C30C. Drink the sea .16.23.27.29.
Theman promises to drink the sea, but at the last moment he says that his opponent must first separate sea waters from the water of rivers flowing into the sea.
Irish, Tamils, Ancient Greece, Montenegrins, Crimean Tatars, Abkhazians, Kabardian people, Balkarians, Georgians.
Western Europe. The Irish [a beggar came to the master with a seven-year-old girl; gladly agreed to earn money by work when the gentleman offered him a house; the master began to molest the girl and to get rid of her father, asked him the question: there are more rivers or banks in the world; if he does not answer, he will be executed; the daughter advised him to say that each river has two banks; then: how many stars there are in the sky; man on the advice of his daughter: I will tell you if you put poles under them; how much sea (in quarts); daughter to father: ask him to stop the rivers flowing into the sea; the master asks the girl to marry; she agrees with the condition that if he kicks her out, he will allow her to take three carts of goodness with him; they are married, two children; one peasant has a stallion and the other has a mare; a foal was born, the stallion's owner claims to have given birth stallion; the gentleman offered to see who the foal would come out of the stable; he went out for the stallion, the master decided in favor of the stallion's owner; the wife pretended to fish on the shore; mister got angry and told her to leave; the wife put her husband on two carts and her husband on two carts; he hugged her, everything is fine]: Larminie 1983:174-178.
South Asia. Tamils [someone promised the king to drink the sea; to see such a miracle, the king gave him a lot of money; at the last moment, man demanded that the king first stop the rivers flowing into the sea, for he did not promise to drink the water that arrives]: Robertson 1885, No. 14:37-38.
The Balkans. Ancient Greece: Gasparov 1968 [The Biography of Aesop (The Tale of Xanthas the Philosopher and Aesop, His Slave, or Aesop's Adventures, senior edition, XV.69-73), known from a manuscript of the late 10th century and probably compiled in the 2nd-1st centuries BC: while drunk, Xanthos pledged everything he had, as if he would drink the sea, and gave his disciple a ring as collateral for his property; the next morning he begged Aesop to come up with a way to win or get rid of this argument; Aesop said: "When it's full of people, then you'll collect a bowl of seawater, put it before a judge and ask: "So what are we conditions?" He'll say, "To drink the sea." You'll ask: "Is that all?" He'll say, "That's it." Then you will turn to the witnesses and say: "My dear citizens, many rivers flow into the sea, both deep and high water, and I have sworn to drink only the sea, not the rivers that flow into it. Let my opponent shut down all the rivers and then I'll drink the sea!" You can't close all the rivers in the world, you can't drink the sea - that's it, no, you'll get rid of this dispute"; Xanthos followed the advice, the student recognized him as the winner and begged for reconciliation] : 39-41; (cf. ["The Feast of the Seven Wise Men" by Plutarch (1st-2nd centuries): "{Periander:} "My respectable guests, I have always liked that cities and rulers, when they come to them, first respond to foreigners, and then fellow citizens. So now I think that our speeches, local and familiar, could have been delayed, opening the way, as in the meeting, to Egyptian and royal speeches delivered to Biant by our glorious friend Niloxen and Biant I wanted to listen to them with us." "Of course," said Biant, "where and with whom, if not with you, will I take such a challenge more confidently? And the king himself ordered, when he started the survey with me, to bypass you all later." Niloxen presented him with a royal charter, but Biant asked him to print it out and read it in front of everyone. And this is what it said: "Amasis, king of Egypt, to Biantu, the wisest of the Hellenes. The Ethiopian king is competing with me in wisdom; and although I have surpassed him in everything, he finally gave me a strange and ridiculous task: to drink the sea! If I allow it, I will get many villages and towns from him; if I don't, I must cede cities to him under Elephantine. Think about it and notify me immediately through Niloxen. And for this, your friends and fellow citizens will never need me to help." After reading this, Biant did not hesitate: after thinking to himself for a short time and talking to Cleobul lying next to him for a short time, he asked: "What are you saying, Navkratian? Would Amasis, king over a crowded people and owner of such a beautiful land, want to drink the sea for some miserable and unusable villages?" Niloxen just laughed at it: "Imagine, Biant, that he wants this, and think about what you can do." "Let him tell that Ethiopian," said Biant, "to lock up all the rivers that flow into the sea while the king drinks it, because it was about the sea that is there, not the one that will arrive." At such Biantov's words, Niloxen rushed to him with pleasure, hugged him and kissed him. Everyone began to approve and praise this answer" (trans. M.L. Gasparova)]: Plut. Sept. sap. conv. VI); Montenegrins [the king is surprised at the wise speeches of the poor man; he explains that his daughter has taught her everything; the king sends her 30 boiled eggs, tells her to take out the chickens; she tells her father to sow boiled beans in front of the king's eyes ; king: make ropes and sails out of a bunch of flax; girl: make a spindle, a spinning wheel, etc. out of a piece of wood; king: let the sea scoop out with a cup; girl: let this tow cover all springs and lakes; king: what louder? girl: thunder and lies; king: how much does my beard cost? girl: three summer rains; the king takes her as his wife; the girl takes a receipt: if the king gets angry and drives her away, she can take the most precious thing; the king is angry, told him to leave; his wife gave him drink, brought him to for himself - he is the most precious thing; the tsar returned his wife]: Karadzic 1854, No. 25:157-161 (=Golenishchev-Kutuzov 1991:309-312, =Eschker 1992, No. 42:194-198).
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars [a rich man offered a thousand chervonets to someone who would drink the Black Sea; Nasradin-Oja promised to do it; the people gathered; BUT said he was ready, but let the rich man stop first or will divert the rivers flowing into the sea; those present recognized the demand as fair and awarded the money OH]: Kondaraki 1875:113; Abkhazians [the king promises a daughter to the one who will drain the sea; Serim undertakes it do it, but tells the king to drain the rivers that flow into the sea first; gets the princess; at a feast, tells his dairy brother Kerim to give a piece of meat to the one who loves him more; he gives half to the dog, eats the other himself; the wife is insulted, leaves; S. beats K. and the dog; K. says he did the right thing: dogs love S., although they were beaten, and the wife left, angry over a trifle; S. buys all the cattle, the king is starving, returns the princess to Serim, giving a large dowry]: Gulia 1909:30-32; Kabardian people [the boastful horseman promised to drink the sea; friends promised to give him their horses in this case; servants were approaching, servants is approaching, the dzhigit does not know what to do; the neighbor advises to go to the sea, but ask friends to stop the rivers that flow into it; friends recognized him as the winner of the dispute]: Aliyeva, Kardangushev 1977:32-33; Balkarians [when the king grew old, his wife finally gave birth to a son and died soon; he took a new one; scientists said that if the boy lived to be 12, he would live a long life, and that he would become from a young age a great scientist; when the boy is 8 years old, the teachers were going to test him; but it was predicted that if at that time for 7 days the boy spoke, he would die; the stepmother promised to get the boy to talk; he is silent; she suggests that he accelerate the death of his father; the boy continues to remain silent; then the stepmother says that he is planning to kill his father; the king orders the execution of his son, but 7 courtiers ask him to wait and they tell stories that testify to women's cunning; after 7 days, the boy spoke and said that his boy was 5 years old and a deep old man taller; talked about them; three friends found a jewel, they left it with the old woman, went to resolve the dispute with Sharia; in the morning they sent one to that old woman for the crest; he shouts from a distance: He does not give it! The other two, thinking it's a hairbrush, are screaming, Dai! The old woman gave the jewel, the one who received it disappeared; the judge ordered her to reimburse the cost; the boy to the old woman: tell the judge that you have the jewel and you give it back if all three require it; as for old man, then one man brought a load of sandalwood to a place where there was no sandalwood; slave: our stoves are heated with sandalwood; the owner threw several pieces of sandalwood into the fire; expressed his willingness to buy sandalwood (of course, cheap); the man promised to think and went around town; two met: you and I bet and you promised to either drink the sea or give up your fortune; a man without one eye: you stole my eye and inserted for yourself, and if you don't give it back, you'll give your fortune; the old woman sent a man to Efendi; how can they supply all the seawater? let man demand; let him demand to compare his eye with a one-eyed eye to determine whether that eye is really his; the curve will not agree to part with his only eye; the king admired with the wisdom of his son and executed his wife]: Tulchinsky 1903:66-75; Georgians [the servant condemns the tsar for his frivolous lifestyle, he decided to get rid of him; demands to drink the sea, calculate the distance from the ground to heaven, to say what he thinks; the elder dressed in the clothes of a servant, came in his place; he would drink the sea if the king separated the water of the flowing rivers from him; he measured the distance, this is the yarn he measured, let the king measure will check; the tsar thinks that his servant is in front of him, but he is mistaken; the tsar was embarrassed and fell in love with his servant]: Kurdovanidze 1988 (2), No. 156:309-310.