Mythology of storks: An ancient etymology about the Pelasgians, ancient pre-Hellenic inhabitants of Greece, links pelasgos to pelargos "stork", and postulates that the Pelasgians were migrants like storks, possibly from Egypt, where they nest. Aristophanes deals effectively with this etymology in his comedy the Birds. One of the laws of "the storks" in the satirical cloud-cuckoo-land (punning on the Athenian belief that they were originally Pelasgians) is that grown-up storks must support their parents by migrating elsewhere and conducting warfare. In Aesop's tale "The Frogs Who Desired a King" the frogs ask Zeus for a king, and he first sends them the ineffective King Log and then the King Stork who devours his frog subjects. In this context, viewed from the point of view of a frog who may get eaten by a stork, the stork is the symbol of tyrannical power. In English folk mythology and old wive's tales, storks deliver newborn babies to mothers by dropping them down chimneys. This is the origin of the phrase "Dr. Stork" to refer to an obstetrician. (Wikipedia)