A8A. The release of the sun, moon and stars, ATU 328A* .27.28.31.32.

The sun, moon and star (stars) appear as three consecutive and comparable objects/characters in the stories about the abduction and subsequent release of heavenly bodies.

Romanians, Hungarians, Belarusians, Western Ukrainians, Russians (Tambov), Slovaks, Karelians, Mordovians, Chuvash people.

The Balkans. Romanians [dragons stole the sun, moon, stars, and the king's eyes; two elder princes went in search, but traded, lost money and were detained as debtors; younger Dragan Chenusha ("chenushe" means "ash"), who had previously been sitting in ash, got on a horse that ate hot coals, took weapons and armor, as well as ash cakes given by his mother, and went in search; bought the brothers, taking gold from the horse's ear; while the brothers were sleeping, killed the dragon on the copper bridge that stole the stars, they returned to heaven; on the silver bridge, the moon; the long battle on the golden bridge; DC promised the crow more meat, than promised by the dragon, he sprinkled it with cold water and the dragon with hot water; DC killed the dragon, freed the sun; chipping in with his mouse, penetrated to the mother of the dragons and took away the box with his father's eyes; the dragon sent her two daughters to look like an apple tree and a well, and starved and thirsty on the brothers; DC crossed them with a sword, bleed; sent the brothers home to carry their father's eyes, and came to Mark Armenash himself, asked for 99 quintals of hot coals; when the dragon tried to stick her head, poured coals into her mouth and it exploded; DC went with MA to get a bride, the daughter of the Green King; they meet they accompany someone who hears oats grow and sees what is happening in another world; an arrow, a tree destroyer; drank; eaten; capable of freezing the sea; this latter covered the sea with ice to go to the country of the Green King; they were put in a hot iron house, which froze it; drank and ate and ate everything they were offered; to compete in the run with an old woman, she put the runner to sleep , putting a dragon bone under his head; the shooter knocked out the bone; they got the princess, crossed the ice, the freezer melted the ice again, the king and queen who rushed to pursue drowned; DC met the old man: There is no water, the dragon has closed the spring, allows you to take water in exchange for people, the princess's turn; DC killed the dragon, cut off the tips of his tongues; a dwarf with a long beard came to his hut, ate all the meat; DC split the beech, pinched his beard in the trunk; the dwarf pulled out the beech, disappeared into the lower world; DC came on a bloody trail; ordered him to be lowered into the black world on a rope; pretended to be a musician; devils promise a lot carts of gold, if he can free their king's beard from the beech; DC cut off his head, ran up to the rope, twitched, but no one picked up the rope; he hears the squeak of the griffin chicks: their dragon crawls to the nest eat; (killed the dragon); the griffin swallowed it and regurgitated it, making it stronger; agreed to take it to the ground; along the way, the meat ran out, DC cut it off piece by piece from his feet and from under his knee; the princess recognized DC by the dragon's severed tongues; the brothers' wives poisoned DCH's wife out of envy; he went for living water; the old man gave him a staff and a sheep, telling him not to leave them in the forest where the entrance to hell is located; a bird flying, dropped three feathers (her wife's hair) and three drops of blood (which fell from her wife's cheeks); DH left her staff and sheep in the woods and went home; turned into a walnut tree]: Bîrlea 1966:384-387328A*.

Central Europe. Belarusians: Avilin 2015 ["The Tale of Ivan Daragan": at the beginning of Kashchei's time, the Nonsense (or the serpent) killed all the heroes, stole the sun, the month and the stars; Ivan kills three of Kashchei's sons, two daughters and wife who fly to the forge in heaven; each son finds a tied handkerchief in his pocket; I. untied the first - the sun fluttered out, the second - a month, the third - stars; for his I.'s exploits gets a wife]: 122; Romanov 1887, No. 16 []: 120-133; Western Ukrainians (Transcarpathia; p. Zbui of the Zemplin Committee of Hungary) [the emperor has no children, he walks to sorcerers; one replies that the queen spat in the water, swallowed saliva by fish, brought offspring, and the queen has no children; it is necessary catch this fish in the lake under a stone slab and cook it, but so that no one else tries it; the maid tries the fish, the queen eats the fish, throws the bones to the dog; the maid, queen and dog get pregnant and through nine months give birth to a boy; the emperor is frightened; the advisers order to hire nurses; the boys have grown up and went to school; the son of the female Yanko has learned all the sciences and languages; the king is happy; I learn from books that Once there was a sun, a month and stars, but now there is nothing, the earth is covered in darkness; asks his father, the king says that three shufflers (dragons) have arrived; a 24-headed sun grabbed a sun with 12 heads - the month that had was a star; three royal sons saddle horses, went to look for the sun, the month and the star; the father told them that his brother, i.e. their uncle, studied to be a blacksmith in the Shedzmerice Region; the hell brought a letter: brother serves as a blacksmith for these three shufflers and their paternal uncle Laccibrade, who is elbow tall but has a long beard; the sons must go to Schedzmeritz, where their uncle is; there he is 100 meters Iron gates up, 24 comrades blacksmiths and 24 students; taking a letter to their uncle, the blacksmith, the brothers come to the Shedzmerice region, knock, the gate rings, the uncle comes out; making sure that their nephews are welcome accepts; knows where the lights are, because he is the blacksmith of kidnappers, whom he calls devils; one has a house made of gold, the other has silver, the third has copper; they are 24, 12, 6 miles away, respectively; their girlfriends - 48, 24, 12 miles away; at noon everyone leaves before midnight to see a friend - then you have to come; the princes will come to the copper house and the copper gate, where the weakest (with a star); he has a bridge from him to his home friends; his horse does not walk on the ground, only across the bridge; you have to take out one board in the evening to make a hole; I must sit under the bridge and listen to the shuffling go home; the shuffling sits on the horse the ground is shaking; his horse comes across the bridge to the hole, gets scared, rushes back; the shuffling calms down: there is no horse like him and no good man like him; only his mother-in-law Gynjibaba said she saw Suchiy Yanko, but if he met now, the shuffler would cut him to pieces; I.: I'll cut you down, blows all your heads off, sits on the shuffler's horse, takes his sword and star, throws a star into the sky, she rises to his seat, becomes lighter; the brothers go to the 12-headed shuffling; Y. breaks two silver plaques from the silver bridge; the shuffle promises to chop Suchiy Yanko, mentioned by G. throw meat away to magpies and crows; I blow 6 heads, then 6 more; each one cuts off the end of her tongue, hides it in her pocket, lets go of a month; tells my brother from the maid that he will have a 6-headed horse, brother from the queen - 12-headed, he himself will take the 24-headed shuffler's horse; invites the brothers to take the sun, they are afraid; leaves them the spoon given by the uncle for the matitsa: if it has blood, hurry to help; pulls it out bridges 4 gold plaques; the shuffler promises to chop the son of the dog mentioned by his mother-in-law, throw it away to magpies and crows; I.: I will do it with you; they fight for 24 hours; both ask crows for help, but I promise all the more. meat; the shuffling breathes fire, the crows stuff weeds into his mouth, take away the sun, it rises to the sky; the shuffling throws fire even more, the crows in their beaks carry water, pour on I., others grab the shuffling legs, he fell, I killed him, cut off the tip of his tongue from each head; there is blood on a spoon behind the matitsa, the brothers take their horses out to flee; when I appear, they say that they were going to help him, he accuses him they lie, share horses; on the way home, their mother-in-law's hut of shufflers drive home; her daughters met there; I became a cat, climbed through the chimney, the youngest daughter, whose lover had 6 heads, recognizes Me by my eyes, the other two confirm; Gynjibaba: I would know if I saw it; the youngest looks up one century to her mother; G. sees Y., tells his daughters to put him in fur; they think that they did it and burned the fur from which, But I am a sorcerer and escaped; a mother tells one daughter to become a red handkerchief and lie on the road, strangle his two brothers and horses; the other with a silver pear, the fruits of which brothers and horses will choke; the third should become a meadow with silk grass and a well in the middle, people and horses will die from its water; I cut the handkerchief crosswise with a sword, it pours blood knee-deep to horses; the same with a pear, with a well; royal The brother, the chief blacksmith, orders the Iron Gate to be opened because her nephews will run away from G.; she chases with her mouth open, the young men rush to the uncle's yard, his students and comrades close the gate and G.'s eyelids are supported; G. demands to show her Y.; he tells the audience to take up one leaf, and he lets G.'s head into the yard and lock the gate with a key; G. is amazed that some worthless killed six (her daughters and shufflers); Y. replies that he will not let her go; let her become a horse that runs around the light in an hour, better than the Sharkani ones; G.: you can't wait; I ask my uncle for workers with with hammers; they hit G. on the head, she asks for mercy, but does not agree to be a mare; I tell you to hit harder; G. swears to serve faithfully; iron stirrups and a saddle are forged for her; I sit on horseback, take it in my hand a strand of flax lights him, linen does not have time to burn while the mare runs around the world; his uncle praises him, gives him a letter to his father and punishes him not to react, no matter what wonderful things he sees on the way; the brothers go home towards the ditch is old Laccibrad on a hare, followed by his casing and beard; he says that I am not a man; I dismount, L. is in the saddle and flies away on a horse; I tell my brothers to notify father that the sun, the month and the star are already in the sky, and he will go for the horse, which was made in his uncle's forge out of sharkanikha; he returns to his uncle, he reproaches him for his disobedience, tells him to take a hammer and go to the plain, where L. herds a mare and sleeps on iron saddles and stirrups; he must crush his head, take a mare; when he finds L., Y. decides that he is so small that he is not dangerous, grabs the mare, shouts at L.; he wakes up, hits Y. with stirrups and a saddle; I beg for mercy, L.: his sister will no longer wear I., for although Y. beat her, L. himself beat him, so we should honestly leave; I leave; my uncle sends him back; L. agrees to give the mare if Y. brings him a princess from the other side of the world; uncle: it's in the seventh land, it's easy to get there, any novelty you see must be taken with you, the royal daughter will be given for him ; on the way, Y. sees, takes with him hungry (he gets bread on carts), drank (drinks the river, but can't get drunk), cold (he can't warm up near the fire in 12 fur coats and 12 covers), throwing a hammer at the end of the world; crossing the whole world in two steps; having a huge eye and seeing everything; the king receives them, offers to eat a thousand oxen and bread out of three thousand measures of flour in one supper, drink a thousand barrels of wine and a thousand vodka; Y.'s companions eat and drink everything; the king puts him to bed in an iron house, sends blacksmiths to bring bags of coal, kindles a fire; the freezing one takes off one fur coat and one casing, the coals go out, everyone goes to bed; the craftsmen bring more fire; the freezing one sheds two coats and two covers, the coals go out, the craftsmen freeze to death; the king orders in three hours go to the end of the world and take leather and gold to the craftsman to cast a ring and sew shoes; companion Y. steps once and finds himself with the master; on the way back he enters the city, where Sister G. lets he sleeps, puts his horse head as a pillow, takes his ring and shoes; half an hour before the deadline; the seer sees the sleeper and sister G.; another companion throws a hammer, knocking his horse's head out from under the runner's heads; he catches up with sister G. in one step, takes away his ring and shoes, and the other steps he finds himself at the wedding; I. and the princess are married, given the wagon and the army to accompany him to the border; L. pretends to be married stuck in the swamp, Y. tries to help, L. pulls him knee-deep into the swamp, runs on his horse with his wife; I. rides a Sharkan horse to the Shedzmericki region to visit his uncle; uncle: go to the oak grove, where there is a hollow, through it you will get to a city 7 miles deep into the earth, in the city a three-story house on a duck leg is L.'s home; Y. finds a house, hides by a well, meets his wife: let him know where L. has power; L. to his wife: he is called to war, whoever he helps will win; in response to his wife's persuasion, he explains that a wooden deer drinks water near the well, a chamois in it, a hare in the chamois, a duck in a hare, two eggs in the duck; if you break one, he will lose half his strength and both will die; if you take a golden apple on a gold cord and put it in your pocket, you can take the house with you; L. goes to the seventh land for a month to war; I cut animals with a sword, breaks one egg; L. flies home on a mare - he is still stronger than I.; I break the second egg, L. falls, I kill him; turns the house into an apple, takes his wife home, stops by my uncle on the way, he advises him to return to his homeland and secretly build the house; his father's servants discover an unknown house; the princes are guarding a possible enemy, warmly greeting his brother, he says that he has obtained a mare and married the daughter of a king from the seventh land]: Gnatyuk 1898, No. 8:39-54; Slovaks [three brothers return the sun, moon and stars stolen by three-headed dragons or devils]: Uther 2004 (1), No. 328A*: 218 ; Russians (Tambov) [the tsar collected a cry: "Who can get the sun, moon and stars"; only Anton Zakrutsky volunteered, took his brother Ivanushka with him; the hut turns on spindle heels, on chicken legs; AZ left I. in the hut, ordering: as soon as the cup runs full of blood, so resort to help and let the horse go; a three-headed snake rides, says to his horse: do not be shy, only a peasant got out at us AZ; AZ cut off his three heads, came to the hut, I. sleeps, although the cup is full of blood; the same with the six-headed; the 12-headed AZ, he barely got up; he hardly got up; he hardly took off his boot, threw it at the door - missed it; threw the second one - the door opened, the horse ran out, bit off the snake's head; AZ took the sun, the month and the stars; the tsar rewarded him]: Smyrnoy 1917, No. 249:149-151.

Baltoscandia. Karelians (but maybe Finns) [the old man carved a doll out of an alder chock; the old woman put it in the cradle and rocked for three years; the chock became a boy, he immediately asked his mother for bread; became beautiful and a strong man; the sun, month and dawn are gone, people live in darkness; the king has a potion; a person who drinks three bottles can free the dawn, six a month, nine can the sun; 9 only Alder Chock (PTS) could; drunk 6 and 3 bottles went with him; woman: an evil man is to blame; he cursed the sun for being hot, a month prevented him from stealing, dawn woke up early; they were taken away by 9-, 6- and three-headed snakes; half of the city is crying, half laughs; the king must give the eldest daughter to the three-headed snake to be eaten; if he does not give it back, the serpent will eat half of the city; the hero, who drank three bottles, cut down two snake heads; threw his shoe the companions lowered the dogs, they tore off the third head; dawn has risen; half is crying again, half is laughing; the middle daughter; the six-headed serpent from the sea; the sixth head was torn off by dogs; the month has risen; the third day is same; youngest daughter; PTS cut down 7 heads; snake: look, the sun is rising; the serpent turned around, PTS cut down another head; look, your house is burning; the serpent did not look; your wife is disgraced; looked, PTS cut off head; the last one was torn off by dogs when OCH threw his shoe; on the way back, OCH, turned into an ermine, overhears the conversation (with women who are wives of snakes?) Syuoyatar snake mothers; will starve, cover the tables; if they hit the cross with a sword, then there will be no hunger or tables; thirst (forest lake is the same); sleep (bed); whoever repeats my words will turn into blue cross; PTS destroyed tables, a lake and one bed; the companions have already rushed to the other two, S. ate them, took their horses and chained them; walking through the forest, PTS sees 9 blind girls and an eye on a stump; S. girls dazzled, leaving them one eye for everyone; he gave them back their eye, they taught them to get the horse back from S.; PTS cuts chains; S. gives all the girls eyes to see who is there; but they say no one; S. came by herself , grabbed the OCH; first ate the girls for deception; will let the PTS go if she gets Katrina from the beautiful Kii River; OCH sails in a boat, meets, takes five with him: Psar, Spoon Khrapun, Vaper, Eater, Aqudier; Kennel pacified the dogs; Spoon Khrapoon protected from the fire when they set fire to the barn where the swimmers slept; The vaper froze the hot bath; The Eater ate cows and sheep; Wonos brought water in the sieve; PTS received K.; Through clothes wine leather/The body glows under the skin/The bones under the body are visible/In the middle, the heart beats; on the way back, the companions one by one stay where the PTS picked them up and take what they brought with them parts of the boat; a narrow hollow remains; so that K. does not soak the hem, PTS raised it with his little finger; S.: if you touched K. even with a finger, let him break off; gnaw off his little finger; PTS: if you tormented blind sisters, let the sword will cut you into 10 parts; cut you; PTS burned parts of S.'s body, took the horse, silver and gold and K. as his wife; when they saw the PTS, the parents became younger; PTS ask where his comrades are; I had to tell, he became blue cross; Katrina was married by the king, she gives birth to healthy sons and daughters; the storyteller was given a waxhorse, a turnip saddle and a pea whip at the wedding]: Concca 1991:134-154.

Volga - Perm. Mordva (moksha) [the sun, moon and stars are stolen; Ivashka Primetlev was recently born, goes to return them; kills five-, seven-, nine-headed snakes on the bridge; changes barrels during the battle drinks water that gives strength, snakes drink - his strength melts; the name of the snakes is Pryamaryalyevs; I. overhears the conversation between wives and the mother of snakes, they will become a spring, an apple tree, a storm; Ivashka's coachman wants to drink, pick an apple, I. whips, water, apple tree bleeds; in the forge I. catches the tongue of the storm with ticks, rides it; well done, the girls, the old man grab I., tell him to get Baba Buriaga's daughter, then they will let go, give up the luminaries; And . takes a bath cooler, a fish counter, a stargazer as his companions; Buriaga cannot burn those who come to the bath, sends his daughter fish to the sea, a star to the sky; his companions find her; I. gets the lights, goes home, Buriaga's daughter is with him, he marries]: Samorodov 1972:312-319; Chuvash [the serpent knocked down its tail from the sky and captured the sun and the month, swallowed peoples and tribes; three babies are left and each the foal is white, black, savry; one in the steppe, the other in the forest, the third in the crevice of rocks; grew up, became Ser-Pattar, Juman-Pattar, Tu-pattar ("earth-, oak-, hero mountains"); S. met first J., then T ., let's go together; stopped in a house, near the bridge over the river; at midnight S. woke up: a wave carries a snake sitting on a copper throne with three crowns on three heads; S. fights him on the bridge, killed his heads and hid the pieces of his body under the bridge, did not say anything to the brothers; they drove up to the village; S. peeks out the window of the hut: there a woman rocks the baby, a star in her forehead, a star in her ears; she says to the baby that to avenge the death of his father, will become a raspberry bush, the heroes will eat berries and die; S. cut the bush, black blood has flowed; the brothers stay in another house at the bridge over Shura-Shyv ("white river"); J. must guard, but falls asleep, S. sees how the ninth wave carries a snake on the silver throne, silver crowns on 9 heads; he drove S. waist-deep into the ground, but S. cut off all the heads, hid them under the bridge; S. peeks into the hut again; the same episode, even more stars on the woman, sits on a silver chair, promises to turn into a spring; S. cuts a spring, black blood has flowed; brothers spend the night at the bridge over Chernaya the river, T. goes to guard, falls asleep; the twelfth wave carries a 12-headed snake, with gold crowns on his heads; he drives S. into the ground, but S. went out, cut off 11 heads; to save the last one, the serpent took out The sun gave one ear, from the other a month; S. cut off his head anyway; in the hut, a woman with stars on her body sits on a golden chair, promises to turn into a bed with a feather bed; S. cuts, black blood; the mother of the snakes surrounded the heroes with her body, swallowed J. and T., S. jumped over his horse, jumps away, the snake pursues; S. locked himself in the forge, invited the snake to lick the iron door, grabbed behind his tongue with hot forceps, went out, began to cut off the tail, everyone swallowed came out, everyone threw a handful of earth, a mountain formed; S. took the sun and moon out of his pockets, they returned to heaven]: Chuvash fairy tales 1937:27-40.