Black birds: corvidae
Raven
The raven (Corvus corax) has been taken for a clever bird who is also the most ominous and frightening and it is believed to have originated from a witch. Its earlier name was kaaren and it has matches in other, related languages. The name ronk is an onomatopoeia for the bird's call. He is also known as korp, kronk, also 'white bird', and less so as 'black bird'. Such euphemistic nicknames were used to give names to scary birds. It was believed that birds hear and understand human speech and when they hear their own name, they hide from hunters or cause harm to humans in other ways. The raven is associated with the spiritual realm and for this reason, it is identified as a bird of death or bad luck. A raven flying over a dwelling house, or a raven’s call, meant a quarrel, a death, or a portent of death. Flying over pasture meant an animal perishing, an accident, or a wolf getting at the cattle. It was believed that dogs become mad when they eat a bone or a piece of meat dropped from a raven’s beak.
Mathilda Matjus (Hiiemäe 2016). Translation: Maarja Villandi-Reiljan.
There is a rock in the raven's nest. If you get hold of this stone, no one's anger or curses can harm you, and you can cast spells with this stone.
Ronga pesas on kivi. Kui selle kivi kätte saad, siis ei hakka keegi inimese viha ega vitsad su peale ja selle kiviga saab nõiduda.
If someone finds a white feather from among the reaven’s feathers and eats it, they can speak all the languages.
Kis kaarna sulgede seest valge sule ülesse leiab ja ära sööb, see võib kõige ilma keelte peal rääkida.
A raven, if it passes over your head or house, it brings an announcement.
Kaarnas kui läheb üle su pea või maja, siis midagit kuulutust toob.
If a pair of ravens goes over the house while fighting, the couple will die, but if they fly over the barn, an animal passes away.
Kui kaarnad lähevad paaris üle maja ja taplevad, siis sureb paarirahvas, lendavad aga üle lauda, lõpeb elajaist.
One of the birds, the raven, was very arrogant towards the other birds. He wanted to wash himself white, he wanted to become the king of forest birds. He whisked himself every day, but he was black, and he remained black.
Now he collected all kinds of feathers from strange birds. Then he tore off his own and made himself very beautiful. After that, he started to be really arrogant and laughed at the other birds that they were not as pretty as him.
Seeing this, the other birds came together and agreed that each bird would take his feathers from him. They all came together in one swoop, and everyone took off their feathers.
Oh! What was the poor raven supposed to do now? Through his stupidity and arrogance, he became the laughingstock of the other birds and had to live with great shame.
The text is probably influenced by printed sources, e.g. Willmann 1782.
Üks kaarnas oli teiste lindude vastu väga uhke. Ta soovis ennast valgeks pesta, tahtis metsalindude kuningaks saada. Vihtles ennast iga päev, aga must ta oli ja mustaks ta jäi.
Nüüd kogus ta endale kõiksuguseid võõraste lindude sulgi. Siis kiskus omad seljast ära ning ehtis ennast väga ilusaks. Pärast seda hakkas hoopis kohevil olema ja teisi linda naerma, et nemad mitte nii kenad pole kui tema.
Teised linnud tulid seda nähes kokku ja pidasid nõu, et iga lind oma suled temalt ära võtab. Tulid kõik ühe hoobiga kokku ja igaüks võttiski oma suled ära.
Oh! Mis nüüd vaene kaarnas pidi tegema! Oma rumaluse ja ülbuse läbi sai ta teistele lindudele naeruks ja pidi suure häbiga edasi elama.
Tekst on arvatavasti trükistest mõjustatud, nt Willmann 1782.
Crow
Like the raven, according to folklore, the crow is a dangerous and powerful bird. In the repetitive verses characteristic of regilaul song, a crow is often analogous to a raven – it brings bad messages, and him are sent the illnesses. Two species of crows live in Estonia: the hooded crow (Corvus cornix) and rook (Corvus frugilegus). The Estonian word for crow, vares, has an ancient Uralic root and is similar in many related languages, eg. the Erzian word vars´ej, or in Kamassian, bare.
The crow’s image is that of an insignificant and worthless bird; and is linked to the words ‘old’, ‘poor’ etc. This choice of words partly depends on alliteration and emollient or reductive euphemisms such as vaga 'meek, humble, pious', vana hall 'old grey'; disparaging words vana 'old', vaene 'poor'. As a poetic synonym, the crow is rather pejorative – for example, the orphan's or bastard's father might be called a crow; the girl advises an old suitor to take a crow instead; the wedding singer calls the opponent a crow. Of course, the crow does not possess a beautiful singing voice, and in addition, it is customary to disparage the opponent's singing mouth because of her bad food choices. An elderly singer complains that, unlike in her youth, she can no longer even jump over an old crow. In songs about different birds, the role of the crow depends again on the alliteration: when working, the crow takes out the scone (vatsk) from the oven. To the wedding of the mouse, it rides in a copper chariot (vasest vanker). In the early 1900s, the crow became famous in a popular dance game with the song "The Crow, a Humble Bird".
Taive Särg (Saarlo 1996).
When a crow caws and its beak is turned toward the door of the dwelling house, bad messages will arrive.
Kui vares vaagub ja nokk seal juures elumaja ukse poole pöördud, saadakse halbu sõnumeid.
The crow was going to be wed. He showed off to the bride that he could feed her. All the fields are full of crops. The wife married him. Autumn arrived. The crop was being taken away. The crow’s wife happened to see it, and she complained to her husband:
“Yaak, Yaak, the crop is taken away!” Yaak was all blushing with shame. The lye was exposed. Thereafter he screamed back to his wife from the top of the stook:
“Let them take it, take it, this will be enough, enough!"
Vares läinud naist võtma. Kiidelnud pruudile, et jõuab küll naist toita. Kõik väljad vilja täis. Läinudki naine varesele. Tulnud sügis. Hakatud vilja ära vedama. Varese naine juhtunud seda nägema. Läinud mehele kaebama:
"Jaak, Jaak, vili viias1, vili viias!" Jaagul häbist silmad täis. Vale väljas. Hõikanud naisele nabra otsast:
"Las' viia, las' viia, saab küllalt, saab küllalt!"
1 viiakse
Magpie
The magpie’s nest was in the forest on top of a large alder tree. The cunning fox had already noticed this a long time ago. He was prowling around in the bushes pondering to himself how to get hold of this tasty dish. He was not strong enough to break down the alder tree, and neither was he able to climb up the tree. Finally, he thought that he had come to a good idea - he walked majestically to the alder tree and laughed into his beard:
“Mm, it’s easy to fool a fool!”
He waited until the old magpie flew to the nest to his chicks, then took a magnanimous step under the alder tree, hit the alder trunk a few times with his tail, and said:
“Listen, you scrawny lass, if you don’t give me one of your sons as a foster son, I’ll cut down the alder and eat the whole nest!”
Now the magpie was in a predicament, and she knew what the fox wanted to do with her son when he wanted one as his foster sons. But after all, having the alder tree cut down and her nestlings eaten would be a bigger loss. And she throws one of her sons out of the nest.
The fox took the tasty morsel to behind a bush, ate up the magpie`s youngling, and came back to the alder tree again. He hit the alder trunk with his tail a few times and said again:
“Listen, you scrawny lass, give me one of your sons as a foster son! If you don`t, I’ll cut down the alder and eat the whole nest!” And he hit the alder trunk with his tail again as if he really wanted to cut down the alder.
The magpie - with an aching heart - threw one of the chicks out of the nest again. The fox devoured this one as well. What to do? In this way, the fox would eat all her chicks. Good advice was hard to come by. “If I don’t give him one of my chicks,” thought the magpie to herself, “he’ll cut down the alder and eat my children.”
She asked a raven flying by for advice. The raven soon understood the problem and said: “When he comes again, say: “Show me where the ax is!” After all, he can’t cut down an alder tree with his tail.”
The fox came soon, hit the trunk a few times with his tail, and said: “Give me one of your sons or I will cut down the alder and eat up everything." “Show me where the ax is!” shouted the magpie. “After all, you can’t cut down a tree with your tail."
“That's what the village foreman told you, that's what the village foreman told you!" screamed the fox angrily. "A lass like you cannot be that smart. I'll come and get you!" hummed the fox quietly and went away.
After a while, the magpie flew across the field in search of food for her three remaining chicks. Suddenly, instead of a stook of linseed, she sees a dead fox lying on the ground with outstretched legs and bulging white eyes.
"Suits you right, you crook," shouted the magpie," just a little while ago, you cheated two sons out of me! And now you are already here, dead on the ground. I want to peck out your eyes!” She flew over to the fox and was about to start working on the fox`s eyes when suddenly the fox jumped up and grabbed the magpie. The magpie begged for mercy and grace but in vain. The fox plucked the feathers from her back because such fluff could spoil the taste of a delicious dish. He had already plucked out a lot of feathers when suddenly the magpie had a good idea of how to escape. She said:
"My parents never ate meat without salt! They used to put the meat in salt for a couple of days."
"I would do the same if I had a dish! "Now I have to eat it plain," said the fox.
"I know one," said the magpie, "there's an old wheel hub in the village street near here. You can very well salt meat in it."
The fox really wanted to get salted meat. He had never ever tasted salted meat in his entire life. He tied up the magpie with straws as he went to fetch the wheel hub. With great joy, he placed the precious body alive in the hub to be salted.
The magpie, however, flew out from the other end high into the air and mockingly shouted: "Add more salt, add more salt! Look, the meat is salted now!”
The magpie used to be completely black, but now white feathers grew in place of the plucked feathers; what was not plucked out remained black. Thus, the black magpie turned mottled, and all her sons and sons' sons and their descendants all wear a mottled coat in memory of their great-grandmother's lucky escape.
Harakapesa oli metsas suure lepa otsas. Seda oli kaval rebane juba ammugi tähele pannud. Ta luusis mõtetes sääl ümberkaudu võsas ja pidas enesega nõu, kuida küll maitsevat rooga kätte saada. Leppa maha murda ta ei jõudnud ja ülesse ronida ka ei mõistnud. Viimaks arvas ta ommeti hea nõu leidnud olevad – ta astus uhkel sammul lepa juure ja naeris habemesse:
„Mm, rumalat on kerge petta!“
Ta ootas, kuni vana harakas poegade juure pesa peale lendas, astus siis suurelisel sammul lepa ala, lõi paar korda sabaga lepatüvi pihta ja lausus:
„Kuule, kiitsak1, kui sa mitte ühte oma poegadest mulle kasupojaks ei anna, raiun ma lepa maha ja söön terve pesatäie ära!“
Harakas oli kimbus, ta teadis küll, mis nõu rebasel tema pojaga oli, kui see üht omale kasupojaks tahtis. Aga leppa maha lasta raiuda ja tema pesatäit poegi ära lasta süüa oli ommeti suurem kahju. Ta viskas parem ühe poja pesast välja.
Rebane läks maitseva suutäiega põesa taha, pistis haraku nooresuu2 nahka ja tuli jälle lepa juure tagasi. Lõi paar korda sabaga lepatüvi pihta ja ütles jälle:
„Kuule, kiitsak, anna üks poeg mulle kasupojaks! Kui mitte, siis raiun lepa maha ja söön terve pesatäie ära!“ Isi lõi jälle sabaga lepatüvi vasta, nagu tahaks ta tõepoolest leppa maha raiuda.
Harakas viskas – ehk küll südamevaluga – jälle ühe poja pesast välja. Rebane pani ka selle nahka. Mis teha? Rebane võis sel viisil kõik ta pojad ära süia. Hea nõu oli raske leida. „Kui ma mitte ei anna,“ mõtles harakas isieneses, „raiub ta lepa maha ja sööb ommeti minu pojad ära.“
Ta küsis ühe möödalendava ronga käest nõu. Ronk sai asjast varssi3 aru ja ütles: „Kui ta jälle tuleb, siis ütle: „Näita, kus kirves!“ Ega ta ommeti sabaga ei saa leppa maha raiuda.“
Varssi tuli rebane, lõi paar korda sabaga vastu tüvi ja ütles: „Anna üks poeg mulle ehk muidu ma raiun lepa maha ja söön kõik ära.“
„Näita, kus kirves!“ kähvas harakas. „Ega sa sabaga puud ei saa maha raiuda.“
„Seda on sulle külakubjas ütelnud, seda on sulle külakubjas ütelnud!“ kisendas rebane vihaga. „Ega sinusugune mees isi nii tark ole. Küll ma su kätte saan!“ ümises rebane tasakesi ja läks ära.
Natukese aja pärast lendas harakas oma ülejäänud kolmele pojale toitu otsides üle põllu. Sääl näeb ta korraga linaseemnesarra4 asemel rebase surnult, väljasirutud jalgade ja valgeksaetud punnis silmadega, maas lamavat.
„Oot, oot, sa kelm,“ kätsatas harakas, „natukese aja eest petsid sa minu käest kaks poega ära! Nüid oled sa juba siin, surnud maas. Ma tahan su silmad välja nokkida!“ Ta lendas ligi ja tahtis reinuvaderi silmade kallal töösse hakata, kui korraga rebane üles kargas ja haraku kinni haaras. Harakas palus armu ja halastust, aga asjata. Rebane aga kiskus tal sulgi seljast, sest niisugused ebemed võisid ju kaunist rooga maitsmataks teha. Juba oli sulgi kauniste kakutud, kui korraga harakule mõnus peasmisemõte meele tärkas. Ta ütles:
„Ei minu vanemad küll liha ilma soolamata söönud! Nad panivad liha ikka paariks päevaks soola.“
„Mina teeks niisamuti, kui mul anumat oleks! Nüid pean küll maget sööma,“ lausus rebane.
„Ma tean ühe,“ ütles harakas, „siin lähedal külatänavas on üks vana rattarumm. Selle sees võib väga hästi liha soolata.“
Rebane tahtis ka kord soolatud liha saada. Ta ei olnud tervel eluaal veel suutäit soolatud liha saanud. Ta köitis haraku õlgedega kinni, kuni ta isi rattarummu käis toomas. Suure rõõmuga pani ta kalli keha elusalt rummu sisse soola.
Harakas aga lennas tõisest otsast välja kõrgesse õhu sisse ja hüidis pilgates: „Pane veel soola, pane veel soola! Vaat nüid on liha soolatud!“
Harakas oli enne täitsa must, nüid aga kasvasivad ärakakutud sulgede asemele valged suled; mis kakkumata oli, jäi mustaks. Nenda sai must harakas kirjuks ja kõik tema pojad ja poegade pojad ja nenda edasi kannavad kõik oma suur-ema õnneliku ärapääsmise mälestuseks kirjut vatti5.
1 harakas
2 järelkasvu
3 varsti
4 linaseemnerõugu
5 kasukat
The magpie was believed to be the Devil’s heart.
Harakas olevat kuradi süda.