B116c. The missing book.. 21.22.24.-.26.29.30.32.-.38.

In the past, people had writing and knowledge, but they were lost or the people missed the opportunity to gain them.

Khasi, Gurung, Mru, Limbu, Garo, Dafla, Maring (Burma), Chin (Burma), Angami, Abor Padam, Kachin, Karen, Palaung, Wa, Khmu, Sre, Mong, Puok, Bru, Banar, Muongi, Dayaki, Ami, Bunun, Bilaan, Miao (China), Jino, Yi, China (written tradition), (Chinese, Henan), Kalmyks, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Chechens, Lazs, Turks, Chuvash, Mari, Mordvians, Udmurts, Turkmens, Kazakhs, Altaians, Khakas, Teleuts, Tubals, Altaians, Buryats, Mongols, Oirats, Dagurs, Eastern Khanty, Mansi, Central Yakuts, Nivkhs, Ainu.

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Gurung [the shaman and lama argued who would be the first to climb to the top of Mount Kailash; the shaman sat on his tambourine and flew, and the llama woke up in the morning and immediately reached the top in the sunlight, a little bit ahead of the shaman; he broke his tambourine in his hearts, so lamas have two membranes, and shamans have only a membrane on one side; the shaman burned his books, but he heard God's voice: let you burn them, but you have everything you will also have to perform rituals and read texts; then the shaman ate the ash from the burned books, so he retained the necessary knowledge]: Oppitz 2002:96; mru: Oppitz 2008 [creating the world, creator sends the bull to give people important instructions; when he comes to the Bengalis, the bull leaves them a book and tells them to weed and harvest three times a year; when the bull came to Mrs., he became thirsty, he bent down drink and swallowed the book; confused the instruction and ordered him to weed three times, but to harvest only one crop; for this, the creator hit the bull in the face, since then he has no front teeth; but the creator ordered, tying the bull to the pole, dance around, and then kill the bull; to remember what happened, the bull's severed tongue must be nailed to the top of the pole; the swallowed book is still inside the bull, this is his book ( ruminant's forestomach, Blättermagen)]: 13-14; Rajput 1963 [Almighty God Torai teaches Murung writing to become familiar with religion. Sacred knowledge is recorded on banana leaves. The cow eats these leaves. Therefore, murungs sacrifice cows every year and in the event of an accident. The ceremony is called sachya lump. They drink alcohol on it and dance all night around a cow tied to a pole. The next afternoon, an animal is killed with a spear and his tongue is pulled out in revenge]: 19-20; maring (Burma): Scherman 1911 [A god is dead, people are trying to find what he has left for them in their skin The animal's writing, but the skin is eaten by dogs. Marings have only a writing device - a long hairpin that men now use to decorate their hair tied in a bun]: 6-7; Hodson 1911 [After their creation, the deity gives seven maring families cane stilettos and leather to write on. The skin is eaten by dogs, and stilettos are worn out or lost, the art of writing is forgotten and never restored again; the steel hairpin is preserved as a reminder of the stiletto]: 29-30; ranks (Burma): Lehman 1963:32 (Kanpetlet) [The first man on earth and the first woman have two sons. As they grew up, a piece of leather fell from the sky for the elder. He doesn't know that this skin should be used for writing, so he cooks it and eats it. Then an egg falls from the sky, which he also eats, but still, thanks to the egg, he somehow learns that he will be known as a rank from now on. Later, the skin fell to the second son. He wrote down writings on it (apparently also received from heaven) and became an ancestor of the Burmese], 33 (hnaring) [The three brothers were given two forms of writing - charcoal on stones and writing on leather. Two brothers, who learned the first type of writing, went to the plains and became the ancestors of the Burmese people. The third became the ancestor of the ranks and left his writing on his skin in stone. The dog grabbed it and ate it]; Oppitz 2006 [at first the stones were soft, and all people spoke the same language and lived peacefully; the supreme god Chunmui came down to earth, gave people different languages and taught them to write { texts} in different writings; the Burmese ancestors recorded their texts on soft stones, and the ancestors of the ranks on the skin; after that, the sun disappeared, the earth was shrouded in darkness; the stones hardened, and the skin became damp; feeling the smell, the dog ate it; when the sun reappeared, the Burmese had a letter, they learned it and now speak the same language; and the ranks have many dialects; left without a book, they divided into warring groups]: 28-29; Angami [Initially, the deity gives the ability to read and write to both the naga and the inhabitants of the plains of Assam. However, the latter were given stone or paper to write down their writings on them, and the nagas received a leather book that was ending because of its edible qualities. So the naga has no writing]: Hutton 1921:291; Abor padam [the story of a leather book eaten is known]: Hutton 1921:291; limbu [God gave Buddhists a book on their skin and gave the same lamp; Buddhists kept their own, but ate their limba]: (L.A. Streltsova, retelling the source, promised to make a summary); garo [the first book was eaten by man (texts with links; data extracted by Hitoshi Yamada from Japanese text)]: Obayashi 1966b; duffle ["We got our share of skin on which the wisdom of the world was recorded. But when we were hungry, we ate it, and the people of the plains kept their part"]: Shukla 1959:4; kachins: Hanson 1913 [When the world is put in order and different peoples are assigned their habitats, Ninggavn wa After building a house on Mount Shayang and a dance ground on the Sumgan Plain, the magam, having reconciled all destinies, summons the sons of men and tells them that he is now ready to return to his great central palace. The tribes beg him to stay because they are helpless without him. He cannot satisfy this request, but gives the wild boar fangs and the hornbill beautiful plumage. To help people, he gives every nation a book. The Chinese get theirs on paper; Shan and Burmese books on palm leaves; he also gives paper books to Europeans; and kachins receive a book on parchment. Upon return, the recipient of the Kachin book cooks and eats it to satisfy hunger, or because he thought it was the best way to preserve it. Since that day, the Kachins have not had a written book; great priests and storytellers keep it in their stomachs and repeat it all over major holidays, when it takes three days and nights to say it out loud] : 116-117; Hertz 1902 [Nath, Ningavn Wa Magam, gathers peoples and distributes writing to them. Burmese, Shans, and Chinese are given writing on paper, which they carefully preserve. The Kachins get their money on parchment, which, when food supplies run out on the way home, they cook and eat, losing the opportunity to become literate like their neighbors]: 52, 151; Oppitz 2006 (dulong) [the flood survived only Penggen is the ancestor of Dulong; the tiger brought him to the heavenly god Mubenge; M. offered his two daughters to choose from; one eye is beautiful because they never washed their faces and the other has only one eye; she made her own choice, and the other daughter went out to fish; when the couple returned to land, M. gave them all kinds of cattle and seeds, as well as a book on their skin; the couple had many children on the ground; one day, while playing, they left The book was eaten in boiling water; the signs in it stuck to their stomachs, so although the Dulong now do not have books of their own, they remember texts that should be sung or recited]: 29; Scherman, Scherman 1922 [The Great Spirit gives writing to Burmese and Shans on palm leaves, Chinese and Europeans on paper, kachin on parchment. Kachin takes a leather document under his arm, sweats, the parchment gets wet, and is hung out to dry over the fire. There rats grab it, drag it into a rice basket and gnaw it. People think about preserving the content of the scripture, starting to soak rice and drinking water. Therefore, every dumsa (priest) still drinks rice vodka to absorb knowledge before starting to prophesy]: 99-100; khasi [to restore lost knowledge of the divine Order, the creator ordered two men, a Khasi and a stranger, to come to meet him on the mountain; three days later he handed each a book with written laws; on the way back, the water in the river rose due to the rains ; the stranger had long hair, he tied it in a knot and attached a book to it; and the Khasi held his hair in his teeth, sank under water, the book turned into porridge; when he returned to the mountain, he did not find God there, who has risen back to heaven; therefore, Khasi rely on oral tradition for their knowledge, and foreigners read books]: Rafy 1920, No. 21:137-139.

Burma - Indochina. Karen: Jolliffe 2016:17-18 [the motif is known to speakers of various Karen languages and dialects, including Kayah], 18 [God has three sons - Karen, Burmese, and Englishman. God asks all three of them to bring food. An Englishman brings delicious meat, Burman brings fruit. The older brother, Karen, brings a small portion of food with a weird sweet and sour taste. God praises him for his intelligence and delicious food, and when he returns to heaven, he asks Karen to go with him; he replies that he cannot - he must work on his site. Then God asks his younger brother, an Englishman, to go with him. In heaven, he gives him two books - gold and silver - that contain all the knowledge of the world. God tells you to give the first book to your older brother and keep the second one for yourself. The youngest takes both books and promises to give one book to the elder. When he returns to earth, he shows the book to Karen. He is busy with the housework, so he puts his book on a tree trunk, and his younger brother returns home. The older brother also steps aside and forgets the book in the tree. Termites eat it, and chicken peck termites. To regain access to knowledge, Karen kills a chicken and looks at its bones as if it were a book containing important information. For this reason, karen use chicken bones for divination. At the same time, an Englishman is reading a book and learning a lot. The elder brother Karen keeps hoping that one day his younger brother will give him back knowledge]; McMahon 1878:143 [In ancient times, God gives the Chinese a book on paper, the Burmese on palm leaves, and the Karen on skin. The Chinese and Burmese take care of their books and study them diligently, but the Karen do not value their copy enough, leave it in an unsafe place, the boar tears it into pieces that then pecked the chickens. Karen notes that Chinese and Burmese have gained knowledge because of their familiarity with the book. They come to the conclusion that once the chickens ate their book, they have the knowledge it contained, so the Karen are guessing chicken bones], 143-144 [The Higher Intelligence rewards the Karen religious and the Civil Code, which is written on the skin. One day, while the keeper was crossing the river, the code was left without supervision, the dog grabbed him and ran away. When she was chased, the dog dropped its trophy, but the chicken manages to scrape off the signs from the skin before the owner can get the skin back. Therefore, the Karen respect the legs of ordinary chickens, as they are attached to signs of sacred writing]; Tyutchev, Stoykovich 1846 [Good spirit, wanting to give religion to all peoples, appoints a day for the Karen to pass laws, but their ancestors, who are busy with everyday affairs, are late and come when the spirit, having finished its work, has already left. Sad Karen cry so much that the spirit shows compassion and gives them laws written on buffalo skin. The Karen fathers, delighted with this mercy, begin to feast, but while they are having fun, a new misfortune overshadows their joy. Since the "skin of laws" is damp, it is hung out to dry, and when they come to take it off, there is not a single letter left on the skin - the chickens have scratched everything, the words of the great spirit die irrevocably and the karen remain in ignorance]: 435-436; Scott, Hardiman 1900 [The writing on the skin was eaten by a dog]: 433; muongi [the Muongs had their own writing; crossing the river, they put its signs in their mouths and accidentally swallowed; now, if a story needs to be told, it is "extracted from the depths of the abdomen" (when starting the story, the narrator "tries his voice" by making throat sounds)]: Grigoreva 2019:66; va, khmu, tai (Yunnan) [first book eaten by humans or animals (texts with links; data extracted by Hitoshi Yamada from Japanese text)]: Onohara 2002; palaung [Hulu creator ("pumpkin- Gorlyanka") planted Calebasses, from which 72 peoples came out, including Palaung, Wa, Lili, Bai, Moso and Chinese; they came to two towers, whose owner ordered them to go to the creator and receive sacred texts; their it will be necessary to read when someone died so that the deceased would find his way to his ancestors; on the way home, you had to cross the river; Palaung dropped the book into the water, and when he went ashore, put it to dry; her grazing ox I ate it, so the cows have a stomach in the form of a book; when he saw what happened, the Chinese was smarter, put his book in his pocket and it was preserved; only a part was swallowed by fish; the owner of the towers advised me to cut it wooden fish and knock on it during rituals; Taoist monks do so; wooden fish is a kind of drum]: Oppitz 2008:10-11; puok, bru (khua, wankieu) [Recorded on leather an animal that was eaten by dogs. Lao, on the other hand, guessed to write on palm leaves and therefore still have writing]: Chesnov 1990:172; banar [people are building a tall community house; ancestors of all peoples participate in this matter, all they speak the same language; once they were downstairs, they gave the wrong material that the roofers needed - instead of coconut palm leaves, they sent a rattan vine; a quarrel began; then God decided to resettle the peoples; the Banar and Sedang wanted to stay in place, the Ede and Jarai went west to the foothills; the youngest of all, Viet, does not know where to go and is upset; God gave him a place by the sea and gave him knowledge writing; it was eaten by dogs]: Chesnov 1990:172; mnong (Cambodia) [When Buddha comes to my land, Muon-Pa Cha-Mit called Lao (unreligious) to preach to them; all neighboring The Khmer, Lao and Thai peoples come and ask them to learn how to write. So are my people. But only if the former care about stocking up on palm leaves on which they will write letters, mine, as usual, don't bring anything with them. They kill the buffalo and write on its skin, but, as has always happened to them, they forget to pick it up and eat it at night by dogs. So mine never learned to write]: Maître 1912:424; Ede: Bertrand 1952 [The owner of the land gathers all nations to teach them how to write. Lao, Khmer and Thais bring palm leaves for this purpose. Highlanders, on the other hand, kill buffalo and begin to write on their skin. Their trickster named Xoa gives the skin to the tiger at night and the tiger eats it. Highlanders have to learn law and custom as a keepsake. Lao, Khmer and Thais host a dinner in honor of the Land Master. Highlanders try to join, but Xoa steals their rice stupas, and highlanders have to peel the husks with their teeth. The owner of the earth is angry and orders the highlanders to cut their teeth]: 35-36; Besnard 1907 [The Buddha comes through Laos to my country, which are called devoid of religion; he preaches his teachings, and all people from cities, Khmers, Lao and Thais, come to learn to read and write; Ede and other highlanders come too. But while the former write on palm leaves, highlanders, as always lazy, don't bring anything with them. They kill buffaloes and write on their skins, but they forgot about their skins, so the dogs ate them at night. That's why highlanders don't know writing. On the same day, to thank Buddha, all these people wanted to prepare a feast in his honor, but the ignorant and lazy highlanders, instead of tediously pounding rice in a mortar, began to chew it. Buddha furiously punished the highlanders: to feel humiliated, they must cut their teeth and wear heavy copper rings on their wrists and ankles]: 86; wa [Glieg Neh trickster set it up so that all men go to war, and he would get all the women; he would be captured and executed; he asked him to go down the river in a coffin with musical instruments in it; he played so well that, After hearing the sound of music, those living downstream freed him; he taught these people all the arts, including writing, but you remained illiterate; "writing" and "trade" are referred to in one word and suggest deception]: Scott 2009:222; ahem [residents of seven villages came together and decided to resist the Thais; they wrote this oath on the edge of the buffalo and buried it on the mountainside; but they dug the rib and stolen; ahem lost their writing and were at the mercy of Thai kings]: Scott 2009:222-223; sre [Deer skin sent to the first ancestors of Sre Siatu and Siong by the Sun. A variety of knowledge is recorded on the skin. But the ancestors are lazy and throw their skin into the sea. Chams, Viets and whites (French) pick up their skin and copy their letters]: Dam 1950:139.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Dayaki (Sarawak) ["When I tried to teach Dayak to read, he replied that he could not read because his book was gone; during the flood, a white man put his book on his head; a Malay and The Chinese, with crooked and complex writings, held his books under his arms, washed away some of the signs; the Dayak put his book in his apron and was carried away with water]: Labuan 1863:27-28.

Taiwan - Philippines. Ami [three found writing; one had it on a hinoki tree (it is light and floats in the water); the other had it on an araway tree (heavy and almost sinks); the third on a stone; all three the material was in the water; the hinoko writings were not damaged, their owner became the ancestor of the Japanese; the araway writings were badly washed away, their owner became the ancestor of the Taiwanese aborigines; the stone drowned, the owner is the ancestor of savages who have no writing at all]: Kōno 1915:19 in Yamada 2019, No. 3:46; Bunun [Taiwanese Aborigines used to have their own writing; it was on stone, and the Chinese ( Japanese) - on a tree (bamboo); Aboriginal writing has disappeared because the stones drowned in the water]: Yamada 2002, No. 45:331 (with details in the personal message on September 14, 2017); Bilaan [at first there were three peoples - Americans, Muslims, and Bilaans; the supreme deity ordered each of the three nations to send one person to heaven for sacred advice; the nations obeyed; when the council was over, all three were given according to the book for everyone to carry it to their people; on the way back, you had to swim across the river; the American raised his hand with the book high above his head, the Muslim tied the book to his head, and the Bilaan, entering the water, put the book under his arm; when he swam, the book slipped out and the river carried it away; that's why the Bilaans still can't read or write; that book was picked up by a white dove; since the Bilaan was going to do something or go somewhere, he listens first to this bird cooing; she says whether it will succeed or fail]: Rybkina 1975, No. 2:29.

China - Korea. Miao (China): Clarke 1911 [Miao live next door to the Chinese, but the Chinese are too cunning for them, so they decide to move west and live on their own. At that time, they were written in hieroglyphic writing. After many days, they approach a vast expanse of water and, without boats, are unable to continue their journey. Standing perplexed at the water's edge, they notice water spiders gliding over its surface. Miao say to each other, "If these little creatures can walk on water, why can't we?" Trying to walk across the water surface, they almost drowned. They manage to get back ashore, they drank water and swallowed their hieroglyphs with the water]: 39-40; Graham 1954 (Chuan Miao) [Miao and a Chinese man went to the Living Buddha for holy books and he went to them gave; on their return, both decided to swim in the river; at this time, Miao's book was eaten by the Western Cow (mythical cow or buffalo), and part of the Chinese book was eaten by fish; Miao and the Chinese returned to Buddha; he refused give new books, but ordered Miao to pull cowhide over the drum and beat it during the ritual, and ordered the Chinese to take a wooden image of a fish and knock on it; while performing the ritual Miao tell this story]: 129; Scott 2009 [Miao (Hmong) fled from the Chinese, went to bed, and at that time the horses ate their books; or the books were eaten by the people themselves, accidentally putting them in a cauldron and cooking]: 223; jino [{in the source, the text refers to Bulang/Jinuo/Dai (i.e. bulang, jino, liu); since it is Jino (Tibeto-Burmese of the Ngwi branch) who are declared to have preserved the language of the first ancestors, the myth belongs they are most likely}; husband and wife lived on the mountain; when the flood began, they placed their son and daughter in a drum cut down from a whole piece of wood, giving them food; after 9 days the water came down, brother with they went to the ground as a sister; saw a pumpkin from which human heads were heard; the pumpkin was growing; when brother and sister decided to marry, they heated an iron pin and punched a hole; they began to make a pumpkin people go out; the bulang was the first to come out, and because it was smeared on the charred peel, the dark-skinned bulang; the bulang did not know how to speak, and the sister advised them to listen to the murmur of water; therefore, the bulang speech resembles the murmur of water; then Jino (Tibeto-Burmese) came out, tripped over a chestnut stump, which is neither dark nor light; since then, Jino's skin is dark, but not as much as bulang's; Jino spoke They did not have to learn another language as brother and sister; then liu (dai) came out and tripped over a banana stump, so Liu was light-skinned; Liu learned the Bulang and Jino languages, which made their own language; the supreme god gave each nation his own culture, including writing; bulang signs were written on flatbread, Jino on ox skin, liu on banana leaves; when they went to their villages, people crossed the river and everything got wet; while they were drying, bulang and jino were hungry and ate tortillas and skins; and pigeon droppings fell on banana leaves, liu's writing was preserved]: Oppitz 2008:7-9; yi [during the flood the deity sends three shamans to teach people; each sits on the back of an ox, and the book is tied to horns; before the water came down, the books were wet and the shamans hung them to dry on the black beech; part the pages stuck to the branches, so some knowledge was lost; during the ritual, black beech branches are stuck into the ground]: Oppitz 2008:14-16; Ancient China (written tradition) [novel "Journey to the west"; in Tang time, the monk, accompanied by a monkey, a pig and a servant, went to India for sacred texts; on their way home, they had to swim across the river; the monkey agreed with the turtle that it they will be transported; however, in the middle of the river, the turtle went under water; the monk spread the manuscripts on the rock to dry, but they stuck to the rock, so only fragments were presented to the emperor]: Oppitz 2008:23-24; (cf. Chinese (Henan, Wu. Xinyae) [The Yellow Lord ordered Tsangjie to create a writing book, but he could not think of anything and sat sadly on the river bank. A turtle came out of the water, asked Tsangjie why he was sad, he told her about his problem, and she replied that every eighteen thousand years, heaven and earth are in chaos, and the written signs of the past eras were recorded in a book that came to heaven, but she can bring it to him on her back. She went to heaven, but it turned out that the Jade Lord was afraid that people would steal his book, so he burned it and moved the signs to a stone stele. The turtle stole this stele and returned to earth. After that, Cangjie created written signs, and people from later eras began to install steles on stone pedestals in the form of turtles]: Zhou 2001b, No. 27:35-36).

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Kalmyks [A wise old Kalmyk lives in the steppe. The Kalmyks do not have a calendar for determining the winter period. The old man invents the "Yellow Letter that Instantly Recognizes Any Phenomenon" (a divination book, a calendar that provides information about natural phenomena). After putting the last point, he decides to rest and falls asleep. Suddenly, his kibitka blows away. The sheets of "yellow writing that instantly recognizes any phenomenon" fly in the wind. When they fall to the ground, they cling to the thorny grass and stay lying in the middle of the steppe. Sheep pass by there and eat all these leaves along with the grass. The calendar written on those sheets is imprinted on the shoulder blades of sheep, which determines the possibility of divination by lamb shoulder]: Basayev 2004:60 (=Bembeev 2004:120); Abkhazians [To Noah's ship buffalo does not fit, swims behind and, when hungry, eats written documents]: Chesnov 1990:177 (=1998:372); Ossetians: Kubalov 1925 ["Our book was eaten by a goat"]: 382; Romanov 2004 [Ossetian the book was eaten by a cow]: 37; Sjogren 1844 ["A goat (a cow from the Digors) ate our book" "An Ossetian proverb that answers the question: did they have writing and literature"]: 389; Chechens [ The Chechen book was eaten by a goat]: Romanov 2004:37 (also Bader 1950:74, reference to the manuscript of N. P. Romanov "The Caucasus and the Volga-Kama Territory. Ethnographic parallels"); Lazy: Romanov 2004 [The Holy Book was eaten by a bull]: 37 (also Bader 1950 [The sacred law book written in his native language was eaten by a bull]: 74, reference to the manuscript of N. P. Romanov "The Caucasus and the Volga-Kama Territory. Ethnographic parallels"; Turks: Gordlevsky 1915 [the bull ate the sacred books of sectarians]: 322-324; 1961, No. 11 (Karahisar of Sivas Vilayet) [The wife of the elder laz drops the Koran into the cabbage and does not notices how a bull eats the holy book. Having realized it, he announces to her husband that the bull ate the Koran and became a hajj. The couple decide: "After that, it is not appropriate to keep the bull in the barn, but to notify the villagers about the case." The men gather, solemnly take the bull to the bathhouse. They put a white bandage over his head and, having built a mosque out of cheese, they put a bull there. The bull eats the mosque wall, it collapses. It rains heavily at night. The mosque falls, melts, and the bull, burned with cheese, breathes out. In the morning, the men do not find anyone, they decide that the bull's prayer was so pleasing to God that he took him to heaven with the mosque]: 289.

Volga - Perm. Chuvash: Dedlov 1892 ["The cow ate the Chuvash book"; They claim that cow scars are the Chuvash book]: 175; Romanov 2004 ["The cow ate the Chuvash book"]: 37 (same Ilminsky 2015:533-534 ); Satur 2011 [there is an expression "A red cow ate the Chuvash book"]: 92; Smelov 1881 [(Tsivilsky and Tetyushsky districts of Kazan Gubernia) ["Faith is given to every nation by the supreme God. How the Supreme God distributed faith to other peoples, he did not hear stories, while faith was given to Russians, Tatars and Chuvash people as follows. Once a Russian, a Tatar and a Chuvashin spent the night together in the same hut, and early in the morning they heard a voice saying: "Go get a book and faith!" The Tatar, immediately wearing his galoshes... was the first to jump out of the hut, for which he received a book and three wives. A Russian came out after the Tatar, wearing boots, and also received a book and faith, but when he came out second, he received one wife. Chuvashin, on the other hand, hesitated, wearing onuchi and bast shoes. After waiting a little while, God dropped the book and left. Chuvashin came out, and a cow and a sheep ate the book a long time ago, and Chuvashin was left without a book and law, in the will of Kiremeti and worldly... gods. A cow and a sheep have a book inside... (one hundred sheets)"]: 245-246]; Stanyal 2004, No. 583 (Verkhny Magas, Cheboksary District, Chuvashia) [Russian, Tatar and Chuvash spend the night in the same hut. Early in the morning, they will hear someone screaming loudly: "Come, get a book and a belief for yourself!" They're starting to dress more quickly. The Tatar quickly puts on his shoes and is the first to run out. For being the first to come, God of Tour gives him a book and three wives. After the Tatar, a Russian runs out, wearing boots. The God of Tours gives him a book and only one wife. Chuvash wears bast shoes for a long time and does not run out soon. The God of Tour waits for him, throws away the book and leaves. Chuvash comes running, watching, and his book is being chewed by a cow and a sheep. Chuvash is left without a book or law, so he still worships various cyremets and gods around the world. A book in the stomach of a cow and a sheep becomes part of the stomach], 584 (Buinsk, Tatarstan) [They distribute happiness, Mordvin puts on his shoes, comes first and receives a book. The Russian runs after Mordvin, wearing boots. Chuvash spends a lot of time wearing bast shoes. When he walks through the door, his shoe unties. You have to twist a new rope and put on your shoes again. At this time, half of his happiness is eaten by a cow. Therefore, the Chuvash are the last to find happiness]: 203, 204; Kazan Tatars [A person's lack of memory jokingly explains: it was eaten by a goat - heteren kee ashagan]: Bagautdinova 2006:39; marie : Wichmann 1931:160-162 in Akzorin 1972 [There was a Mari book a long time ago. Mari mixes the cow's swipe at home and brings her into the house to feed her. He puts the book by the stove, forgets to take it. Along with the swipe, the cow eats the book, but the Mari does not notice. After feeding and bringing out the cow, he starts looking for a book, but he does not find it. So the Mari book disappeared in the cow's stomach. A few years later, the man stabbed his cow and saw an abomb in her stomach (not an abomb, but the second part of the stomach, a "book"}. Cattle used to not have a rennet. The Mari carries that rennet to the well to wash it. While washing, she recognizes his book. He says, "This is my old book!" He can't read anything, he puts it in the cauldron. Since then, an abomb has appeared in the insides of the cattle, and the Mari book has been missing for a long time]: 87; Ilikaev 2012 [The Mari Holy Book is woven on canvas and eaten by a cow (perhaps as in the corresponding Udmurt myth, sent by the supreme god to punish people for forgetting prayers, relying on notes made once)]: 21; Kitikov 2004 ["The book of the Mari is a cow ate"]: 69; Strahlenberg 1730 [Philip Johann von Stralenberg (1730) about the Mari people: "They have neither books nor letters, but when asked about these things, they say that they had them in the old days, but a big one the cow ate the books"]: 343; Mordovians ["In the old days, the Mordovians had their own writings, but these writings were eaten by a cow when they were inadvertently laid out of the hut and thrown into the yard with rubbish. "She (the cow) ate the Mordovian charter," says the Mordovians in a playful tone when they slaughter this voracious animal"]: Sedova 1983:242; Udmurts: Gordlevsky 1962 (Varzi Yelabuga y. Vyatka Gubernia) [Udmurt, a Muslim and a Russian, after receiving a holy book from God, go home. It's hot. When they approach the river, they undress, put books next to each other, and enter the water. A cow was grazing in the meadow; she kept getting closer and finally coming to the place where the books were. After swimming, travelers begin to dress. The Russian puts on his boots, takes the Gospel and leaves; a Muslim, wearing boots and keushi, takes the Koran and leaves too; Udmurt hesitated; while he was tying his bast shoes, the cow ate a book given by God to Udmurt. Udmurt was left without a book]: 337; Vasiliev 1906 [In ancient times, the Udmurts had their own books that guided them during worship, but they were once eaten by a cow. And now one of them exists, but the Russians do not show it to the Udmurts]: 197; Dobrotvorsky 1883 [The main map (priest) had a book of law that he often read to the people. But while praying, he carelessly placed the book on a stump; at that time a cow came up and ate it, mistaking it for a piece of hay. Since then, the Votyaks have no books]: 237; Kozachenko 1884 (Slobodskoy u. Vyatka Gubernia) [Previously, the Udmurts had their own citizenship and writing skills. They had a sacred book, and it was eaten by a cow when the priest put it on a stump to pray to God]: 284; Pervukhin 1888 (Ust-Lekomskaya village, Yelovskaya volost of Glazovsky district. Vyatka Gubernia) [At first, all Udmurts live in one place, the old man learns from an old man to pray to God and judge the court. People are becoming scientists and can answer any question. When there are many Votyaks and they disperse, they first converge to pray and sue together, and then they go so far that they cannot converge and the old man cannot help the old man remember everything as it should. At a general meeting, they decide, in order not to forget everything, to write down the order of prayers and courts: they lift birch bark, cut it off and sew it into a book, and then in this book they write down the true words of the old storyteller in tamgami , how to create prayers and rule order, the book is left under the supervision of a priest on a large white stone, in the place where they gather for common prayer, in the center of the Udmurt settlement. If an old man forgets a prayer or how to judge, he goes to a white stone, reads in a book and knows again. But after writing a book, people are less likely to make sacrifices to Inmar, because old people used to gather people to pray for fear that otherwise they would forget their prayers, and now they are not afraid of this it was. Inmar is angry with both the old people and the book, and sends a large white cow to the white stone, which comes to the stone when the priest who was guarding the book fell asleep; the cow ate the book. To prevent the Udmurts from writing such a book again, Inmar took away their knowledge of tamgas. Since then, everyone knows only one of their tamga and people have become more stupid from year to year: everyone invents their own, not suitable at all, and the old man's good things have been completely forgotten]: 46-48 (=Vereshchagin 1889:78, = Wichmann 1901, No. 41:146-148); Saltykov-Shchedrin 1880 ["... There is only a legend that there used to be a book, but a cow ate it..."]: 73; Wasiljev 1902 [In ancient times, the Votyaks owned their own books, who served them as guidance during their pagan service; but once a cow ate these scriptures]: 18; Chuvash, Marie, and Udmurts: Belle 1776 [Scottish traveler John Bell (1715) about the Mari and Chuvash people: "They have a legend that they never had a book that contained their rules, but no one could read it, a cow came and ate it, and seven then their respect for this animal is based"]: 18; Ilminsky 2015 [Tatars, Russians and "Finns" (Chuvash, Udmurts, Mari) receive a book from God; the first two peoples receive a book, and Tatars get the best, but the "Finns" are left without a book; their book was eaten by a cow]: 296; Miller 1791 [Gerard Friedrich Miller in "Description of pagan peoples living in Kazan Province..." (1791) about the Mari people , Udmurts, Chuvash people: "All the mentioned peoples are in extreme ignorance. They don't have letters or books, and if anyone asks them, they jokingly say that their cow has taken their books... But as I asked them more than once in different times, whether they consider it true, I received from them that although they have such a proverb, it is only used in jokes"]: 29-30.

Iran - Central Asia. Turkmens [Burkut had a book sent by Allah with prayers that could be used to revive the dead. Once Burkut Baba's friend was dying and he wanted to save him. To prevent the violation of his established order, Allah sent Jabrayil to meet him. He met Burkut on a narrow bridge over a turbulent river: "Where are you going?" - "I want to save a friend." - "How can I do this?" Burkut Baba showed the book. Jabrayil hit the book and it fell into the stream. Burkut has only a few pages left in his hands. The prayers that are now known were written on these pages. And there used to be much more prayers]: Basilov 1970:27-28.

Turkestan. Kazakhs (Krasnovodsk Oblast of Turkmenistan) [A scientist has a book that answers various questions of life. It, in particular, talks about the eternal life of people (the righteous?). The scientist's opponent is Azrail. The scientist, holding the Book, was sitting in the middle of a bridge over the river, and Azrail approaches him as a human being and inquiring about Azrail's whereabouts. The scientist, looking at the book, replies: "Since Azrail is not in heaven or on earth, he is on the bridge, and therefore it is either you or me. And since I'm not me, you're Azrail." When Azrail heard an answer, he snatched the book from the scientist's hands and threw it into the water. Suddenly, a rising wind carried her down the river and threw scattered leaves ashore. Sheep grazing on the shore ate the pages of the book, and therefore sheep kumalaks (litter pellets) - "good things", items suitable for divination]: Konovalov 1991:156.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Altaians: Alfeevsky 1991 (Chemal) ["There is no certificate in Altai, it was eaten by a cow." An Altai citizen carries a thick book "Diploma" to teach children and drops it when crossing the river. After catching the book out of the water, he puts it to dry on the roof, the cow comes in and eats it. Since then, there has been no certificate in Altai]: 59; MAE archive, f. Anokhina A.V., op. I, folder 203 (Chulushman) [one kam writes a letter on birch bark and hangs it to dry. The cow eats it along with the grass. Since then, the Altaians have not been certified] in Yadanova, Yamayeva 2011:454; Kozhevnikov 1937 ["A long time ago, our people had big books, as clear as the sun. Our ancient people kept them in leather bags with gold locks. Once upon a time, our ancestors roamed in a wide valley. In those days, it rained, and angry rivers swelled across the path. The water overflowed over the backs of the horses and filled the bags. The books got wet, the sheets packed. The old people hung the repository of wisdom on a tree, but a white cow came running and chewed books"]: 4 (=Katash 1978:89); Potapov 1983 [The Altaians had writing, and later lost it. The letters were printed on birch bark. Once the birch bark got wet and needed to be dried in the sun. The dried birch bark was eaten by a cow. As a result, the Altaians lost their literacy... The Oirats, who have gone to the lower reaches of the Volga, take their writing with them from Altai, and the only remaining book has been soaked and, when it is dried, it is eaten by a cow]: 108-109; Yadanova, Yamaeva 2011, No. 66 (chapta genus, p. Actor of the Shebalinsky District of the Altai Republic) [In ancient times, all Altaians were literate. One day, men went to war, and women and children remained in the islands. During these difficult years, the cow ate the book in secret. Now that a cow is slaughtered and its intestines and stomach are cleaned, you can see a multi-folded book there. Even signs that look like tamgas have not been worn off yet and can be seen. The Altaians used to have a book called "a letter that looks like tree knots" (budak-bichik), after which the "Oyrot book" was]: 177; Teleuts [Previously, the Teleuts had the Oyrot language and had books. Most of their people went to the Saratov steppes - Sart Ayman - and took their books with them. The Teleuts had only one book left, but the cow ate the one when it was soaked and laid out to dry in a woodpile]: Verbitsky 1893:137; tubalars [The cow ate the book]: Rittich 1870:11; Khakas (Sagai people) [Khakas also have a legend about a book that was eaten by a cow. The proof was the inside of a cow, which they ate. (Recorded by historian Eduard Saglak, who heard it from his grandmother Daria (Tyra), a khakaski sagaika from Chiti Pr, a native of the now-defunct Aal Tibik in Ust-Abakan district living in the village of Ust-Byur)]: K.Yu. Rakhno, personal report 17.11.2017; Buryats [Swiss Rainier "Description of the Buryats" (1780): "Once these Buryats were divided into many different tribes, in which each had its own master. Brotherly people say that they come from two brothers, Mungal and Buryat, whose offspring later split up. Mungal and his offspring settled towards the Kalgan ones, while the Buryats settled north. The fraternal ones further say that Buryat, after separating from his brother, took written news with him and, falling asleep drunk on the lawn, dropped the scripture from his bag, so she ate it his sheep, therefore, had nothing left of this scripture, and they lived as two completely independent peoples. Convinced of this, the Buryats also burn a piece of sheep wool before starting witchcraft..."]: Zinner 1968:191; Baikal Buryats (Kudinsky) [the first Buryat shaman Bokholi-Khara possessed with great strength, was not inferior to the gods and competed with the lamas, had a written book he received from Esege-Malan-Tengari; the rich man had no children; BH created a child for him; upon learning about this, EMT sent three winged messengers to bring him the soul of a boy; the messengers turned to three lamas and asked to spend the night with a rich man, and left the next morning, taking the child's soul with them; EMT put his soul in a bottle that he covered with his right thumb; a shaman came to EMT and asked for the boy's soul to be returned; EMT refused; BH turned into a wasp, stung EMT, snatched the soul and returned it to the body; EMT became angry with BH, tore his book; cut his tambourine into two parts, thereby reducing its strength, then four more, and finally eight parts, reducing the strength of the other shamans; 9 came to EMT sons of heaven and said: "We need him because we shoot 9 arrows on the ground every day, which he sends back to heaven"; EMT released BH to earth: 9 sons of heaven sent 9 arrows to earth and 9 lamam arrows; BH's book was eaten by a ram; BH stabbed a ram, took a shovel and saw everything there; that's why today's shamans are bewitching on the shoulder blade; BH raised 9 arrows back to heaven, as well as 9 Lamas, and llamas only up to half have read the book; EMT ordered BH to ride on the black stone until the stone is erased or he is erased; if BH is erased before the stone, it will be gone, and the shamans will be bad; if it is erased faster stone, BH will come to earth with the same strength; BH wears the unbearable iron boots he received from Zayan-Sagan; still jumps on a stone, it has worn off to half]: Boholi-Hara 1880:89-90; The Mongols [Buddha Manjushri's yellow letter (book of destinies) is eaten by a white ram with a black head, and then he shows magic signs on his shoulder blades that indicate his future fate Shakyamuni to modern people]: Gomboev 1864:28; Oirats [The Oirots have only one book. The owner of the book crosses the river, and when he finds himself on the other side, he sees that the book is wet. He puts the book to dry, lies down and falls asleep. A cow comes up and eats a book]: Anov 1939:72; Dagurs [Tang Seng went west for Buddhist manuscripts; reached a sea that he could not cross; a 1000-year-old turtle promised transport him if he later tells her how many years she would live; TS agreed, crossed the sea; after spending years in the west, went back with many Buddhist manuscripts; reached the sea again; turtle asked how long she had to live; TS first promised to tell her that when they reached the middle of the sea, then when they got to shore; the turtle threw TS into the water and ate it; her life increased to 10,000 years; all manuscripts ended up in water; people found out what happened, saved some of them; other manuscripts drowned; those saved became the writing of peoples who have it; drowned were the writing language of other nations; that's why the Dagurs don't have it]: Stuart et al. 1994:79.

Western Siberia. Eastern Khanty (b. Vasyugan) [In the old days, the Khanty invites Russians as friends to go to the forest together for animal fishing. The Russian agrees to go to the forest together. In the forest, when fishing, the Khanty and the Russian, like loyal comrades, do not leave each other and do not go far. One afternoon they go fishing through the forest, and two papers fall from the sky in front of them. The Russian says, "God lowered two papers from heaven because there are two of us: one for me and the other for you. So choose whichever you want from the two papers, and I'll take the one that remains." Each of them takes a piece of paper. The Russian looks at what it says, puts it in his bosom. The Khanty also looks at what is written in the paper, puts it on a stump, and says to the Russian: "I'll pick up my paper later when we go back past this place from daytime fishing." At the end of the day's fishing, they return to their country the same way for the Khanty to pick up the paper. There is no paper on the stump. It was eaten by an elk that passed by this very place in the absence of the Khanty and the Russian, as can be seen in its footsteps. Therefore, the Khanty does not have their own certificate: "There is no Ostyatskaya certificate, it was eaten by an elk"]: Lukina 1990, No. 53:179-180; Mansi [the motive is known]: Bader 1950:74 (reference to the manuscript of N. P. Romanov "The Caucasus and the Volga-Kama Territory. Ethnographic parallels").

Eastern Siberia. E.D.: Ksenofontov's text does not correspond exactly to the stated wording of the motive: no one eats the book in it - they don't have time to take it with them. The Yakuts have recorded this option several times; Kamitova's 2016 version is unique and may have appeared under the influence of Russian texts about the "stomach-book". Central Yakuts: Kamitova 2016 (group not specified, link to A.A. Vasilyeva's message; central?) [In ancient times, the Yakuts had a book and could write and read. But one day the book was left unattended. A cow came and ate it. Since then, the book has been in her stomach and is called "chankychi", that is, a book (synonym for "kharyn" is the stomach of cattle). This legend was told to children when they did not want to eat giblets soup"]: 60; Ksenofontov 1977, No. 28 (Bestyakhsky Nasleg of Khangalassky Ulus) [The ancestors of the Yakuts are Omogon-Baay and Er-Sogotokh Elley. Omogon comes from Buryats. He settled in Yakutia long before Elley's arrival, has numerous servants and has a huge number of horses and cattle. In winter, he lives in a clay-coated yurt with sloping walls and ice windows, and summer accommodation is made from larch bark. For koumiss, he uses a simple birch bark scoop. He does not know the custom of celebrating ysyah in summer, accompanied by praise, thanksgiving from the gods and praying for grace. Shamans also arrive with Omogon. His permanent residence is where the city of Yakutsk now stands. One day, a lonely Tatar guy named Er-Sogotokh Elley arrives at Omogon. He is the son of a foreign king. At that time, the Tatars allegedly fought against the Russians. The Russians were victors. Elley flees from this war, finding the sources of the river, he sails down on a raft. Due to his haste to flee, he does not have time to take with him letters that he previously knew. That is why the Yakuts are uneducated and do not have their own literacy. Upon arrival, Elay goes to Omogon as an employee]: 38-39.

Amur - Sakhalin. Nivhi ["A few weeks before his death, writer Tugut told me a legend about how tajr nd nig yv eun gave people letters. After writing two kinds, one from the ground and the other from the lightest part of the ashes lying on him in the form of a white coating, he made a box. Dividing the box into two halves with a partition, he put a bear, a gilak and a letter made of earth in one half of the box, and in the other half he put ducks, deer, fox, and letters made of light ash coating. After gluing the lid tightly to the drawer, he told the box to swim to the ground and hit the shore with its long, not short side, so that everyone could immediately jump ashore. The box floated, but when it reached the ground, it hit it with its short side. The lid bounced, and deer, ducks, fox and letters made of ashes jumped ashore, and letters made of earth, gilyak and bear drowned as the box broke and they did not have time to jump out ashore. Therefore, the giliaks have no letters, as their writings have drowned"]: Kreinovich 1929:91.

Japan. Ainu [after Okikurumi taught men how to hunt and fish and his wife Turesh began teaching women how to sew, Yoshitsuna showed up and they gave him a daughter, taking advantage of credulity wives, J. stole the knowledge and books of the Ainu; the offended O. and T. left, hiding in a cave on the top of the mountain; since then, the Ainu have neither the art of writing nor the ability to make pottery, and buy fabrics from the Japanese; when asked something, they say they don't know because J. stole their books]: Chamberlain 1997:17.