31 The Story of Storks

The story that babies are brought into the home by the stork may have started in northwestern Europe, where the stork is a commonplace. The stork has white feathers, black quills, and a red beak and legs. It walks fish and other small water creatures in meadows, marshes, and ditches. Sometimes it is seen in high places such as steeples or chimneys, standing on one leg.

The stork has often been regarded as a sign of good luck. Whenever a pair of storks built a nest on a housetop, the Romans regarded it as a sign of good fortune given by Venus, the goddess of love. The stork was regarded as a good-luck bird in Germany and the Netherlands. These superstitions also persist today. In some places, wheels are put on the tops of houses to give storks nesting places.

Centuries ago, there was already a belief that the stork flew over a house where a birth was about to take place, bringing good luck to the family. The story of storks delivering babies probably arose from this superstition and from many fathers' and mothers' difficulty in explaining to their other children where the new baby came from. It is quite understandable that parents should use the symbol of good luck and the guardian of the home to help explain the arrival of a new member of the family.

31 鹳的故事

“婴儿是鹳叼来家里的”这一说法可能起源于欧洲西北部，在那里鹳是很常见的动物。鹳长着白色的羽毛、黑色的羽茎，还有红色的喙和腿。它会在草地、沼泽和沟渠里捕食鱼类和其他小型水生生物。有时人们会看到它站在尖塔或烟囱等高地上，单腿站立。

鹳常被视为好运的象征。每当一对鹳在屋顶筑巢时，罗马人就认为这是爱神维纳斯赐予的好运预兆。在德国和荷兰，鹳也被当作吉祥鸟。这些迷信说法至今仍然存在，有些地方会在屋顶装上轮子，给鹳提供筑巢的地方。

几个世纪前，人们就认为鹳会飞过即将有婴儿降生的房屋，给这家人带来好运。“鹳送子”的故事可能源于这一迷信，也源于许多父母难以向其他孩子解释新生儿的由来。父母用“好运象征”和“家庭守护者”来解释新成员的到来，这是相当容易理解的。