Many years ago - a thousand, maybe more - our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, cat people, earned their living by going hunting every day. One day, hunters came to the forest and saw: a karvaki bird sitting on a banyan tree and plaintively singing: “Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick!” But here on earth, everyone loves the cat and the karvaki bird. We have this belief: if this little birdie meets you on the way and she chirps her song, it means that you will have good luck in all your affairs that day.
So the hunters decided to find out what grief the bird had. They approached the tree and asked:
“Why are you, Karvaki bird, crying?” And she answered them:
- It’s a big problem... I built a nest for myself in the hollow of this banyan tree, raised the chicks, and carried food for them. And this morning I flew out to get worms and midges for my children, and when I returned, the hollow was completely overgrown! What should I do now? How can I feed my children? After all, they are there, poor people, dying of hunger! Help, good people!
The hunters thought:
- How can we help you? Is it just this: we have a carpenter in our village, ask him. He will come here, make a hole in the trunk with a chisel, and the chicks will come out.
The bird flew to the village and straight to the carpenter:
- Help, father! I made a nest for myself in a hollow tree, but the hollow grew completely together... Go into the forest, cut through the hollow, free my chicks.
- Here's another! - says the carpenter. - Look, you, daughter of a shaven-headed mother, have come up with something! What, I don’t have anything else to do?.. Go away, call whoever you want for help. You have your worries, I have mine...
The unfortunate karvaki wept bitterly. She began to think: “What should I do now? Maybe at least his wife can persuade him...” She flew to the carpenter, who at that time was driving a cow and calf into the barn, and began to ask her:
- Have mercy on me, mother! My chicks are dying of hunger. Tell your husband to cut a hollow in the tree and save my poor children from death.
- Go away, you nasty little bird! - the nobody-raft answers her. - I don’t have time to chat with you, you see: I’m busy... Get out of here!
The bird cried more than ever. She flew up to the cow and prayed:
- Help me, sister cow! I asked both your master and your mistress, but they don’t want to help my grief... Save my chicks, tell the mistress to persuade her husband to go into the forest, cut a hollow in the tree... Threaten her that you won’t give milk...
- W-well, no! – the cow mooed in response. - Have you lost your mind due to grief? Am I going to quarrel with the owners because of you? They'll stop feeding me, for goodness sake! No, it's none of my business.
The karvaki bird rushed to the calf and began to beg it:
“Little calf, dear one, I asked your master, and I asked your mistress, and I asked your mother cow—they don’t want to help my trouble.” Maybe you’ll take pity on me and tell Mother Cow to ask the owner to persuade the owner to help out my chicks...
But the calf just shook his head:
- No, why should I, I’m still small... The poor karvaki bird’s heart sank with pain.
“My children are completely gone! - she thinks. “I’d better go back to the forest, at least I’ll be next to them...” The karvaki flew into the forest, sat down on a large lilac bush and cried. A tiger walked past. I saw that Karvaki was crying, stopped and asked.
- What happened to you, sister, what are you grieving about? The karvaks answered him:
- I, brother tiger, grieve that I still live here on earth, where my chicks are dying of hunger, and no one around wants to help them...
The tiger listened to her story and said:
- I'll teach you what to do. This carpenter will come running here himself and free your children...
- How can this be? - asks karvaki.
- But here’s how: who in the forest obeys you, is ready to carry out any of your orders? Only the ichneumon beetle! So catch this beetle, peck it well in the head, and when it asks for mercy, take it in your beak and take it to the village to the carpenter’s house. When the carpenter begins to milk the cow and the calf sucks its mother’s udder, order the beetle to bite the calf’s tail. Let him hold on as tightly as possible and not let go... Well, then you’ll see for yourself...
She thanked the tiger and flew off to look for the beetle. He sees: a beetle-rider is crawling along the road... In one moment, a karvaki flew at him, grabbed him, pecked him once, pecked him again... The beetle realized that his affairs were bad, he begged:
- Spare me, mighty bird! I'll do whatever you tell me...
Karvaki grabbed the beetle and quickly went to the village, to the carpenter’s house. And at that time the carpenter was going to milk the cow. He took the milkbox and went to the barnyard, and ordered his wife to drive the cow out of the barn and bring the calf to her. The female raft caught the calf, brought it to the cow and poked it with her muzzle into the udder, and the carpenter sat down next to him with a milk bowl, waiting for the milking to begin. It was then that the karvaki bird opened its beak, released the beetle rider and said to him:
- Grab the calf by the tail! Hold on tight, don't let go until I tell you!
The ichneumon beetle spread its wings, and how it grabbed the calf at the very tip of its tail! The calf, in pain, did not see the light and, with all its strength, bit its mother on the udder, and then ran at full speed along the road into the forest. The cow jumped on all four hooves and gored the carpenter with her horns as hard as she could!.. And she also ran after the calf into the forest. The carpenter flew ten steps to the side, barely got up, felt for a stick on the ground, and smacked his wife along the back with a stick - once, then twice, and a third!.. And then he came to his senses a little - and behind the cow.
This is how they all run along the road: in front of the calf runs, its tail flutters in the wind, behind the calf is a cow, shaking its horns in all directions, behind the cow is a carpenter waving a stick, behind the carpenter is his wife groaning and wiping away her tears... And a karvaki bird flies above them.
Like a carpenter and his wife, they tried, but they couldn’t catch up with the cow and calf. They ran into the forest, looking everywhere - there were no cows! And then a tiger roars from behind a bush! The carpenter became afraid: what if this tiger eats his cow? And then he sees: hunters are sitting under a large tree. He rushed towards them:
- Help, good people! My cow is missing, and the tiger is about to eat it.
And the hunters tell him:
- No, wait, sir! Did the Karvaki bird fly to you today? You helped her! No? Well, there’s nothing to talk about for now: help her chicks, then we’ll see... This bird brings us happiness, we won’t let her be offended.
The carpenter had to go get a chisel. He carefully cut a hole in the trunk of the banyan tree and took out a nest with chicks, and the karvaki bird said:
- Wait, uncle carpenter! Can't you make us a new nest - bigger and warmer?
- Do as she says! - said the hunters. The carpenter had to break fresh twigs for the nest and collect armfuls of dry grass from the forest clearings. He fussed about for a long time, but he made the nest for the karvaka in such a way that the eagle itself would not be ashamed to live in it. And the hunters watch him work and chuckle:
- Well done, karvaki bird! It’s true, apparently, our proverb says: “If you need a peacock feather, grab the peacock by the tail, don’t wait until he gives it to you!..” Well, now we’ll help our carpenter, we’ll look for his cow.
They found a cow and calf at the edge of the forest and escorted the carpenter all the way to the village. And the karvaki bird with her babies lived happily in her new nest.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru