Among animals with the best public reputation, the **stork** holds a privileged place. It poses no danger, causes no disturbance, and, according to popular belief, **brings babies into the world**.
An excellent reputation for a bird that, in biological terms, **migrates long distances** and nests on chimneys.
But its association with motherhood is not a coincidence. Its behavior, migration routes, and a series of mythological interpretations ended up consolidating its **role as a fertility messenger**, a narrative that, once rooted in tales and legends, became impossible to reverse.
Ancient beliefs that reinforced the stork myth
The connection between storks and the **cycle of life** originated from a simple coincidence. For centuries, populations in the **northern Europe** observed that these birds **returned each spring**, coinciding with **births** that occurred after the weddings of the previous summer.
The repetition of this pattern led people to establish a link between the arrival of storks and the birth of new members in the community, thus avoiding more uncomfortable explanations.
Since ancient times, the stork has been a symbol of **respect and protection**. In **pharaonic Egypt**, it was associated with the **Ba**, one of the manifestations of the soul. In **classical Greece**, killing a stork was prohibited under **penalty of death**, not so much for the value of the animal itself, but for what it represented: **returning home, family unity, and care between generations**.
There even existed a law called **Pelargonia**, which obliged children to take care of their parents in old age, inspired by the supposed behavior of storks towards their progenitors. Although it is now known that this is not real, the belief endured for centuries.
Roofs, souls, and superstitions
In **Slavic tradition**, it was believed that if a stork nested on a house’s roof, **a birth was imminent**. The logic was simple: if the birds returned to the same nest year after year, the home must be a good place. In reality, storks were only seeking **warmth and structural stability**, but the idea of babies was more appealing.
**German** legends also contributed to reinforcing the myth. According to some beliefs, the goddess **Holda** entrusted storks with the souls of the deceased to carry them back to the world in the form of babies. In **Dresden**, a fountain known since the 15th century as the **Fountain of Life** was considered a place that favored **fertility in infertile women**.
These stories made storks seen as **messengers between worlds**, linked to both birth and transcendence.
The tale that solidified its image
The myth was sealed with the story **The Storks** by the Danish writer **Hans Christian Andersen**. In the work, the author described storks carrying **good babies to families** and **dead babies to naughty children**, a representation that was later softened by animated adaptations.
The tale definitively fixed the image of the stork **flying among the clouds, holding in its beak a white bundle with a newborn**. Since then, the association with motherhood became ingrained in popular culture.
The modern reference linking storks to **Paris** stems more from the city’s romantic fame than from a mythological basis.
Cover photo: Christian Ziegler
