It was a cold December day at Her Majesty's Tower of London. We had seen the crown jewels and the armour exhibit in the White Tower, and it was time for the Yeoman Warder guided tour to start.
"Does anyone here know the Legend of the Ravens?" asked our Yeoman Warder tour guide, a handsome man who looked like a curious cross between Sylvester Stallone and Mr. Bean. Most everyone in the group shook their heads. Craig and I nodded; we had been to the Tower before.
"Well," he said, "for many centuries, over 900 years, in fact, these unique guardians have patrolled the Tower of London. According to legend, 'Only so long as they stay will the White Tower stand.' So, should the ravens ever leave, the White Tower would crumble and a great disaster would befall England. Fortunately, these respected residents, since the reign of King Charles II, have been protected by royal decree.
"The Tower ravens reached their lowest point soon after World War II. With the disturbances of the bombing and the unresolved kidnapping of the raven Mabel, only the raven Grip was left holding the fort. Now we don't take any chances. There are always six ravens in residence here, and we even have a seventh, a 'spare'. In recent years, we have proudly witnessed the birth of a new generation of ravens here at the Tower, so we are in no danger of the Kingdom collapsing.
"As you walk around the Tower grounds, you'll notice that individual ravens have their own territories. Hardey hangs out near the Coldharbour Gate, which is the site of an earlier entrance to the Tower. Cedric and Odin can usually be found hopping around on the grass which used to be the site of the Great Hall, between the foundation of the old Roman city wall and the wall of the inmost ward. Hugine and Gwylum prefer the Tower Green, where Anne Boleyn's execution would have been observed by the ravens. Munin and Thor are often perched on top of the Wardrobe Tower. If you walk over to the entrance to the armouries near the Tower Steps, where the footsteps of William the Conqueror echoed 900 years ago, you will likely find Thor. He is easy to pick out because he's by far the most vocal raven of the group, and my personal favourite."
So, off we went to find Thor, who, when we found him, squawked at us to get out of his territory.
"Have you thought about names at all?" I asked Craig.
It was about a year after our trip to England, and we had just sent our deposit check to Scott Lewis of Old World Aviaries in Austin, Texas, to reserve our baby Cape.
"I was thinking 'Thor'," he answered.
"No way! Why would you want to name your baby after that stupid alien on Stargate?"
"No, not the alien on Stargate, the raven at the Tower."
"I had completely forgotten about him. Yeah, that's a great name. Let's do it."
We had no idea at the time just how appropriate the name was. Our Thor has got to be the most vocal, by far, of all Capes!
It was now September of 2000, and we were way past due for a trip. When Dr. Colleen Downs decided to visit England and give a talk on Cape parrots (you can read the transcript of her talk on this website! ) it was the only excuse we needed to get out of town, and we started to pack our bags.
"Of course, we have to go back to the Tower and visit Thor," I said.
"Of course," agreed Craig. "We need to get better pictures for the website."
It was not a cold day at the Tower this time; in fact, it was raining, and the tours were nearly canceled.
"Let's just walk around and try to find Thor, then," I suggested.
We went to the Wardrobe Tower and the Tower steps, which we knew to be Thor's territory. We found two ravens perched on top of the Wardrobe Tower, and assumed one of them to be Thor. When one of them squawked, we were pretty sure we had found our baby's namesake. But we could not coax him down from the top of the Wardrobe Tower.
"Well, there are a lot of people around; maybe they like to stay out of the crowds," said Craig. "Why don't we go do some other things and come back later when the crowds have dwindled down, and maybe he'll come down then."
So off we went to see the famous Domesday Book and the cell where Sir Thomas Moore was imprisoned by King Henry VIII. When there was a break in the weather, we went to the meeting point where the tour was to begin.
"How many of you know the legend of the ravens?" asked this year's Yeoman Warder tour guide, a very distinguished-looking gentleman. We raised our hands.
"I bet I can still teach you something you don't already know," he said. "Ravens are magnificent birds, large members of the genus Corvus, the crow family, and are eaters of carrion and live mostly on dead flesh."
After more gory details about the facts of their diet, the Yeoman Warder continued. "These ravens respond only to the Ravenmaster and are likely to attack if approached too closely by anyone else. He is regarded by them as a raven himself, because he raised them."
"Sounds like our Thor," I said. "But I don't know if he thinks we're birds or that he's human."
The Yeoman Warder continued. "The individual ravens can be identified by their different-coloured leg rings."
He was right; he did teach us something we didn't know. We hadn't known about the different-coloured leg bands.
So, after determining that Thor wore a light green leg band, we knew who to look for. And Craig was right: By this time, the crowds had thinned out, and Thor was down from the Wardrobe Tower.
"Wish we'd known about the different-coloured leg bands earlier," said Craig. "But we were pretty sure it was him when he squawked. Now we know it was him."
"Remember, they'll attack," I said, but we were able to get within just a few feet of Thor, who was perched upon a two-foot high iron border fence.
"Hi, Thor! Hi, Thor!" said Craig.
"Remember, they respond only to the Ravenmaster," I said.
"Hi, Thor! Hi, Thor!" continued Craig.
Thor looked at Craig as if to say, "Who are you and how do you know my name?"
"Hi, Thor!"
Thor continued to look at Craig with that confused look on his face, cocked his head to the right, and said, "Good morning," in a perfect British accent.
Now there was really no doubt in our mind that we'd picked the perfect name for our baby.
