The Tale of the Tongue-Cut Sparrow Twirler

Artist's notes on style, materials and inspiration:

The theme of this special twirler (simple wooden automata or whirligig) was inspired by a moral fable, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow - a well known Japanese folktale that was made even more popular when it was printed in a chirimen-bon (crepe paper book, with woodblock pictures and text) in the Meiji period and also later translated into English.

The story is worth reading in its full version, however here is a brief summary: There was once a poor old couple, the man was a woodcutter who was honest and kind, but his wife was known to be short tempered and greedy. With no children, the man began to care for an injured sparrow. His wife was not happy with him wasting precious rice feeding the bird, but he took no notice.

One day whilst he was out cutting wood, his wife was doing laundry and had set some starch out. The sparrow ate it, and in her anger, she cut out the bird's tongue and it flew off.

When the old man returned and found the sparrow gone he went searching for it. He found his way to the Sparrow's Inn, a traditional home in a mountain village where a group of sparrows welcomed him and took him to his friend, the sparrow he had cared for. They brought him food, and sang and danced. Just as he was leaving to return home, the sparrows presented him with a choice of a large basket or a small basket as a gift. Being an older man, he chose the small basket as he supposed it would be the least heavy. They told him not to open it until he was home.

When he got back, he opened the basket to find a large amount of treasure inside. When he told his wife that there had been a larger basket, she berated him and rushed off to the sparrow's inn to claim it. Although they warned her not to open it until she was home, she couldn't wait and lifted the lid of the basket on the mountain path home.

Out of the basket came a huge number of monsters, demons and creatures, shocking the old woman into falling down the mountainside - there are of course multiple versions of the tale, some with even worse consequences.

This wooden interpretation of the tale picks up on certain elements - on the wood girl's body is the stylised scenery of the mountain landscape - and the roof of the Sparrow's Inn is seen nestled in that landscape. Several sparrows make an appearance - one on her side as a channel for the cloud twirler, three little ones flying under the cloud itself, and a little one on the basket. The main action comes from a basket on the wood girl's head which rotates when the handle is turned - revealing a glimpse of what the old woman found in her basket - eyes watching and waiting for their escape and a pair of hands also coming out. The cloud twirls from the action and rotates the three tiny flying sparrows.

The cloud on a metal wire can be removed for transport - just place it down through the split pin and sparrow body and insert the bottom of the wire into the twirler disc (dots side up). I can send a video of this of required.

The wood girl is turned from tulipwood, and added to with other pieces of timber.
Constructed almost entirely from wood, hold the base in place and turn the handle to see the basket and cloud spring into action. There is a nice suitably clunky action to the movement as the wooden mechanism works to turn all of the elements.

This tall girl is approximately 42cm in height, including the cloud twirler.

PLEASE NOTE: Wood girls should be kept away from water which can damage the wood and painted surface, and also away from direct heat/ sunlight which also can affect the surface colour and the timber itself. As with all automata, even the simplest ones, it is important to know that after a period of time they may dry out, seize up or become unstuck. SAFETY INFORMATION: NOT FOR CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 9.