The Tale of the Eagle
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The flag of Albania features an eagle. |
The Tale of the Eagle is an
Albanian folk tale that explains how Albania and Albanians received their indigenous name:
A youth was hunting in the mountains. An
eagle flying above him alighted on top of a crag. The eagle was especially large and had a
snake in its beak. After a while, the eagle flew away from the crag where it had its nest. The youth then climbed to the top of the crag where he saw, in the nest, an eaglet playing with the dead snake. But the snake wasn't really dead! Suddenly it stirred, revealed its fangs and was ready to pierce the eaglet with its deadly venom. The youth quickly took out his bow and arrow and killed the snake. Then he took the eaglet and started for his home. Suddenly the youth heard above him the loud whir of the great eagle's wings.
"Why do you kidnap my child?" cried the eagle.
"The child is mine because I saved it from the snake which you didn't kill," answered the youth.
"Give me back my child, and I will give you as a reward the sharpness of my eyes and the powerful strength of my wings. You will become invincible, and you will be called by my name!"
Thus the youth handed over the eaglet. After the eaglet grew, it would always fly above the head of the youth, now a grown man, who with his bow and arrows killed many wild beasts of the forest, and with his sword slew many enemies of the land. During all of these feats, the eagle faithfully watched over and guided him.
Amazed by the valiant hunter's deeds, the people of the land elected him king and called him
Shqipëtar, which is to say
Son of the Eagle (
shqipe or
shqiponjë is
Albanian for eagle) and his kingdom became known as "Shqipëria" or
Land of the Eagles.
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An eagle with a snake in the Mexican coat of arms. |
The eagle with the snake is a widespread motif of
myth. It appears independently in
Babylonian mythology and in
the coat of arms and flag of
Mexico after an
Aztec legend on the founding of
Tenochtitlan. The double-headed eagle is also a motif in
Illyrian and Byzantine heraldic motifs.
See also TotemismThis article contains information from Frosina.org and it is used with permission. Translated into
English from
Albanian by
Fehime Pipa and
Van Christo.
The Albanian flag and its origin
Gules, a double-headed eagle sable. The eagle dates back to Gjorgj Kastrioti, an Albanian who became a Turkish general in the
15th century under the name of
Skanderbeg (he was kidnapped at an early age). He later returned to the Christian faith and led the fight of the Albanians against the Turks in the
1440s. He used the Byzantine two-headed eagle on his seals, hence the modern flag. The modern flag had at various times a helmet or a star above the eagle. The star gules lined or dates from the
Communist takeover in
1946 and was removed in 1992.
The double-headed eagle has a longer history. Indo-European people including
Illyrians used it. This was long before Byzantium was founded. Illyrian warriors who fought for Alexander used it. You can find the eagle in parts of Asia where Illyrian warriors who were fighting for Alexander settled and created cities.
