H55B. Repentant robber, ATU 756B.
.14.-.16.24. (.25.) .27.28.31.
From a person who has visited hell (met a deity), the robber learns about his future fate, humbly accepts the inevitability of an afterlife retribution, and is finally saved . Usually, a robber is opposed to a self-confident righteous man punished for pride.
Kabilas, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians (Veneto, Molise, Basilicata), Ladins, French, Bretons, Alsatians, Germans (Grimms), Irish, Scots, Javanese, (Bukidnon), Hungarians, Slovenes, Greeks, Czechs, Slovaks, Luzhitans, Poles, Russians (Vologda, Kostroma, Ryazan), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Ugric Russia, Transcarpathia, Podolia, Pokutye, Chernihiv, Yekaterinoslavskaya, Poltava), Belarusians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Finns, Swedes, Danes, (Norwegians [in Uther 2004, link to Hodne 1984, but there is no such story there]).
North Africa. Kabila: Dermenghem 1945 [the poor man goes to ask God where his happiness went; stays in the robber's house; he asks God if he will be forgiven - he killed 99 people, but let go and feed this poor man; the hermit in the cave, who has taken the best portion of food and the worst to the guest, asks him what place in paradise awaits him; a naked man in the sands: if God has more misfortunes, let him send him; the angel gives God questions, receives answers; the robber will be forgiven; the hermit's merits mean nothing; the man in the sands will get what he asks - the wind has carried away the sand and he does not There was something to hide; the poor man himself came back and was happy]: 95-99; Frobenius 1921b, No. 53 [like Dermenghem]: 272-274.
Southern Europe. Spaniards [a young man in love finds out that a girl is going for another; in despair, the devil runs away; the young man signs a promise to give his soul if he gets the girl; seeing her husband's despondency , his wife put a dagger to his chest and demanded an explanation; ordered him to go and return the receipt; the husband met the hermit, asked about the way to hell; he sent him to the cannibal robber: he knows better; mother The robber hid the man, and after dinner asked her husband to talk to him; the robber went to hell, turned everything upside down and returned with the necessary receipt; after the guest left, he thought about his own future and died suffering; his suffering cleansed him and his soul went to heaven; upon learning of this, the hermit died from bitter thoughts: he fasted all his life, and the thief went to heaven; because of such thoughts, the hermit went to hell]: Camarena, Chevalier 2003, No. 757B: 88-90; Catalans [a young man asked for the devil before birth comes to hell to pick up a receipt; a hermit whom a young man asked about the way, directs him to his robber brother; he accompanies the young man to hell; the woman gives a volgeba stick; in hell, the young man receives a receipt and sees a bed of fire or a chair prepared for the robber; The thief repents; when his staff flourishes and bears fruit, he dies after being forgiven; the hermit is surprised and either reconciled with God's decision or is outraged by him, and then goes to hell]: Cardigos 2006, No. 756B: 177; Italians (Veneto, Molise, Basilicata): Cirese, Serafini 1975, No. 756B: 169; ladins [young woman wanted to go dancing but she has a baby in her arms; gentleman in green He offered clothes to hold the child while the woman was dancing; when she returned, there was neither a child nor a master; the sister of the missing boy went to look for him; prayed in the chapel for a long time; went out to her the old man, ordered to take a walnut staff, he would bring him to the goal; in the forest, the hermit gave an ointment: let the girl come to the robber, that child has a sick child, the ointment will cure him, the robber will help; the child has recovered, a grateful robber brought the girl to the door of hell; the first and second devils replied that they had the child, but they would not give it to the girl; the third thing: the boy would return if his sister remained silent for 7 years; the robber also asked for questions about his fate; the devil showed the stove in which he would be burned; added that if a staff stuck in the ground turned green and blossomed in the middle of winter, the robber would be saved; the robber remained in the forest, sticking a staff into the ground, and the girl went to another place, also in the forest; seven years later her brother came to her; they went to the robber: he was dead, and his staff had blossomed in the winter; the thief came to bury the robber many people; the hermit was surprised that an angel did not come to him on the day his thief brother died; the angel said that he, along with other angels, carried the thief's soul to heaven; the hermit: "How many angels Will they carry my soul?" - "I'm alone, you're too excited," said the angel]: Uffer 1973, No. 17:50-53.
Western Europe. The French (Haute-Brittany, Nivernay, Bretons, Alsatians) [the young man (sometimes before birth) is sold by his parents to the devil for various reasons; goes to hell (return the receipt); the way meets a robber (ogre) whose wife or mother hides him; then the young man goes to hell alone or accompanied by a robber; returns the receipt and sees the torture chair prepared for the robber; he repents, suffers until the staff or dry branch sprouts; after the death of the robber, the pigeon fights the crow and wins; this means that the robber is saved; the hermit is outraged This is what God punished]: Delarue, Tenèze 1985, No. 756B: 170-176; Irish, Scottish, German (Grimms): Uther 2004 (1), No. 756B: 411-312.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Java [half man (vertically) goes to the Sun to ask him to give him a full body; the Sun replies that the cloud is more powerful than him, let him turn to it; the cloud sends him to the wind, that to grief, to the porcupine that digs a hole, to the dog that the porcupine fears, to the man the dog is afraid of; the man says that it is necessary to ask the Lord; the half meets Haji, who has been sitting on a stone and rubbed it; he asks to know where a place in paradise is prepared for him and how many gurias he is entitled to; meets a penitent robber, who asks him to know what place hell is in store for him; meets a person who cuts bamboo senselessly drives Half away; Half wants to pick a pomegranate, but all grenades vied with each other, Half cannot choose, leaves; two ponds are full, and between them dry, fish jump from one extreme pond to another without noticing the dry one; the Lord shows a place in paradise prepared for the repentant, a place in hell for the Hajji; at the entrance, scissors that cut the incoming to hell to pieces; two ponds - rich who do not notice the poor; chopping bamboo does useless work; grenades are people serving rulers; tells you to walk without looking around a long bridge ; Half reaches the ground, finds a full body; tells the thief and Haji what the Lord has shown him]: Kratz 1973, No. 9:57-66.
(Wed. Taiwan - Philippines. Juan Pikas ("The One-Sided") is a half-boy (vertically); went to God to see if he could become a normal person; along the way, a well-fed horse asks why he is tied for such a short rope; then a skinny horse: why am I skinny, although the rope I am tied to is long; the man at the crossroads feeds everyone who passes by; asks if he will be saved by doing it; another, whose house above the waterfall kills everyone passing by; asks if he can escape; God told Juan that he wanted to test him, and now gives him a full body; the first horse is righteous, the second is not; the distributor the food will be saved, the killer will not; when Juan told the person who distributed the food, he replied that, of course, he would; for his arrogance he is now doomed to death, and the murderer will be saved]: Demetrio 1972, No. 2: 8-10).
The Balkans. Hungarians, Slovenes, Greeks: Uther 2004 (1), No. 756B: 411-312
Central Europe. Poles [a rich merchant got lost in the forest and got stuck in the swamp; hell promised to take him out if he gave him a receipt that he would give him something he did not know at home; when he returned, the merchant found out that his wife had given birth son; when he is 7, he has already learned a lot; went to hell to return the receipt; on the way he found himself in the lair of a terrible robber named Madey; he killed his father, lived with his mother; she hid the boy, M. his he sensed, but did not kill, but asked him to know what kind of bed was prepared for him in hell; the boy had holy water and an icon with him, he easily opened the door to hell; the devil agreed to return the receipt, and Tvardovsky, who was burned by drops of holy water, he did not want; the devil threatened to put T. on the bed prepared for M.; the boy asked her to show her; there are knives, nails and razors, fire is burning from below, dripping from above burning sulfur; returning to the robber, the boy spoke about what he saw; he asked him to come to him when the boy became bishop; 30 years later, the bishop found an apple tree in the forest, and under it a gray-haired overgrown one old man; the servants could not pick apples from the apple tree; the old man (it was M.) began to confess and as the apples turned into pigeons and flew away; when M. was guilty of killing his father, the last one flew away; Bishop released M.'s sins and he fell to dust]: Woycicki 1920:51-55; Czechs, Slovaks, Luzhitans: Uther 2004 (1), No. 756B: 411-312; Russians (Vologda, Kostroma, Ryazan), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Ugric Russia, Transcarpathia, Podolia, Pokutye, Chernihiv, Yekaterinoslavskaya, Poltava), Belarusians [Kumova bed (Robber Madey): the child sells a trait; seeks help from Satan's godfather (robber); gets a receipt in hell, and the godfather finds out about the terrible bed waiting for him, Satan's godfather repents and receives forgiveness]: SUS 1979, No. 756B: 189-190.
Baltoscandia. Latvians [father or mother sell their son's trait with blood; as an adult, the son goes to look for a receipt; on the way he meets a robber who asks him to know what awaits him in hell after death; the son receives a receipt and learns that the robber is waiting for eternal torment; he corrects himself; often 756A: crawling on his knees, the robber carries water in his mouth and waters a dry branch; it grows out of it apple tree, fruits appear on it; the robber confesses to the priest, the apples fall]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 756B: 318; the Swedes [the young man is sold to the devil, goes to hell to return the receipt; hermit shows the way to his sinful brother and he to hell; the young man picks up the receipt and sees a place intended for the sinner; he repents and goes to heaven; the hermit is disappointed and punished for it; for the first time story in Gesta Romanorum]: Liundman 1961, № 756V: 214; Finns, Lithuanians, Danes: Uther 2004 (1), No. 756B: 411-312