B72C. The blood of runners colors objects.. 28.32.35.39.

Children run after their mother, injure themselves, their blood stains plants, the earth, and the evening sky.

Ukrainians (Volyn), Kazan Tatars, Nenets, Ents, Northern Khanty, Mansi, Forest Yukaghirs.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Volyn region, Ivanchevsky district, 1977) [the fisherman's widow has four children (only older and younger brothers and middle sister are mentioned below), she fell ill and 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 turned into a cuckoo; the children grabbed a bucket, a ladle, etc., ran after their mother, but she shouts to them that it is too late; they ran feet have been bloody, since then, moss with red specks in forests and glades]: Ioanid 1985:83-84.

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.

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; the blood turns the evening clouds red; when she comes home, the husband decides that the cuckoo has taken his wife away and son]: 34-35 (retelling in 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; the mother covered herself with feathers, made a tail from the board for scraping the skins, the iron thimble a beak; the children run after them, ask them to return, carry water, were wounded legs, there is now red moss in the tundra, and 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; mother attached goose wings, which sweep rubbish, a cutting board instead of a tail, a thimble, a beak, turned into a cuckoo, flew away through a smoke hole; children with a scoop of water ran after her along the tundra, their legs have been bloody, since then there has been red grass; therefore, the cuckoo does not incubate chicks]: 140-141; Ents: Sorokina, Bolina 2005, No. 33 [mother falls ill, asks for water, four children do not they react; the mother made wings out of brooms, her nose out of a thimble, became a cuckoo; the children run after her, their legs were bloody; where the earth is red, the bushes are this blood], 36 [mother is sick, both sons are not they gave water; she attached 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 is ill, they did not give her water; she made a nose out of a thimble, wings out of scrapers, her back out of a Lithuanian woman (board), flew away with a cuckoo; the children are running after the ladle, their legs have been bloody, since then the moss has been red], 38 [the mother is ill, asks for water, both of her girls do not give it; her mother made wings out of scrapers, the tail out of the board, flew away with a cuckoo; daughters run after the ladle, their legs have been bloody, since then the moss has been red]: 154-155, 159, 161, 163-164; Northern Khanty (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 had no shoes, the other had hats, the third was 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 to bring water, but the mother replied that no need; children injured their legs on the run, red marks have remained on the ground since then, and the cuckoo does not nest]: Nikolaeva 1999:222-223; Mansi: Kumaeva 2015, No. 13 (Berezovsky district) [y women have three daughters, she is ill, sends them for water; they do not listen, they play; the woman attached a thimble to her nose, panicles made of bird wings instead of wings, a cutting board - a tail, flew a cuckoo; children They run after her, promise to bring water, ask her to return; legs and arms have been pierced with rose hips; now such 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, children do not listen; she turned the cutting board into a tail, her thimble - her nose, duck wing panicles - wings, flew away like a cuckoo; the children are running after Her legs were scratched, so the talnik was red; the cuckoo sat on the bow of her husband's boat, he hit her with an oar, broke the paddle and the boat; one daughter died under the larch, the other under the spruce tree]: 259-261.

SV Asia. Forest Yukaghirs (recorded by L.N. Zhukova from L.N. Demina, maiden. 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.