F87A. The snake's wife and her children: becoming birds.
.28.29.32.33.
Thesnake crawls onto the clothes of a bathing girl, climbs down for the promise to marry him, takes her to the underwater world. She's happy there, having kids. He visits relatives with them. They summon a snake from the water and kill. After that, the wife turns her children and/or herself into birds.
Russians (Tersky Bereg, Vyatskaya, Novgorod, Moscow, Voronezh, Kursk), Belarusians, Western and Eastern Ukrainians, Karachays, Mari, Chuvash, Kazan Tatars, Kazakhs.
Central Europe. Belarusians: Grynblat, Gurski 1983, No. 57 [the girls swam, crawled on their clothes alone, promised to get down if she became his wife; she promised he took her to sea; five years later he let her go with three to see their mother as children; told me to come back in five days, call, "Yakub!" If there was blood, he died, if the foam was alive; the older boys were beaten at home, but they did not say anything; and the youngest daughter told; the snake was summoned, killed; the wife saw blood, became a cuckoo; the sons became birch tree and Christmas tree, daughter aspen], 63 [the girls swam, crawled on their clothes alone, promised to get down if she became his wife; she promised, told her mother; with many snakes, they broke the hut window, took it a girl; one day she returns to her mother, with her son and daughter from a snake; explains to her mother that when she returns to her husband, she will shout on the bank of the river for Osip to go out and take her; the mother persuaded her daughter stay overnight, went to the river, called a snake, cut off his head; daughter and children came, saw a dead body; a snake sprayed herself and her children with blood, became a cuckoo, daughter a swallow, son nightingale]: 62-63, 65-67 ; Dobrovolsky 1891, No. 40 (Smolenskaya) [daughter married a forester against her mother's will; the forester settled with her husband across the swamp river, the crossing was a bridge hidden from the witch mother; she punished son and daughter do not talk about the bridge to their grandmother; one day a grandmother came and asked the children where their father crossed the river; the granddaughter was silent, and the granddaughter showed the bridge; the woman runs to the bridge, sees a corpse there her husband Yakub, stabbed to death by his mother; the forester tells her son to become a nightingale, turns into a cuckoo herself, tells her daughter to become a frog so that everyone spit on her; the cuckoo calls plaintively, "Yakub. Yakub!"] : 277-278; Smirnov 1984, No. 50 (Polesie) [the girls swam, crawled away on her clothes alone; crawls away when she promises to become his wife; three years later, she comes to visit her mother with her son and daughter; replies that Yakub calls her husband by clicking on the river; mother comes, calls, cuts off her head; the wife calls, sees her head floating; tells her daughter to become a swallow, her son to become a nightingale, becomes a cuckoo herself (" zovulka")]: 208; Eastern Ukrainians: Bulashev 1909 (Kharkiv, Kupyansky district) [A handsome man marries the forester's daughter; takes her in a carriage to the palace at the bottom of the lake; he does; they have a boy Vasya and a daughter Gorpush; the husband agrees to let his wife and children visit her parents; turns into bridge over the river; the woman's father asks the children who their father is; G. says that it has now become a bridge; the old man cuts it with an ax; when he returns, the wife sees blood on the shore; the woman turns daughter in nettles, son in cornflower, becomes a cuckoo herself]: 360-363; Dragomanov 1876, No. 27 [the girls bathed, crawled on her dress alone; did not cry until she agreed to marry him; she called him "kuku, cook", he went out; said that if he did not want to see him, she would not remain a woman, she would become a bird; she decided to become a cuckoo bird]: 8-9; Ioanid 1985 (p. Velyka Obukhivka, Mirgorod district, Poltava region) [mother and daughter were eating rye; when the mother went home, the daughter lingered to wash her hands; on her way home, she knocked on the oak tree with a sickle, the sickle fell into the ground, she went down to pick it up, became friends with Uzh, gave birth to him boy and girl; missing her mother, asked her husband to take them upstairs to visit her; the woman began to ask her grandchildren, the girl let it slip; the woman ran to the oak tree, began to knock on it, He stuck it out the woman cut her head off, thinking it was a wife; when she found out what had happened, Uzh's wife told her son to become a nightingale, her daughter a cuckoo who did not have her own home]: 81; Kulish 1857 (no place of recording) [girl Uzha fell in love, he took her to his underground crystal palace; she gave birth to twins - a son and a daughter; she got into a golden carriage, went to the village to baptize her children; the woman's mother rushed with a scythe to kill her (for that she got along with a snake); the woman told her son to turn into a nightingale, her daughters into a cuckoo; they flew away, the carriage, the horses, the woman disappeared]: 33-34; Western Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, author's record) [the woman's husband was Well; the children did not love him and killed him; when he found out about this, his mother cursed them, told their son to become a nightingale, their daughter nettles]: Sokil 1995:45; Russians (Teresky Bereg) [the old woman's daughter went swimming with her friends; a beetle crawled on her dress: if you follow me, I will return the dress; the girls are advised to agree; at night it came in; after the third night, the mother put on her daughter a mortal dress, a funeral service and let her go to the lake; there Osip Tsarevich; three years later, my wife asked to visit her mother, took her son and daughter with her; the mother asked me what to call when she returned, Osip, Osip, take me; at night, my mother came with an ax, called a human head leaned out, her mother cut it off; in the morning the wife went to call, her head appeared and disappeared; the mother told her son to become a dove, her daughter a swallow, became a cuckoo herself; the cuckoo is a widow for strangers flies to nests]: Balashov 1970, No. 42:137-139 (=1991:102-106); Russians: Azbelev 1992, No. 320 (Vyatka Gubernia) [The girls went swimming in the pond; she did not find her clothes alone; the serpent comes out of the water, gives her clothes for promising to marry him; when the girl was married off, the Serpent stole her; she gave birth to him a son and a daughter; asked me to visit my mother; she asks how she calls her husband; Serpent, snake, open the doors for me! The mother goes instead of her, says the same words, cuts off the Snake's head with a sword; the daughter tells her son to be cancer, her daughter to be a stick (?) , flutter; she turns into a cuckoo herself]: 460; Vlasova, Zhekulina 2001, No. 43 (Novgorod Region) [two girls were swimming, the serpent sat alone on her dress, she replied that she would marry him (not thinking it was serious); the snakes dragged her out of the house; five years later she came to visit her mother with two children; answers the mother that she will call "Osip, Osip, go here" to return; the mother calls the snake with these words, cuts off her head with an ax; when she sees blood on the water, the daughter becomes a cuckoo, her children are birds]: 80; Popov 1869 [The cuckoo was a girl born to a girl who lived with a snake; for proving to her grandmother that her mother lives with a snake, her mother cursed her and said: "Let you cook all your life and Don't make your native nest!] : 3; Russians (Moscow) [the girls were swimming, ("southerner") lay down alone on their underwear; I had to agree to marry, but not naked to go to the village; many snakes crawled, took the girl to the underwater kingdom; there is a palace; a boy and a girl were born; the husband let her mother see; the mother calls a snake, hacked him down; the daughter cries; tells her son to be a nightingale, her daughter a swallow, she became a cuckoo herself]: Vedernikova, Samodelova 1998, No. 40:95; Russians (Voronezhskaya, 1970, p. Stadnitsa of Semiluksky district) [Masha asks her mother to go swimming in the river. When the girls go ashore, Masha sees a snake on her shirt and cannot drive him away. Asking if she'll marry him, she regrets her shirt and agrees. Mother scolds Masha. She grows up, snakes crawl to her house and pick her up. She lives in a pond with a snake and has children. He comes to visit his mother, tells me how he gets into the pond - he calls a snake, he crawls out and picks it up. The mother takes an ax, comes to the pond, calls the snake and cuts it, the pond water turns red. Masha calls a snake, sees the water and understands what happened, turns into a cuckoo, "cuckoo forever", turns her daughter into a little bird, her son into a nightingale]: Kretov 1977, No. 29:50-51; Russians (Kurskaya) [the girls were swimming, one was already on her underwear; her friends left; she said, Well, you'll be my husband, just give me the underwear; he crawled away; after 3 days a string of snakes crawls to the girl's house; the mother locked herself , but the snakes broke in, had a feast, took the girl into the river; in the third year, the wife already asks to let her go to her mother; the husband tells me to return tomorrow evening; the wife has already come with two children; said that she lives well; the mother asked me to stay overnight; asked what she was calling her husband; at night she came to the river, called in the same words, cut off her head with an ax; the wife is already coming, seeing her head, telling her daughter to become a swallow, her son - a nightingale, she makes her own cuckoo]: Aristov, Pavlov 1939:68.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Karachayevs/Balkarians [Ariuka and her friends were swimming in the river, crawled on her shirt; gave her shirt for a promise to marry him; two weeks later, the snakes took A.; one day she returned with her son and daughter, said that she lived well under water; her mother found out that she called her husband "Dommay, dommay" (the word means "bison", why is not clear here); the mother called a snake and cut off her head with an ax; A. saw her husband's blood and head, turned her daughter into a swallow, her son into a nightingale, and became a cuckoo herself]: Jurtubayev 2007:11-12.
Volga - Perm. Chuvashi [sits on a bathing girl's dress, gives it back in exchange for a promise to marry him; the next day the girl calls him, he takes her to the underwater palace, becomes human; allows his wife and children to visit her relatives; sends her in a golden carriage; when they return, they visit their relatives with their children; weeds her to an underwater palace, her calves; a stomach that is too protruding; inconspicuous women shout, Cook, go out; when she learns how to call her son-in-law, an envious sister leads her husband to the shore, calls a snake in his wife's voice, the husband cuts off her head; the wife finds her, tells her son to be a stag beetle, daughter a dragonfly, she becomes a cuckoo herself, has been calling her husband ever since]: Danilov, Nechaev 1975:67-75 (=Eysin 1993:217-224, =Yukhma 1996:122-124); Marie: Aktsorin 1984 [three sisters swim, wearing the most beautiful clothes The snake lay down, crying for the promise to marry him; the snake matchmakers broke into the house, took the girl overseas; three years later, the daughter comes to visit with her son and daughter; says that her husband's name is Isan Isanych; mother goes ashore, calls her son-in-law by name, cuts off her head with a scythe; when the wife comes out, the wave whispers that her husband has been killed; the wife tells her son to become a lark, her daughter to become a cuckoo, and hides in the sea herself]: 145-146; Kaliyev 2003 [A girl once swam in the river. When she came ashore, she found a snake lying on her clothes. Because he would give her clothes, the serpent invited the girl to marry him. The girl had to give her consent. When she got home, she told her mother about it. She grabbed her axe and waited for the snake to appear. But there were so many snakes that she was afraid to cut off the groom's snake's head. A year or two later, the daughter came to visit her mother. The mother, when she found out how her daughter summoned her snake husband from the water, came to the river and, calling a snake, cut off his head. The daughter, tired of waiting for her betrothed at the reservoir, turned into a cuckoo and is still looking for him and calling him in the white world]: 88 (quoted from Yuziev 2016:124); Kazan Tatars (Western 1958; 3 entries in the Volga region , 1 in Tyumen) [elderly parents are reluctant to let Zukhra swim with other girls; The serpent crawls on her clothes, asks her to follow him, crawls away, promising to come for Z. when she is 18; Serpent crawls with other snakes, peri and genies, takes Z. into the lake; turns into a handsome man under water; he himself was kidnapped by snakes and became their Padishah; Z. goes to visit his parents with three children; mother takes them out at Z., in what words does she call her husband; goes with a sword to the lake, calls the Serpent, cuts off his head; Z. and her children bury him; Z. turns the children into a nightingale, a swallow, a starling, she becomes a dove herself]: Zamaletdinov 1992:57 (=2008a, No. 52:233-238).
Turkestan. Kazakhs [girls are swimming, Mirzhan says that the khan himself would ask her to become his wife; a mighty voice can be heard from the water, snakes crawl onto M.'s clothes, promises to return it if M. becomes his wife; M. agrees; a week later, many snakes crawl to the yurt, take M. under water; after a few years, M. comes to his mother with her son and daughter, says that she is happy; answers his mother that he will call her husband with words "Ahmet, Ahmet, come, get up from the bottom"; at night, M.'s mother calls a snake, kills him with an ax, the water stained him with blood; in the morning M. finds her husband's head by the river; tells her daughter to become a swallow, her son to become a nightingale, turns into a cuckoo herself]: Daurenbekov 1979:103-106.