every part of Cornwall in which King Arthur has been reported to have dwelt or fought, and especially have I inquired in the neighbourhood of Tintagel, which is reported to have been Arthur's stronghold. Nowhere do I find the raven associated with him, but I have been told that bad luck would follow the man who killed a Chough, for Arthur was transformed into one of these birds.
[a] Notes and Queries, vol viii. p. 618.