Dissertation on Birds of Prey and the Sport - the Falconry Heritage ...

as seen before, ineffective. The sparrowhawk, also, is seen as evil, rapacious, a tyrant. In
one example,4 some doves, who fear for their lives because a kite has taken to hanging
around and menacing them, elect a sparrowhawk as their king, to protect them. When the
hawk comes to dinner, he finds that the doves' food does not suit him. He tells the dove
who had come to tell him of his promotion,
"Dolcie amica mia, quando m'elegiesti in questa signoria, dovevi considerare il
mod0 e il mio vivere, e dovevi pensare ch'io non ero usato di mangiare in terra
sanza tovaglia a mod0 di poltrone, nC vivere di cibi di spilonche. E per prezzo del
tuo sindacato e mala provedenza ti do questo pagamento:"
and he eats the dove. The author's moral explains:
Temporalmente possiamo intendere per queste colombe coloro che hanno amista
con gl'uomini del mondo i quali, per potere contastare lor0 pari nimici, si
sottomettono alle signorie de' grandi e per poterle mantenere ne vengono in
grande poverta; e per lo sparviere s'intende essi possenti e signori.
The human attitudes of these birds are extreme and humorous: the hawk, above,
complains about eating without a tablecloth, and the doves, when they are afraid of the
nibbio, are so scared that they do not even go into town to have a shave, but are forced to
have the barber make a house call.
The sparrowhawk is portrayed similarly in another story, in which the nightingale,
having made her nest and children, begs the hawk not to eat them.5 The hawk says he
will refrain from eating her children if she will sing for him. She sings her heart out, and
the "rapace e malvagio sparviere" says: "'10 non ti udi' mai piu sozzamente cantare.'"
And he starts to eat her babies. The story continues, emphasizing the emotional pain of
the mother to make her as sympathetic as possible and the sparrowhawk seem as cruel as
possible:
Ibid., story XXIII, pp. 135-137.
Ibid., XLVI, pp. 201-202.