r. Of it the following tale is told. When God created the earth,
and determined to supply it with seas, lakes and rivers, he ordered
the birds to convey the waters to their appointed places. They all
obeyed except this bird, which refused to fulfil its duty, saying that
it had no need of seas, lakes or rivers, to slake its thirst. Then the
Lord waxed wroth and forbade it and its posterity ever to approach a
sea or stream, allowing it to quench its thirst with that water only
which remains in hollows and among stones after rain. From that time
it has never ceased its wailing cry of "Drink, Drink," _Peet,
Peet_.[433]

When the Jews were seeking for Christ in the garden, says a Kharkof
legend, all the birds, except the sparrow, tried to draw them away
from his hiding-place. Only the sparrow attracted them thither by its
shrill chirruping. Then the Lord cursed the sparrow, and forbade that
men should eat of its flesh. In other parts of Russia, tradition tells
that before the crucifixion the swallows carried off the nails
provided for the use of the executioners, but the sparrows brought
them back. And while our Lord was hanging on the cross the sparrows
were maliciously exclaiming _Jif! Jif!_ or "He is living! He is
living!" in order to urge on the tormentors to fresh cruelties. But
the swallows cried, with opposite intent, _Umer! Umer!_ "He is dead!
He is dead." Therefore it is that to kill a swallow is a sin, and that
its nest brings good luck to a house. But the sparrow is an unwelcome
guest, whose entry into a cottage is a presage of woe. As a punishment
for its sins, its legs have been fastened together by invisible bonds,
and therefore it always hops, not being able to run.[434]

A great number of the Russian legends refer to the visits which Christ
and his Apostles are supposed to pay to men's houses at various times,
but especially during the period between Easter Sunday and Ascension
Day. In the guise of indigent wayfarers, the sacred visitors enter
into farm-houses and cottages and ask for food and lodging; therefore
to this day the Russian peasant is ever unwilling to refuse
hospitality to any man, fearing lest he might repulse angels unawares.
Tales of this kind are common in all Christian lands, especially in
those in which their folk-lore has preserved some traces of the old
faith in the heathen gods who once walked the earth, and in
patriarchal fashion dispensed justice among men. Many of the Russian
storie