The first eldest among the birds was Cook. His wife told him to collect all the birds and make a nest out of their bones. Everyone followed, only the raven was missing. Cook came out and asked:
— Are all the birds present?
Answer:
- There is no raven.
There is no one day, there is no second - the birds sit for two days without eating. On the third day the raven arrives.
-Where have you been? - Cook asks him.
— I flew around the world, looking at what was more: mountains or valleys.
- What more?
- Dolin.
- You're lying! - speaks. - It should be equal.
- No, there are more valleys, because I consider that mountain to be a valley, where the water stands.
Kuk released the birds to feed and ordered everyone to gather the next day.
The next day all the birds flew in, but only one raven was missing. Cook came out and asked:
— Are all the birds present?
“There’s no crow,” they say.
He’s gone one day and the next. The birds have been sitting for two days without eating. On the third day the raven arrives. Cook came out and asked:
-Where have you been?
- I counted the trees: which ones are bigger - dry or green?
- And which ones are there more?
“Dry,” he says.
- You're lying! There are more green ones.
“No,” he says, “there are more dry ones.” After all, I consider a tree to be dry if at least one branch is dry.
Kuk released the birds to feed and ordered everyone to gather the next day.
The next day all the birds flocked again, but there was no raven. They wait for his day, wait for the second - no raven. On the third day the raven arrives. Cook asks him:
- Where have you been?
- Flew around the world.
- What were you doing?
— I was counting who had more: women or men.
- Who is there more? Women or men?
“There are more women,” he says.
“You’re lying,” he says.
- No, there are more women. I consider a man a woman who listens to a woman.
Cook thought: “It’s too bad that I wanted to listen to my wife!” - and told her that he would no longer listen to her.
The birds rebelled and decided to choose the eldest. Cook got scared and hid in a hole. Sokol says:
“I’ll kill him, just call him out!” And there was an oak tree above that hole. The cuckoo began to tease Cook. I flew up to the hole and that was it:
- Kuku! Kuku!
Cook got angry and crawled out of the hole. She's on a tree. He's in the hole. The cuckoo flew from the tree and flew up to the hole:
-Kuku! Kuku!
Cook got angry and crawled out of the hole again. She's on a tree. Cook hid in the hole again. And she again:
- Kuku! Kuku!
Cook chased after her for the third time and sat down on a branch. Then the falcon killed him. Cook fell. The birds don't know that he was killed. The cuckoo flies lower and lower and that’s it:
- Kuku! Kuku!
He is silent. She then:
- Hee, hee! Ku-ku-ku according to Cook.
And Falcon took Cook’s place. And while the cuckoo was flying to tease Cook, it laid an egg. Other birds began to hatch it. Since then she has not sat on her eggs.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru