B72. The cuckoo was not given water.. 28.29.32.34.-.36.39.42.43.

Since children do not give water to their mother, she turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) and flies away.

Belarusians, Ukrainians (Volyn), (Crimean Tatars), Chechens, Kazan Tatars, Shors, Nenets, Northern and Eastern Khanty, Mansi, Northern Selkups, Kets, South, Western Evenks, Evens, forest yukaghirs, nootka, western sachaptin, ne perse, katlamet.

Central Europe. Belarusians (Gomel Oblast) [the cuckoo is a sick mother who grieves that her children did not give her water]: Gura 1997:575, 685; Ukrainians (Volyn Oblast, Ivanchevsky District, 1977) [the fisherman's widow has four children (mentioned hereafter only older and younger brothers and middle sister), she falls ill, asks them to bring her a drink, everyone refuses; the children are playing in the yard, the youngest runs into the house, sees that the mother has become a cuckoo; children they grabbed a bucket, a ladle, etc., ran after their mother, but she shouts to them that it was too late; they ran, their legs were bloody, and since then there has been red-specked moss through the forests and glades]: Ioanids 1985:83-84.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Chechens [The cuckoo consistently asks each of her three children to bring her water, they refuse; she turns into a cuckoo, flies away; they promise to take care of her, but she does not return ; now lays eggs in other people's nests, doesn't know his children]: Malsagov 1983, No. 131:274; (cf. Crimean Tatars [the sheikh is seriously ill, asked the slave to bring water; he said that there is no water in the bowl; sheikh: I pray to God that he will turn you into a disgusting image of a person; the slave has become a monkey]: Kondaraki 1875:134).

Volga - Perm. Kazan Tatars [two girls had a sick mother; when their father went to the mosque, the girls started playing; their mother asked for water, but they did not hear her; she prayed: "Oh God, if only I could become a cuckoo" ; turned into a cuckoo, flew away; the girls ran after her; springs appeared where their tears fell, and where blood was dripping from their legs, the leaves turned red]: Gilyazutdinov 2015, No. 280:276.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Shors: Arbachakova 2010, No. 16 [the woman fell ill, asked the children for water three times, they did not serve them, continued to play; one child came in, saw that his mother was turning into a bird, grabbed her legs, called his brother and sister, they cried, promised to bring water; the mother became a cuckoo, flew away; the son grabbed her leg and wanted to hold her, so the cuckoos have one red leg]: 301-303; Chudoyakov 2002 [Kakuk - sister, Pasyuk - brother; brother got married; once did not return from hunting; wife is indifferent, prettier, looks at guys; K. grieves, falls ill, asks for water, daughter-in-law does not pay attention; K. became as a cuckoo, flew in search of her brother; her daughter-in-law tried to grab her leg; so the cuckoo has one leg without feathers]: 120.

Western Siberia. Nenets: Lehtisalo 1947, No. 18 (Obdorsk/Salekhard) [husband, wife, son live; husband starts making a boat; mother asks her son to bring water, he refuses; she threatens to turn into a cuckoo; turns into a beak out of a thimble, an end out of a needle, wings from half a sewing board, a tail out of flint; a cuckoo mother flies to her husband, who makes a boat, he thinks it's bad luck; the son runs for cuckoo, offers water, she still flies away, cuckoo; the son knocks his legs down, dies; blood turns the evening clouds red; when she comes home, the husband decides that the cuckoo has taken his wife and son]: 34-35 ( retelling to Janhunen 1992:36-37); Nenets tales 1939 [the poor woman's four children do not help her mother; she fell ill, asked for water, one replied that he was without pims, the other without a hat, the third without clothes , the fourth did not answer anything; the mother was covered with feathers, made a tail from the board for scraping the skins, the iron thimble was a beak; the children run after them, ask them to return, carry water, injured their legs, in the tundra now there is red moss, but the cuckoo does not raise children]: 5-10; Nenyang 1997 (Taimyr Nenets) [mother sews, asks her son and daughter for water, they play, do not pay attention; the mother attached goose wings to herself, with which they sweep rubbish, the cutting board instead of the tail, the thimble is the beak, turned into a cuckoo, flew away through the smoke hole; children with a scoop of water ran after her along the tundra, bloodied their legs, since then there is red grass; therefore, the cuckoo does not incubate chicks]: 140-141; Pushkareva 1983 [(original in Pyrerka 1936:3-4); as in Nenets Tales, but blood colors autumn leaves]: 70 in Yanhunen 1992:36-37; Tereshchenko 1949 [four children play, do not listen to their mother; in the summer, the mother fell ill and asked for water; the children refuse and play; the mother made a tail out of a plank for making reeds, wings with which they sweep the floor, their beak is made of thimble; now the children offer her water, but her mother has become a cuckoo, flew away; the children ran after her all summer and winter; now the cuckoo does not raise children by itself]: 129-130; Startsev 1930 (tundra ?) [the cuckoo was a beautiful woman; she had two daughters; when she was sewing her dress, she swallowed her thimble; asked her daughters for a drink, but there was no water in the plague; the daughters ran to the river to get water, but on the way they became play and forgot about her mother; she got angry, turned and the bird flew away from home; since then she has become a cuckoo and does not like children]: 107; Entsy: Sorokina, Bolina 2005, No. 33 [mother is sick, asks for water, four children do not react; the mother made wings out of brooms, her nose out of a thimble, became a cuckoo; the children run after her, covered her legs; where the red earth, the bushes, there is this blood], 34 [the mother did everything herself, her legs got wet, got sick; asked her eldest daughter to bring water - "Go by yourself"; the same with all the children; the woman put a scraper on her back, made a knife out of a thimble, became a cuckoo; the children were frightened, followed by her they run, they still say they are running], 35 [the mother asks for water, each of the four children refuses; she makes her nose out of a thimble, wings out of panicles, flies away with a cuckoo; the children run after her, promise to give water; mother says she'll get drunk herself now], 36 [mother is ill, both sons did not give water; she put a stapling board instead of wings, a thimble instead of a nose, flew away with a cuckoo; cuckoos do not raise chicks], 37 [The mother's four children do not help, she fell ill, they did not give her water; she made her nose out of a thimble, wings out of scrapers, her back out of a Lithuanian woman (board), flew away with a cuckoo; the children run after a ladle, bloodied legs, since then the moss is red], 38 [the mother is sick, asks for water, both of her girls do not give; the mother made wings from scrapers, the tail is out of the board, flew away with a cuckoo; daughters run after the ladle, their legs are bloody, with since then, red moss]: 154-155, 156, 157-158, 159, 161, 163-164; northern Khanty: Aksyanova et al. 2005, No. 8 (son) [mother asks her son and daughter for water; they refuse; she makes her tongue out of a needle, a thimble nose, panicle wings, a tail from a sewing board, flies away like a cuckoo; her husband Voshan-Kurtan is making a paddle and a boat at the pier, trying to hit the cuckoo with an oar, a paddle and a boat split; he realizes that this is his wife]: 236-257; Nikolaeva 1999 (northern, Obdorsk, 1992), No. 36 [the woman's 4 sons play, do not help her; she fell ill, asked for a drink; the eldest replied that He has no shoes, the other has hats, the third has clothes, the youngest kept silent; they ran away; the eldest son entered the house, saw his mother put on a sable coat, became a cuckoo, flew; the children ran after him, promising bring water, but the mother replied that it was not necessary; while running, the children injured their legs, there were red marks on the ground since then, and the cuckoo did not make a nest]: 222-223; Eastern Khanty (b. Agan between Nizhnevartovsk and Surgut) [(=Lukina 1990, No. 16:75-76); her husband went fishing, Kazim-Imi's wife (it is not clear whether a revered spirit or just a "woman from Kazym") asked the children to drink, they did not give she turned into a cuckoo; her son and daughter chased her with a mug through the woods, did not catch up; she got into her husband's boat, who hit the cuckoo, the boat and the paddle split; since then the cuckoo has been screaming, Polwesla, boats]: Kulemzin, Lukina 1978, No. 22:22; Mansi: Kumaeva 2015, No. 13 (Berezovsky district) [the woman has three daughters, she is ill, sends them for water; they do not listen, they play; the woman has a thimble to her nose attached, panicles made of bird wings instead of wings, the cutting board was the tail, flew like a cuckoo; the children run after her, promise to bring water, ask her to return; legs and arms pierced with rose hips; now like this a shrub with red bark is a "cuckoo leg bush"; traces of blood remain on those bushes]: 127-129; Rombandeeva 2005, No. 30 [mother sews, asks for water, the children do not listen; she turned the cutting board into a tail, the thimble is the nose, the panicles of duck wings are the wings, flew away as a cuckoo; the children are running after her, scratched their legs, so the talnik is red; the cuckoo sat on the bow of her husband's boat, he hit her with an oar, broke the oar and the boat; one daughter died under larch, the other under spruce]: 259-261; Northern Selkups: Golovnev 1995 [Shakalya was a woman; her throat was dry, she asked her children to bring water; they did not bring it; she took tail needles, a wing shovel, a beak thimble and flew away]: 519; Sangi 1989 [two sons refused to give water to the sick mother; she made a nose out of a thimble, wings out of a thimble, wings from a skin scraper, a needle tail, flew away like a cuckoo; the sons rushed to catch up to give water, ripped their bellies against branches, hung on branches; their father found them there]: 127-128; chum salmon: Alekseenko 2001, No. 25 [Cuckoo had a son and a daughter; she was ill, her children did not carry water; she made a torso out of a handicraft bag, a head out of a needle bed, wings out of a scraper and a pulp; she flew away; the children ran after her, theirs the entrails of the trees were unwound, they died; and the cuckoo kept calling the children], 26 [The cuckoo was a good mother, and when she fell ill, the children did not give her water; she took a ball, an iron and a scraper, made it out of their wings and tail flew away; son and daughter did not fly well; they chased their mother, their guts wrapped around the talnik, they died]: 81; Anuchin 1914 [The cuckoo was a woman, she had a daughter and a son; she was angry cursed them, the children disappeared; the woman felt sorry for the children; she turned to a cuckoo, flew to look for them; she is still looking for and shouting kokui, who ("one daughter, one son")]: 17; Porotova 1982 [= Alekseenko, No. 26]: 70; Dulzon 1969, No. 69 [grandmother and granddaughter live; grandmother is sick, asks her granddaughter to bring water; she refuses; grandmother says she will fly away, turns into a cuckoo, flies away; her throat it's dry, so she screams, Ku-ku (quoted in Yanhunen 1992:39-40)]: 212; Nikolaeva 2006 (Berdnikova said, pos. Surgutikha, Turukhansky District) [the children just played, the mother worked, fell ill, asked for a drink, the children continue to play; the mother made her head out of the needle box, the back out of the ball, the wings from the scraper, the beak out of thimble, became a cuckoo, flew, shouting, "One son, one daughter!" ; children cried, ran after their mother, were bloodshot, tired, died]: 47-49; Donner 1933 [husband and wife had a son and daughter; parents asked the children to bring water, they did not bring it; mother took iron scrapers for the skins, one of them turned into wings and the other into a bird's chest bone; the mother became a cuckoo and flew away; the father was the same; the children died; their guts remained in the trees they were on climbed to see parents; after all this, the cuckoo screams qok h Å«n, qok h p ('one daughter, one son')]: 99; yugi [blind patient a woman asks her niece for water; she does not; a woman flies away with a cuckoo, her throat is dry, she screams, cuckoo]: Werner 1997, No. 29:285.

Eastern Siberia. Western Evenks [1) Ilimpic, Tura, 2007; a lazy girl did not want to bring her mother water and firewood; she turned into a bird and flew away; the girl cried for a long time, then became a fish; Podkamennotunguskys, Chirinda: lazy children, a boy and a girl, did not want to bring water and firewood to their mother; she turned into a bird and flew away]: Duvakin 2013; Evens: Limorenko 2008 (Momsky ulus of Yakutia) [one woman had three children; when she fell ill, the children did not bring her water, but played all day long; the woman turned into a cuckoo; she is offended by her children, so she does not hatch her eggs]: 19; Robbeck 2005 [a woman is sick, spoiled children are playing, did not bring her water; a bird calls her, tells her to crawl to the door and then she will pick her up; the bird has given her wings, she has become a cuckoo and has flown away; since then the cuckoo does not look after its chicks]: 238-239.

SV Asia. Forest Yukaghirs (recorded by L.N. Zhukova from L.N. Demina, virgin. Dyachkova, 70 years old, compiler of textbooks on Yukaghir language and folklore) [the sick woman has two children; she asks them to bring water, light a fire, cook; they do not listen, they continue to play ; someone came up: let's go with me; woman: I'm barely alive; came: I'll give you flying hair, blew, the woman covered herself with a bird's feather, tore the plague tire in half, pulled it over her bones, made wings, from She made a tail on the cutting board, became a cuckoo; the children ran after them, asked their mother not to leave them, but the mother, offended, flew away; the children ran along the tundra without shoes, the blood from their legs on the moss is still visible]: Zhukova, Chernetsov 1992:18-19.

NW Coast. Nootka (see catlamet below).

The coast is the Plateau. Western sachaptin [a woman asks her children for water, they do not give her, she turns into a bird and flies away; her husband Luk scolds the children, leaves; a sister and little brother go to their relative to the boat manufacturer; they are noticed by the owl cannibal; they turn into worms, the Owl puts them in her bag; they shout that his children are burning; he leaves his bag, runs to check; the children come running to the river, asking the boat manufacturer to transport them; he stretches his leg like a bridge; Owl replies that he ate the children; sends Cancer, Oyster, Butterfly to carry the Owl in a boat; Cancer tells Owl to tie stones for balance , breaks the boat, drowns the Owl]: Farrand, Mayer 1917, No. 14:176-177; ne perse: Phinney 1934 [the girl does not want to bring water to her mother; she attaches feathers to her hands, flies away; her husband turns into a bow; a girl and her little brother meet the Bear; they turn into two worms, she puts them in the basket; they crawl away, the cubs find an empty basket; the children ask their grandfather Long-legged (a crane?) transport them across the river; he stretches his leg like a bridge; the bear is afraid to step on it, asks for a boat; the long-legged overturns the boat in the middle of the river, the Bear sinks]: 434-437; Spinden 1917, No. 13 [ a woman asks her son and daughter for water, they are in no hurry; she attaches feathers to her hands, turns into a crow, flies away; their father becomes an old flintlock gun; the children go to their grandfather; when they see an Owl, turn into two worms; an owl puts them in a bag; they scream that her house is on fire; an owl runs to her children, a boy and a girl run away; a grandfather stretches a leg for them across the river, hides it under a boat; Butterfly, Cancer, Oyster, Salmon, Swallow make a boat out of parsnip, advise Owl to tie stones to her neck; Owl sinks]: 192-193; Nootka and Katlamet ["Water refused a woman who subsequently is changed into a bird"]: Boas 2002:674; Boas does not provide links other than "Cathl.; Nut., p. 109"; it was not possible to determine what publications he was talking about; as in the main Boas collection of catlamet texts (Boas 1991a), nor does the Boas 2002 Nootka text collection contain this motive.