Random Saturday - Nachtkrabb

Do you know the "Nachtkrabb"? No? I'm not surprised.
Although the Nachtkrabb has always been familiar to me, there's really only one story I remember from my own family. My little brother was probably around five years old at the time (we're talking late 70s). He was sitting at the kitchen table, ready to eat an egg, when one of my other brothers came in and told him that if he cracked the egg, a Nachtkrabb would come flying out. Little brother freaked out and actually stopped eating eggs for a short while (but got over it quite quickly).
What I don't remember is if he had been told about the Nachtkrabb before and if that was what shocked him so much or if it was just the idea of anything at all flying (!) out of that egg.

You must know, the Nachtkrabb is a mysterious and dark creature, a bugbear in the folklore of southern Germany and Austria.
Other names for him (I have only seen someone call it her once) are Nachtkrapp or Nachtrabe which translates to "Night raven". I'll stick with the "bb" spelling for this post.

I love ravens and they were the inspiration for this
bead embroidered necklace, not the Nachtkrabb,
but I have been thinking about a Nachtkrabb
version for a while ... if only I had a good idea!

As it often happens in folklore, the tales can differ more or less from region to region.
I don't even remember if we only knew the name or if we were actually got told a story. If we were, it would probably have been the one that prevails here - of the huge black birdlike creature flying through the night looking for children who haven't gone to bed - and it would have had to come from my father's side because my mother wasn't Swabian.
In short, it's one of those stories made up to get children to do or not to do certain things, in this case staying out after dark. In some regions children who don't obey get caught in a big sack and carried away. What happens to them isn't said, but they don't make it home which leaves the outcome open, but doesn't bode well. Other regions are more explicit, there the Nachtkrabb takes the children back to his nest where he devours them.

Other countries have their own versions of the night ravens, by the way.
The raven and other corvids have always been part of folk tales, in good or bad ways.
Just think of Hugin and Munin, the ravens of the god Odin, sent out by him to bring him news of the world.
In some cultures, ravens were used in oracles to predict the outcome of battles or help to make important decisions.
Some Native American tribes see the raven both as a creator and a trickster.
The positive image changed in Christianity. Corvids fed off carrion, animals but also humans after battles or excecutions which didn't help their reputation. They were seen as messengers of death, disaster, and plague, and also as familiars of witches.

Contemporary art depicting two ravens,
such as Hugin and Munin, by Kim Diaz Holm
(the young Mr. Holm). CC BY 4.0 

So with that negative image in mind, the idea of a huge kidnapping variety could easily frighten you as a kid.
But why did I describe the Nachtkrabb as a birdlike creature and not as a ravenlike one?
There are not just different tales about what he does, but also different theories about his origin.

One of those is that it doesn't have anything to do with ravens at all, but with the Northern Bald Ibis, a bird that used to be widespread, for example across parts of Central Europe such as Southern Germany or Austria. Hunting the ibis for food, the beautiful feathers or taxidermy, and the destruction of its habitat brought it to the brink of complete extinction.
There is a population in Morocco and smaller ones elsewhere thanks to reintroductions, but the species is still endangered.
The Wilhelma, a big Botanical-Zoological Garden not far from here, has always had a big aviary with them in front of which you often heard people commenting how ugly they were. I think they're fabulous.
Anyhow, their looks may have inspired spooky stories.

Picture by Len Worthington, CC BY-SA 2.0
via Wikimedia Commons

So who knows what's the truth.
Today people (hopefully!) try to avoid scary stories like that in the raising of children even if it's supposed to be for their own sake, but nevertheless the Nachtkrabb hasn't been forgotten completely.
He still has a place in some local carnival celebrations, for example, where some of the masks remind of ravens, others of the bald ibis, but also stories, songs, or amusement parks!
You won't be understanding the lyrics of this song as it's in a German dialect (not mine), but I like the video.



To be honest, back then I thought the idea of a tiny Nachtkrabb flying out of an egg was rather cute than scary, but I couldn't tell you what image exactly I have in my head (which is the reason why I haven't managed to make my own version yet).
You know me, though. I can't tell you a story with animals without bringing a cat into it.
This is a painting by my friend Heather - the one from the HeatherCats - which I had to own. I could see my Ponder spreading his wings and flying into the night like that. I love this little painting so much.
On the other hand, I also think it would be a good inspiration for a Nachtkrabb piece ... I'm not going to give up on the idea yet.

Are there any regional bugbear stories where you are?