Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

A32I. A shepherd on the moon. 27.29.30.

On the lunar disk, you can see a shepherd (a shepherd and a girl, a shepherd and his herd, dogs).

Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Adygs, Abkhazians, Ingush, Nogais, Kalash.

The Balkans. Hungarians (in Romania) [shepherd dries footcloths]: Zsigmond 2003:431-432; Bulgarians: Mladenova 2006 [1) a girl went to a well to get water, spoke to her shepherd lover there; mother cursed her, she and the shepherd were on the moon; 2) on the moon you can see a girl with a rocker arm and a shepherd leaning on her staff; her mother cursed her for standing at the well all night; 3) on the moon a girl with buckets (more precisely copper boilers) on a rocker arm and a shepherd drinking water from them]: 263; Ivanova 1937 (archive) in Gura 2010 [reapers or a shepherd with a herd of sheep are visible on the moon]: 41; Romanians [visible in the silhouette of moonspots a girl who went to the well with buckets on a rocker arm and a sheep shepherd spoke to her (1 case)]: Mladenova 2006:137, 264, map 29; Bulgarians [a shepherd with a herd is visible on the moon (bialoslatin.)]: Gura 2004:152.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Adygi: Meretukov 1980 [spots on the moon - a flock of sheep or "a little shepherd of a flock of sheep", visible with a staff and a dog]: 173 (same Artem Kozmin, Field Nabl., July 2011, Ulyap village, Besleneyevtsy; then Shortanov 1982:32); Abkhazians: Japua 2003 [Brother Sasrkua drowned his herd in the lake (S. is tired of persecuting his sart brothers); or after the water source was freed from the monster, the inhabitants as a sign of gratitude, they want his image, together with a horse, dog and herd, to be reflected on the moon; S. rushes into the lake in fury, finds himself on the moon; or S. put on a burka, took the staff, drove the herd in front of him, found himself on the moon; sometimes instead of the moon, S. enters the habitat of the Gods]: 90-91; Inal-ipa 1977 [on the moon you can see a Nart cow shepherd with felt wrapped around his legs footcloths and a wooden milking bucket]: 36; Salakaya 1976 [as in Inal-Ipa]: 186; Chursin 1956 [Sasrikva instructed his stupid brother to herd the herd, and he drowned him in the lake; S. rushed into the lake in despair, fell on the moon, which was on the other side of the earth at that time; there he found his herd, still herding it on the moon]: 149; Ingush [brother herded sheep during the day and sister worked at night; she was afraid of the dark and changed with her brother; she is the sun, and he is the moon; the spots on the moon are the sheep herded by the shepherd; these brother and sister, although they cannot meet; if they meet by chance, the earth is dark; they say, "The sun they grabbed", and this is what brother and sister met]: Dakhkilgov 2003:17; Nogais [you can see a shepherd herding sheep on the moon; if you point your finger at him, he may think that he is being laughed at and punished]: Kapayev 2012:16.

Iran - Central Asia. Kalashi [the moon came down to the ground, shepherds with dogs and goats crossed over to it, then the moon rose again; moonspots were sheep]: Ali Shah 1974:72.