Folklore cigüeñil

Abstract

Few wild animals have generated such a bulky of manifold folklore, as the White Stork. For a very long time, at least from the beginning of the Neolitic period, the bird has developed a pronounced nesting preference on buildings and on trees in the agricultura! and pastoral landscape. As a neighburing spectator of the succesive intimate exhibitions composing the entire life cycle of the stork, man explains the facts observed sometimes animistically or anthropomorphycally, and sometimes rather realistically, but also sorne of the more obvious facts receive incorrect popular interpretation. Aim of the present paper is to make Spanish readers acquainted with the European stork folklore as has been recorded in german bibliography. Spanish stork folklore has been discussed in another published paper.