H49B. The debtor gives the dog as collateral, Th B221.2.2; ATU 178B. .13.23.26.34.

A person borrows money and leaves the dog as collateral. The dog is of great benefit to the new owner (finds the stolen goods, drives away thieves). He sends it to the former owner along with a letter: the debt has been forgiven. The owner thinks that the dog has run away, kills it and only then finds the letter.

Amhara, Ancient India, Sindhi, Gujarati, Kashmiris, Himachal Paharis, Punjabi, Uttar Pradesh, Assamese, Lambadi, Agaria, Telugu, Tamils, Kota, China (written tradition), Mongols (Inner Mongolia).

Sudan - East Africa. Amhara [the peasant gives his dog to the merchant for a while to pay the debt; a snake crawls to the baby's cradle, the dog kills it; the mother runs in, sees blood in the dog's mouth, the snake, realizes that the dog saved a child; the merchant ties a letter of gratitude to the dog's neck, tells the dog to return to the peasant; he thinks that the dog has run away, kills it; after reading the letter, he regrets bitterly]: Gankin 1979 , NO. 207:247-248.

(Wed. Western Europe. The French (Haute-Brittany, Ile-de-Vilaine) [the man was returning on horseback with a large sum of money, his dog was with him; he dropped the bag without noticing it; the dog tried to bring the bag, but it turned out to be too heavy; then she grabbed the owner's clothes; he thought that the dog was mad and shot at her; on a bloody trail he came to where he found his bag and a dead dog nearby]: Sébillot 1908a, No. 73:84).

South Asia. Ancient India (Panchatantra) [a man borrowed money from a merchant and left a dog as collateral; it bit to death the merchant's wife's lover and showed his grave when the merchant returned from the trip; the merchant sent the dog to the owner with a letter; he thought the dog just ran away and killed it; then read the letter]: Bødger 1957, No. 102:21-22; Sindhi [Kirthar Hills has a temple dedicated to the dog; one the man borrowed money from another, giving the dog as collateral; soon the lender was robbed; the dog followed the thieves and indicated where they hid the stolen goods; the lender forgave the debt, wrote about it in a letter and sent the dog to take the letter to its owner; he thought that the dog simply ran away, chopped it into a bite, then found the letter; a temple appeared at the place where he buried the remains, where sheep are sacrificed]: Stein, Grierson 1923: xxxviii; Gujarati [Kathiyawara also has a dog temple based on a similar story; realizing that the dog was killed innocently, the owner dug Lake Chitrasar, and on the island in the middle erected a temple where he placed a picture of a dog]: Stein, Grierson 1923: xxxvix; Kashmiris: Knowles 1888 [leaving his parents and wife, the young brahman went begging; the king hired him; wife she came and said that there was nothing to eat; he wrote four tips and ordered them to be sold; she sent a paper to the king; he ordered the brahmana to be beaten and driven away; then she met the king's son, who bought advice; for this his king drove away; 1) don't sleep in an unfamiliar place; the prince stayed at the robbers' house; does not sleep, snatches the sword from the hand of the girl who threw himself at him; tells her how the king's favorite parrot asked for time off for the wedding son, brought two tree shoots; one tree makes young and the other old; the hurricane broke off the branches, the snake hiding under them poisoned the foliage; the king gave fruit to the dog, it died; the king killed the parrot; through the old man ate the fruit and became younger; the king regretted that he killed the parrot; the next night, the prince talks about a merchant who borrowed money and gave his dog to another; dog found property stolen by thieves; the owner, grateful for the dog, wrote a note: forgives the debt and gives more; the first merchant did not look and killed the dog, thinking that the second sent it to demand the debt; the girl says that now her father will kill her because she did not kill the prince; runs away with him; he becomes a yogi; 2) if you come to a married sister rich, she will greet her with honor, and if poor, does not recognize; the king's sick wife {i.e. the prince's sister, did she not recognize him?} came, healed, lost his necklace; the necklace was found, the king wanted to execute yoga, but he fled; the potter says that the princess takes husbands, everyone is dead in the morning; now it is the turn of the potter's son; prince Instead, a young man comes; at night two snakes crawled out of the girl's nostrils, he killed them; the king gave him his daughter, made him an heir; at the head of the motorcade he comes to his sister, reproaches her; arrives at his parents, they are blind with grief; the king realizes how wrong he was in rejecting the brahman's advice]: 32-41; Stein, Grierson 1923, No. 8 [the king and his wife listen to the chirping of the chicks, then find them dead; the female is dead, the male is dead took another one, killed the chicks; the wife died, the king took another, she fell in love with his two sons; they refused to get along with her, she accused them of encroaching on her; the king orders the execution of the sons, but the vizier tells them to flee, the queen is brought the hearts of dogs; the other king took the young men as guards; the elder brother guards, sees the snake, cuts it to pieces, erases the drops of blood from the royal wife's body; the king sees it; when It is the turn of the younger brother, who replies to the king that the traitors must be executed, but first tells the story; one king took water, but his falcon knocked over the bowl; the king killed the falcon, and then noticed the snake whose poisonous saliva dripped into the water; let the king find out first; after his younger brother on guard, two more old warriors; one tells how one merchant bought a dog from another; at night this dog did not stop the thieves, but in the morning brought him to the place where the thieves kept the loot, the merchant became rich; sent the dog with a note to the previous owner, who thought that the dog was guilty and killed him; then read the note; the fourth guard tells the whole story of young princes up to the murder of a snake by his younger brother; the king appoints one of them as a vizier, the other as Pasha]: 45-57; Punjabi: Thompson , Roberts 1960, No. 178B: 37; Himachali plowmen [the merchant owes a Rajpur moneylender; pledged a gold necklace and a dog; thieves climbed in at night, including a necklace; but the dog barked, she rushed at the thieves, seized them and returned the stolen goods; the grateful moneylender wrote that he forgave the merchant's debt, tied a letter to the dog's neck and sent it to the owner; he thought that the dog had just run away, and killed her; after reading the letter, he was in disconsolable grief and erected a temple in honor of the dog]: Dracott 1906:213-215 (similar version in Seethalakshmi 1960, No. 33:99); Uttar Pradesh (Kanpur, Urdu) [the merchant occupied big money backed by a dog with an obligation to repay the debt a year later; when the deadline came to an end, the lender regretted his frivolity; but one night three armed men broke into the house robbers; the dog bit two first and the third when he was about to kill the owner; he forgave the debt and sent the dog a letter to the former owner; seeing that the dog had returned to him prematurely, the former owner killed her and only then discovered the letter; built a luxurious monument on this site; it is believed that the dust collected on this site helps with dog bites]: Clouston 1889:513-514 ; lambadi (Balod, Chhattisgarh) [a man borrowed money, pledged a dog; he was robbed; the dog followed the thieves and led the owner to a pond where the thieves hid valuables; the lender forgave the man the debt and sent the dog with a letter; at this time, the debtor was just carrying money to repay the debt; decided that the dog returned before the deadline and killed it; when he found the letter, he erected a temple on this site with depicting a dog]: Russel, Lal 1916 (2): 189; Assames: Bezbarua in Thompson, Roberts 1960, No. 178b:36; Agaria (Khuntia Chokh) [walking past a stone, a shepherd taps it 5 times every day with its staff; the stone promises to fulfill the shepherd's wish as a reward; he wants to understand the language of animals; the stone makes it a condition not to tell others about it, otherwise the shepherd will turn into stone; the shepherd hears buffalo conversation: vessels of money are buried under the tree; the wife demands to tell us what the husband is so concerned about; when he checks his wife, he says that crows fly out of need and blood flows out of the Raja; the wife tells Raja's wife about this; she thinks that the shepherd's wife is her husband's mistress; the Raja summoned the shepherd, who showed him where the treasure was; the Raja demanded that everything be told; the shepherd asks him to come to his senses, tells two stories; 1) a snake bit a child; a mongoose killed a snake, ran into the forest for medicine; the owner decided that the child was killed by a mongoose, killed a mongoose, noticed a spine in his mouth, revived the child, bitterly regretted the mongoose; 2) the man left his dog as collateral to the rich man; the dog helped find the stolen money; the rich man sent it with money and a note to the owner; he thought that the dog ran away, killed her; then read the note; but the Raja is adamant, the shepherd told everything, petrified; now the Raja's wife demands the same from him, otherwise she will commit suicide; the Raja is ready to do it, but hears a conversation between a goat and a goat; a goat tells the goat to get grass for it on a steep slope; the goat refuses to do it-he does not want to fall off and kill for his wife, let him get it; the Raja tells his wife that she can kill himself if he wants to]: Elwin 1944, No. 1:296-299; Telugu [the merchant borrowed the money with a promise to pay it back in two or three months, pledged the dog; told the dog not to return until the debt is not paid; the thieves took the valuables from the lender's house; the dog followed the trail and found everything; the lender forgave the debt, wrote about it in a letter, attached it to the dog's neck and told it to return to its owner; once he got the money and intended to return it; when he saw that the dog had returned earlier, he killed it and only then read the letter; out of grief he killed his horse and committed suicide; another man put it in this place The stone with the image built an adobe tower; the village has since become known as Kukkakani (kukka - Telugu "dog"); the spirit of the killed dog became a demon and disturbed travelers for some time]: Cain 1876:187-188; Tamils: Blackburn 1996 [a total of 18 oral versions in 10 languages in South Asia; spouses keep a mongoose in the house, love it like their child (hereinafter, the mongoose probably kills a snake ready bite a baby, etc.); the scene is depicted on an 8th century AD relief in the temple of Mallikardjuna (Pattadakal, Karnataka)]: 495-500; Clouston 1889 [S.M. Natesa Sastri translated "Alakesa Katha" from Tamil (" The Story of King Alakesh"); insert story from The Story of Four Ministers]: 206-208; Kingscote 1890, No. 13 [(continued, starting at M198; Alakapuri was ruled by the just king Alakesa; one of four the ministers heard crying in the temple of Kali; the goddess herself cried - the king is in danger; rice will be brought in in the morning, he is poisoned with snake venom, only the first handful is dangerous; King Vijayanagara will send a basket with arrows in it; the king will ask him to open it and die; a snake will enter his bedroom; but if the king avoids these dangers, he will live to be 120 years old; the minister put the royal attire on his servant; he went to the basket under the guise of a king arrows pierced him, the king escaped; when he was about to eat rice, the minister asked for the first handful, the king was offended; the minister climbed into the bedroom, killed the snake, a drop of blood dripped on the queen's chest, he brushed it off with his little finger and cut it off; the queen woke up, asked the king to execute the minister; three other ministers ask the king to consider the decision and give examples of haste; 1) the hunter owes the merchant, paid off the debt dog; she bit to death the merchant's wife's lover, showed him the place where his wife buried the body; the merchant kicked his wife out, sent the dog back to the hunter as a token of gratitude; the hunter met her on the way, thought she ran away and strangled; when he found out what was going on, he bitterly repented; 2) the brahmana had a long-awaited son; a snake crawled to the baby, and the pet mongoose killed her; when she saw blood on her face, the brahmana's wife thought that he killed her baby, killed a mongoose; understood the mistake; told her husband everything, committed suicide; the husband killed the child and also committed suicide; 3) the wife left the blind brahmana for her lover; the brahmana was saved by her husband and a low-caste wife, her husband told his wife to be a guide; but when they began to think about how to make a blind man live, he shouted that a man from the lower caste wanted to take his wife away from him; the Raja ordered him to hang husband and burn his wife; the brahmana deeply repented, the Raja found out, the execution of the spouses was canceled, the brahmana was burned; 4) the brahmana's pet parrot asked him to let go, brought mango seed, whose fruits rejuvenate; the brahmana took the seed to the king; a tree grew; the king gave fruit to an old servant, who died; his wife immolated herself; the brahmana's eye was pulled out; the brahmana and his wife killed a parrot, went to repentance; an old woman decided to commit suicide, ate the fruit, became young; it turns out that snake venom fell on a mango eaten by the servant; the king returned the brahmana, who became young and saw the light; but the parrot cannot be returned; {two more stories; the king admits that he was in a hurry}]: 140-186; Robinson 1885, No. 7 [the parrot brought the king a fruit seed from heaven and ordered him to plant it; a tree with the fruits of youth will grow; when the tree grew and the fruit was ripe, the king gave it to the old man; but before that, the hawk, who had previously grabbed the venomous snake, touched the fruit and gave it poison; the old man died; the king killed the parrot; the old woman who hit son, decided to commit suicide, ate the fruit, became young; the king rejuvenated other old people; repenting the murder of a parrot, he stabbed with a sword]: 231-233; cat: Emeneau in Thompson, Roberts 1960, NO. 178B: 27.

China - Korea. Chinese (written tradition) [set in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio]: Stein, Grierson 1923: xxxix.

Mongolia. The Mongols (Inner Mongolia): Ting 1978, No. 178A:.