Queen of crows disappears, Britain fears prophecy may come true

LONDON – They beat and beat, scream and sting.

Some say they keep the future of the kingdom in its fearsome heights. And now one of them – his queen, Merlina – has been reclassified as missing, heralding the dreaded fulfillment of a supposed prophecy dating back to the time of King Charles II in the 17th century: when crows leave the city. Tower of London, the building he will collapse and the kingdom with him.

At least that is history to this day, a mixture of myth, invention and muscular business that has raised the colony of ravens residing in the famous London Prison and Palace on the north bank of the Thames to a rare status: guardians of national destiny with clipped wings, tourist magnets.

Most of the people, including the scarlet clad tower keepers known as the Cows, they ironically reject prophecy as a fiction invented in 19th century Victorian Britain.

But, given the other narratives facing the country – COVID-19 at its deadliest moment since the pandemic began to plague far-flung China a year ago; the traumas and tribulations of Brexit; the consequent fraying of the ties that unite the United Kingdom – could it not be said that the omen is already in the works?

The disturbing beat dates back to December, when Christopher Skaife, the crow lord of the tower, noticed that Merlina was absent without permission from the rest of the group: Jubilee, Harris, Gripp, Rocky, Erin and Poppy.

Initially, he said, he wasn’t very worried as she was a “free-spirited crow known to have come out of the tower. several times“.

“But I’m his friend, and that’s why he usually comes back to us, but this time he didn’t, so I’m scared he is no longer with uss, ”he told the BBC.

In a statement Wednesday, the guards of the Tower of London confirmed their suspicions. “Merlina’s continued absence tells us that she may have sadly passed away,” tower officials said.

For prophecy watchers, there has been a twist.

To fulfill the omen, the number of crows must fall below six, the minimum dictated by royal decree.

Foresight Skaife had kept an extra bird, a concept familiar in a larger prescription of royal continuity that orders couples to create “an heir and a replacement part“when they extend the royal family with the creation of offspring.

“We now have seven ravens here in the tower, one more than the six needed, so we have no immediate plans to fill the vacant Merlina position,” tower officials said.

However, the Wandering Queen “will be sadly missed by her fellow ravens, the master of crows, and all of us in the tower community.”

The interweaving of the ravens’ plight with the might of the nation was expected in August, when concerns over the coronavirus pandemic stripped the Tower of London of some of its legions of visitors.

Crows – sometimes collectively referred to as “hostile” – were bored and impatient without the detriment of the human contact that supported them with snacks, in addition to a regular diet that included mice, chickens, meat and cookies. soaked in animal blood.

They were also said to sigh for the stimulation of a human audience for their party tricks, including the mime.

One of the crows, Thor, before Merlina’s arrival in 2007 is said to have greeted the Russian president Vladimir Poutine say hi.

Putin was “quite surprised,” reported The Guardian.

Putin wouldn’t have been the first person to be perplexed – or perhaps to see close parallels to Russia’s own history – in the tower, known for a history of imprisonment dating back to the 12th century, often as a prelude to beheading and others. forms of execution.

Among his many convicted former students were two women of Henry VIII; the so-called Tower Princes who disappeared there in the 15th century and who were allegedly murdered by their uncle, King Richard III; and the fugitive Nazi Rudolf hess in 1941.

Many of the 3 million annual (pre-pandemic) visitors also came here not only to delve into the bloody history, but also to marvel at the well-kept crown jewels.

The Tower of London was closed to visitors on December 16, when the latest wave of coronavirus cases intensified.

But even before that, and before Merlina’s disappearance, the effect of the drop in visitor numbers had troubled guardians like Skaife.

“The tower is only the tower when people are there,” he told The Sun newspaper last year.

“The crows have always been so important to the tower because they’ve been surrounded by myths and legends. We really need people to come back to help the crows.”

c. 2021 The New York Times Company