of her eyes. Roaming about, the hawk suddenly lighted upon the nest
of the crow. Seeing the little, miserable, ugly things in the nest,
the hawk at first would not touch them, although she never dreamt that
these ugly things were the children of the crow, so much praised by
her for their beauty, and thought they must belong to some hideous
bird. But what is one to do when one is hungry? One eats what one
gets and not finding anything better, she sat down and gobbled them
up one by one, and then flew away.
Not long after the hawk had left, the crow came in, feeling sure this
time to find her little ones unhurt; but how great was her dismay
when she found the nest empty! First she thought the little birds
had tried their wings and were flying about in the neighbourhood,
and she went in search of them. Not finding them, she began to be a
little more anxious, and hunting a little more closely, found on the
ground near some rushes some tufts of feathers with little bones and
blood. She knew at once that the hawk had again been there, feeding
on her children.
Full of wrath and fury, she went to find the hawk. Meeting her, she
said, "A nice sister and godmother you are! After you had promised
most faithfully not to touch my children, no sooner had I turned my
back on them, than you come again and eat them."
"I do not understand what you are saying," replied the hawk. "It is
your own fault. You told me your children were the most beautiful
in the world, and those which I have eaten were monsters of
hideousness. If I had not felt the pinch of hunger so strong, I
would not have touched them, not for anything, such ugly things they
were! They nearly made me sick."
"Is that the way you keep your promise?" replied the angry crow;
"after having eaten them, you even have the impudence to tell lies
and insult me. Off with you! and woe betide you if I ever catch you,
I will teach you to behave properly."
From that day on, the hawk, if it gets near the crows, attacks
them. And from that day on there is implacable hatred between the
crows and the hawks.
XLVII. A.
CROW CHARMS.
It is said that the crow bathes its young in some waters between
frontiers. This water becomes poisonous, and is used by witches
for philtres and spells. If a man wants to obtain the water, he
must go to nine witches, who assemble on a Tuesday at midnight
at the fountain. Each one brings a stolen pot, or, in preference,
the skull of a dog. In each they take three drops of that water, and
they say their spell over it, waving over it a tuft of hair from a mad
wolf. This incantation they must repeat for nine weeks on each Tuesday
at midnight, and with the water thus obtained they make their philtres.
The croaking of the crow is considered as evil an omen as that of the
raven. A very peculiar custom prevails among the people, who, when the
children lose their teeth, take them and throw them if possible on the
roofs of the houses and say: "Here, crow, I give you a tooth of bone,
bring me one more beautiful." Or, according to other versions, "bring
me one of gold. I give you a tooth of iron, bring me one of steel."
XLVIII.
WHY DOES THE HERON DRINK ONLY RAIN-WATER?
The Story of the Heron and the digging of Wells.
When God had created the world, there were no springs or wells. The
only water from which to satisfy the thirst of all the creatures was
rain-water. After a time the rain was not enough to satisfy them all;
the grass and trees were fading and withering, burnt up by the fiery
heat of the sun, and the animals were perishing from thirst.
So God called all the birds together, and told them that they should
dig holes in the earth with their claws and beaks, in order that the
water from underneath should come up and water the earth and slake
the thirst of all the creatures. At the bidding of God all the birds
came together and started working with their beaks and claws. They
all worked together. The hawk worked side by side with the young
chickens, and the owl with the doves. Such a thing never happened
before or since.
The heron alone flew about as if it did not affect her. She was quite
indifferent to see how hard the other birds worked. She cared not
for the sweat which stood out like beads, and ran down the neck of
the lark as it went scratching away at the earth with legs as thin
as two straws, nor did she care for the titmouse which hacked away
at the foot of a hillock. And God asked her:
"Why dost thou not do anything?"
"Why should I soil my feet with mud," she replied, "when the
rain-waters are not yet dried up?"
And God said:
"Because thou hast not hearkened to my command, thou shalt slake thy
thirst only from the rain, and then only by the water running down thy
wings." From that time onwards one hears the heron crying in time of
drought. She prays to God to send some rain to moisten her dry mouth.
XLIX.
WHY DOES THE KITE CRY IN DRY WEATHER?
The Story of the Kite and the making of Rivers.
The same story is told of the kite in the following version:
When God made the world, he called all the birds together to help him
to dig wells for the water and beds for the rivers. All the birds
came except the kite, which, looking at its claws, said, "See how
beautiful and dainty they are! I am not going to soil them with the
mud of the rivers and wells." Then all the other birds cursed her,
that she might never be able to drink water out of wells and rivers,
and should slake her thirst only with the dew and rain from heaven,
nor should she be able to drink by lifting her beak and catching the
falling rain, but she would only be able to drink the rain-water
which was running down her wings. Therefore, in time of drought,
the kite flies high up to God and prays for rain and dew, for if she
drinks of the water of rivers and wells she dies.
A remarkable parallel to this story has been given by Grimm in his
D. Mythologie, 4th ed. p. 561; and for a Russian parallel, v. Ralston,
Russian Folk Tales, p. 331.
An oriental version substitutes the raven for the kite as the bird
whose piteous cries bring about the breaking of the drought. It is
said that when Adam beheld his dead son Abel, he did not know what
to do, for he was the first man to die. A raven dug a hole and put
into it his companion who had died.
Adam saw this and followed his example. God therefore granted to the
raven that henceforth when there would be drought in the world, his
cry would bring about the breaking up of the drought and a downpour
of rain (Chapters of Eliezer, ch. xxi.).
L.
WHY CAN THE MOLE NOT COME OUT ON THE HIGH ROAD?
The Story of the Mole and the making of Roads.
When the world was made, there were no roads and no pathways. It was
very difficult to get about from one place to another.
Seeing this, God ordered all the animals to come and work together and
straighten out paths and make roads. All the animals came and worked
as they were commanded. Only the mole stayed away, so God asked him
why he had not come, when all the others had?
"I do not want any roads and ways, for they are of no use to me,"
he replied; "I burrow under the earth and there I spend my life."
"So shall it always be henceforth," said God, "and thou shalt not be
able to make thy little hills on roads or highways, and it shall not
be a sin to kill thee."
And so it has remained to this day. No mole-hill has ever been seen
on any public road. The mole cannot make them except in fields and
meadows.
Whoever destroys a mole-hill gets a peculiar wart on his hand. In
order to get rid of it he must pass over it seven times the paw
(the claws) of a mole.
LI.
WHY HAS THE TORTOISE A ROUND BACK?
The Story of the Tortoise, St. Peter and God.
When God and St. Peter were walking on the earth, one day they made a
very long journey, and grew very hungry. Coming to a little hut, they
found the woman in, and they asked her for something to eat. "Well,"
she said, "I have very little flour in the house, but I am going to
bake two loaves, and when you come back in half an hour they will be
ready and you will be welcome to one." Taking the flour, she kneaded
it in the trough and made two loaves, one for herself and one for
the travellers. Meanwhile they went to church, but they said before
going that they would come back at the end of the service.
The woman covered over the dough, and to her great astonishment,
when she lifted the cover, the dough of the loaf for the strangers
had risen much higher than the other. Then she put both loaves in the
oven. How great was her surprise, on taking out the loaves from the
oven, when she found that the one for the travellers had been baked
nicely and was a very big loaf, whilst the one for herself was half
burned and almost shrivelled to a pancake. When she saw the miracle
her greed overtook her, and she forgot the promise which she had
made to the travellers. She said to herself: "Why should I give my
best bread to strangers whom I do not know? Let them go elsewhere to
richer people than I am."
So she took the pasteboard and put it on the floor, and crouching on
it, covered herself over with the trough. She told her little girl
to stand in front of the door, and if two old people should come
and ask for her she was to say that her mother had gone away and
that she did not know where she was. The travellers then, of course,
would not come in, and she would be able to enjoy the loaf.
After a while God and St. Peter came back from church, and asked
the little girl where her mother was, to which the child replied as
she had been told. God said, "Where she is there shall she remain";
and went away. The child came in and tried to lift the trough off
the back of her mother, who was lying hidden underneath, but try as
hard as she could the trough would not come off. It had grown on to
the back of her mother, and the pasteboard had grown underneath on
to her. The woman was only able to put out her little head with the
glistening, greedy eyes, and her tiny little hands and feet, and the
handle of the pasteboard had turned into a waggling tail.
And that is how the tortoise was made, when the old woman became the
tortoise always carrying the trough and the pasteboard with her.
LII.
WHY HAVE THE FISH NO FEET?
When God had made all the creatures, he gave every one the power of
walking and saving themselves from danger.
Among others, came the fish, and God asked him what he would like,
and the fish replied: "If I am to have my choice I would ask you to
give me seven wings; I should fly much quicker than any other animal,
and no one would be able to catch me: but should I be caught I am
willing to die alive on the grill with my eyes open." And God shook
his head at the foolish request, for he knew that man would be able
to find out how to make the line and hook, and that all the wings of
the fish would not help him. So he is caught with his mouth open,
and that is why the fish takes his punishment without murmuring,
and dies quietly on the grill with his eyes open.
LIII.
WHY DO THE PLOVER FLY SINGLY?
The Story of the Plover and Lady Mary.
In the beginning the plover used to fly in large coveys. But one day,
when Our Lady was riding on a horse, they ran across the road and
frightened the horse so much that it threw the rider. Angry at the
mishap, St. Mary cursed the plover that they should no longer gather
in coveys but should go singly. And so it has remained to this very
day. The plover nest quite alone and never join others in their flight.
LIV.
WHY DOES THE SPIDER HANG ON A THREAD?
The Story of the Spider and Lady Mary.
One day a spider, meeting the Holy Mother, challenged her as to which
of the two could spin the finer thread. The Holy Mother accepted the
challenge, and started to spin a very fine thread indeed. But, however
fine her thread was, the yarn spun by the spider was much finer,
and then, to add to the discomfiture of the Holy Mother, the spider
let himself down on one of its threads and remained dangling, and,
turning to the Holy Mother, he said to her: "Can you do anything like
it?" And the Holy Mother replied, "No"; and being angry she cursed the
spider, and said, "Thy web shall be of no use to anyone, and because
of thy spite, whoever kills thee shall be forgiven three of his sins."
We meet the spider again in controversy with the Holy Mother on a
more dramatic occasion.
She was searching for her son, and going to St. John, she asked him
what had happened to him, as she had not seen him for some time. "The
cruel people have taken him and are torturing him." Going on her
way she met the carpenters, who said to her that instead of making
a light cross they had made a heavy cross. She cursed them, saying,
"May you work all the year and see no profit."
Then she met the smiths, who, instead of making short nails, had made
long nails, and she cursed them likewise. She came to the gate of the
palace of Pilate, and on her touching the gate, it opened, and going
in, she saw all that happened. On her way, weeping and crying, she met
a flight of swallows, who asked her why she was crying and weeping,
and she replied, "My only son has been taken away from me." And they
replied, "Do not weep and do not cry, for three days hence thou shalt
see him alive, thou and thy friends."
And the Holy Mother blessed them, that they should always be welcome
in the house of the people, that they should nest on the roofs, and
that no one should disturb them, and that whosoever should kill a
swallow should be guilty of three sins.
Going further, she met the spider, and the spider asked her why she
was weeping and crying, and she replied, "My only son has been taken
away." And the spider replied, "You may cry till the day of doom;
what is gone is gone, and can never come back again." Next to the
spider was standing the mouse, and the mouse chimed in: so the Holy
Mother cursed him and went on her way, but finding that her way led
her nowhere, she came back the same road.
When she had gone, the mouse said to the spider: "The Holy Mother
has not blessed us, so I think you had better make a rope and stretch
it from tree to tree, and I will dig a pit underneath, and when she
comes back we will hang her by the rope and throw her into the pit."
But the Holy Mother knew what they were plotting, and when she came
back, she said:
"Thou ugly and spiteful spider, worms shall settle on thee, and by thy
own rope shalt thou hang. All the days of thy life an unclean animal
shalt thou be. And thou, O mouse, who hast plotted against me, thy
habitation shall be henceforth in the pits and hollows of the earth,
and thou shalt be an unclean beast. Whatever thou touchest shall
be defiled, and whoever kills thee or the spider shall be forgiven
three sins." And so it has remained to this very day, the spider
hanging on its own rope, and the mouse lying hidden under the earth,
and both are killed by men and beasts.
This same legend has become a carol which is also used as a charm.
LIV. A.
WHY ARE THE SPIDER AND THE MOUSE ACCURSED?
The Story of Lady Mary, the Mouse and the Spider (a Charm).
After the crucifixion, the Lady Mary went along crying and weeping in
pain and grief for that they had crucified her son. Wherever she went
all the creatures wept with her, and the flowers in the grass of the
field bent low in sign of mourning. A flight of swallows met her in
the beautiful meadow, and seeing her crying, comforted her, and said:
"Do not weep, for thy son will come to life again three days hence,
and will show himself to thee and to the Apostles." Then the Lady Mary
became more comforted, and said to the swallows: "Ye swallows from
this day on shall be the cleanest birds on the face of the earth,
and the house at which you build your nests will be a happy one,
and whoever destroys your nest shall be cursed." The Lady Mary went
on her way, and passing on her way she met a spider weaving his web,
and a mouse burrowing in the ground. When they saw her weeping they
mocked at her, and said: "In vain dost thou weep and cry. Know that
thy son is dead; he will never come to life again, although thou
mayest believe it." But the Lady Mary replied: "My child is the son of
God. He will do what he wills." And she went on her way. She went on
until she came to another forest. Fearing that she might lose her way
she returned the same way as she had gone. The spider and the mouse,
seeing that she had not blessed them, took counsel together to hang
her on a rope and to kill her the next time they met her again. And
the mouse said to the spider: "Now thou weave a rope and get it ready,
and upon that rope we will hang her as soon as we set our eyes on
her." A short time afterwards the Lady Mary returned, and came back
to the same spot. Meanwhile the spider had woven a strong rope, and
had tied one end to a branch of the tree, and the mouse had digged a
deep pit under that tree. But the Lady knew what they had intended,
and she said: "Thou, O spider, hast woven a rope for hanging me,
thou shalt always dangle on a rope. Thou shalt be unclean and full of
vermin, and whoever catches thee shall kill thee. And thou, O mouse,
thou shalt be so dirty from this day onwards, that wherever thou diest
that place shall become unclean, and whoever sees thee shall kill thee,
and whoever will kill a mouse or a spider God shall forgive him three
sins." And as she had said, so it has remained to this very day. From
that time on the mouse and the spider have remained accursed.
LV.
WHY HAS THE SWALLOW A FORKED TAIL AND A RED SPOT ON ITS BREAST?
The Story of Lady Mary and the Wicked Stepmother.
In Oriental folk-lore the swallow seems to be considered everywhere
as a sacred bird, of which many legends are related. We hear, that
when the Temple was burning in Jerusalem the swallows were the birds
which brought water in their beaks with which to quench the flame,
whilst the spider brought fiery coal to fan the flame. Hence he who
kills a swallow commits seven sins, whilst he who kills a spider is
forgiven seven sins. In the Appendix, No. III., a peculiar legend is
also told of the spider, the gnat and the swallow. As for the origin
of the swallow, which would account for the forked tail and for the
colour of the feathers, the Rumanians have the following tale.
It is a story of a mother-in-law, who, like all mothers-in-law, treated
her daughter-in-law in a most cruel manner. Whatever the young woman
did was not right. Her mother-in-law persecuted her from morning
till evening, and gave her neither peace nor rest. One day, seeing
that she could not get rid of her by any other means, she killed her,
and cut her up in pieces. Her son, who had been away, came in just in
time to see the foul deed which his mother had done. Enraged, he made
a pile of wood, and dragging his mother on to it, he lit the wood, so
as to burn his mother on the fire. For reasons which we do not know,
St. Mary came down from heaven and pulled the old woman away from
the fire after her. Her clothes had already began to burn. She got
hold of her, changed her into a swallow, and pulled her through the
chimney. As soon as she saw herself saved, the wicked woman wanted
to fly away. But St. Mary said: "Stop, and do not fly away. Do not
imagine that because I have saved you from being burned on the fire,
I will let you go away like that: you just wait, for I must put a sign
on you, that everybody may know what a good mother-in-law you have
been, and that you have killed your daughter-in-law." And as she said
these words, she caused her tail to become like a pair of scissors,
or rather like two sharp knives joined in one point, like the knives
with which she had cut up her daughter-in-law. But this was not the
only sign. For when St. Mary pulled her through the chimney, a lot
of soot fell on her, and wherever it fell it made the feathers black,
and so they have remained to this very day. The red spot on the breast
of the swallow is the red blood of her daughter-in-law, and the white
spots are the remnants of the shirt which remained unburned when all
the other clothes had caught fire, but it has not kept white either,
for it was just a little singed.
There are besides these a number of tales about the swallow. They
are told in Nos. 86, 87.
LVI.
WHY DOES THE FROG SHRIVEL UP AT DEATH?
The Story of the Frog and Lady Mary.
When Christ was being crucified, his mother went in search of him;
she did not know whither he had betaken himself. On her way she met
a band of carpenters. Weeping, she asked them, "Have you seen my
son?" "We have seen him," they said. "Nay, we have made the cross,
and instead of light timber, we have taken heavy timber." "So," she
said, "you shall henceforth work from morning till night and never
get any richer."
Then she met a band of Gipsies, and she asked them, "Have you seen
my son?" "O yes," they replied, "we have seen him, and we were told
to make thick and blunt nails, but we have made them thin and pointed
so they should pass easily through and not give much pain." And Mary
replied, "May your work be light and your profit great."
Going on her way she met a frog, and the frog asked her, "Dear
lady mine, what are you weeping and crying for?" And she replied,
"I am weeping and crying for my only son, whom they are killing now
in Jerusalem." And the frog replied, "What am I to say; I have had
ten children and nine were crushed to death by the wicked wheel of
the carts, only one is left to his mother, a sweet darling and pet,
a beauty." When Mary heard the frog lauding her child, she said,
"Let me see that beauty of yours, just come out, little froggie,
beloved darling of mother." And there came out of the lake behind a
little frog with its crooked legs and ungainly face, and with eyes
staring out of his head. And when Mary saw that beauty she could not
help laughing under her tears. And she said to the frog, "Because
thou hast made me smile in my grief, may thy body never rot when
thou diest, and the worm never have a share in it." And ever since,
when the frog dies, the body shrinks into nothingness and disappears.
LVII.
WHY DOES THE SILKWORM SPIN A THIN THREAD?
The Story of the Tortoise and Lady Mary.
The blessed Mary, great and glorious as she is--she must not take
it amiss--was one day too lazy to go out on behalf of her son to
distribute his gifts among the children of the village. So when she
left the house with the loaves of bread, some cake, and other gifts
which she was to distribute, under her arm, she met the tortoise.
"Good morning," said the one. "Welcome, daughter," said the
other. St. Mary said, "Prithee, auntie, just give this bread as alms
for souls to the boys of the village."
"That is not much, my daughter, I will willingly do it," and taking
the bread under her arms, there she went crawling along until she
came to the boys.
The tortoise had scarcely left her, when St. Mary bethought herself
that it might have been better if she herself had given the alms away,
and not sent them through a stranger. So without more ado she followed
the way the tortoise had gone, and came to the school.
What did she see there? Auntie tortoise performed her deed as she had
promised, and going from boy to boy gave everyone a bit. But when at
last she came to the youngest, who was her own child, she took out
the cake and gave it to him. "I should like to know," said St. Mary,
"how it happened that the last piece to be given away was a cake?"
"Well, daughter, or rather mother, I had kept the cake for the most
beautiful child, and I could not find anyone more beautiful than
mine." St. Mary, who had heard many things, when she heard this,
could not help laughing aloud.
When she stopped laughing she was rather sorry, for why should she have
laughed so loud? She said, "Verily, there is nothing more beautiful
in the eyes of a mother than her own child."
Her beautiful face grew sad, and in order that her laughter should
not bewitch the little tortoise--as if struck by the evil eye for
being praised as beautiful--she spat out upon the ground, and out of
the spittle there grew the silkworm. St. Mary blessed it and said,
"Thou shalt live upon green leaves, and thou shalt draw out fine silk
threads" (like the thread of the spittle). It is therefore forbidden
to say anything evil of the silkworm, or to touch it whilst it is
spinning the cocoon, for no sooner is an evil word spoken or the worm
touched, than it stops drawing the silk.
The variant from the Balkans is as follows:
When Jesus went up to Golgotha, the Virgin Mother followed,
crying. There she saw in the procession also a tortoise, and she
could not help laughing. She then reproached herself, and said, "O
evil mouth, thou art only good for worms." There and then she spat on
the ground in disgust, and worms came out of the spittle. But having
come from a holy mouth the worms which grew out of the spittle became
the silkworms, which have remained so to this very day.
A peculiar variant in which, however, the second part--the origin of
the silkworm--is omitted, is found among the Kutzovlachs of Macedonia
as "The Story of St. Mary and the Tortoise."