I87B. The bragger meets the strongest, ATU 650B .12.13.23.28.29.31.33.

When a character shows off his strength, his wife or mother says he is stronger than he is. He goes in search and meets a character far superior to his strength. {ATU gives a similar definition of the plot (or rather, its first half), but some of the links below refer to our i87a motif, not i87b}.

Songhai, Mankanya, Hausa, Mosi, Zaghawa, Sudanese Arabs, Punjabi (Seraiks), Himachali Pakhari, Kumaoni, Nepali, Pardhan, Russians (Arkhangelskaya), Kalmyks, Abkhazians, Abaza, Adygs, Karachays, Balkarians, Ossetians, Ingush, Chechens, Avars, Lacks, Kumyks, Megrels, Turks, Lithuanians, Latvians, Karelians, Finns, Kyrgyz.

West Africa. Songhai [after the hunter dies, his pregnant wife hears her son talking from the womb that he wants to go out; is born prematurely; when the mother goes to get water, gets up, dresses, cuts herself with a razor, mother finds a baby in blood; a neighbor spies, says to the mother; she asks her son (his name is Izé-gani) to leave; he tells the blacksmiths to make him a heavy iron club; leaves; easily defeated 1) two attackers Bellas; 2) a giant who pulled baobabs; 3) collecting sand dunes; 4) draining water bodies with his beard; the satellites were attacked by a giant eagle, I. defeated him; told his companions to return to where they came from everyone came; came to the land of the giantess Fatuma, she has 13 daughters; she put him next to her baby; that night he pee-pee, the stream washed away I., took him to where he did not return; in this world always there will be a stronger one]: Hama 1967:251-254); mankanya [the strong bragger is looking for rivals; the old woman suggests waiting for her six sons; one of them carries three gazelles, the other bull, the third elephant; invites the bragger to carry his shoe, his shoe crushed him; one of the brothers comes for him; he is left to spend the night; at night he sneezed alone, the bragger flew off like a feather; refused to search rivals]: Nikolnikov 1976:102-105; mosi [the strongman went to look for an opponent, decided to give him a goat; came to the giantess; she said that her sons were hunting; the eldest brought 10 elephants, the youngest brought 7 ; the mother cooked them, everyone sat down to eat; the elder accidentally swallowed the man; the youngest noticed this, and the mother pulled the man by the legs from her son's throat; in the morning the man returned home]: Tauxier 1917, No. 93:492-493; hausa: Anpetkova-Sharova 2010 [husband brags that he is the strongest; wife says he is stronger than him; they walk, meet someone pulling trees, twisting stones into ropes; husband says he is also the case maybe; they come to Mijin Maza ("husband of men"); he does not marry women, but eats, his wives are men, he carries a dozen buffaloes and elephants; the man rushes to run; those who make ropes, pulling trees are not they can cover him; The pigeon hides; when MM demands that the Pigeon return his "wife", he tries to wake up his father by cutting off his ear; this does not help; The pigeon cuts off the other, the sleeping man quacked in his sleep, MM fell dead]: 78-81; Abrahams 1983, No. 15 [same or very similar text in Arnott 2000:44-56; a man can turn trees, tells his wife that he is a husband of husbands; his wife warns him not to brag. perhaps he will have to run away from someone who is stronger; goes to get water, cannot collect water with a heavy bucket at the well; towards a woman with her young son, who easily lifts a bucket and collects water; a woman says that she is her husband's wife; an imaginary husband of her husband tells his wife to take him to the woman's house; she hides, sees a giant return, eats several elephants; she runs away at night, a giant is chasing; three groups of people are ready to shelter a person first, but when they feel a hurricane wind, they tell him to run away; another giant eats elephants, keeps a man; two giants fight, rise into the sky; thunder is the sound of their struggle]: 86-89; Olderogge 1959 {probably the same original source as Abrahams 1983} [husband brags about his strength, says he is Namiji-Mijin-Maza; wife advises not to say this, a real NMM is much stronger; at the well, a little boy easily lifts a heavy scoop; the woman's husband goes there, almost fell into the well; the wife advises not to go to a real NMM, but the husband goes; NMM's wife hides a man, who runs away in horror in the morning; different groups of people refuse to help when they see a whirlwind rushing, although it is not the NMM himself, but the wind he raises; Dungun-Daji ("forest giant") roasts elephants; shelters a person; DD and NMM fight and go up to the sky, their fight is thunder]: 206-211; Mariko 1984 [the famous wrestler goes to look for the strongest; comes to the forest to an elderly woman; her two sons appear the eldest brought 10 elephants, the youngest 7; the wrestler has dinner with them, the eldest accidentally swallowed it, the mother hardly pulled the man out of her son's mouth; he returned to the village, was glorified by the Grioli; when those two a giant once came to the village, a wrestler ordered from a blacksmith and gave them magic axes for uprooting stumps]: 149-153; (cf. hausa [hero Aunu could divide the river by hitting it with his hand; went on a journey; met and accompanied three other strong young men; each one takes turns guarding the property; angry the spirit comes out of the roots of the tree, defeats the watchman; when A. remains, the spirit cannot defeat him, both rise to heaven, still fight, the thunder of their battle is thunder]: Olderogge 1959:229-230 (retelling in Kotlyar 2009, No. 99:99).

Sudan - East Africa. Zaghawa [Tirène's seven-headed snake swallowed the villagers; a woman lived nearby, with seven sons and a daughter; she quarreled with an old woman, and the old woman advised that the girl should, out of revenge, sent her brothers to get a bell from T.'s neck; each of the brothers cut off one of the heads, was swallowed by the other; the youngest remained, cut off the last head, released the brothers from T.'s womb, all swallowed animals and people; he was allowed to marry the most beautiful girl; he chose a swallowed slave; the brothers brought his sister a bell; the youngest's wife has 6 brothers; 1) catching everything that falls from the sky; 2) discovering the ground; 3) throwing a spear to the center of the earth; seeing what is in the sky; 5) running like the wind; 6) cultivating the field; the husband beat their sister; the old woman advised me to tell him that her brothers are stronger than him ; she led her husband to them; said that the river was her mother's urine, if he set foot, he would die; he stepped, lost consciousness, she pulled him out; the same happened to the second river (her mother's excrement); his wife's parents were giants; The servant mistook him for a stick, threw him at the bulls, he flew into his mother-in-law's eye; a week later she said that something had caught her eye, his wife pulled him out; he fell into the well, his servants pulled him out; one cow was missing; Six brothers, using each of their abilities, began to look for her; she was tied in heaven, they knocked her down, caught her; her husband recognized the power of his wife's brothers, did not beat her again]: Tubiana, Tubiana 1961, No. 16:68-73; (cf. Nubians [lying in a puddle, a woman conceived from the seed of a donkey; her son Ahmed Son of Donkey (ASO) beats his wife twice a day, who confirms that he is brave; the old woman advises his wife to answer that there are daredevils better; ASO leaves, meets, takes as companions Eared, Glazed, Angry, Inexhaustible (irrigates the beds with his urine); everyone first replies that if he met ASO, he would fraternize with him; the king sprinkles poison, the Eyed takes away the poisoned pieces; the king sets fire to the house, the Inexhaustible floods; the angry almost killed everyone; the king is ready to give his daughter, the ASO only takes a receipt that they are brave; each the queue cooks, the giant eats everything; when it's ASO's turn, he throws him into the fire, the giant disappears into the well; the ASO goes down the rope, the beauty says that the giant's soul is in the chest, the ASO breaks it; twins pick up, share beauty and treasures, cut off the rope; ASO falls into the fifth underworld; there the crocodile closed the river, gives water in exchange for girls; ASO promises to cause ritual scars to the crocodile on the occasion of eating him and the girl, kills; hides with an old woman, leaving a handprint on the princess's thigh; the king finds the hero, tells the eagle to take him upstairs; there is not enough meat, ASO cuts off a piece from his thigh, gives eagle; he puts it back; ASO forgives his brothers, returns to his wife]: Katsnelson 1968:78-94); Sudanese Arabs [the strongman asks his mother if there are people as strong as him; on advice neighbors, who replies that Eva is everyone's mother; the son goes to look for equal descendants of Eve; at the well, three eat a camel; they give him, he can eat only a little meat; they talk about a man who forcibly took their sister away from them; the girl takes out his lice; the strongman hits him on the head with a stick; the lying man replies that he has three days and on the fourth he will catch up with him; when the chase is close, young man asks the shepherd to hide it; he hides it in a bag of millet around his neck; the stalker does not believe that he did not see anyone; the shepherd takes the bull, hits him with a bull, killing both; the young man asks for an ax cut off the victim's head; unable to do it; the shepherd takes the axe with two fingers, cuts it off; the young man can hardly carry the severed head; speaks to the three who killed their sister's kidnapper; sultan: if you are so strong, then kill a monstrous bull, three cannibals and a clawed female animal; the bull chased him, he climbed a tree, the bull's horns were stuck in the trunk, he cut off the bull's head; threw pebbles from the tree at those lying under the cannibal tree; they began to fight, killed each other; the young man began to blow, told the beast to stretch its paws, cut off his fingers, they had his strength; the Sultan appointed him a vizier]: Al-Shahi, Moore 1920, No. 33:159- 162.

South Asia. Punjabi (Seraiks) [a mighty fighter goes to look for an opponent; makes porridge in the pond; the elephant is outraged, tries to trample the sleeper; he says that if the elephant wants to wash his hair, let him do it tougher; carries an elephant behind his shoulder; comes to a rival who is not at home; throws an elephant over the fence; the owner's daughter: he threw a mouse at me; mother: sweep it out; the owner comes, dragging 160 carts of firewood; the hostess offers to fight in the palm of her hand; the daughter at that time carried 160 camels in the hem; she also put trees, a house, a peasant, etc.; then the whole town; then put it all in half eaten melons, covered another; the melon was carried away with water, it opened, everyone went out, healed in a new place]: Steel, Temple 1884, No. 28:223-227; himachali plowmen (kullui) [rani wore a ring in her nose; raja every day said: Pick up the ring, I want to shoot him with a bow; Rani: will you shoot me in the eye someday; she went to get water, and there were a lot of women there; they asked why Rani was so weak; she talked about raja and ring; that the Raja asks every day if there is anyone greater than me and she says no; women: tell me what to eat; she said; Raja went to look for someone who is greater than he was; towards the leopard, the Raja ran away from him; jat plowed on the bull, the Raja asked him to hide it; the jat hid it in his bast (some wicker shoes); the jat plowed all day, and then his wife brought 40-50 cakes and a bunch of vegetables; jat: not enough, I have a guest; moved his leg, Raja fell out of his bast shoes; ate only one cake, ate the rest was eaten by jat; in the evening we went home; jat to his wife: usually one man of rice you put it down, put two today; the wife gave 80 kg of rice and 4 bean gravy; the raja ate a little bit; they fell asleep at night; the jat's stomach began to boil and he made a drrrr; this wind carried the raju to the door; then the wife jata - drrrr; the raju was carried into the well; tried to get out all night, failed; in the morning the Jats began to think where the guest had gone; looked into the well; jat wife: in the evening you put little rice for him, he stayed hungry and went to drink water; the raja was pulled out; jat to his wife: put one man (26 kg) of rice; jat raje: you ate little in the evening, stayed hungry; Jata's wife opened her mouth to the raja, and jat began to push raja rice into your mouth ; when released, the Raja went home; said rani: you're right, there's cooler than me in the world]: Krylova, Renkovskaya 2017, field materials; Kumaoni [one hero lived far in the east and the other far away in in the west, there are 12 years of travel between them, everyone wanted to face off with another; the oriental hero went to the western one; soaked food in the lake, then ate and drank the whole lake; the animals came to look for water; the hero grabbed the elephant's trunk and threw it to where the Western hero's daughter was breaking rice; her mother put the elephant in her pocket to show others the strange beast; the oriental hero came and asked the girl where her father was; she said that went for firewood; the east met the western one, who carried a bunch of uprooted trees; they decided to fight not in the forest, but in public; they met an old woman, invited her to watch them fight; she said that she would first take bread to her grandson, who herds cattle in the forest; carried both heroes on his back along with a bunch of trees; the grandson put the old woman and everyone with her in the fold of his clothes and carried him home; the wind of him and them all He picked it up with him and they fell into the woman's eye; she asked the other to pull what was in her eye; she pulled it out and put it in her pocket; in the evening she showed it to her husband and he advised him to give it to the cat; all those in trouble pleaded for them and promised not to brag about strength anymore-all people are just worms in the face of God]: Grierson 1916b: 165-166; Nepali [strongman Dosmane ("Eating 10 Measures of Rice") ) goes to face off with Noumane ("Eating 9 Measures of Rice"); drank the pond and fell asleep; when he saw an empty pond, the elephant rushed to D., who in a dream mistook it for a mosquito and wiped it off; when he woke up, he took the dead elephant put N. in front of the door of the house; little daughter N. opened the door, threw the elephant by the tail, said that her father went to buy firewood; D. saw N. carrying a hundred measures of firewood; they began to fight; old the hostess of the house told the girl to take the camels home; she wrapped a hundred camels in a cloth and carried them away; the old woman picked up both fighters, threw them away; the eagle snatched a parcel of camels from the girl, carried it over the royal palace; dropped the parcel and it fell into the princess's eye; the princess asked the courtier to get the garbage, he blew, the package flew away unknown where]: Sakya, Griffith 1980:193-195; pardhan [the arrogant Raja throws a spear through his wife's nose ring and brags that there is no one stronger than him; his wife has been advised to say that Raja is the strongest for her, but there are many stars and earth big; the Raja goes to look for opponents; sees a man weaving a rope out of sand for royal elephants; another harnesses tigers into a plow cobra and plows black stones; the Raja manages to call Rakshasa an uncle, but he is going to kill him at night; the Raja gave the Rakshasas a drink, ran to his wife, she smeared him with blood, swaddled him like a baby, told Rakshasa that her husband was missing and she had given birth to a mustachioed baby; Rakshas left Raja no longer bragged]: Elwin 1944, No. 14.13:327-329.

Central Europe. Russians (Arkhangelskaya) [Popa butts the kid and the pop throws him over the fence. He decides that he has become strong and goes to fight. He sees a man standing in the river with his beard blocked and fishing with his mouth. Pop asks to transport him across the river, the man refuses, says that Pleshka the hero took his wife and told him not to let anyone in. Pop promises to return his wife to the man and defeat Pleshka the hero, the man held out his beard and the pop crossed the river along it. The man's name is Heroic Kussyn. Pop meets a man who wakes spruce trees, opens and closes the passage with trees. He also promises to return his stolen wife to him and defeat Pleshka the Hero (Pleshkó). The man's name is Yelinka the hero. Pop sees a man moving and spreading mountains with his hands, opening and closing the passage, and the pop promises him the same for the pass. The man's name is Gorynka hero. Pop catches up with Pleshka the hero, finds a stake in the forest and hits the hero twice on the head. The hero decides that one of the wives does not wave off mosquitoes well. After the third blow, Pleshko gets up and follows his ass. Pop is hiding in the old man's pants in a nearby hut. The old man tells Pleshka that he did not see his ass, Pleshko hits the old man, but the old man defeats him with a lame leg. Pop explains why he went to war. The old man says that he was one of his seven brothers, who, when they saw a cloud (a strong hero) coming in the field, hid in a dry bone and playing cards. The hero hit the bone with a whip (the hero says he defeated the one who was a bone 10 years ago, but it did not decay), the bone flew up, all the brothers broke, and the old man injured his leg. The old man advises his ass to go home. Pop returns wives to husbands and returns to himself]: Onchukov 2008, No. 47:167-168.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. The Kalmyks [the old man grabbed a naughty ox by the tail and threw it over 70 hills; decided that there was no one stronger than him, went to look for three hero brothers; one asked him to hold the fishing rod, but he could not hold it; the same happened to his middle brother; she hid the old man from the brothers' younger mother; the brothers found him and began to throw him away; the old man ran away, asked Musa to hide him, hid in the corner of his eye; The mousse threw three brothers and their horses with one hand to where the horse had been jumping for 49 days; at home, the mousse said that there were 60 robbers, they hid from the rain in a horse's skull; the giant threw the hill on which the skull lay, everyone died, and the narrator managed to ride away; the giant caught him and began to roast him on a spit, and fell asleep; the mousse fell asleep from the skewer, burned the giant's heart; the golden eagle snatched the narrator a piece of meat, a leopard tried to take it away, a whale grabbed a piece; the narrator escaped; tells the old man not to boast of strength]: Vatagin 1964:194-197; Abkhazians: Inal-ina 1977 [Sasrikva asked his mother if there was anyone stronger than him; met a plowman without an arm and without a leg ("half dry"); he put him and the horse in his pipe, plugged him in his waist (or put him under a block of earth); his wife who came (in one case she is called Satanei-Guasha) ordered to take "some unfortunate Abkhaz" to the children for fun; his wife carried S. in a trough on his head, he grabbed a tree branch on the way, ran away; the hostess urinated at home, the current picked up S., he was caught online; the returning owner told S. how he and a hundred companions spent the night in the cave, it turned out to be a lamb (horse) skull; the dog brought the skull to the shepherd, who threw him on the mountain with a stick; everyone died, the narrator was crippled; S. returned home, now knew that many were stronger than him]: 20-21; Morina 1939 [Hzgeri is defeated when meeting the giant adau , finds protection from an armless ploughman; the ploughman asks H. to tear his hair out of his head to tie a., H. is unable to do so; the ploughman tells how he became crippled; together with his comrades he took refuge from bad weather in the cave; it turned out to be a sheep skull; the shepherd's dog took it to its owner; he forged it with a stick and threw it; companions die, the ploughman remains crippled]: 28-29; Salakaya 1976, No. 17 [Sasirkva plays by throwing up his horse; his mother Sataney-Guasha says that this is not heroism for strongmen; S. meets a plowman with only half his body; he crushed him with a lump of earth, tells his mother to take him away, let the children have fun; she carries him on her head in a bowl, he grabs a branch in the forest; the giant's mother made her snare out of her hairs, urinated, caught S.; the giant told how he hid with his brothers in cave; another giant threw a stone in which the cave was at the wolf; the plowman was crippled, others died]: 211-214; Shakryl 1975, No. 61 [the prince sent the strongman for wine, who poured several barrels into his wineskin, carried it; the rider asked for a sip, drank everything in one sip; they began to quarrel, the passer-by put both in his pockets, brought them to his wife; she tells her husband that there are many people who can defeat him; husband went to look for them, his wife sent a witness with him; both were crossing the river, at which time a man watering the field accidentally picked them up with a scoop of water, threw them into the field; the woman picked them up, carried them to a cup on her head, spoke from the adaua; the companions ran away in fear, asked the sower to hide them, he put them in a grain bag, then accidentally, along with a handful of grain, in his mouth; took them out of a crack in his tooth; told how he drove cattle into a cave with three companions; when they heard a stranger approach, they drove the cattle asking, and they threw a stone from afar, since then there has been a crack in the tooth]: 295-299; Abaza people: Tugov 1985, No. 58 [the boy carried food to the field workers; the man he met asked for them to try, swallowed everything; they began to fight; the rider put both of their boots on the bootlegs, came home; the wife said that there were many men stronger than him; he came to the sea, the fisherman asked him to hold the fishing rod, he could not hold such a log; the old mother of the fish carried the rider and the horse in the basket; he ran away and asked the sower to hide it into the seed bag; when the old woman left, the sower threw it away with the seeds; when he returned to his wife, he bit off three fingers, for three men were much stronger than him], 59 [the man came to ask sour milk; the owner stabbed two bulls, made wineskins, and the one who came carried them; the man he met asked for a sip, drank everything in one sip; they got into a fight, the rider put them behind the bootlegs, brought them to his wife; wife told him not to worry, her father did more; he went to look for his father-in-law to kill him; by the fire, Ainizh and his wife; the man threw a stone at the woman, she thought it was a fly; then he killed her with a bullet, rushed to run, the ploughman hid him under a basket of wheat seeds, shouted at the Ainizha, who ran away in horror; the ploughman told him how, dying of his wounds, his father told him not to go hunting to the east of the sun; seven sons we still went there; the one-eyed Ainizh took them into the cave, closed the entrance with a rock, first ate their horses, then ate one of the brothers every day, frying them on a spit; the narrator was afraid to get out of the fire, but one arm and one leg burned down; he put on a goat skin, burned the Cyclops's eye with a spit, went out with the sheep, but was left without an arm or leg; the man returned home, freed from pride]: 174-176, 176- 179; Adygi (Abadzekhi) [prophet Khazre-Ali decided that there was no stronger than him in the world; if he had something to grab hold of, he would move the ground; his voice tells him to go to the mound, call Temtek Atemykov three times; an old man appeared scythe on a scythe horse with a scythe dog; because of the smell of corpse, he could only be approached from behind; old man: if we were still alive, there would be no place for people like you, the earth would not stand it of our gravity; failed with a horse and a dog; HA repented of his delusion]: Tambiev 1900:61-62; Karachays, Balkarians [Dzhigit brags of accuracy; makes his wife hold over her head the ring and shoots through it; mother-in-law advises her husband to compete with Umar's son Umar; they shoot up; W.'s arrow returns in a day; the dzhigit leaves and no longer tries his accuracy with risking his wife's life]: Aliyeva, Kholaev 1983:18-21; Karachays: Aleinikov 1983, No. 3 [a poor man named virgins saved a cow from wolves, but they chase him to the fence of the house; he threw a cow across He jumped over the fence himself; surprised at his own strength, he went in search of a stronger one; sees a fisherman who has a log instead of a fishing rod; he says that there is stronger than him; the second fisherman is stronger the first, the third is stronger than the second; D. came to the old woman; she dug a hole with a spindle, put D. in it and threw pillows so that her sons would not find him; when they arrived, they and the old woman began to blow, causing D . flew around the room until he flew down the pipe; he ran; saw a man dragging an arba, asked him to hide it; he hid it in his boot, put it on the arba; tied the pursuers with hairs from his beards; said that he was not the strongest either; he had a pupil, he went with him to pick up a bride for him; at night he saw trees falling down from the young man's breath; on the way back, the young man grabbed his rival , blew at the narrator, who flew up and hung on the rock; the young man took him off; the bearded dwarf jumped on the horse and carried him away; holding the logs into the crack, began to fry, cut the meat and eat; the young man fought, the horse cried, the dwarf woke up and beat her; the horse taught the young man to cut off the dwarf's head; he jumped up without a head, but the horse hid the young man; he grew hair in the burnt places; he killed everyone he met]: 148-155; Pröhle 1909a, No. 6 [the man was carrying eight wineskins full of sour milk; a man approached him and asked for some milk and eventually drank everything; the man grabbed him and shoved it, along with his wineskins, into bootleg; came to his wife, told him to take off his boots; from there came a man who had drunk milk; a man: "How big I am!" ; wife: "When you go to my parents, you will see someone who is even bigger"; the man went to his wife's parents, met a man who had a plow with a harrow attached to his paralyzed arm; a healthy hand he sowed seeds and plowed; at this time, witches threw stones from the edge of the forest; the ploughman grabbed the man with his horse and put him in a handkerchief; the ploughman's wife brought food, he told her to take the guest to their homes; witches stones were thrown again, so the ploughman's wife put the man and his horse in one bowl and covered them on top with the other; in the evening, the ploughman asked the man why he had come; the man replied that he was their husband daughters and that she told me to go to them; the plowman said that he and his wife were not big, and began to talk about those who were bigger: we were a hundred horsemen, I was the youngest of them; we spent the night in a cave; In the morning, a shepherd came and kicked the cave; it slid down with us into the valley; I saw that everyone was dead and that the cave was a human skull; since then my hand has been paralyzed; what we mistook for a cave turned out to be the eye socket of the skull; the man was amazed by what he heard, sat on his horse and galloped away]: 284-287; Balkarians: Malkonduev 2017:530-531 (Western 1965) [when the wife was carrying water, her husband shot her hat over her head; believes that no one is stronger than him; the witch taught the woman to say: go compete with the blind Leg-Nef; the man came to NN, he suggests games; 1) fight (NN drove the person who came to the ground ankle-deep); 2) throw a stone (the man could not pick it up); 3) shoot into the sky with a bow (the man's arrow fell an hour later, the NN arrow by lunchtime); 4) steal herd; the black stallion does not let go of the herd, the man shot him, NN reproaches for this; they were caught up by a rider - it turned out to be a girl; they took her with them; NN advises not to brag; there were 7 brothers - cannibal robbers; one man was carrying two women; killed six brothers and gouged out his eye with his finger; the man brought the girl with his second wife, and he also treated the first one well], 535-538 (Western 1958) [approximately like pp. 530-531]; Ossetians: Britaev, Kaloev 1959 [the Ouataga bull was so large that its body stretched from the top of Beshtau to the slopes of the Oise (40-50 km); the kite carried it away, sat on the horns of a goat, began to bite; the shoulder blade fell, became a steppe, people settled on it; the fox began to gnaw its shoulder blade, the village swung; the poor widow killed her; people refreshed one side, but the carcass could not be turned over; the widow turned it over the fox refreshed her, made her son a hat; she met the hunter, asked him to give her the ends of his fox hat, otherwise it was not enough for his hat; he put the widow in the stirrup, made her a slave; says that there are no people stronger than him; the other put it in his pocket, the hunter cut a hole, ran away; the giant's brother caught him - the same; the third brother put it in his purse, put it under his thimble at home to eat it in the morning; at night the mouse turned his thimble over ; the hunter ran, met a one-armed giant, carrying one hundred bulls in one hand, a hundred pounds per bull; the giant hid the hunter under a bag of salt; told him not to brag; he and his 7 brothers and a herd of bulls took refuge from the rain in the skull; the dog grabbed him, threw him off the cliff, the narrator's brothers died; he tells the hunter to let the widow go]: 417-419; Dzagurov 1973, No. 31 [strongman Dombay twisted by the tail a fallen buffalo and threw him somewhere; his wife brags about her husband; another woman: there is even stronger than him; D. goes to look for the strongest; the giant sends him to his brothers - cannot fight without them permits; the middle one refers to the elder, the eldest to their mother; her fang touched the sky, the other went underground; D. rushed to suck her breasts; the mother of the giants says what her sons were going to do from D. kebabs, tells them to run; the giant pulls 20 arb of salt, hid D. in the hollow of his tooth; tied the pursuers with his hair when they ran up; D. asks why the old man is one-eyed; he said that their There were 12 brothers, they went into the cave to spend the night, it turned out to be a skull; the dog grabbed the skull, ran to the house; the girl went out, put her foot on the skull; the brothers died, the narrator lost an eye; D. more did not brag about strength], 42 [the husband threw the bull away with a stick, the wife said that there would be someone stronger than him; he goes to look for a stronger one; meets a Waiga fisherman (giant) with bait on the hook a cow, the next has a bull, the third has a buffalo; the third leaves the man a fishing rod, he cannot hold it, the waig covers him with his hat, tells his mother to fry the "bird", the Waig mother tells the man run; a crooked waig pulls 12 arbs with salt with one hand, hides a man in an arba, asks him to pull out his hair to tie the pursuer, the person is unable to do so; the giant easily ties the pursuer with one bristle; a man asks why he became crooked, so strong; he says that he spent the night in a cave among 12 hunters, it turned out to be a human skull, picked up by a dog, a shepherd put it on a staff and threw it, those inside were maimed; the opponent's seeker returned home]: 76-79, 142-146; Libedinsky 1978:123-127 [Soslan brags about his strength, throws the bull over the river, goes to look for an equal; the mother of three Waigs hides him under a sieve, releases him at night; the Waigi chases him; the one-armed and one-eyed Waig hides him in her mouth, ties the three pursuers with her hair; tells how he, his father and six brothers entered the cave; she turned out to be a horse skull that the giant faked on a stick and threw it against the horns of a goat; the skull crashed, the giant killed Waiga's father and brothers, he tore off his arm and knocked out his eye; S. returns to the sledges]; Chechens [the husband shoots an egg, placing it on his wife's head; she says that there are better hunters and better hunters than him; he comes to seven sledges , they throw it from hand to hand; their mother tells him to run, the sledges are chasing; Goncha's sledge plows 8 wild boars, the man asks him to hide, G. hides him in the hollow of his tooth, lets him go to his pursuers wild boars, they ran away; G. says that he was the weakest of the seven brothers, their sister was stolen by a one-eyed Sargan; they came to him, he put them on a spit and went to bed; G. was on the edge, only wounded, stabbed S. with a red-hot spit of his eye, ran away; S. threw after the rock, knocked out a tooth with a fragment]: Malsagov 1983, No. 24:124-125; Ingush [a man lifts a cow by the tail, the neighbor's wife says what Stronger people are a mountain; there fishermen throw a bragger to each other; he runs away, a one-armed and one-eyed giant hides it in his pants, ties his pursuers with his hair; tells how seven brothers, including him, climbed into the horse's skull; the dog brought it to a one-eyed shepherd; he roasted six brothers on a spit; the narrator burned the sleeping giant's eyes with a spit, put on his skin goat, stole the herd, called out to the blinded man; he threw the rock, tearing off the narrator's hand and knocking out his eye]: Dalgat 1972:280-281 (=Sadulaev 2004, No. 126:343-346); Chechens or Ingush [wife speaks Govde, he eats stronger than him; G. wanders to test it; seven giants are going to fry him, their mother lets him go; he comes to a blind giant who hides him in his bosom with a horse and with a weapon, tells his pursuers that G. galloped on; tells how he and his six brothers escaped from other giants; the fugitives hid in a human skull, but the shepherd giant picked it up and threw against a rock; six died, the narrator went blind]: Dalgat 1972:278-280; Avars, Kumyks, Lucks [sartu say there are people stronger than him; he comes to giants, they play like a ball to them; he runs, meets two more (var.: ploughman), one drags 9 arbs with salt with one hand, crumples a bull's skin with the other; hides the fugitive, usually in the hollow of a tooth, drives away the pursuers; tells how I lost an eye (tooth), I spend the night with my brothers in a skull, which they mistook for a cave; a giant on horseback hit him with a whip (var: forged with a stick), he was the only one who survived, although he lost his eye (tooth)]: Gamzatov, Dalgat 1991:22-23; Avars [khan could not find an equal in strength; came to the sledges, one blew, the khan hung from the ceiling; ran away, the one-eyed giant hid him, putting him in his pocket, Nartov- He tied his pursuers with his hair torn out from under his arm; told how he hid from the rain with six brothers in a cave; a shepherd threw a wolf there trying to steal a sheep, the brothers died, narrator lost an eye; the cave turned out to be a skull]: Abakarova 1985:24-25; Lucky [Isa beats his wife, says that there is no hero stronger than him; a neighbor advises to send him to the other side of Kunzunt; Isa shoots a mountain, it turns out to be a dev, Isa runs, asks a ploughman named Yarmagomed to hide it; he hid it in his mouth; without answering the deva's question, he picked up the plough with the bull and killed him; forgot about Isa, who had difficulty shouted from his mouth; says that one day he and his friends spent the night in a cave; it turned out to be a skull, the shepherd forged it with his staff and abandoned it; his comrades died, but I only had a tooth knocked out; when I returned home, Isa no longer beat his wife]: Khalilov 1965, No. 61:180-182; Megrelians [having received 1000 pound wineskins of wine as a gift from the king, giant and glutton Khecho sat down to rest under the mountain; the stranger offers to help carry wineskin across the mountain; picked it up easily and drank everything at once; they quarreled; Kazhi ("flint") put everyone in his pocket, brought it to his wife, boasted that there was no more strongman like him; his wife objected; K. saw Ndia, a forest giant, sleeping; fled in horror, N. followed him; K. asked the ploughman to hide him, he put him and the mule in his bag; cut off N.'s head, threw his body away; in the evening The ploughman tells a story; there were 60 brothers, they conquered the Kaget state and returned home, hid from the weather in a cave; in the morning someone threw the mountain saying, "Damn little dog, where she was dragged"; everyone died, the narrator survived alone, the cave turned out to be a horse's head; K. returned home, agreed with his wife]: Mingrel tales 1890, No. 4:326-331 (about the same in Gachava et al. 1890 : 32-35; =Virsaladze 1973, No. 63:108-110 {Virsaladze has an erroneous reference to Tskhakai 1895, Descriptions of Caucasian Localities and Tribes 19 (2): 143-144}; Turks [a bragger hunter fires an arrow every evening through his wife's earring; he really hunts only hares; the neighbors dressed up the boy as a bear, the hunter is frightened; the old woman advises the hunter's wife to send him to an Arab over Mount Kaf, who supposedly shoots better; the gorge is guarded by a lioness; the old man gives magic bread to tame it; the hunter throws pieces to the lioness, the birds, the dragon; the Arab is a monstrous giant; the hunter ran away from him, threw bread to the diva, he hid it in the hollow of a tooth; told the Arab that he did not see anyone, he went back; the diva tells us who broke his tooth; they were 40 brothers; they were met by a giant knee-deep in the sea; he caught whales, cooked them in the sun, swallowed; chased his brothers, killed several, and broke the narrator's tooth with a stone; the hunter swore that he would no longer brag, received diamonds and gems from the diva; the firebird brought him home; he lived happily with his wife]: Aganin et al. 1960:80-85.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [the strongman went to look for someone to fight with; came to the old people, who said that the sons would return now; one brought two plants of firewood, and the other one, but on top of the elk; at night, the strongman on purpose farted to be released from the hut, rushed to run; climbed into a hole with honey; the bear put his tail down there, the strongman grabbed him and got out; asked the ploughman to hide it for one arm and one leg (in one version, the ploughman puts it in his pocket); when the pursuers ran up, the plowman killed them with one hand; the strongman returned home and did not fight anyone else]: Kerbelite 2014, No. 39:91-92 (about the same Briefly in Balys 1936, no.*650B: 64; the plowman hides the bouncer in his pants); Latvians [The strongman is looking for equal opponents. She stays overnight with an old lady, whose sons are also strong. They eat four cakes, drink a barrel of beer, and at night, because of their cough, the guy throws the guy from one end of the hut to the other. The next morning, the guy runs away, meets a man who promises to save him from his pursuers. He puts his strong brothers in his pockets and keeps them there until the guy runs so far away that he can't catch up]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 650B: 307; Karelians (Olonetskaya, 1938) [after death The son went on a journey of his parents, found a wife in another kingdom; brags to her how much firewood he cut and brought; she replies every time that there are many such fellows, but they do not brag; the husband leaves, rolls a stone up the mountain, hears someone plowing 300 miles away; the plowman has one arm, one leg, one eye; says that he was the youngest of 12 brothers; they looted gold and silver; a girl - and this is there was the boy's wife - she promised to transport him across the river for gold and silver, which she would hold with her little finger; she held and took everything; she stamped her foot, her leg went into the ground, the brothers ran, hid in the skull of the victim hero; the girl kicked the skull, 11 brothers died, and the narrator was crippled; the boy returned to his wife, promised to listen to her in everything]: Concca 1959, No. 32:149-152; Finns [good fist fighter brags about his strength and goes to look for someone else to fight with; he stopped in a house where he had a barrel of herring, a barrel of salt, a pole of bread (everything on a pole under the ceiling) and a keg of beer; his sons came in the evening housewives and ate such a portion; at night the guy ran away in horror; Kalevanpoika is fishing on the shore, the guy got into his pocket; K. threw his pursuers one behind the northern lights, and the other towards him in the midday sun; the guy promised not to fight anyone else]: Concca 1993:142-144

Turkestan. Kyrgyz [returning from his grandparents, the boy met a man and gave him two sips from his wineskin; he emptied it in one sip and demanded more koumiss; when he heard what business, the boy put both of their boots by the boots and brought them to his home; let him go; asked his wife if there were any people stronger than him; wife: there are many of them; he went to measure his strength, met a lame peasant; he put it in a seed bag, and then accidentally put it in his mouth; the man hid in the hollow of his tooth; the peasant's wife noticed him there and brought it to the kids to play; in the evening a peasant came; said that they were 12 brothers; they and their horses hid from the thunderstorm in the cave; it turned out to be a goat's skull; the dogs started to gnaw because of it, and the shepherd threw it away; the narrator alone survived; man stopped looking for those who are stronger than him]: Sulaimanov 1998:76-84.