B94. Trees are speechless.
.15.17.21.23.27.28.31.35. (.39.) .61.
Trees (and animals) used to talk, asking them not to cut or kill them.
Portuguese, Socotra, Rengma, Kuruba, Slovenes, Russians (Olonetskaya, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod), Poles, Estonians, Livonians, Karelians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Yugi, (Chuvans), Napo (or Canelo).
Southern Europe. The Portuguese [when people burned wood, they screamed; so that people would not worry, God left the firewood speechless; but firewood still cries when it burns (juice or tar oozes out of it); when people they dug the ground, she opened her mouth and screamed; God told her to be silent: she would give birth and devour everything]: Leite de Vasconcellos 1882a: 274.
Western Asia. Socotra [goats, sheep, cows, trees and stones could speak; a man could not slaughter a goat, she began to cry and complain; the "good angel Dihyoko" asked someone "who left the stones speechless and trees" do the same with animals; only humans have been talking since]: Naumkin et al. 2014, No. 21:8.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Rengma [at first all creatures did not die and talked; animals asked them not to kill, trees asked them not to be cut, and all creatures reached their limit; then God was speechless only dog and man; dogs told hunters where game was hiding, animals were threatened with extermination; God ordered the dog to be pulled out and unable to speak]: Mills 1937:268-269 ( retelling in Elwin 1958b: 392).
South Asia. Kuruba [after a man appeared between trees with large fruits and trees with small fruits, an argument ensued; they turned to God, but he told everyone to bear the weight of the fruit; trees have lost the ability to move and speak]: Kapp 1982:241-243.
The Balkans. Slovenes: Šmitek 2013:147 [trees used to ask them not to be cut, all things talked; when the Lord came, it stopped], 148 [plants used to talk; when a person walked along in the forest or in the field, he was approached, every herb praised itself; one day the thistle began to say what remedies were good for diarrhea; others laughed at him; God was tired of it, he deprived the plant ability to speak].
Central Europe. Russians (Olonetskaya): Belova, Kabakova 2014, No. 140 [the woman sent her grandfather to chop firewood; the linden tree asks her to chop - there will be firewood; then the old woman sends her to the linden tree for bread; then wants everyone to be afraid of them; the old man comes back, stumbled on the doorstep and becomes a bear; the old woman also tripped, becomes a bear; bears come from them], 141 [about like (140); the old man wants to cut linden tree to sell and buy bread]: 109, 109-110; Russians (Moscow) [the bean began to cut a linden tree; she offered to fulfill his wish; he asked for a farm, then his wife, then the post of head, official, governor; when he wants to be tsar, the linden tree turns him and his wife into bears]: Khudyakov 1860 to Belova, Kabakova 2014, No. 142:110-112; Russians (Nizhny Novgorod) [the woman sent her grandfather to cut wood; linden asks her to chop - there will be firewood; firewood is chopped at home; then the old woman sends her to the linden tree for bread, then for money; then wants everyone to be afraid of them; she becomes a bear and ran into the forest, the old man after her became with a bear]: Belova, Kabakova 2014, No. 139:108-109; (other one-story Russian versions Nos. 143-145:113-116); Poles [trees are speechless so that people have something to heat their houses]: Kabakova 2019:106.
Baltoscandia. Estonians: Järv 2016:49-50 (Tarvastu) [about Kreutzwald], 51-52 (Rõuge) [birch, spruce, aspen, oak ask a person not to cut them; he does not cut them; for kindness to his children, the old man gives them he has a rod that will beat whoever he needs; at home, his wife scolds her husband why he returned without firewood; the husband told the rod to beat her], 53-54 (Tystamaa) [the tree asks the man not to cut it, promises to pay off; the man wants so that all the barns and chests at home are full; a person comes again, wants to become the elder of the county; a landowner; a prince; when he wants to become king, the tree replies that this is too much and turns him into tree; when trees creak, this old man cries, regretting his recklessness (nutab oma uhkust)]; Kreutzwald in Talvet 1991 [the birch tree asks the lumberjack not to cut it, because it is still young, she has children; then trees of all kinds; an old man in corn clothes thanks for the pity for his children, promises that he will not be short of anything, but he, his wife, children should not want too much; gives a golden rod, they have to wave over the anthill, the hive, the tree, etc., everything will happen; when her husband returned, his wife scolded him, he called the bars, they beat her; the family has lived richly; but one of the descendants wanted the sun went down to warm his back; the sun went down, burned him and the whole house; the trees were scared from the heat and no longer spoke]: 156-164 (=Põder, Tanner 2000:92-98); Dähnhard 1907 (Haapsalu ) [The fir asks the peasant not to cut it, does he not see tears on her bark; Spruce says it is of little use, it has only branches; Aspen: my blood will stain your ax; the peasant went home Jesus met him, asked him what he was concerned about; sent him back into the forest, said that from now on the trees would be silent]: 221-222 (1910:169-170); (cf. Normann, Lätt 1968 [a man built a house, went for stones; asks me not to touch the stone, says it's not beautiful at all; another: I'm overgrown with moss, no one touched me, don't touch me either; third: I'm not at all I am suitable for building a house; the man and everyone else also did not dare to take the stones, so the old huts were placed right on the ground; but then they saw that it was so negraceful, the tongue had been taken away from the stones, since then stones are silent]: 124); Livs [3 var.; before, every tree asked not to be cut down, referred to another; God made trees dumb]: Loorits 2000 (4): 161-162 (=1926, No. 107:94); Karelians [V In 1997, Vedlozere recorded a story about how a woman fell ill. She walked with her hair uncleaned and a few hairs were blown away by the wind (tuulen selgäh peästih). "As soon as your hair gets to the wind, go know which tree it will fall on. There will be two trees standing so side by side. And so the wind shakes and creaks like this, then you will live like this, creak. You'll die sooner." The bylich says that a woman had to go to the forest and cut down one of the trees. And then there was a creak: "You cut off my wife's head." One tree was left standing, but she cut down the other. Here... And the trees seem to be alive... This used to be the case]: Ivanova 2012:112; Latvians: Brivzemniaks 1887, No. 39 [trees used to ask them not to be cut down, they offered to cut something else that was not crooked; it was necessary to cut down something else that was not crooked; be cruel at all, for blood flowed from a felled tree like a living being; by war, trees bent over roads]: 43; Dähnhard 1907 [1) trees used to talk; when a person He was going to cut down a tree, it asked him to go cut down a crooked tree; God forbade the trees to speak because man needed wood; 2) the trees began to ask man not to cut them; he went to the linden tree, she promised to make him a landowner; then king; the third time he asked him to be made God; Lipa told him to stand on all fours and made him a bear; after that God forbade trees to talk]: 222; Lithuanians [asked that trees not be cut down; God gave trees the ability to speak so that people could cut them]: Kerbelite 2000:78.
Western Siberia. Yugi (Vorogovo, 1965) [as soon as a person brings an ax in the forest to cut down a tree, he asks him to spare him; man tells people not to hear the voices of trees from now on; trees have become speechless]: Dulson 1969, No. 68:211 (German translation in Werner 1997, No. 282-285).
(Wed. SV Asia. Chuvans [Trees talked a long time ago, but people didn't know how to do it yet. Larch and Poplar and decided to give people the gift of speech]: XXX, No. 24).
Western Amazon. Napo (or canelo) [trees first started talking when they were cut down, they cried, they bleed; God got tired of it, he stopped it]: Ortíz de Villalba 1989, No. 79:146.