- Genre
- Etiological legend
- Source status
- folkloric
- Motifs
- thrush as teacher, premature boasting, interrupted lesson, meagre nest
The story
A pigeon wanted a nest like the thrush’s. It invited the thrush over to show it how to build one.
The thrush arrived and began arranging the nest. It had laid only a few bits of straw when the pigeon hopped onto the work, turned about and announced that it already knew how.
The thrush was annoyed. If the pigeon knew everything, why had it asked for a teacher? It left its pupil and flew away.
The pigeon never learned the rest. All it knew was how to lay those first few pieces it had watched the thrush place. That is why its nests remained so meagre.
Reading the story
The explanation lies in an interrupted lesson: the pigeon claims mastery before seeing the whole task. Its finished nest reflects how little it actually learned.
Told by Batulis; recorded by M. Slančiauskas in 1903. LMD I 142(10). The 1967 note does not name a locality.
Source and retelling
Lietuvių tautosaka, IV (1967), Nr. 375, p. 443: „Karvelio lizdas“; PDF p. 442. An original retelling of the recorded traditional narrative cited here. The sequence of events and ending are retained in modern language.