This was back when birds understood human language.
An eagle lived on Mount Darbaity. One day he sat hungry on the top of a mountain and looked out to see if a marmot, a tarbagan, would emerge from its hole. I waited and waited, got tired of the sun and fell asleep. The eagle woke up from the sound of its wings. A large gray hawk grabbed the tarbagan and began to peck at it on the nearest hill. The eagle became indignant, flew up to the hawk and almost crushed it.
The hawk was not afraid and said:
- Why are you ruffled, eagle? If you want to get a piece, then ask, but be polite.
- I don’t need your treat! - the eagle answered arrogantly, but he himself did not take his greedy eyes off the tarbagan. “I just want to see how you’ll eat such a dead tarbagan.”
The hawk laughed:
“Why did you then watch the tarbagan all day long, if he’s dead!” The eagle answers angrily:
“I didn’t look at the tarbagan.” With one eye I looked for a roe deer, and with the other for a hare. You will never taste their meat in your life. Eat your tarbagan before it goes rotten.
The eagle and the hawk had a strong quarrel. They made such a noise that all the birds flocked and decided to elect a bird khan to sort out the disputes.
The birds started chattering and making noise. Everyone wanted to become a khan.
The eagle stepped forward and said:
- I should be your khan. No one flies higher in the sky than me.
“We don’t need such a khan,” the birds objected in unison. “You have a lot of pride, that’s why you live alone on inaccessible rocks.” We don't agree!
Then the bat came forward and said:
- I want to be a khan. My wings are not made of feathers, like yours, but of leather. My ears can hear far away. The gray cuckoo ruffled:
- A bat cannot be a khan. She tells us that she is a bird, and tells the animals that she is a beast. Moreover, it flies all night and doesn’t let us sleep. It's just me, cuckoo. Because of my singing, the whole earth dresses up in green in spring. You won't find a better khan than me.
Large and small birds flapped their wings:
“The cuckoo won’t be our khan.” She does not hatch her chicks.
A great dispute broke out here, each bird offered itself to be a khan.
The gathering of birds made noise for a long time. And on the top of a tall cedar sat an old wizard raven.
He listened and listened to the birds' arguments and said:
“If you can’t agree, then you won’t talk at all!” Everyone wants to be khan...
As the wizard raven said, this is what happened - the birds forgot how to speak.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru