- Genre
- Mythological legend
- Source status
- folkloric
- Motifs
- found peg, horse fodder, secrecy, lost prosperity
The story
Petronis of Svideniai found a peg while crossing the pastures. At home he went to check the horses and tucked the peg by their feeding rack so that he would not lose it.
From then on the troughs were always full of oats. The horses grew sleek and strong. Petronis realised that the find was unusual. For several years he tended the horses himself and kept other people away.
One day a hired hand clearing manure noticed the peg and pulled it out. There was a ringing sound, and it vanished. The animals soon grew thin and the farm’s good fortune failed. Petronis was distraught: a man who knew nothing of his secret had accidentally released the aitvaras.
Reading the story
The spirit is not seen as a fiery bird or a rooster here. Its presence is revealed by a peg and an inexhaustible supply of oats. Prosperity depends on keeping the hidden object in place.
Recorded by J. Krikščiūnas-Jovaras in Šiauliai district in 1914; LMD I 999(10).
Source and retelling
Lietuvių tautosaka, IV (1967), Nr. 514, p. 532: „Netyčia gautas aitvaras“. An original retelling of the recorded traditional narrative cited here. The sequence of events and ending are retained in modern language.