Pajaro Cu

Since you think posting it is a good idea, here it is. The delay was for my Spanish tutor (and English student), Roberto García, to review my translation. Thanks, Roberto! Any remaining errors, etc. El Pájaro Cú El Pájaro Cú en el monte solito se lamentaba, se quejaba a su fortuna, de verse sin una pluma ya ni cantaba. La Lechuza en una noche oyó un triste lamento, y sentado en un ocote le dijo a su Tecolote: --Reúne las aves del viento. El Tecolote, por viejo, obraba con rectidud y les pedía una por una que le dieran una pluma al pobre Pájaro Cú. Todas las aves del viento entre jardines y flores se unieron una por una regalándole una pluma de diferentes colores. Dijéronle al Tecolote en su preciosa gorjear: --Tú vas a ser el fiador, no vaya a ser un traidor cuando comience a volar. Luego que se vio vestido para el espacio voló y al Tecolote, su amigo, lo dejó comprometido con la firma que prestó. Por eso los tecolotes cantando: ¡Ticú-ticú! volando de rama en rama de noche, afligidos llaman al pobre Pájaro Cú. Por eso los tecolotes de día no pueden ver, pues todas las avecitas con el pico y sus alitas se los quisieran comer. El Pájaro Cú voló para otras tierras mejores, les decía a los pajaritos: --De todos mis hermanitos me vestí de mil colores. Toditas las tortolitas cantaban con inquietud: --Con cuidado, gavilanes, vayan formando sus planes, que ahí viene el Pájaro Cú. Ya con ésta me despido por las hojas de un pirú me deben de dispensar que ya les vine a cantar versos del Pájaro Cú. The Coo Bird The Coo Bird in the forest was lamenting all alone, complaining about his fortune, from seeing himself without a feather he wasn't singing any more. The Barn Owl one night heard a sad lament, and seated on an ocote said to her Hoot Owl, "Gather the birds of the wind." The Hoot Owl, being old, worked with rectitude and asked them one by one to give a feather to the poor Coo Bird. All the birds of the wind among gardens and flowers joined one by one, each presenting him with a feather of a different color. They said to the Hoot Owl, in their beautiful warble, "You're going to be the guarantor he won't be a traitor when he starts to fly." As soon as he saw himself dressed he flew into space and the Hoot Owl, his friend, he left committed by the signature he'd provided. That's why hoot owls, singing "Ticú-ticú!" flying from branch to branch at night, afflicted, call the poor Coo Bird. That's why hoot owls can't see by day, so all the little birds with their beak and winglets want to eat them up. The Coo Bird flew to other, better lands; he was saying to the little birds, "From all my little brothers I dressed in a thousand colors." All the little turtledoves were singing with disquiet, "With caution, hawks, be forming your plans, for there comes the Coo Bird." Now with this I say good-bye by the leaves of a peppertree; you should pardon me that I have come to sing you verses of the Coo Bird. The "ocote" (which is in the Shorter OED, so in Lupine style I shouldn't gloss it) is a Mexican pitch pine. The "piru", much used in Mexican traditional medicine and witchcraft, appears to be _Schinus molle_, also called the California peppertree and many other names. A Google search for "Pajaro Cu" turned up many recordings of the song and some versions of the story for sale, but no versions of the story on the Web. Apparently one version is used in a second-grade curriculum. It has prominent roles for the owl and the roadrunner--the latter could be Wijzer's "snake-eater", since roadrunners eat snakes. However, the Pajaro Cu in that version needs feathers, not a paint job. See <http://www.cstone.net/~bcp/2/2JLit.htm> for more information.

This is cool, but I still can't figure out the ending of Wolfe's version of the story. It seems to be some sort of joke or clever twist of wordplay, but I can't figure out what it means. Anyone? -Rostrum *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.