B51A. The snake is the enemy of the swallow.. 16.17.27.29.-.34.36.
Thesnake is the enemy of the swallow (usually because the swallow prevents the snake from destroying people - the snake sends a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect to find out whose blood tastes better; the mosquito returns to report that it is human; the swallow bites off his tongue, the snake pulls the swallow's feathers out of its tail).
French, Palestinians, Bosnians, Croats, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Karachays and/or Balkarians, Nogais, Kumyks, Stavropol Turkmens, Ossetians, Abkhazians, Kabardian, Ingush, Tabasarans, Megrelians, Armenians, Pamiris {conditionally Shugnans}, Latvians, Udmurts, Chuvashes, Kazan Tatars, Bashkirs, Mari, Nogais Karagash, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uighurs, Dungans (Ningxia), Baikal Buryats, Oirats, Evens.
Western Europe. The French (Burgundy) [After the animals left the ark, the snake sent the mosquito to find out whose blood tasted better; the mosquito found out that it was human, but the swallow bit off its tongue; the snake pulled out swallow tail feathers]: Pitrè 1912:44-45 (=Kabakova 1998, No. 49:64).
Western Asia. The Palestinians [Iblis tried to enter paradise, bribed the Serpent with the promise of the sweetest food in the world, she let him in, hiding it in a cavity in her tooth; this is how I. managed to seduce Eve; the Serpent demanded a favor the right to eat human meat; Adam said that no one has tried this meat before, we need to know if it is the sweetest, let Komar fly to find out and say it a year later; a year later, Komar flew to the Snake, answered the Swallow who met him that man was the sweetest; the Swallow asked again, pulled out the Mosquito's tongue; the Mosquito was just squeaking, the Swallow explained that frog meat was sweeter; the Snake rushed to the Swallow, but only pulled the feathers out of the middle of her tail]: Hanauer 1935:212-213 (=Hanauer 2009:261-262; =Bushnaq 1987:223-225).
(Wed. China - Korea. Lisu [Abep's older brother is dead, Alep's younger is alive and married; his wife wants to take his spirit away; another spirit offers his help: he will become a poisonous caterpillar and bite Alepa; the same is a snake; both times The deceased brother overhears and tells Alepa to throw the caterpillar into the fire, crush the snake; the falcon offers Alepa's wife to become a spirit: to do this, he will shout "ngao" three times; the woman immediately fell dead ; Abepa praises the falcon's abilities and asks if he can revive the dead; the falcon shouts "ngao" three times in a different language, the woman comes to life; Abepa asks to show his tongues, tears off the one that kills, grabs the falcon and brings it to his brother; he tied it over the hearth for three days, since then some of the falcon's feathers have turned black]: Dessaint, Ngwâma 1994:192-194).
The Balkans. Bosnians, Croats: Gora 1997:282 [the snake plugged a hole in the ark that a mouse gnawed by a mouse; for this, it received the right to eat human and poultry meat (Bosnia, Mostar District) or drink human blood (Croatia, Karlovac District); When the Snake learned about this, she told the Snake that it was necessary to have a good language to eat human meat, asked to show it; as soon as the Snake stuck out its tongue, The swallow pecked at him, it remained split (Bosnia, Mostar District)], 283 [Bosnia and Herzegovina believes that the Swallow saved a quarter of the sun from the snake under its wings; in Dalmatia, it is said that there were three or four suns; the Snake sucked in everything but one, which the Swallow covered under its wing; two "blind" suns absorbed by the Snake are sometimes visible; var.: There were ten rays in the sun; the Snake drank nine, the tenth Swallow saved; according to legends from Bosanska Kraina and Lika, the Snake sucked in two suns, the third was saved by the Swallow and the Lizard]; the Serbs [the snake bit the swallow's tail and it went to God complain; God promises to make sure that everyone loves and respects the swallow, and that everyone who can kill the snake, and that other birds also have such a tail]: M (ijatovi 1901:229-230 in Kuznetsova 2017:41; Bulgarians (Rhodopes) [the mouse began to gnaw at the bottom of the ark, the cat ate the mouse, so cats should not be tortured or killed; the snake in the ark got hungry and sent the beetle to find out whose meat was the most in the ark sweet; the beetle found out that it was human, but the swallow pecked his tongue so that he could not tell the snake about it; therefore, it is a sin to destroy swallows' nests]: Georgiev 1906:175-176 in Belova 2004a: 269; Romanians (Muntenia) [Ionescu, Legende, 32, translated by N.G. Golant; The bottom of Noah's Ark was gnawed by a mouse and water came through the resulting hole. The snake plugged the hole on the condition that they give it something. After the flood, she asked for the best (tasty) blood, and the mosquito was sent to look for it. When he came back to say that a person had the most delicious blood, the swallow cut off (pulled it out?) his language. Since (the mosquito) could no longer speak, he pointed to his mouth and swallow. The snake wanted to swallow the swallow, but could only grab it by the tail. The feathers from the middle of her tail remained in her mouth and the swallow has since had an incised (jagged) tail]: Brill, Ispas 2005, No. 11366:227.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars [the snake instructed the swallow and fly to find out that the blood tastes better; the fly was convinced that it was human; when the swallow learned about this, the swallow pulled out her tongue and, when she came to the snake, reported that the frog's blood tastes best; the fly began to complain about the swallow with signs; the snake rushed to the swallow, but only pulled out the middle of its tail; since then flies do not speak, the swallow has a split tail, snakes prefer frogs]: Kondaraki 1875:133-134; Kalmyks [Khan Serpent tells Komar to find out whose blood tastes better; The mosquito finds out what is human, flies back, the Swallow pulls out his tongue; the mosquito squeaks, the khan it seems that he says Frogs, snakes now eat frogs]: Jimbinov 1962:128-129; Karachays and/or Balkarians: Dzhurtubayev 1991 [a knot fell out of the board in the bottom of Nukh's ship; Snake agreed to plug the hole, Nuh promised her the blood of the animal she would choose; the serpent sent Komar to find out whose blood was sweeter; he found out what was human, said it, the Swallow heard it, chased, tore off his tongue; the mosquito mooed "Ah-ah" (Adam), and the Snake realized that "makah" (a frog); the Snake bit the Swallow's tail, since then it has been split]: 50-51 (=2007:10-11); Malkonduev 2017:45 in Basangova 2019 [snake asks the wasp to taste the blood of all animals, and the swallow accompanies the wasp as its assistant; the wasp learns that the sweetest blood is human; the swallow has bitten off the wasp's tongue, since then it has only buzzed; the snake, to take revenge on the swallow, she tried to bite her, but only pulled the feathers out of its tail, since then it has been split; the swallow told the snake that the frog has the most delicious blood, since then snakes have been swallowing frogs]: 52-53; Nogais [The Black Snake sends the Mosquito to find out if a person's blood is really the most delicious; when he flies back, the Swallow asks him to show his tongue, pulls it out; when the numb Mosquito points to A swallow, she says that the Mosquito has a cold and wants to say that the frog has the most delicious blood; the Snake manages to pull the Swallows feathers out of its tail, since then it has been eating frogs]: Legay 1979, No. 2:12-13; Ossetians [the snake sent the fly to find out whose blood tastes best; after flying around several worlds, the fly found that the meat of an infant tasted best; the swallow pulled out its tongue; the snake fights the swallow, grabs the tail; since then, the fly has been buzzing and the swallow's tail is split]: Salbiev 2015:90 in Basangova 2019:53; Kumyks [the mosquito, following the snake's order, learns that humans have the sweetest blood; the swallow has pulled out the mosquito's tongue, when he flew to the snake, he only squeaked; the swallow called the frog's blood the sweetest; the snake managed to snatch three feathers from its tail; since then, the mosquito has been squeaking, the snake eats frogs, the swallow's tail is split]: Gamzatov, Dalgat 1991:361; Lucky [the Azhdaha snake sent the creatures to find out whose blood is sweeter; the mosquito found out that the person, the Swallow has managed to bite off his tongue, and Azhdaha has pulled the feathers out of the swallow's tail, now he forked; the swallow makes nests near a person's home, because a person does not let snakes near]: Ganiyeva 2011a, No. 68:188-189; Stavropol Turkmens [(western teacher of Blagodarinsky City School A . Volodin; from materials by L.G. Lopatinsky); Ishang (snake) sends a mosquito servant to find out that blood tastes better; The mosquito finds out what is human; on the way back, the Swallow asks to give her a delicious blood, bites off the Mosquito's tongue; he is speechless, explains to I. in signs that the Swallow bit off his tongue; I. grabs the Swallow by the tail, now it is split; swallows chase mosquitoes]: Bagriy 1930 (1): 70; Abkhazians: Bgazhba 1983 [God asked the Snake what it wanted to eat; the Snake promised to answer in a few days, tasted different foods, decided that human taste best; sent Beetle to report on her choice to God; the Swallow asked the Beetle where he was flying when he heard the answer, asked him to show his tongue, pinched it off, flew to God herself, said that the Snake had chosen the frogs; the Snake managed to rip the Swallow out tail of the feather]: 94; Shakryl 1975, No. 93 [after learning about the flood, the prophet Nyh agrees with four carpenters to build a ship, everyone wants a daughter N. for work, he has only one daughter; the forest wears adaui; agrees before eating, say, God willing, your mercy, the food does not run out; God turns the donkey, dog and cat N. into girls; by their behavior after marriage, N. guesses who is who; takes them aboard the ship a real daughter with a son-in-law; The mouse gnawed a hole, the Serpent plugged her tail, N. agreed to give her what she wanted; the Eagle did not return, the Raven eats carrion, the Dove tells where the earth has hardened; The Serpent sends the Beetle to tell N. that he wants to eat human; the Swallow managed to snatch the Beetle's tongue, the Serpent knocked the feather out of its tail with its tail; N. tells the Snake to eat frogs; after the flood, a neighbor who fed carpenters]: 400-407; Kabardian people (Lesbos) [after the flood, the Serpent received the right to eat human beings; when all the creatures gathered, people expressed their concern to Solomon; he decided: let the Mosquito will try, whose blood tastes better, that Snake will eat; the mosquito found out that it was human, met the Swallow, told her, she asked again on purpose, pulled out his tongue, flew after him; the mosquito just squeaked The swallow explained to Salomon that Frog's blood tasted best; S. told snakes to eat frogs; the Snake tried to grab the Swallow, but only pulled the feathers out of its tail]: Dähnhardt 1907:332-333; Ingush [the serpent who guarded paradise sent one bird to find out whose meat was sweeter; when it returned, carrying a piece of man to test the snake, the swallow took it away from it; the snake managed to bite the swallow's tail, now he is at a fork]: Potanin 1883, No. 14:768; Tabasarans [the snake was planning to sting the Prophet Muhammad; the Swallow pecked her tongue, he doubled; the Serpent tried to sting the Swallow, but only grabbed it by the tail, it became forked]: Seferbekov 2000:40; Megrelia: Kobalia 1903 [The serpent was an angel, for a misdemeanor God hit her with a stick, turned her into a snake; she sends a Bee and a Swallow to ask God He gave her food; God tells them to try everything, determine what tastes best; the bee told Swallow that the baby in the cradle tastes best; the swallow asked her to stick out her tongue and bit it off; explained to God that frogs taste best, God appointed them to eat snakes]: 118-118; Mashurko 1903 [a leak formed in Noah's Ark, the Serpent promised to stop it if it was fed delicious meat; N. sent The beetle to determine whose meat tastes better; the beetle found out what was human, told the Swallow; she asked her to taste her meat, and instead stick out her tongue to determine the taste of Beetle's meat; bit off his tongue; in front of Noah The swallow answered for the Beetle that the Snake should eat frogs; the Snake grabbed its tail, pulled out the middle]: 78-79; Armenians [stinging insects and reptiles are going to decide who has sweeter blood to make it sting the most; a mosquito was sent, it found out what a person had; the swallow found out his intention and killed]: Lalayants 1904, No. 1:203.
Iran - Central Asia. Pamiris {when counting, the text is conditionally compressed to the Shugnans} [The snake told Wasp to determine whose meat and blood are sweeter; the Wasp tried and found out that they were human; flew to report it to the Snake so that She hunted people; she met Swallow on the way; when she learned about Wasp's intentions, she cut off her tongue with her tail, thus saving people from destruction]: Yusufbekov 2009.
Baltoscandia. Latvians: Pogodin 1895:434 [there was a hole in the ark; the Serpent covered it with her body for promising to allow it to eat whatever meat she chose after the flood; the mosquito flew to look for whom blood tastes better; on the way back, he answered Swallow that the man had; she asked again, pulled out half of his trunk, the Mosquito was just squeaking; the Swallow told the Snake that the Mosquito had found the most delicious blood in the frog; The serpent has covered the middle of Swallow's tail; since then, snakes have been hated and swallows loved], 435 [Noah forgot to drive a nail into the hole, and the ark leaked; the serpent plugged the hole with its tail, God rewarded it the right to choose food; the Snake sent the Mosquito to find out whose meat tastes better; Komar said that a person, but his tongue was confused, only Man and Swallow understood; The Swallow tells Komar that he has a splinter in tongue, pulled out her tongue; The snake lied as if Komar said that a frog had the most delicious meat].
Volga - Perm. The Udmurts [The serpent sent Komar to find out whose blood was sweeter; he flew in, replied that it was horse; the Serpent sent him again; the mosquito returned, began to say that he was human, but the Swallow managed to bite him off nose; The serpent rushed to the Swallow, but only pulled the feathers out of its tail, since then it has been forked]: Vereshchagin 1886:72; (=Kralina 1960, No. 19:67); Klabukov 1948, No. 17:56 (168: "There are no similar stories of a fairy tale")]; Chuvash: Vardugin 1996 [The mouse gnawed Noah's ark, the Serpent plugged the hole; grateful Noah sent the Horfly to bring food to the Snake; he brought man's blood, the Swallow managed to bite off his tongue when the Horsefly was going to talk about his impressions; the Snake bit through the middle of Swallow's tail]: 249; Egorov 1995 [Tour ă told the righteous elder in a dream that there would be a flood, ordered him to take him to the ship a couple of living things; Shuittan taught the elder's wife not to board the ship until he swore, Get on, Shuittan! S. in the form of a mouse snuck onto the ship, gnawed at the hole; he shut it up with his head; after the flood, the ship landed on Mount Ama Tu; T. decided to reward the snake with delicious food; they sent a mosquito to search for it; he I tried the blood of all animals, decided that the human being is sweeter than everyone; I wanted to tell T., but the swallow managed to bite off his tongue; he attacked the swallow, managed to pinch off the tip of his tail]: 132; Kazan Tatars (probably Mishari; village. Kiv Tarkhan, Simbirsk Province, 1906-1908) [There was a mouse in the ark; it gnawed a hole in the bottom; water began to fall into the ark; the serpent curled up and lay on the hole, and thus held the water; because of this, Nuh fell in love with the snake and told it that if it If he wants the meat or blood of any animal, he will give it; the snake sent a mosquito to taste which animal has the most delicious blood to notify it; the mosquito seemed to be the most delicious human blood; returning to the snake, the mosquito met the swallow; it asked where it was flying; the mosquito told me everything; the swallow asked to show its tongue, and when the mosquito did, it bit its tongue out of its mouth; both returned to the snake; the mosquito kept repeating: băjj-băjj; the swallow said: "He says that the frog's blood was the most delicious"; the snake got angry, wanted to catch the swallow, grabbed it, but only pinched a piece from the end of the tail]: Meszarosh 2000:92-93; Kazan Tatars [when the flood began, Nukh and his wife sat down in the ark and took a pair of every living creature with them; the mouse gnawed at the bottom of the ark; the snake curled up and closed the hole; asked N. for provisions for her service and said she wanted delicious blood; N. sent a crow first, then a mosquito, but they did not return; then he sent a swallow; she met a mosquito returning; he said that he had not found blood tastier than human blood; the swallow pecked out his tongue; when they returned, the mosquito squeaked, and the swallow explained that he had recently said to her: "There is nothing tastier than frog blood"; N. punished the snake to eat frogs; it attacked the swallow, pulled out part of its tail; therefore, it is forked]: Gilyazutdinov 2015, No. 281:276-278; Bashkirs [ beautiful Malika will marry the one who answers her 12 riddles; eget is responsible; the first person was born by our mother Earth and Gadam (Adam); the raven is the son of G., but because of laziness he ceased to be human; because man overloads the cart, the owl shouts "Wow, you can't pull it!" ; a lying woman became a bat; a gossip girl turned into a spider; the swallow's tail was split, because during Noah, during the flood, the dragon grabbed and pulled out some of its feathers; the flood happened like this: the stove was flooded, water poured out of it; there are more dry trees if you count those with at least one dry branch as dry; there are more women if you count men who listen to women; M. and get married]: Barag 1990, No. 48:119-120; marie [1) archive; der. Kairakovo; One man survived the flood, sailing on a boat. There was a hole in the boat, where he put his snake's tail down. A mosquito flew in. A person asks who has the most delicious blood. The mosquito says it's human. At this time, a swallow arrives and grabs the mosquito by the tail. At this time, the snake grabs the swallow by the tail. The end of the swallow's tail breaks off. Thus, the swallow's tail became forked; 2) the MPE-RB archive, village. Akbulatovo, Ishimovo; Serpent Gorynych sends a mosquito to find out whose blood is the most delicious. The mosquito found out that it was human blood. The swallow found out about this, asks the mosquito: "Whose blood is the most delicious?" The mosquito says it's human. The swallow asks, "Where is your tongue filled with blood? I'll look at human blood." The mosquito showed its tongue and the swallow bit it off. After that, the mosquito only emits "me-th". When he came to Zmey Gorynych, he could not say anything. This is how the swallow saved a person]: Yuzieva 2016:141; Nogais Karagash (Astrakhan Region, 1974) [the prophet made a boat; put those who agreed to become Muslim in it; also took cattle, a mouse, a cat, a wolf; one day the boat was supposed to sink, but the snake lowered its tail into the water and dammed it; after This boat landed on a big mountain; the prophet said, "Serpent, we should have drowned, but you saved us, what do you want?" ; she replied: "My desire is that whose blood is sweeter, I will drink from him"; the prophet sent a mosquito to find out whose blood is sweeter; the mosquito tasted from everyone, found out that the sweetest blood is human; swallow asked him whose blood tasted better; the mosquito stuck out his tongue, the swallow pulled it out; the mosquito flew to the prophet, began to buzz; the swallow said that it understood the buzz; to free the man from the snake, she said that the most delicious blood is frog blood; the snake got angry, tore off part of the swallow's tail; the tail remained so]: Arslanov 1992, No. 12:94-95.
Turkestan. Kazakhs: Sidelnikov 1971 (2) [the serpent Aidahar sends Komar to find out whose blood is sweeter; flying back, he tells the Swallow that it is human; when Komar tries to tell A., Swallow pinches off his tongue, says that Komar was going to say "snake"; A. tries to grab the Swallow, but only pulls the feathers out of the middle of its tail]: 165-166, (3) [beasts choose the Snake as queen; she wants to eat the creatures that have the sweetest blood sends the Mosquito and Gadfly to find out whose blood is sweeter; the mosquito could not fly against the wind, Gadfly returns with the news that human blood is sweeter than all, brags about this Swallow; she asks to be allowed to try, tears off his tongue; The gadfly only buzzes, the Snake tears off Swallow's feathers in the middle of its tail]: 221-223; Kyrgyz [the mouse gnawed a hole in the ark, the snake plugged the hole with her body, Suleiman allowed her to ask for any reward; the Snake always wanted to drink the most delicious blood; S. sent the Horsefly to find out which one tasted better; flew back to say it was human; Swallow asked her to try it, tore off Horsefly's tongue; the Horsefly could not tell Suleiman anything, the snake took revenge on the Swallow by eating her chicks, the Swallow began to nest near human habitation ]: Brudny, Eshmambetov 1989:369-370; the Uighurs [the padishah gathered the animals, sailed with them on a ship; The mouse gnawed a hole; the snake plugged the hole with its tail, the padishah promised her any reward; the Snake asked allow her to taste the sweetest blood; sent Komar to find out whose blood was sweeter; on the way back, Komar told the Swallow what was human; she invited him to show him her tongue, bit off; announced to the Snake that the Mosquito is squeaking, trying to say that a frog has the sweetest blood; since then, snakes have been eating frogs]: Kabirov 1963:200-202; Dungans (Ningxia) [the sage read the Koran in the mosque; the Serpent crawled and asked which creature's flesh tastes best; the sage promised to send Komar to find out, told the blacksmith to forge a sharp nose; tired of waiting in the company of the Snake, sent Swallow to hurry up the Mosquito; the mosquito told her that the most delicious is human; the Swallow bit off his tongue; when he arrived at the Snake, the Mosquito only squeaked, and the Swallow explained that mice tasted best; the sage called the Swallow a friend of people and told her to live next to them]: Shujang Li, Luckert 1994:439-440.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Baikal Buryats: Khangalov et al. 1889, No. 31 (Alar) [a flying serpent (nidhe mogoy) sends a bee to find out whose meat on earth is the most delicious; a bee meets a swallow, tells her that he is human; the swallow asks the bee to show its tongue and then pulls it out; the snake does not understand what the bee is talking about; the bee chases the swallow; she flies to the burkhan and talks about what happened; he tells her to live in a yurt in the child's shaky; she says she will be better off on the pillars; the burkhan agrees; the swallow flies into the yurt, the bee pulls the feathers from the middle of her tail; therefore, the swallow nests and hatches chicks on crossbars in yurts and has a split tail]: 122; Barannikova et al. 2000 (probably Baikal) [12-headed serpent or Erlen Nomon Khan commands The bee (Gadfly, Mosquito) finds out whose blood is sweeter; she likes human blood, she hurries to inform her lords about it; to save a person, the Swallow pulls out the Bee (Gadfly, Mosquito)'s tongue; since then speechless and buzzing]: 14; Oirats (Xinjiang) [the B50 and B51A motives correspond to the fairy tale "The Swallow" from the collection "Betege caγān boqširγ", published in 1981 in Urumqi in the series" Xinjiang Oirat folklore" {no details; original verification required}]: Ubushiyeva, Damrinjav 2020:18.
Eastern Siberia. Evens [the king of the serpent told the mosquito that if he did not want snakes to feed on mosquitoes, let him fly and find out whose blood is the most delicious; on the way back he met a swallow, replied that he was human; she doubted if he had eaten all the people, asked them to show their tongue, bit it off; when he flew to the snake, the mosquito only squeaked; the snake thought he was saying "frog"; since then, snakes have been eating frogs, and the mosquito has grown a sting instead of a tongue]: Robbeck 2005:190.