- Genre
- Etiological legend
- Source status
- folkloric
- Motifs
- river crossing, refused help, hunger, reward
The story
On his travels, God reached a river. A horse and an ox were grazing beside it. He asked the horse first: being the stronger animal, it could carry him to the far bank.
The horse refused. It wanted to eat and had no time to carry a traveller. God told it that from then on it would always struggle to satisfy its hunger.
He turned to the ox. The ox was very hungry too, but agreed to help and carried God over the water. In return, God promised that even a little food would leave it satisfied.
That, the story says, is why the horse keeps eating and wanting more, while the ox is content with less.
Reading the story
The animals’ appetites are explained through their choices at the river. Both are hungry; only one puts its own need aside to help.
Recorded by J. Dovydaitis in Viščiūnai, Želva district, in 1932; LTR 776(300). This is a folklore explanation, not advice about feeding livestock.
Source and retelling
Lietuvių tautosaka, IV (1967), Nr. 346, p. 431–432: „Arklys ir jautis“; PDF p. 430–431. An original retelling of the recorded traditional narrative cited here. The sequence of events and ending are retained in modern language.