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{{Short description|Fantastical bird in Russian folklore}}
{{for|the Indian film|Gagana (film)}}
'''Gagana''' is a miraculous bird with an iron beak and copper claws featured in [[Russian folklore]].{{sfn|Ladygin Mikhail Borisovich, Ladygina Olga Mikhaylovna|2003}}<ref name=":0" /> She is said to live on the [[Buyan]] Island. The bird is often mentioned in [[incantation]]s. It is also said this bird guards the [[Alatyr (mythology)|Alatyr]], alongside [[Garafena]] the snake.

Gagana knows how to conjure and work miracles and, if she is asked correctly, can help a person. This bird is also the only one capable of giving [[Ptasie mleczko#Origin of the name|the milk of the birds]].<ref name="Lyudmila Vagurina">{{cite book|last= Vagurina|first=Lyudmila|date=1998|title=Славянская мифология|trans-title=Slavic mythology|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5M8kAQAAIAAJ|language=ru|publisher=Linor & Sovershenstvo|isbn=9785808900240}}</ref>

==Background==
The bird Gagana is possibly attested in a tale compiled by author A. A. Erlenwein, and translated by [[Angelo de Gubernatis]] in his ''Florilegio'' with the name ''Vaniúsha'', where the hero's sisters marry a bear, an iron-nosed bird ("uccello dal naso di ferro") and a [[Northern pike|pike]] ("luccio").<ref name=":0">Gubernatis, Angelo de. ''Florilegio delle novelline popolari''. Milano U. Hoepli. 1883. pp. 212-214.</ref><ref>Erlenwein, A. A. ''Narodnyja skazki sobrannyja seljskimi uciteljami''. Moscow: 1863.</ref> The "bird with iron beak" appears to be a creature that inhabits several Slavic folktales.<ref>Brlic-Mazuranic, Ivana. ''Croatian tales of long ago''. Translated by Fanny S. Copeland. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.. 1922. pp. 256-257.</ref>

[[William Ralston Shedden-Ralston]], citing [[Alexander Afanasyev]]'s notes on [[Slavic folklore]], writes that on the mythical island of Buyan there lives "The Tempest Bird", "the oldest and largest of all the birds", said to possess "an iron beak" and "copper claws".<ref>Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. ''The songs of the Russian people, as illustrative of Slavonic mythology and Russian social life''. London: Ellis & Green. 1872. p. 375.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite web|last= Ladygin Mikhail Borisovich, Ladygina Olga Mikhaylovna|title= Brief mythological dictionary. Gagana|date=2003|url= http://www.neptun8.ru/Literatura/28.htm|language=ru}}
{{Slavic mythology}}
[[Category:Russian folklore]]
[[Category:Legendary birds]]
[[Category:Slavic legendary creatures]]
{{legendary-creature-stub}}