It is considered unsightly, loud, bothersome, and seemingly everywhere: the sparrow is the most common and least remarkable bird in our culture. Its intrusive boldness and ordinariness have not earned it a commendable place in human cultural history. On the contrary: its very insignificance has made it, over the centuries, a suitable scapegoat for various misdeeds, a vent for aggression, and a symbol of all sorts of human vices or politically-religious enemies. Saint Francis loved all birds - but he found the sparrow bothersome. Luther called it a thief, and Mao Zedong nearly exterminated the sparrows as enemies of the Chinese people. However, hardly any of the negative traits attributed to the sparrow truly relate to the bird itself; rather, they primarily reflect our own human shortcomings.