B35A. A tree turns into a bear .28.29.31.32.34.

The tree asks him not to cut down, fulfills the person's wishes. When they go beyond reason, a tree turns a person into a bear.

Russians (Moscow, Ryazan), Ukrainians (Kherson), Nogais, Estonians, Mari, Udmurts, (Bashkirs), Baikal Buryats, (Tuvans).

Central Europe. Russians (Moscow, Khudyakov, No. 99) [the bean is going to cut a linden tree, she asks not to cut, promises a new hut; then the bean asks for wealth, nobility; when he began to ask for kingdoms, the linden tree turned him and his wife are bear; therefore bear paws look like human hands]: Vedernikova, Samodelova 1998, No. 54:151-153; Russians (Ryazan) [man is dissatisfied with life; tells a passing person lady; lady Destiny makes a man a master; a man asks to be made king; Fate makes a bear]: Smirnov 1917, No. 240:644-645; (cf. Russians (Vyatka; most likely Udmurt substrate): Smirnov 1917, No. 124 [evil landowners and his wife frighten peasants, demand money; husband wants to be afraid of them even more and give more money; wife offers to turn into animals that no one has seen before; they turn into bears, live in the forest; the man saw them, was frightened; all the peasants went to see bears in a tree with sides; and called bears], 125 [bears used to be people; a poor man wants to cut down an enchanted birch tree; a birch tree asks it not to cut, promises wealth; the poor man does not cut; a new home meets him at home, a dressed wife, horses and wealth; the man goes back to the birch tree, she makes him a chief; an official; a governor; asks to be made king; the birch tree says that the king is God's anointed one, and refuses; Turns a man and his woman into bears]: 378, 378-380; Ukrainians (Kherson) [The origin of the bear. The poor man goes to the woods, thinks to cut down a spruce he likes. She speaks in a human voice so that he doesn't cut it, he'll need it. He listens, cuts another one. After a while he goes back to the forest, cuts down that cherished spruce tree. Thunder thunders, lightning glitters, man falls to the ground, turns into a bear]: Hawks 1894:10.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Nogais [the tree asks the old man not to cut it, promises to fulfill the request, he asks for firewood; the old woman complains that the firewood is small, tells him to ask for flour; the tree's leaves have turned yellow, it promises to give flour; the next day the old woman says that it is snowing, it turned out to be flour; the old woman wants gold and silver; the leaves of the tree are almost opal; the old woman is afraid that they will now be robbed, tells me to ask the tree, to be afraid of them; the tree's last leaves fell, it turned the old woman into a fox, the old man into a bear]: Aliyeva 2013, No. 107:467-468.

Baltoscandia. Estonians (southwestern Estonia, Tõstamaa) [a farmhand (or rather a poor tenant, saunik) was too lazy to go to the forest, went to a nearby pasture, began to cut down an old tree (from a sacred grove); from under a gray head appeared to the root: why are you chopping? man: wife, children; old man: go home, there is already a woodpile; the man decided to go back to the tree with an ax, ask for the barn; then let him be full of goodness; then become a judge; landowner; general; when asked to make him king, the old man got angry and made him a bear; and his wife, having inherited all his wealth, married a noble gentleman; he met a bear and shot him]: Järv et al. 2015:35-36.

Volga - Perm. Marie: Sabitov 1989, No. 555 [Wonderful tree: fulfills all the wishes of a poor man (a good household, an important rank, etc.); when he expresses a desire to become a bailiff, that's it disappears, the poor man turns into a bear; (many texts)]: 34-35; Chetkarev 1948 [the firewood is over, the wife sends her husband to the forest, he is going to cut a linden tree, a voice from the hollow asks not to cut, says that firewood already at his house; so many times, a person asks for more and more (house, cattle, money, headman, foreman; when he asks to be made a bailiff, i.e. a big master, to ride in the downy feather bed, wakes up in the den as a bear; "the bear is a lordly breed, descended from the back"]: 89-91; Anderson 1935:11-15 in Kippar 2002 [the poor man goes to the forest to cut down Christmas trees to build a house; the spruce says that for you don't need to cut it down, mark the plot and go to bed; in the morning the house is ready; he is back with an ax to the spruce, you need a yard; then money; came again: everything is there, no respect; spruce: now people will be afraid of you, and you people; a man has become a bear, bears are shy]: 117-118; Udmurts [the old man wants to split off a splint from the birch tree, it promises to fulfill all his wishes; the spouses are getting rich; the old woman tells the old man to ask for something- something terrible for everyone to be afraid of them; they turn into bears; (the origin of bears)]: Radimov 1922:5-14 (=Klabukov 1948, No. 44:129-131); (cf. Bashkirs [the old man brought a chock, began to stab, a bird jumped out, ready to fulfill his wish; the old man asked for firewood; the old woman every time tells me to ask for something else (food, become a merchant); after she wanted to become a queen of the forest, the chock and everything asked for disappeared, and the old people turned into forest shurals - horned, covered with wool, with green beards]: Barag 1989, No. 47:214-216).

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. The Baikal Buryats (Balagan) [the man who made wooden dishes began to cut a birch tree; she asked to stop, promised to fulfill his wish, he wanted to become a merchant; then a tsar; since only a birch tree knows that he is not a king, he sent servants to cut it down; the birch tree tells them to stop: their king has become a bear; when meeting a bear, you must say "Tsar Man, give way"]: Dugarov 1990: 329-330; (cf. Tuvans [the golden bird asks the old man not to cut down the tree in which it lives, promises to fulfill every wish; he asks for firewood; the next day he asks for a white yurt; white cattle; old woman asks her husband not to be greedy, but he wants to be a khan; there is no bird, the old man knocked down a tree, and the next morning they have their old black yurt full of holes]: Hadahane 1984:53-54).