According to Irish mythology, Babd is the goddess of war. She is a shape shifter and takes the form of a wolf or a bear at will. On the battlefield, she turns into a miniature woman with wings and webbed feet whose shrieks foretell death and despair. Once the battle is over, she transforms into a crow that feasts on the dead.
The crow, in many mythologies, is associated with death, or the dead. In India crows are believed to be messengers of the dead. A crow cawing at the window could be the spirit of a dead ancestor and few Indian households will turn it away without offering it food or water.
The crow is also supposed to be a clever bird and in Indian folklore it is shown as a smart bird that can outwit fate and circumstance. The Indian god Shani (representing the planet Saturn) also rides on a crow. Shani is a particularly difficult deity to please and is known to wreak havoc on the lives of mere mortals at the slightest provocation.
Yet another reason to keep the crows happy and well fed.
Ref: Goddesses-A world of myth and magic; written by Burleigh Muten and illustrated by Rebecca Guay. Published by Barefoot books
