F51B. It finds it by thread. .21.26.-.28.31.33.34.37.38.52.

To find out the nature or location of a character's locus, another quietly attaches a long thread to it and walks along it.

Sherdukpen, Hungarians, Koreans, Chinese (Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong), Namuzi, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Dungans, Altaians, Telengits, Buryats, Khalkha Mongols, Oirats (Durbuts), Manchus, Ancient Japan, Japanese, Miyako, North Ryukyu, soke.

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Sherdukpen [Gyamu-Lala-Pipi rejects bird grooms; The Bat comes at night, says he only has this appearance in the dark, and during the day he is the king of birds; G. agrees to marry him; he leaves until dawn; G. says her marriage will be decided in the afternoon at the Bird Council; The Bat promises to come, says his wife will recognize him; she secretly ties a red thread to his claw; at the council in the center sits a gorgeous Rooster, the Bat hides on the edge; G. sees and notices him, says to the birds, they laugh, the Bat runs away, has not shown up since then; G. became a forest bird, and her chick from Black Duck Bat]: Elwin 1958b, No. 9:385-386

The Balkans. Hungarians [Ibronka is prettier than everyone, but without a boyfriend; "God give me a lover - at least hell"; now a guy is with her at the party; she accidentally bent down and felt like he has hooves; asks advice from an elderly woman; she suggests attaching a ball to the guy; on an unwound thread she comes to church, then to the churchyard; I. sees through a keyhole how her boyfriend took out a skull dead man, cut it in half and eats his brain; I. home, locked the door, the guy behind her: what did you see? - Nothing. - Your sister will die. - If you die, we'll bury you. It's the same with your father, it's the same with your mother. - You're going to die Woman: When you are buried, you should not dismantle the wall through a door or window; carry the coffin not along the road, but straight; dig the grave not in the cemetery, but in a ditch; hell asks the door, the window is those they answer that I.'s body was not carried through them; the devil puts on iron shoes, takes an iron staff: when he wears out, then I. will find; a rose has grown on the grave; the prince tells the servant to tear it off, she is not given; the prince himself easily tore it off, brought it to his room; someone eats the food left in the evening; the servant followed; the next night the prince grabbed I.; she agrees to live with him, but on condition not to take her to church; two the boys have grown up, everyone wonders why they come to church without a mother; I. has to go; hell sees her, promises to come; asks again what I. saw through the keyhole; I. in detail tells the whole story; and ends up like this: I tell the dead, not the living; the devil falls screaming terribly and dies; I.'s mother, father and sister come to life]: Dégh 1965, No. 4:46-57.

China - Korea. Koreans: Garin-Mikhailovsky 1958 [the daughter of the leader of the nobility felt a shaggy beast next to her at night, which immediately crawled away; parents advised me to tie it to her leg next time the visitor had a silk thread; when they walked along the nit, it led to the lake; the girl's father pulled the thread, the beaver surfaced, then dived and did not appear again; the girl gave birth to a son Norachi ("red"); he grew up, married and settled on his father's lake; one day, the ancestor of the Ni-chai family dreamed of a dragon flying out of the lake; the old man said that the beaver had died; who would go down to his underwater palace and lay his bones the father in the right room will be the Chinese emperor, and whoever is in the left will be Korean; Ni-tea did not know how to swim and ask Norachi to dive and lay his bones; said that the Chinese emperor would be the one whose father's bones are in the left room; but Norachi did the opposite; No tea came to terms with it; Norachi had three sons; the third, Khan, had a terrible hairy face, and his gaze brought death; he did not leave the room and always sat with his eyes closed; No tea died; the old man told his son that there was a saber at the bottom of the well; whoever took possession of it would be the Emperor of China; the young man took out his sword and went to kill Norachi; but when he entered the room, he was frightened, put his sword at Khan's feet (his eyes were closed), galloped away; after learning from his father what had happened, Khan gathered his Manchus, moved to Beijing and became emperor; stones for Natcho served the construction of fortresses from the Sea; he only stuck his terrible head out of the water for a moment; the artist managed to draw it and since then Natcho's head has been decorating the entrances to the temple]: 482-485; Kontsevich, Riftin 1980 [a rich man has a daughter, a man in a dark purple dress comes to her at night; her father orders to pin a needle and thread to an unknown person's clothes; the next day, the thread is found under a northern fence stuck in the body of a large earthworm; this worm became Koenghwon's father]: 61; Trotsevich 1996 [same text; this worm became the father of the rebel Jinghwon]: 107; Choi 1979, № 201 [someone goes to a girl at night; father tells me to stick a needle and thread into his lover's clothes; they find a cave in the mountains by thread, where a dead serpent died by a needle]: 58; Ikeda 1971, № 411C [type known in Korea (Chosen Mintan Shu, p. 132)]: 103-104; Chinese (Hubei, Guangdong) [when watching a procession or visiting a temple, a girl sees a divine character, he she likes it; he turns into her night lover; the girl's mother gives advice on how to determine who her lover is; the girl soon dies to be with her lover, she turns into a deity herself]: Eberhard 1937, No. 109:165-166; Chinese (Shandong; cf. Klaus 2015:301-302) [An old monk with a 12-year-old novice lived near Mount Taishan (this is Shandong); tormented the boy with hard work, did not feed well; two girls came in red jackets and green pants, then they brought others; did any job easily; the monk forced the boy to talk about them; ordered the rope to be quietly tied to one of the girls's leg; found ginseng along the rope; threw four roots into the cauldron, the others were locked in the closet; the girls called for help; the boy opened the closet; the girls said that the four sisters could not be returned anyway, they had to escape; they scooped up soup from the cauldron and poured it on the ground, the temple began to climb into the clouds; the monk brought the other monks to cook all the roots and rejuvenate; clung to the temple, but the girl hit the monk on the fingers, he fell and crashed; in clear weather, over Mount Taishan a temple with red walls and a green roof is visible]: Riftin 1957:186-190; Chinese (Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangdong, Fujian) [pregnant woman dies, gives birth in the grave; her spirit goes out to buy food for the child; pays with money from the dead, i.e. paper, which is burned at the funeral; a thread is attached to it, a grave is found along the thread; a living baby is taken out of it]: Eberhard 1937, No. 115:174; namuzi [ the father learns that if he kills his seven daughters, he will have sons; he takes the girls to a shallow pond to dig water bulbs, lets water in, and everyone drowns except the youngest; she wears jewelry sisters; a neighbor (apparently everyone around is cannibals) asks for jewelry, the girl gives her a condition to change beds; at night a neighbor is killed instead of her; the girl first pretends that her stomach hurts, slowly picks up pieces of meat into her bag, runs away; ferocious dogs let her in, she throws meat, dogs stop eating it; she crosses the bridge, brings it down with her; comes to the house where they ask help weave hemp; the child says parents want to cook and eat it; she runs away; the same in another house; she returns to her parents; the father offers challenges that prove that the girl is his daughter (let the two halves of the log roll down and lie on top of each other; let two millstones); but still does not recognize the daughter; the mother gives her cattle and rapeseed, tells her to go look for her husband; she comes to the house where she is accepted ; her husband brings birds; does not say where; she secretly sticks a needle and thread into his clothes, walks along the thread to the golden island; the husband creates a beautiful house; the mother follows the rapeseed trail; the father too comes; the daughter asks if he wants to enter the golden or silver door, he says it's gold; she lets him into the wooden door; the same with the bed; brings bags with her, tells him to open it halfway, tying the horse to its leg; snakes crawl out of the bags, wasps fly out; the horse rushes, brings home only one leg of the owner]: Lakhi 2009 (1): 218-276.

Central Europe. Slovaks [Ibronka is the most beautiful, but the only one without a boyfriend; when the girls are going to spin, they laugh at her; she says, let the hell take her; a handsome man comes, the girls are jealous; seeing I. off, he disappears before midnight, no one knows where; she tied a thread to his clothes; a thread leads to the cemetery, I. sees her boyfriend eating dead from his bones; soon he comes to her and asks what she saw; I. says: nothing; in which case her brother will die; I.: so he will rest; so with all the members of the family; left alone, I. asks to drag her coffin under the threshold, let his pony be lucky bury her where he stops; the ghoul comes again - this time he promises that I. herself will die; the pony stopped at a fork in the road; a lily grew up on the grave; the young master saw her, sent a servant rip off - the lily disappeared; then the master tore it off himself, put it in his hat, brought it home; at night I. came out of the lily, cleaned everything up; on the third night, the master tells the servant to follow; he sees I. kissing I. the sleeping master and became a lily again; the servant did not tell and the master began to guard himself; he grabbed I. when she came to his bed; she turned into a toad, a lizard, a snake, etc., but in the end became a girl; they got married; a daughter was born; but I. does not go to church; her husband persuaded her and she saw a ghoul there; in the evening he came and asked what she saw in the cemetery; if she did not say, the daughter would die; she confessed; the ghoul disappeared, and I. died again and lies in the grave at a fork in the roads; her husband stayed to raise her daughter]: Dobšinský 1970, No. 32:173-177.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [a girl ties a thread to the button she is dancing with; she comes to the grave by thread]: Kerbelite 2001:262.

Turkestan. Dungan: Riftin et al. 1977, No. 18 [the old woman sends her daughter-in-law to find out why her daughter (adopted) withers; she replies that a handsome man comes to her at night to suck her blood; the old woman teaches her to stick a needle and thread in the visitor's clothes; in the morning a thread leads to the basket; a joo spider the size of a turtle is found in it; men are afraid; a fiery hand descends from the sky, carries a spider away; the girl recovers]: 136- 138; Yusurov 1970 [(cf. Manchus, Bäcker 1988); poor Tsunyu has a ten-year-old daughter Huar; the landowner is ill, he needs the oldest ginseng, he demands that C. get it, promises half of the land and wealth; the girl Bonfour comes to play, says that she lives in the forest; her parents have guessed who she is, agree to get ginseng; ask H. to stick a fishing hook with a red thread into B.'s clothes; in a dream B. asks H. not to dig her up, but to call her three times, she will go out on her own; C. finds ginseng on a thread, shouts "Bonfour" three times, the root jumps into his hands; C. doubts whether to run with his family and sell the root; B. comes to H. in a dream: give infusion to the landowner; he recovered, fulfilled the contract in the hope of selling the root at a high price; hid it in a chest, put it in custody; the governor fell ill, the landowner went to take ginseng, but the root has disappeared]: 51-57.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Altaians: Garf, Kuchiyak 1978 [Brother Boroldoy-Mergen tells sister Babosh-Aar, in his absence, not to fry maral liver, not to hide behind a sable blanket, not to go to a wooded the mountain; she roasts, the liver fills the fire, the girl comes to an old woman, whose ears serve as bedding and blanket; searches for spiders and centipedes in her head, takes out spiders and centipedes; gets fire; at home she notices that to the hem her fur coat is attached to the thread, cuts it off, hides in the rock; the old woman comes along the thread, asks objects if the BA is alive; the cauldron, the fire, the bed answer that no, otherwise the cauldron would not be cold, the fire would blaze ; skin warmups under the bed give BA, because if the BA comes back, it will make them work again; the old woman is ready to get her out of the cliff, but her brother kills her with an arrow; swallowed people come out of the womb, alone happy, others are not (the old woman's stomach was warm)]: 164-168; Sherstova, 227, 232 in Sagalaev, October 1990 [Böö-kan, son of Kaldan Khan, saw three swans on the lake; caught one, who turned out to be the daughter of Uch-Kurbustan; became her husband, went up to heaven with her; one day he went down to earth, despite his wife's ban, went to his earthly wife; she sewed red clothes to his clothes thread; when he returned, his heavenly wife drove him away; said that she would soon give birth to a son Shunu, whom BH would find on a full moon night under a birch tree wrapped in wolf skin, fed in milk for three maralukh]: 70; telengites (p. Saratan, Ulagan District) [Boodoy-Kyokshin tells Sister Boodoy-Koo not to kill the gray mare, not to go to Mount Bodiota; she stabbed the mare, put her liver on fire, the fire went out, she went to the mountain, comes to the wife of the seven-headed Diellbegen for fire; she tells me to look in her head, pulls a red thread out of BK's clothes; D. follows it for BC, kills, sucks blood; brother found his dead sister, hides in a hole; D. has one head singing, the other laughs, etc.; his brother kills him, revives his sister with blood; kills D.'s eldest, youngest sons, the middle one kills him; he is killed by his brother BK Kuzyl- Taadyi; sister leaves dead in the rock; Ai-Kaan's daughter Altyn-Tana and Kyung-Kaan Kyumyush-Tan can revive him; AK and Boodoy-Koo, disguised as brother, go after them; disguised as brother Boodoy-Koo wins competitions and gets both girls; they are surprised that the imaginary man knows how to handle a needle; ask him to make a spit; Boodoi-Koo does not know how, goes over the mountain, where her brother's horse cut out for her skewer; Boodoi-Koo goes forward, puts his brother's clothes on his body, leaves the body as if his brother fell off his horse, runs away like a hare; the girls see Bodo-Kyokshin's body, revive it with healing water, he takes them as his wife; finds his sister's note, catches them, brings a hare, does not know how to turn him back into a sister; wives do not like the hare, pour poison into his ears; brother puts the hare in the chest on the horns of the maral; hunter finds a beautiful woman in the chest, gets married; brother finds out about it, everyone lives in peace]: Sadalova 2002, No. 301-307; Buryats (SE Buryatia) [Zer Dalai sees a lung among the herd, it has turned into a 50-headed mangadhaya Asuri Shara; they decide to fight in 3 days; ZD hides sister Bashalay, a bird and a dog in a white rock; mangadhai kills him; asks all objects in the yurt where the inhabitants are; doorknob says that in a white rock; B. runs from the mangadhai, pours blood out of the tueska, the mangadhaya licks her off the ice, his tongue is an example, B. cut off his head; disguised as a man, goes to heaven at three Resurrections; finds himself inside a bottomless monster camel; there are people swallowed 5, 10 years ago; B. pierces a hole with an arrow, people and animals come out; Sunday women suspect that this is the girl, but she avoids the test; brings them to the remains of her brother, runs away herself, chipping in with a hare; the Resurrectionists revive ZD, become his wives; he is going to shoot at the hare, the sister tells me not shoot, takes on a human form; two older wives tied a ball of red thread to the ZD belt, found the house where B. lives; threw a gold ring into her mouth, she died; the youngest wife answers ZD, what is not to blame; he asks the elders what they want: the tails of 70 horses or the tips of 70 ribs; tied them to the tails of stallions; put the body of his sister ZD in a box, hung a blind red deer on the horns; the red deer came to Khartaganag Khan; a child and a golden ring fell out of the box; the girl grew up, the khan's son married her, they have a child; ZD found them, everything is fine]: Barannikova et al. 1993, No. 6:109-117; Khalkha Mongols : Potanin 1883:174-175 [The bat became a lover of the Golden Eagle, flew to her at night; she did not know her lover by sight; tied a red thread to her leg; the next morning Han Gurdy gathered the birds; the golden eagle saw his lover at the very bottom; he was sitting facing a tree, hiding from the sun's rays; the golden eagle threw him (retelling in Lörincz 1979, No. 220E: 228; Potanin 1893:329)], 230 [when Genghis was hunting, Someone came in to his wife; she touched the soot from the cauldron on his back; in the morning a stain was on her youngest son's back; she ordered his head, arms and penis to be cut off and brought to her; but only servants they cut off the braid, cuffs and foreskin; the prince became the ancestor of the Kyrgyz who do not wear braids, cuffs and circumcise]; Oirats (durbuts) [Geser Khan came to Losynai = Khan; daughter of that Anim- Mergen Khatun sewed a long thread into G.'s fur coat; on the trail of the thread, she caught up with G., began to ask; G.: I was reborn into different images until the age of 16; I invent what people lack for bliss; in other books say that he figured out how to make fire by flint; extract water in a waterless place; make the footsteps of an approaching thief and wolf audible; cause an unfaithful wife to appear incriminating her tail]: Potanin 1983, No. 82:330-331.

Amur - Sakhalin. Manchus [(cf. Dungans, Yusurov 1970); parents and son named Mushroom Hat live in the forest; he runs away from morning to night to play in the forest; parents are surprised; the boy replies that he is playing with him red fat man; they understand everything, give a needle with a red thread, tell them to quietly attach a needle to the fat man; watch their son; in the evening the fat man runs away; parents walk on a red thread, find a huge ginseng root; by morning they dug up; when the son found out, he was horrified; the parents put the root in the cauldron; the husband thought: I will become immortal, I will marry a beautiful fairy instead of my old wife; wife: I will have fun, I will not need anyone; if you eat the root in half, none will be immortal; wife: go get your parents; husband: and you go; both went out; at that moment the son took the root out of the cauldron, took it out yard; parents are back; everyone just walked around the house to be the first to take the root; husband: I came back to check if the window was closed or the thieves would take the root away; wife: and I - if the boiler lid was closed, or if the dog was closed will climb; the root turned into a fat red man, took the boy in his arms, ran away; the parents started fighting, and the root and boy were gone]: Bäcker 1988, No. 14:105-109.

Japan. Japanese [someone comes to the girl at night; she sticks a needle and thread in her lover's dress; finds a needle in the bark of an old cryptomeria; tells her parents; people cut the trunk, felling in the night it overgrows; all trees come to visit Cryptomeria; she says that shrubs have no place among trees; in revenge, he advises people to burn chips; a bridge has been made out of fallen cryptomeria ; the trunk was moved after the girl whispered something to him; when she stepped on the bridge, the girl died]: Markova 1991:172-174; Miyako Islands [an unknown man visits a girl from a rich woman at night family, she becomes pregnant; parents tell her to attach a thread to her lover's clothes to then identify him; following it, people come to the sacred cave where snakes live; the woman gave birth to three daughters, they became the first priestesses of the sanctuary in Harimuzu]: Maruyama 2009:32-33; Japanese (everywhere, that is, obviously including North Ryukyu) [an unknown young man visits his only daughter in a wealthy girl at night family; the nanny or mother advises him to put a needle and thread into his clothes; in the morning, the nanny walks along a thread stretching along the ground to a deep body of water or a hollow tree; (1) finds the snake dead or dying, for snakes can't stand iron (version 31); (2) hears a snake and his mother talking: "I told you not to go to a human girl." "I may die from an iron needle, but I will have an heir from a girl." "But people will give her sake at the party and the baby won't be born." Upon learning this, the girl does not give birth to an heir to a snake (42 versions); (3) a dying serpent predicts the birth of a son of amazing strength with three scales under his arm, he will become a famous warrior or monk (16 versions). This option also tells about a snake woman visiting a young man at night and giving birth to a hero before death (3 versions); (3) is included in the genealogy of ancient and noble families claiming to be descended from snake. In (2), where the nanny learns how to get rid of the fruit, the girl drinks a certain infusion or eats rice cakes at the holiday, ends with "why do we eat and drink this and that." The type is known in Korea {Chosen Mintan Shu, p. 132) and China (FFC 120, No. 109; Eberhard, 1965, No. 29)]: Ikeda 1971, No. 411C: 103- 104; Ancient Japan: The Taira House 1982 [in Kyushu, Bungo District, Katayama Village, an unknown man visits a girl at night; her mother sees her daughter pregnant and tells her to mark her clothes men; daughter sticks a needle with a ball of thread into the gate of the caftan; follows the thread to a cave in the mountain; there lives a serpent, the girl's needle pierced his throat; he predicts that their son will become a great warrior; the serpent was God Takachio, worshiped in the land of Hyuga]: 361-362; Harima-fudoki [Shidehiko said goodbye to Otohihimeko's wife, sailed by ship; every night a man of his appearance appears to her; O., attached the thread to his clothes went along it to the lake at the top of the mountain; a snake sleeps in the lake, his head is on the shore; becomes human again, invites her to her; O.'s maid tells her family; they find O.'s corpse at the bottom of the lake , they bury him]: Popov 1969:138 (retelling in Goreglyad 1992:62-64 with the decree, which is similar to the story in Hitachi Fudoki, pp. 53-54).

Mesoamerica Soke [in the field, a person finds fried rats, lizards, birds instead of his food; a woman asks if he ate her food; he lies that yes (he did not eat himself); got along with her, but felt scaly skin; tells the priest that he saw a female boa constrictor on the way to the field; he advises to stick a needle and thread into the woman's forehead; she ran away; in the morning the man walked on the thread and saw a female boa constrictor; she was no longer him worried]: Sulvarán López 2007:170-171.