B121. The bird wants to cover the sea... 23.26.

A small bird carries pebbles and sticks while trying to cover the sea.

Ancient India, Ancient China, Shanxi.

South Asia. Ancient India (Panchatantra Book 2) ["Tittibha [a bird living near water bodies} said, "So be it. I'll team up with friends and dry the sea." Having decided so, he called all the birds together and told them about his grief - how his offspring had been stolen {how the sea carried away the eggs laid on the shore}. And in retaliation for his evil, they began to beat the sea with their wings. But one bird said, "Our wishes won't come true. Let us instead cover the sea with sand and clods of land." And now all the birds began to cover the sea, grabbing clods of earth and sand with their beaks. Then another bird said, "No, we can't fight the great sea. My advice is to eat one old goose that lives under a banyan tree. He will give us good and practical advice. Let's go ask him""]: Syrkin 1962:150-151.

China - Korea. Ancient China: Yangshina 1977 (The Book of Mountains and Seas, Scroll III, Book 3, 16 a -17) ["Another 200 miles north is Mount Bird Release (Fajiu). There's a lot of curls at its top. There's a bird that looks like a crow. [She] has a divorced head, a white beak, and red legs. [She] is called Jingwei. She's shouting her own name. This is the youngest daughter of the Fire Ancestor named Nuiva. Nuiwa frolicked in the East Sea, drowned and never returned, turned into Jingwei. [She] carries [pieces] of trees and stones from the Western Mountains in her beak all the time to cover the East Sea"; from E.M. Yanshina's comment: "Mount Fajiu (Birds' Leave?) - is localized in the south-east of the province. Shanxi. <... > The female deity Nuiva, whose name can be etymologized as "Mother who covers [the sea?]" or "Mother Pouring the Earth," obviously refers to ancient zoomorphic female deities. The "Catalog" entry is the most detailed. Tao Yuanming mentions the myth in his poem "Reading the Catalog of Mountains and Seas", as well as in the early Middle Ages monument "Records of Tales of the Amazing" ("Shu and Ji")"]: 58, 162; Yuan Ke 1987 ["The Book of Mountains and seas", sect. "Bei ci san jing" {another translation of the story, which is quoted in Yangshin 1977:58}: "Two hundred miles further north is Mount Fajiu, covered with curly trees. There is a bird that looks like a crow, but with a colorful head and red legs. She shouts her name - jingwei. And she was Yan Di's youngest daughter named Nuiva. She sailed across the East Sea and drowned there, turning into a jingwei after death. She constantly wears [pieces of] wood and stones from the Western Mountains to cover the East Sea"; in a poem by poet Tao Yuanming {~365-427} "I'm reading The Book of Mountains and Seas" there are lines: "Jingwei wears twigs in his beak to cover the vast sea"]: 64, 277; Chinese (Shanxi, wu. Zhangzi) [during the time of Fire Lord Shennong in Jizhou, a black dragon climbed into the Zhanghe River and caused a flood; the Shandang Basin was filled with water, and the waves reached the foot of the mountain Yantou, and they almost took away S. Five cereals; the guardian of the scepter, Geng Zhu-tzu, reported, S. gathered advice; S.'s youngest daughter named Nuiwa (the second character is different from the one in the name of Nuiva, the creator of mankind); went to catch the dragon, S. gave her the Putas to pacify the dragon; he hid in the East Sea; N, waited a long time by the sea, and then began to check the rivers and lakes; after a few years, the waters of Zhanghe began to boil again; N. saw Geng Zhu-tzu, who taught people agriculture in the field; N. went to G, left her fetters, a huge wave carried them away, a one-horned black dragon appeared out of the water; the flood flooded the Taihangshan Mountains and the plains Jizhou region; the dragon hid in the sea, and N. and G. died; after death, N. turned into a turtledove with a white beak, a motley head and red paws and screams, Jingwei! Jingwei! It's a shame (cankui)! ; throws pebbles and branches into the water to cover the sea and crush the dragon, thereby correcting his mistake; G. also regretted that he could no longer teach people agriculture and turned into a cuckoo; flies, shouting: Sow cereals (boo-gu)! Sow cereals! because the mistake was caused by his love for N., the turtledove flew east, and he flew west and reached a mountain on the banks of the Fenhe River; it became known as Jiwang ("The Millet King")]: Zhou Yang et al. 1999, No. 7:9-10; Chinese (Shanxi, Wu. Zhangzi) [The Fire Lord married the daughter of the deity of the Chishui River; son Yanju and daughters Yaoji and Nuiwa were born; Y. was beautiful and kind, and she was married to Rain Lord Chisong Tzu; he abandoned her, and she died of resentment; turned into yaosao grass on the shore of the Jade Pond (Yaochi) on Mount Kunlun; any girl smells it becomes gentle and beautiful; the youngest Nuiwa loved the Great Sea; once drowned; her mother fell ill and died; N.'s soul turned into a bird that swore to raze the sea to the ground; every evening she shouted: Jingwei! Jingwei! , people called her that; she flew to Mount Fajiu, picked up dry branches and pebbles in her beak, threw them into the sea; the souls of her mother and sister helped dig stones on the mountain, a large hole formed there, and a pond Four Stars (Sysin); the Jade Lord made mother and daughters goddesses and commanded the spirit of Venus to build a temple in their honor near the pond; he did not know which goddess to give the main place in the temple I decided to organize a competition: which goddess will be the first to get from the village of Kansi ("Looking at the Temple") to Lake Four Stars on Mount Fajiu, she will be in the central place; and sat on a bay horse, Yaoji was on a black mule, and N. got a gray donkey, she was driving behind; the mule gave birth to a foal on the way, I angrily pulled out his uterus, and since then the mules have no offspring; I walked; my mother tore up her skirt was thorns, sat down to sew up; seeing that her daughter was far behind, she went to bed; when she woke up, N. had already reached the pond, I. Soon too; therefore, in the center of the hall there is a sculpture of N., and her sister and mother on the sides; the stone on which N.'s mother fell asleep is called Grandma's couch]: Zhou Yang et al. 1999, No. 8:11-12.