B73A. Looking for a horse.. 27.29.33.34. (.38.)
Agirl (a boy, a girl with a brother; two little brothers) searches for a missing horse, cow, sheep and as a result (alone or with her brother; both brothers) turns into a bird (usually cuckoo) with a characteristic call-up cry.
Romanians, Adygs, Kumyks, Rutulans, Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis (Lankaran), Kazakhs, (Japanese).
The Balkans. Romanians [Florea girl was orphaned; she hired horses to feed herself; they ran away and she could not find them; fearing to return to her owners, she prayed to God, and he turned her into the oriole, which is still afraid of horse owners]: Dähnhardt 1910:398.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Adygi [the widow has a boy Tutsuk ("little Tu") and a girl Kulya; her mother is lost, disappeared; T. goes to look for her mother; K. runs, screams, Kagaz, Tutsuk ("come back, little Tu"); falls asleep in in the forest, wakes up as a bird, still screams, Kagaz, Tutsuk! Tivi-i]: Kapiyeva 1991:66-68; Kumyks: Bagriy 1930 (2) [zap. L.G. Lopatinsky from a student of Temirkhandura Real School); brother left, told his sister to look after the horse; sister sat down to sew dudes out of red morocco, did not notice how the horse had disappeared; rushed looking for him in the forest, then to the lake; asked God to turn it into a bird, became a stork; my brother looked for his sister, asked him to make him a stork; storks are looking for each other, one screams, At yok, the other, Gyz yok; (the motif of a dude dressed on one leg is clearly missed)]: 46-48; Hajiyeva 1961 [brother instructed his sister to look after the horse; she became interested in work, the horse disappeared; wearing a dude on one leg, She rushed to look for him; afraid to return without a horse, asked God to turn it into a beautiful bird; this bird has different legs, one with a morocco dude; unable to find a sister, the brother asked him to be turned into one bird; looking for each other; sister shouts at ek ("no horse"), brother, anjagyanna-mgya kyz yz ek ("what a horse, no girl"); these birds are called at ek kushlyar]: 330; Rutulans [on a rainy day, farmhand Yusuf herded the master's sheep; they were gone; he asked Jinisha to turn him into a bird; became a Sigirchu bird, which has a bird's head and a human body; a staff and a dog too have become birds; they follow S. looking for sheep; they shout in bird voices, and S. answers, "Found it! Found it!"] : Khalidova 2012, No. 167:202; Georgians: Virsaladze 1973, No. 97 [brother and sister herd stepmother's cattle, cattle go missing; stepmother forbids them to return until they find them; God turned children out of pity in birds, they're still screaming (Found it? - No); note: "a popular legend in Georgia"]: 150; Mashurko 1894:237 [two stepsons lost a cow, their stepmother drove them to look for it, they shouted "Did you see it?" - "No!" ; St. George turned them into cuckoos out of pity], 237-238 [stepdaughter and stepson lost a cow, stepmother drove them to look for her, they shouted "Found it?" - "No!" ; God turned them into orioles out of pity]; Armenians [brother and sister lived with their stepmother, grazed an ox, lost it; stepmother told them not to return without cattle; they asked God to give them wings, he turned them into owls; they still echo: -Sahak! - Uh, gay, found it? - No]: Harutyunyan 2007:41; Azerbaijanis: Bagriy 1930 (1) (Lankaran) [brothers Musa and Isa grazed their harsh father's bulls, fell asleep, the bulls were stolen; the brothers did not dare to return home, asked Allah make them birds to make it easier to search for bulls; Allah has turned them into cuckoos; the youngest asks the elder, Isa, tapdun? (found it?) , he answers, Yeoh, yoh]: 235-236; Yemelyanov 1896 (Ganja) [brother and sister drove the oxen to graze, the oxen are gone; stepmother ordered to find and return; brother and sister split up; brother screams from one mountain "gtar?" (found it?) , the sister answers "wow" (no); they asked God to turn them into birds, became owls, they still scream like this]: 192.
Turkestan. Kazakhs: Valikhanov 1984 [the groom arrived, his horse was lost, the bride's sister went in search, hurriedly put on one groom's boot and the other her own; it was spring, that's why the cuckoo's one leg is red, the other is blue, and that's why they shout, Aty jok k cake (note: "hoopoe, letters. 'nameless cuckoo '"]: 210; Daurenbekov 1979 [the older sister took possession of all the property, got married, took the youngest as a laborer; sent her to look for the missing horse; the youngest lost her way in despair, everything shouted, At zhok, became a cuckoo, still screams]: 261; Potanin 1972, No. 9 [the older sister got married; the youngest went to look for her son-in-law's missing horse, she got lost herself; going in search, on She put on a black boot on one leg, her son-in-law's red boot on the other; everyone shouts "At jok (no horse) kukuk!"] : 51; Mongolian Kazakhs {"Mongols" in publications, but the text is clearly Turkic}: Dähnhardt 1910 [the older sister is married, the youngest is not; the husband has lost his horse, his wife's sister was sent to look for her; she got lost , became a cuckoo, still screams, At jok ("no horse"); when she left, she put her black boot on one leg and her sister's red boot on the other]: 526; Ikeda 1971, No. 249D [(apparently the same text that's in Dähnhardt); a girl herds her horses, disappears alone, a girl is driven to look for her, she turns into a bird (a cuckoo?) ; one leg is black (put on her boot), the other is red (wearing her son-in-law's boots)]: 58.
(Wed. Japan. The Japanese [Why the Water-Begging Bird Suffers Thirst, 20 versions within Honshu; I. The servant forgets to give the horses a drink and they die of thirst; II. As punishment, he is turned into a red-breasted bird that asks for a drink, always thirsty; it flies to the river to get drunk, takes the reflection of its breast for the fire, so it quenches its thirst only with drops of rain, picking them up on the fly or picking them up from leaves; the bird always looks at the sky and asks for rain; the lark, which the servant has become, always looks at the sky and asks for rain; the lark flies to the sky in blue , believing it's water; when he takes off, he sees water below on earth, and flies up and down all day]: Ikeda Ikeda 1971, No. 249G: 59-60).