stories of winged figures

[Hidebeetle]

I'm looking for characters which have wings from any myth, legend, or folktale
for a theatre project. They can have bird wings, insect wings, batwings, or
whatever, and they can be animal characters like the Tlinglit character Raven
or human-like characters like Saint Michael. However, they have to be
CHARACTERS, rather than types-in other words, Saint Michael the Archangel is
okay, but "an angel" is not. I'm looking for the maximum possible amount of
individual personality here, rather than the maximum amount of fame or
wingspan.

Anybody know any spiffy stories? (please post a summary or a reference to a
book I can find the tale in) My mind is coming up short-all I can think of is
some archangels, some demons, and Raven, along with scads of generic dragons,
gryphons, and so on.

Thanks in advance,
-Aaron.

[Leslie O. Segar]

In article <199805270002...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
hideb...@aol.com says...

> I'm looking for characters which have wings from any myth, legend, or folktale
> for a theatre project
>

I recommend you to Garuda, offspring of Vinata and the sage Kashyapu,
mount of Vishnu, foe of snakes, guardian of the Soma, a bird of
unopposable strength, insatiable hunger and unfailing cheerfulness, a
thoroughly delightful personality. The story of his birth, his great
battle with Indra, King of the Gods, his first meeting with Vishnu, his
theft of the Soma from the gods, and his trickery of the snakes, is told
in Volume 1 of Jacob van Buitenen's translation of the Mahabharata --

The Mahabharata
Volume 1. The Book of the Beginning
J.A.B. van Buitenen
University of Chicago Press, 1973
Pages 71-91

It is a wonderful story, rich in detail, humor, and joy.

HTH

LOS
--
Leslie O. Segar
First Instigator, Church of the Open Hand
http://www.wmblake.com/ohc

[iand]

As I recall, the Egyptian goddess Isis was winged at some stage in the myth
of Osiris.
Once she resscued all of Osiris' hacked up body parts she put him back
together and used her wings to somehow bring him back to life long enough
for her to become pregnant with their child, the god Horus.
Hope this helped a little. There are heaps of different
versionss of the myth.

Love, Amy

[Kim Burkard]

In article UAA1...@ladder01.news.aol.com, hideb...@aol.com (Hidebeetle) writes:
>I'm looking for characters which have wings from any myth, legend, or folktale

>for a theatre project. They can have bird wings, insect wings, batwings, or
>whatever, and they can be animal characters like the Tlinglit character Raven
>or human-like characters like Saint Michael. However, they have to be
>CHARACTERS, rather than types-in other words, Saint Michael the Archangel is
>okay, but "an angel" is not. I'm looking for the maximum possible amount of
>individual personality here, rather than the maximum amount of fame or
>wingspan.
>
>Anybody know any spiffy stories? (please post a summary or a reference to a
>book I can find the tale in) My mind is coming up short-all I can think of is
>some archangels, some demons, and Raven, along with scads of generic dragons,
>gryphons, and so on.

The following book is about animals and their connections with
various goddesses. One of the larger chapters in the book is on the
bird. (The serpent is the other large chapter, IIRC.) This book
not only includes animals that were depicted as compaions, helpers,
etc. to the goddess, but also animals that the various goddesses
shared forms with.

_Lady of the Beasts: Ancient Images of the Goddess and Her
Sacred Animals_ by Buffie Johnson, Harper and Row,
New York, 1988.

Enjoy!

-kim
---
Kimberly Burkard | _ Everything I needed to know in life, I
Eastman Kodak Company| _____C .._. learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York | ____/ \___/ Frolic and dance for joy often, have
bur...@kodak.com |<____/\_---\_\ no fear or worries, and enjoy life.

[XanaDragon]

>In article UAA1...@ladder01.news.aol.com, hideb...@aol.com (Hidebeetle)
>writes:
>>I'm looking for characters which have wings from any myth, legend, or
>folktale
>>for a theatre project. They can have bird wings, insect wings, batwings, or
>>whatever, and they can be animal characters like the Tlinglit character
>Raven
>>or human-like characters like Saint Michael. However, they have to be
>>CHARACTERS, rather than types-in other words, Saint Michael the Archangel is
>>okay, but "an angel" is not. I'm looking for the maximum possible amount of
>>individual personality here, rather than the maximum amount of fame or
>>wingspan.

Hmm, you could dry Iris from Greek mythology. She is often depicted as having
wings.

[Carl KICE Brown]

I'm not sure that Iris, as goddess of the rainbow, would have been
called "dry Iris". A couple of weeks ago I got in to see (in the
last hour of the show at the University of Iowa Museum of Art) the
exhibit of Victorian Fairy Paintings, developed by UIowa's assistant
curator of art in conjunction with the British Royal Academy. The
exhibit started at the Royal Academy in London, spent this winter here
in Iowa City, and has now moved on to Canada (I believe Toronto).
There was a newspaper article this last week that a fourth site has
been added -- it will be at the Frick Museum later this year. Anyway
-- there was a beautiful painting of Iris flying over a predawn marsh,
with huge, glittering, dragonfly wings. I purchased the exhibit
catalog and will check and report back on the artist -- as well as on
the dates of the exhibit in Canada and at the Frick. ASIDE: I had
not known that both the father and uncle of Arthur Conan Doyle were
such prolific painters of fairies. Sir Arthur's being taken in by
those two girls apparently was in his blood.

--

"As no two people see the same
view along the Way, all trips
from here to there are imaginary;
all truth is a tale I am telling myself."
------ Brion Gysin in "The Process"

Kice Brown
Lone Tree & Iowa City