The Cock, a Very Occult Bird

Lucian of Samosata, Thomas Taylor, H.P. Blavatsky · Down to Earth Series · 22 pages

Two halves, one lexical and one literary. The first gathers what the cock meant in ancient augury and symbolism: a very occult bird, the most magnetic and sensitive of all, much feared and revered by the lion according to Proclus, and the herald of the sun — whence its epithets of the Sun-Elector. The folklore is given with it: that according to the Zohar the cock crows three times before a death, and that in Russia and the Slavonic countries a cock crowing while someone is ill on the premises is held to be a sign of inevitable death, unless it crows at midnight or just after, when the crowing is considered natural. Its sacredness to Aesculapius, called the Soter or Saviour, is noted in the same connection.

The second half is Lucian of Samosata's dialogue between Micyllus, a poor cobbler, and his cock — who turns out to be an incarnation of Pythagoras, and who uses that history to answer his owner's envy of the rich. It is one of the wittiest texts in the library and is given at length. The editorial dedication at the front is worth noticing, since it explains the tone of the whole file: it is dedicated to the boy who lost his best friend, only to find him in his heart.

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