Читать книгу Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside - Brad Steiger - Страница 14

The thunderbird figures prominently in the tribal traditions of many Native American tribes. To the Lakota of the American prairies, the thunderbird is an embodiment of the Great Mystery, the Supreme Being that created all things on Earth. While scholars over the centuries have attributed the Native American myths of the thunderbird to the reverence for the eagle, the largest of indigenous birds in North America, many people have claimed to have seen for themselves a great bird, far larger than the eagle, flying overhead. In fact, even in the nineteenth century, some witnesses claimed to have seen flying monsters that resembled pterodactyls, the winged reptiles that became extinct 65 million years ago.