How humans learned language

How humans learned language (Coastal Jutean: Toni a noitosanohi a tahivide na saumade) also known as Nature teaches you everything (Coastal Jutean: Noitosano havan he na efi) is a River Jutean myth about the origin of human language that was widely popularized by its inclusion in a 1729 Coastal Jutean book collecting myths from all over the main island, Ejotif a Jute (lit. "Jutean mythology").

The myth

A modernized translation of the original 1729 recording:

How humans learned language

One morning two humans who had ventured into the forest to gather food saw that all the mushrooms in a spot were already gone. One of them sighed. It seemed to get a response from above them, noises that were nothing like what they had heard before in a forest. Clear like water drops trickling down into a puddle from a leaf, varied like a birdsong. but as melodious as a dog barking. They both looked up and saw a brown bird with a black head, dark yellow beak and beautiful wings with blue, black, and white feathers sitting up there. It sat there, looking them in the eyes, and continued making the sounds. It was like the bird was mocking them. The other human let out a rather rough, gruff laugh at that, and the bird flew down, hovered in the air in front of them, and was now directing its mockery at them. Indfignant, this human wanted to retort, but found themselves unable to make even remotely similar sounds. Everything that came out were just isolated grunts and cries. Defeated, they left for home. The next days they both spent practicing noise-making, seeking inspiration in the world around them, trying to imitate anything they came across. Animal cries, branches cracking, insects buzzing, waves crashing, stones falling. Eventually, they began to understand how to use their breathing, teeth, tongue, lips to make various sounds, getting better and better at it, and were starting to impress the friends in their village, who however questioned the usefulness of it all. It seemed to be a lot of work to get back at some bird, rather petty even. But it soon turned out to be very necessary. A day came where the two were both out in the forest again, and they saw a large, wild dog baring its teeth in the distance. One of them involuntarily let out a series of the noises they had been practicing, the first ones that came to mind. They sucked in air, pressed the tip of their tongue against the roof of their mouth and let it escape through the nose while having their mouth closed, followed by doing the same while pushing their lips against their teeth and then releasing them. It was a very distinctive sound, and their companion could not forget it. They continued their walk and soon found mushrooms they hadn’t found the last time. And this time they could finally see eye to eye with the bird, being on the same level, if not higher! They began to show off their best, but the bird seemed to effortlessly copy them. It was frustrating. While the first one was still occupied with mushroom gathering, the other one, feeling defeated again, began walking around, until they saw the wild dog from earlier approaching the place they had just left. Running to save the mushroom picker proved useless, though, as the dog was just too fast and on top of that had had a headstart. Was there nothing else that could be done? An idea suddenly struck them. They let out the same noises again, so clear and loud that they could be heard everywhere. For a few moments, the food gatherer furrowed his brow at the sounds, wondering what was going on, before realization hit them. Their companion must have encountered the dog, too! When they took a look around, they saw it now as well, and to their horror it was just a tree’s length away, and rapidly closing in. They grabbed their basket and ran to the nearest tree that they could climb on, and managed to reach it just moments before it. As they began to lift themselves up, a few mushrooms fell from the basket and fell on the dog, distracting it and giving the fungi fan enough time to get to safety. The series of sounds had saved their life. It had become the first word. Nofa, or dog. Soon, everything in the jungle had sounds attached to them, and then everything in the village. And it wasn’t long before almost every villager was making these sounds. People who couldn’t see were now able to communicate much easier, too, while those who couldn’t hear the sounds would continue to use gestures, with sounds and signs now existing side by side. Nature had taught humans how to talk.