“喜鵲報喜，烏鴉報憂。”烏鴉在中國傳統文化中的形象多為消極的。事實上烏鴉聰明，專情，孝順，集諸多美好品質于一身。伊索寓言中聰明的烏鴉借助石子喝水，白居易曾作詩《慈烏夜啼》贊美烏鴉反哺。不僅如此，烏鴉更是英國王室鐘愛的小生靈。

By Boria Sax

熙凡 注

Legends and fairy tales are set in a world where relations between animals and human beings are egalitarian and reciprocal[1]. This places human dominance in question, and many societies try constantly to distance themselves from that message. Already, in ancient Greece and Rome, the fables attributed to the half-legendary Aesop were set in an indefinite period of the past "when animals talked like human beings.”[2]

In Early Modern Europe, the animal guides, helpers, and guardian spirits that fill legends and fairy tales were demonized as familiars of witches.[3] Particularly in English witch trials, talking to animals or otherwise showing intimacy with them could be accepted as evidence of sorcery[4]. In the early nineteenth centuries, the Brothers Grimm started a revival of these tales, but they still felt a need to remove them as far as possible from the context of daily life.[5] When they published their first volume of fairy tales in 1812, they viewed the stories as remnants of old mythologies.[6] In the second volume—and, increasingly, in subsequent editions—they set the stories instead in the enchanted[7] world of childhood.

But legends can arise in the contemporary era, as much as they could in ancient times, and among intellectuals as well as unlettered peasants.[8] One case in point is the legend that Britain will fall if the ravens leave the Tower of London. Like many folktales, the origins of this prophesy[9] are often placed in the indefinite past, the "Once upon a time..." of fairy tales. But, ravens were only brought to the Tower of London in 1883, when they were used as props for tales of Gothic horror told to tourists by Beefeaters (ceremonial guards at the Tower).[10]

The legend dates from July 1944, when ravens were being used as unofficial spotters[11] for Nazi bombs and planes, and they really were important to Londoners' survival. As I anticipated, my discovery of the ravens' recent origin have had little impact on the countless news stories, books, and guides that simply repeat the familiar tale (something that does not bother me in the least).[12] Legend and history move on different planes.

The legend now lends the Tower of London itself a fairy-tale sort of ambiance[13]. At least six ravens, most of which are injured birds that might not be able to survive in the wild, are kept on the grounds of the Tower of London at all times. Their wings are trimmed[14], so they cannot fly very far, but, otherwise, they move freely on the grounds. Over many decades, routines have evolved that enable the ravens to interact with the Beefeaters who care for them, with tourists, and with one another in ways that are complex and reciprocal.[15] Relations between animals and human beings are the subject of an emerging academic area known as "anthrozoology," and the grounds of the Tower of London seem to invite such research.[16] It is a place where relationships between people and certain animals developed organically over more than a century, without the artificiality of a laboratory setting.[17]

Ravens and other corvids[18] have long been considered among the most intelligent of animals, rivaling and sometimes surpassing the great apes in areas such as tool use and language. Recent research has shown that corvids can not only recognize individual human faces but also remember them for years. When corvids regard a particular person as a threat, they can even pass that understanding on to their young. The ravens at the Tower of London are constantly observing people, and doubtless forming individual relationships with some of them.

Whenever you see ravens at the Tower of London, you are likely to spot a half-eaten cream cheese sandwich nearby. My suspicion, which could be tested by research, is that the ravens have adapted their techniques of hunting and foraging collectively in the wild to the environment of the Tower.[19] One raven distracts a tourist, while another grabs his food.[20]

Some people think that ravens at the Tower pose for the camera. Surely, that is not quite true, but they are probably intrigued[21] by those shiny little colored boxes that people keep holding up to their faces. Ravens have very good eyesight, and may well see their own reflections in the lenses.[22]

One Tower raven in the early twenty-first century with a rare linguistic gift was Thor, who would startle tourists by perching just above their heads and saying, "Good morning." According to former Ravenmaster Derrick Coyle, Thor could also understand the grammatical distinction between "I" and "me." To what extent can ravens learn human language and ways of thinking simply by being around people? It should be possible to find out.

Recent research showed that ravens, much like human beings, communicate by pointing, using their wings and beaks. One relatively simple study, therefore, would be to observe the ravens at the Tower of London systematically[23], noting at what, and how often, they point. Is it at other ravens? Tourists? Beefeaters? Food?

On May 17, 2012, two baby ravens were born at the Tower of London, the first in nearly two decades. One of them has been named Jubilee, to be ceremonially presented to the Queen by the Ravenmaster as part of the festivities to mark Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.[24] Rituals are as difficult to interpret as dreams are, but I think this one tells us something about our longing for harmony with the natural world.[25] It is also one more reason to better understand the relations between ravens and human beings at the Tower of London.

Vocabulary

1. egalitarian: 平等主義的，主張人人平等的；reciprocal: 互惠的，互相的。

2. attributed to: 認為……由某人而作，認為……出自某人；Aesop: 伊索，古希臘著名寓言家。

3. guardian spirit: 守護之靈；demonize:使惡魔化。

4. sorcery: 巫術，魔法。

5. 十九世紀初，格林兄弟開始復興童話故事，然而他們認為有必要讓這些故事盡量遠離日常生活的情境。

6. remnant: 殘余，殘跡；mythology: 神話。

7. enchanted: 中了魔法的。

8. contemporary: 當代的；intellectual: 知識分子；unlettered: 未受良好教育的。

9. prophesy: 預言。

10. 然而，烏鴉被送到倫敦塔的時間是是1883年。當時倫敦塔的守衛向游客講述哥特式的恐怖故事，這些烏鴉正好襯托出這種神秘氣氛。

11. spotter: 觀察者，監察者。

12. anticipate: 預計，預料；have impact on: 影響，作用；countless: 無數的，不計其數的；tale: (虛構的）的故事。

13. ambiance: 氛圍，氣氛。

14. trim: 修建，把……修得整齊。

15. routine: 慣例；evolve: 逐漸發展；interact with: 互相交流，互動。

16. emerging: 新興的，剛出現的；academic: 學術性的；anthrozoology: 人類動物關系學。

17. organically: 自然地，持續地；artificiality: 人工，人造。

18. corvid: 鴉科；surpass: 優于，超過。

19. suspicion: 懷疑，猜疑；forage: 到處搜尋（食物）；collectively: 共同地，集體地。

20. distract: 分散，轉移注意力；grab: 抓住，抓取。

21. intrigue: 激起……的興趣，引起……的好奇心。

22. reflection: 影像；lens: 鏡片。

23. systematically: 系統性地。

24. 其中一只烏鴉被命名為“慶典”，將由看鴉人通過儀式獻給女王，這也是伊莉莎白女王登基六十周年慶典的慶祝活動之一。

25. ritual: 正式儀式，典禮；interpret: 闡釋，解釋；harmony: 和諧。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）