The swallow is noisy, flies in circles, takes its food from the air, and is skilled in nest building and in raising its young. Knowing that a building is about to collapse, the swallow leaves before that happens. In winter, the swallow goes across the sea and returns in the spring. If the eyes of young swallows are injured, the mother has the medical skill to make them see again.

As the swallow does not feed on the ground but remains in the air and eats only what it can catch there, so those who have no use for earthly things seek the things of heaven.