The Ravens of the Tower...Day 5L

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
~ Edgar Allan Poe




Or in the case of the ravens at the Tower...

Quoth the Ravens, "Forevermore."
~me (with sincere apologies to Edgar Allen Poe)

Legend has it that the ravens were interfering with the Royal Astronomer's view of the heavens and he complained to the king about it, requesting that they be destroyed. However, Charles II was warned that if the ravens should ever abandon the Tower, the whole Kingdom would fall. This was during the English Civil war (did you know there was such a thing??) and Charles II didn't want to risk it, so he decreed that the ravens should not be driven away, but in fact, should be cared for and kept there perpetually. So the wings are clipped on a favored six ravens (with a few more in reserve.) and they have their own little cages to which they are returned at night by the Ravenmaster (one of the Yeoman Warders) who is charged with the duty of caring for them. Each raven is named and easily identified by the colored band on his leg. A nice diet of fresh fruit, cheese, boiled egg and raw meat is provided for them.







"Even the ravens of the Tower sat silent and immovable on the battlements and gazed eerily at the strange scene. A Queen about to die! For what?"

~ George Younghusband, 1919

(concerning the execution of Anne Boleyn)



(link to The Tower From Within:   http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iYNnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA134&dq=%22The+Tower+from+Within%27%27+by+George+Younghusband++gazed+eerily+at+the+strange+scene&hl=en&ei=xMz5TOCcIom4sAP57fyCCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false )