The primitive meaning of the myth may perhaps be found in the Greek tradition which regarded the quail, because it was a bird of passage, as a type of revival of spring or of life. Hercules awakes from his swoon when his companion Iolaus (from the Greek ioulos, youth), holds a quail to his nose. Hercules suffered from epilepsy, for which disease the ancients thought the brain of a quail was a specific. The placing pieces of a quail, by the gypsies, in the corners of a field when corn is sown, connects the bird with spring. Artemis, a goddess of spring and life, was called by the Romans Ortygyia, from ortyx, a quail. Therefore, as signifying new life, the quail became itself a cure for many diseases. And it seems to be like the Wren, also a bird of witchcraft and sorcery, or a kind of witch itself. It is a protector, because, owing to its pugnacity, it was a type of pluck, battle and victory. In Phoenicia it was sacrificed to Hercules, and the Romans were so fanatical in regard to it that Augustus punished a city-father for serving upon his table a quail which had become celebrated for its prowess. And so it has become a devil's bird among the gypsies because in the old time it was regarded as a devil of a bird for fighting. The gypsies are hardly to be regarded as Christians, but when they wish to contend against the powers of darkness they occasionally invoke Christian influences. If a cow gives bloody milk it is thought to be caused by her eating Wachtelkraut, or quail weed, which is a poison. In such a case they sprinkle the milk on a field frequented by quails and repeat:-- "Dav rátá tumenge Adá ná hin láce! Ráyeskro Kristeskro rátá Adá hin máy láce Adá hin ámenge!" "I give to you blood, Which is not good! The Lord Christ's blood Is truly good, That is ours!" If a cow makes water while being milked, she is bewitched, and it is well in such a case to catch some of the urine, mix it with onion-peelings and the egg of a black hen. This is boiled and mixed with the cow's food while these lines are repeated:-- "Ko ándré hin, avriává, Trin Urma cingárden les, Trin Urma tráden les Andre yándengré ker Beshel yov ándre ker Hin leske máy yakhá, Hin leske máy páña!" "Who is within, let him come out! Three Urme call him, Three Urme drive him Into the egg-shell house, There he lives in the house; He has much fire, He has much water!" Then half the shell of the egg of the black hen is thrown into a running stream and the other half into a fire.