This is TMI Z49.7. Bird who seeks carpenter to release young. This story is found repeatedly in India (for example, see Emeneau. The Carpenter and the Karvaky Bird), but it does not have a tale type listing of its own. I suppose that it could be classified with ATU 2030 The old woman and her pig (which is what Parker says in his note to the story below), but the life-or-death scenario also makes it resemble ATU 2021 The rooster and the hen, where the hen is choking on something and the rooster wants to save her.
To be honest, the more I work on this project, the more frustrated I am getting with the indexes, although I am certainly grateful for the bibliography they provide, of course. I found this story thanks to the reference in The Oral Tales of India, Stith Thompson and Jonas Balys, which is where the story is assigned its "Z49.7" motif number. In some other post, I will need to reflect on the way that these stories are all consigned to the very end of the motif index (with the Z-series) and to the very end of the tale types (numbers greater than 2000). Given that formulas and repetition are at the heart of oral storytelling, I am really surprised that formula tales end up at the end of the indexing systems.
Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy today's story, and you can click here for previous Stories-of-the-Day.
Once upon a time a bird laid two eggs in a cleft between two large stones. Through some movement of the stones this cleft became closed up, and she could not gain access to her nest.
So she begged a mason to split open the stones again, in order that she might go to her eggs. But the man would not do so.
She then went to a wild boar, and requested him to enter the paddy-field and eat the mason's corn, explaining that the mason would not split open the stones, and she could not go to her two eggs. The wild boar refused to assist her.
She next appealed to a hunter to shoot the wild boar: the wild boar would not eat the mason's paddy: the mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs. But the hunter declined to help her.
She then found an elephant, and begged him to kill the hunter: the hunter would not shoot the wild boar: the wild-boar would not eat the mason's paddy: the mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs. The elephant would not comply with her request.
She afterwards went to a katussa ("bloodsucker" lizard), and tried to induce it to crawl up the elephant's trunk into his brain: the elephant would not kill the hunter: the hunter would not shoot the wild boar: the wild boar would not eat the mason's paddy: the mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs. But the Katussa would not attempt it.
She next asked a jungle-hen to peck and kill the katussa: the katussa would not crawl up the elephant's trunk: the elephant would not kill the hunter: the hunter would not shoot the wild boar: the wild boar would not eat the mason's paddy: tho mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs. Like all the other animals the jungle-hen was very polite to the bird; but she, too, refused to help her.
She then went to a jackal, and begged him to eat the jungle-hen: the jungle-hen would not peck the katussa: the katussa would not crawl up the elephant's trunk: the elephant would not kill the hunter: the hunter would not shoot the wild boar: the wild boar would not eat the mason's paddy: tho mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs.
The jackal was only too glad to eat the jungle-hen, and he immediately set off after her: the jungle-hen pecked at the katussa: the katussa began to crawl up the elephant's trunk: the elephant went to attack the hunter: the hunter took his bow and arrows to shoot the wild boar: the wild boar commenced to eat the paddy: the mason, seeing the turn things had taken, split open the stones: and so the bird at last got back to her two eggs.
NOTES
Of course this is the Sinhalese variant of the story of the old woman whose pig would not go over the bridge. I have endeavoured to give the story almost exactly as it was told to me by a villager in the Kurunagala district.
CHAIN: mason - boar - hunter - elephant - katussa lizard - jungle-hen - jackal
THE BIRD AND HER TWO EGGS
Once upon a time a bird laid two eggs in a cleft between two large stones. Through some movement of the stones this cleft became closed up, and she could not gain access to her nest.
So she begged a mason to split open the stones again, in order that she might go to her eggs. But the man would not do so.
She then went to a wild boar, and requested him to enter the paddy-field and eat the mason's corn, explaining that the mason would not split open the stones, and she could not go to her two eggs. The wild boar refused to assist her.
She next appealed to a hunter to shoot the wild boar: the wild boar would not eat the mason's paddy: the mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs. But the hunter declined to help her.
She then found an elephant, and begged him to kill the hunter: the hunter would not shoot the wild boar: the wild-boar would not eat the mason's paddy: the mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs. The elephant would not comply with her request.
She afterwards went to a katussa ("bloodsucker" lizard), and tried to induce it to crawl up the elephant's trunk into his brain: the elephant would not kill the hunter: the hunter would not shoot the wild boar: the wild boar would not eat the mason's paddy: the mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs. But the Katussa would not attempt it.
(katussa)
She then went to a jackal, and begged him to eat the jungle-hen: the jungle-hen would not peck the katussa: the katussa would not crawl up the elephant's trunk: the elephant would not kill the hunter: the hunter would not shoot the wild boar: the wild boar would not eat the mason's paddy: tho mason would not split open the stones: and she could not go to her two eggs.
The jackal was only too glad to eat the jungle-hen, and he immediately set off after her: the jungle-hen pecked at the katussa: the katussa began to crawl up the elephant's trunk: the elephant went to attack the hunter: the hunter took his bow and arrows to shoot the wild boar: the wild boar commenced to eat the paddy: the mason, seeing the turn things had taken, split open the stones: and so the bird at last got back to her two eggs.
NOTES
Of course this is the Sinhalese variant of the story of the old woman whose pig would not go over the bridge. I have endeavoured to give the story almost exactly as it was told to me by a villager in the Kurunagala district.
CHAIN: mason - boar - hunter - elephant - katussa lizard - jungle-hen - jackal
_in_AP_W_IMG_9922.jpg){kind=link}
No comments:
Post a Comment