
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 5, 1993                   TAG: 9312010008
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Steve Kark
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PILGRIMS ARRIVED KNOWING HOW TO TALK TURKEY

After several days worth of turkey sandwiches and a turkey casserole or two, you're probably fairly tired of the bird by now. This might well be the best time to tell you, then, that much of what you know about turkeys is built on myth and deception. The truth should be known, the secret history revealed now and for ever.

What would Thanksgiving be without the turkey? Is there anything more mouthwateringly pleasing than the spectacle of the turkey, roasted to a golden-brown perfection, as it is carried from oven to table? Is there any higher honor than the sacred ceremony of carving?

Ben Franklin recommended the turkey over the bald eagle as his choice for our country's national bird. He favored the turkey over the eagle, he said, because the latter was a carrion eater, which is hardly the sort of image he thought fitting for a fledgling democratic nation.

The turkey had been hunted and eaten by Native Americans long before Europeans ever set foot on this continent. It was one of the first meats they shared with the Pilgrims and has been associated with the feast of Thanksgiving since its inception.

In all fairness, though, the commonly held belief that the bird was introduced by Native Americans to the Pilgrims is wrong. A quick browse through my encyclopedia reveals that while the birds were originally found only on this continent, they were domesticated by the Aztecs and stolen by Spanish conquistadors 100 years before the Pilgrims arrived in North America.

The Spanish carried the birds home with them, where they were further domesticated and introduced to the English 60 years before the first Pilgrim stepped ashore at Plymouth Rock. In fact, the Pilgrims actually brought the bird with them when they traveled to the New World and bred their domesticated version with the resident wild strain.

If all this has tarnished your image of the bird and its place at the Thanksgiving table, brace yourself there's more. The Audubon Field Guide to Eastern Birds points out that even among Native Americans acceptance of the bird was hardly unanimous. Some tribes considered the turkey stupid and cowardly and would not eat it because they feared these characteristics could be passed on by eating its flesh.

Even today turkeys are not known for their cleverness, unlike owls, for instance. Who hasn't heard the stories of this bird's almost unbelievable stupidity? For as long as I can remember, I've heard over and over how turkeys are dumb enough to drown in a rainstorm. They look up, the story goes, and drown themselves by swallowing the falling rain.

Is this true, or are people-possibly chicken breeders- spreading malicious rumors to demean this honored bird?

Perhaps, though, it's just as well we didn't follow Franklin's advice so many years ago. You should also know that turkeys are polygamous, often taking as many as eight brides. The turkey struts a feathered fandango to lure the females into his harem.

Typical of our age, I suppose, some historians have gone so far as to suggest that Franklin's behavior while he served as American ambassador in Paris is explanation enough for his liberal attitude toward the bird, but I won't delve into those sordid details here.

Even I have my limits. One myth at a time, I say.

by CNB