Folklore Themes: Crow Call

The jungle crow, common to the region surrounding the river, has a call with the same tone sequence and vowel quality as the word for "over there". The call of the crow is a device often invoked at critical decision points, especially when the choice is one the character would not normally make. Sometimes the bird is depicted as giving advice itself, but more often it is hidden from sight so that the characters believe that it is a tree speaking to them.

From Finding Old Ancestor:

When we continued, the tree cried out again "Over there! Over there!"

"Stop," I said to the others, "this is not the way."

"What other way can it be?" Empty Horn asked me.

"Can you hear the tree?" I asked him. "It knows where Old Ancestor is. And it is right. A big stream goes a long way, a small stream a short way. If Old Ancestor is near, it is the small stream that will take us to her."