In a Sclavonian legend, a youth was reposing in a forest. The wind sighed through the trees, filling him with a tender melancholy which could find no expression in words. Presently there fluttered through the branches a snowy swan, which alighted on his breast. The youth clasped the beautiful bird to his heart, and resisted all its struggles to escape. Then the swan changed into a beautiful girl...
A Conrad Hauri (Chuondradus dictus Hovri) was mentioned on 8 February 1282 as owing 9 shillings annually for his land at Steffisburg, when Werner von Steffisburg leased certain lands to Kloster Interlaken. The dues he owed for his lands are in line with amounts throughout the region for larger peasant holdings and there is nothing to indicate that these lands were anything else. Conrad Hauri...
Gärdserum Valley The Svanströms were soldiers, crofters and tailors in and around Gärdserum and Ukna in the county of Kalmar in Småland, Sweden. The earliest known ancestor of the family is Petter Jönsson Cavat, an infantry soldier who was taken prisoner by the Prussians at the Battle of Demmin and never returned to Sweden. He was probably put to death by the Prussians, who hated the Swedes...
In India swans appear both as the hamsa and as apsaras. Brahma’s consort Saraswati, goddess of wisdom, learning, and music, is also depicted riding on a swan (hamsa), as is Varuna, god of the sky and rain. The Hamsa In Hindu lore, the hamsa (a pair of divine birds) can be either swans or geese. The two are interchangeable. The word hamsa is a cognate of the Latin anser (goose). The hamsa lives on...
Excerpts from William Hickman, Brigham’s Destroying Angel (1904). CHAPTER II. HICKMAN’S NARRATIVE BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE-FIRST DEED OF DARING-KILLING THE PANTHER-EDUCATION-MARRIAGE-JOINS THE MORMONS-ACQUAINTANCE WITH JOSEPH SMITH -THE TROUBLES AT NAUVOO-HICKMAN IN PRISON- INGENIOUS ESCAPE-FIRST ACT OF VIOLENCE UNDER THE RULE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG-KILLING THE COUNTERFEITER-SHOOTING...