- Genre
- Cumulative tale
- Source status
- variant tradition
- Motifs
- sparrow, mugwort, threats, ironic ending
The tale: an editorial retelling
A sparrow landed on a mugwort plant. “Mugwort, rock me!” he said. The plant refused. The sparrow flew to a hare. “Gnaw the mugwort; it will not rock me.” The hare refused.
The sparrow asked a fox to catch the hare because it would not gnaw the plant. The fox would not go. He asked a wolf to kill the fox so that it would chase the hare. The wolf refused. A hunter would not shoot the wolf, and a rope would not hang the hunter.
The sparrow went to fire. “Burn the rope! The rope will not hang the hunter, the hunter will not shoot the wolf, the wolf will not kill the fox, the fox will not catch the hare, the hare will not gnaw the mugwort, and the mugwort will not rock me.” Fire refused.
Water would not put out the fire. An ox would not drink the water. Finally the sparrow asked a heavy pole to strike the ox. The pole sprang into action!
The ox went for the water, the water for the fire, the fire for the rope, the rope for the hunter, the hunter for the wolf, the wolf for the fox, the fox for the hare, and the hare for the mugwort. The plant rocked the sparrow so hard that it nearly rocked him to death.
About this version
Mugwort is a plant, imagined here as a talking swing. The old Lithuanian word for hunter has been replaced with a current word in the Lithuanian retelling.
V. Basanavičius recorded this version in 1901; its archive reference is LMD I 133(271). The full sequence of threats and the ironic ending are retained: the sparrow’s desired ride is almost fatal.
Telling and discussing the tale
This is not simply a cheerful example of cooperation: the sparrow recruits others through threats. Consider the particular audience before choosing this historical tale for young children. Picture cards can help listeners reconstruct the chain.