E1b1. Forbidden work for a daughter-in-law. 11.-.13. (.15.)

A person who marries an unusual girl is warned that she should not do a specific job or eat certain foods. Other members of his household ensure that a young woman breaks the ban, and as a result dies or disappears.

Kikuyu, Karanga, Lenje, Raspberry, Nyang or Ekoi, Efik and Ibibio, Igbo, Ijo, Zaghawa.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Kikuyu [a man noticed an ostrich sleeping, frightened her, took an egg, put it in a vessel, adding oil; a girl was born from an egg, grew up; the man fell in love with her more than his wife, she is jealous; the man said to his wife that a girl should not go to the river to get water; but her wife sent her, calling her an ostrich egg found by the road; the girl went in the river, dipped, turned into an ostrich and ran away]: Mwangi 1983:127- 129; karanga [childless couple's wife sculpted the girl out of wax, she came to life; she grew up; her father tells her fiancé not to let her work in the sun; her mother-in-law sent her to get water on a sunny day, she melted; the groom had to pay her father for it]: Sicard 1952, No. 154:310-311 (transferred to Zhukov, Kotlyar 1976, No. 145:360-361); Lenje [while the mother is hunting, the daughter sits on a tree and weaves baskets; she was noticed, told the chief, he sent people; they want to cut down a tree; the pet girl, calling her mother; she immediately appears, makes the movements she does when weaving baskets, everyone falls dead; one she kept alive, sending her to the chief; the same for the second time; then the chief tells all pregnant women to give birth; red-skinned babies come, tie the girl with their umbilical cords, the mother is powerless; only orders that the daughter weave baskets, but did not push in a mortar or go out at night to get water; when the chief is away, his mother makes her grind; she slowly falls into the ground, sings about what was happening; when she left headlong, the mortar continues grind herself in this place; women want to send a bird to tell its mother; reject a crane, a crow, a quail (they have slurred voices), send a dove (she correctly calls the girl's name "the one that nurses the sun"; mother goes carrying the potion and animal tails, sings who she turns to, dies (it's a zebra, someone else); conjures where the mortar pushes; daughter comes back from the ground]: Torrend 1921, No. 16:85-89 .

West Africa. Malinka [Mansa wants the calebass under the termite mound to become a girl; the girl warns that he should not force her to approach the fire; M.'s first wife makes her come to the hearth, it spreads fat; the first wife calls the dog to eat fat, but she sings a song about what happened; M. kills his evil wife]: Zhukov, Kotlyar 1976, No. 143:356-358; Kera [the sorcerer told a childless woman make four pots, burn her, one will burst, become a girl; she is beautiful, the other wife's daughter is ugly; the young man rejects her, takes the beautiful one; the mother gives her on the condition that she does not fall into the rain; her mother-in-law takes her to the forest for brushwood, refuses to return when the rain approaches; the girl turns into a pile of clay; her mother-in-law puts on her bracelets, goes to her son's bed, pretending to be his wife; son feels stiff skin, exposes the mother; to revive a girl, her mother tells her husband to collect clay, to kill his mother he kills]: Ebert 1975, No. 9:295-299; ijo (kalabari) [beautiful fat the girl was made of butter; her mother did not marry her because she could not work in the field under the sun; one groom promised to keep his wife in the shadows at all times; the young woman took her little sister with her; his first wife the man was indignant that the new one was not working, and she finally agreed, although her sister begged not to go out of the shadows; she melted, leaving only her thumb covered with a leaf; the sister put it down in a pot, filled it with water and sealed it with clay; told her husband that her sister would be reborn, but he must drive her first wife away; the husband returned her to her parents, they sold her, and gave him the cowrie they had received as compensation for dowry; melted revived, husband happy; since then, wives returned to their parents have been sold into slavery and the money is transferred to her husband]: Dayrell 1910, No. 24:83-84; Niang or Ekoi [elderly woman childless; edible plants grow nearby; when a woman leaves, 4 girls come out of the plants, cook in her hut, eat, and return to the plants; a neighbor peeked and told; woman I found the girls, asked them to stay; they agreed that the woman would not feed them the plants they came from; the girls grew up and one of them, Etinyung, was especially prettier; chief fell in love with her; the woman gave her away on the condition that E. would not eat the plant from which she came; other wives, out of jealousy, mixed it into her food; she and her sisters returned to the plants; if not for this it happened that older women could still have children like this]: Kunze 1990:108-110; ether and ibibio [mother refuses grooms because her beautiful fat daughter is made of oil and she cannot work in the fields; the stranger persuaded him to give him the girl, promising to always keep her in the shadows; his other wife is outraged, for all the work is on her; in the absence of her husband, she makes oil a woman to go to the field; the younger sister of an oil woman asks in vain not to do this; only her thumb covered with a leaf was left in the field; her sister picked it up, put it in a vessel with with water; explained to her sister's husband that she would be reborn in three months, but if he did not drive away the evil wife, she would take the vessel to her mother; the husband returned the evil to her parents, who sold her into slavery, returned her husband dowry, This money he celebrated the revival of his fat wife; since then, wives returned by their husbands have been sold into slavery by their parents]: Radin 1952, No. 70:160-161 (=Jablow 196:189-192); Igbo [ The man has a daughter Manu ("oil"); he warns grooms that she should not light a fire or go out in the sun; no one dares to take her; finally, one person married her; once went to business with the servants, leaving home alone; but the woman did not cook for the woman; she was forced to start lighting the fire herself to cook and melted; the parrot dipped its tail in a red puddle and flew report the misfortune to her husband; since then, the tail of the gray parrot is red]: Basden 1921:276-277.

Sudan - East Africa. Zaghawa [the girl rejects the grooms, marries a handsome man, he turns out to be a snake, brings him to her cave; she sings about her fate, asking the birds to tell her seven brothers about her; gorlinka, the weaver they drink the water given to her, but refuse to fly because she drove them away from the grain; the raven flies, sings her song, leads her brothers, each one cuts off the head of a seven-headed snake; on the way home, the girl finds an egg Six days later, a girl comes out of him; the rider asks her to give him water, enough, takes him away; the mother then shouts that her daughter should not light a fire; in his absence, his other wives light a fire, to see her face; she dies right away, they bury her; a horse, a chicken and a lamb tell her husband about it, who makes a fire in the pit, throws his wives there; when their children scream, Father, he keeps them safe life, but then they scream, Mother, he throws them into the fire too]: Tibiana, Tibiana 1961, No. 5:35-39.

(Wed. Southern Europe. Italians (Tuscany) [after giving birth to Rosina, her mother died; stepmother gave birth to a daughter Assunta; they grew up, people admire R.'s beauty, consider swarthy A. ugly; A. asks his mother to send R. to spin hemp, mow grass and herd cows, starve and beat in the evenings; spin and mow at the same time; the old cow spins herself, chewing yarn and winding it around its horn; after finding out what's going on, A. goes by herself with cows, but they just confused the yarn; A. asks his mother to send R. to steal the salad from her neighbor; by the fence. R. did not see a salad, but a turnip; she pulled out one, under it a toad's nest; she praises little toads; dropping one, she laments that the leg is broken; the toads call it good and make it beautiful as the sun; the toad with R. curses with a broken leg: seeing a ray of sunshine, R. will become a snake and will turn into a girl again only after walking through the fire of the stove; after that, R. did not leave the house during the day, asking her stepmother and her daughter not to let her work on the street; the prince sees R., marries her, takes her away; her stepmother persuaded the coachman to open the roof of the carriage when the sun shines; he did so, R. turned into a snake, crawled away; at this time, during a wedding feast was being prepared for the palace; the cook put a bunch of brushwood he had just brought into the oven and could not pull the snake out of it; a naked beauty jumped out of the fire; everything is fine]: Calvino 1980, No. 64:225- 229).