Lithuanian tales

The Rooster on the Fence

Editorial retelling and context

A very short Lithuanian endless tale: the rooster’s crow sends the story back to its beginning. A recorded version from the Seirijai area.

Sources: variant tradition

An original retelling of the traditional narrative in contemporary English, following the identified Lithuanian version; not an archival transcription.

The tale: an editorial retelling

A rooster is sitting on a fence. When the rooster crows, I shall tell this story from the beginning.

A rooster is sitting on a fence. When the rooster crows, I shall tell this story from the beginning.

About this version

The expected crow promises another beginning, not another adventure. Brevity is the form of this tale; an invented longer plot has not been added.

A. Rudis recorded this version in the Seirijai area in 1948. Its archive reference is LTR 2898(327), and it appears as tale 294 in volume IV of Lietuvių tautosaka.

Telling and discussing the tale

One person can say the first sentence and another the second. Swapping roles makes it clear that the whole tale repeats, rather than a refrain within a longer tale. Stop when the listeners choose.

Sources