I87D. Humans in the time of giants, ATU 701.
.16.27.-.29.31.32.
Theearth used to be inhabited by giants. One of them finds a tiny little man, brings it to his father or mother. They usually say that people like this will replace the current giants.
El-Shamy understands ATU 701 as stories about a boy with a finger, and Uther 2004 includes a reference to El-Shamy, although its definition of the plot corresponds to ours.
Germans (Pfalz, Hessen, Switzerland, Austria), Holladians, Flemish, Frisians, British, Slovenes, Hungarians, Western, Eastern and Northern Ukrainians, Poles, Georgians, Swedes, Norwegians, Western Sami, Finns, Livons, Lithuanians, Udmurts, Mari, Chuvash, Kazan Tatars.
Western Europe. Germans: Liungman 1961 [earliest story recording in northern Germany in 1595]: 193; Schönwerth 1981 (Pfalz) [a giant's daughter came across a man who plowed oxen; she she put it, along with the oxen and the plow, in her apron and brought it to her father to show it; along the way, she dropped it and the land that had spilled out formed a rocky ledge west of Rauhen Kulm; she picked up the rest and brought it to her father ; the father scolded his daughter: this tiny plowman is also a man, he works; he ordered him to be taken to where his daughter found him in the morning]: 8; Germans (Hesse) [the giant's daughter noticed people in the field plowing and harrowed; brought one to her father - what a toy; a giant scolded his daughter and brought the ploughman back to his field]: Lyncker 1854:35-36; Austrians, Swiss, Dutch, Flemish, Friezes, British: Uther 2004 (1), No. 701:376.
The Balkans. Slovenians [churches in the District and Sentrupert were built at the same time, and the builders had only one hammer to break stones; it had to be transported from one place to another; pagan girl ) carried food to the builders; at that time six people were mowing the grass; the girl stopped to see who was eating grass, probably grasshoppers; she picked up the mowers along with the braids and took it to the chickens; the chickens they were pecked, but the wine and bread they had were not touched; since then, six have come to eat their lunch an hour before midnight; some believe that the giants were destroyed by the Psoglavtsy; giants are also called" Greeks"]: Kropej 2012:131-132; Slovenes, Hungarians: Uther 2004 (1), No. 701:376.
Central Europe. Western Ukrainians: Dragomanov 1876 (Podolsk governorate) [Once upon a time there were people so big that they walked through the woods like grass; one day a giant met our ploughman with oxen, a plow and a driver; put them all in the palm of his hand, brought them to his father and said he had found them mice; my father replied that these are not mice, but people who will be after them (i.e. giants); now there are no giants, only somewhere in a church in Kiev or Lviv there is the foot of one giant; after us there will be such people that "they will be threshed twice in our furnaces"]: 383 (quail in Joanid 1985:159); Ioanid 1985 (p. Puzhniki, Buchatsky University, 1897) [the people who lived at the beginning of time were so big that they crossed mountains and valleys; after the flood they were gone; before it began, middle-generation people appeared, plowed the field with a plow; the giant went home, I saw them and put them in my hand with four oxen and a plow; brought them to my mother, said that these worms were digging the field; my mother told them to be taken back; said that such people would live after them, and after that, the middle generation will be the third; people from the third generation will be "so great, as with corn kachiniki, what will be threshed twice"; when a person is from the middle generation he will meet such little people, he will also take them in the palm of his hand and bring them to their mothers]: 159; Western and northern Ukrainians (Ushitsky and Litinsky u. Podolsk Gubernia, Grubeshovsky y. Lublin Province, Lutsk University Volyn Gubernia) [velytni (giants) existed only before the flood; when real people began to appear, the giant found a plow with six oxen and a plowman on the field, put them all in his palm and brought it to his father; asked him to explain what these worms were; the father said that after them (i.e. father and son), such people would live on earth]: Chubinsky 1872:216; Western Ukrainians (Galicia) [used to be people who carried an ax across the mountain; the child saw a ploughman, took it in his hand with oxen and a plow and brought it to his mother; she says that little people like this will live after us]: Yavorsky 1915, No. 2:3-4; Eastern Ukrainians (Poltava) [the first people were very tall; they went to plow 60 miles away; one such person found an ordinary person, brought him to his mother as a curiosity; the mother said that such they will live after them; the son says that if he knew, he would crush them all; the Lord destroyed the giants, turning them into stone; when the sun appeared, they began to laugh, so the Lord turned them into stone; they lived like animals in burrows; on Holy Evening, the petrified come to life and converge; they cannot be touched; one Cossack jokingly grabbed a stone woman by the chest, who blew his head off and petrified again]: Strizhevsky 1905, No. 1:118-119; Poles (many records) [a giant picks up a person, puts him in a headscarf and brings it to children for fun]: Krzyżanowski 1962, No. 701:216.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Georgians (western Mikhail Janashvili, late 19th - early 20th century) [The Oghuz were huge but stupid; real people appeared on the ground and one shot an arrow at Oghuz; Oghuz easily caught him, put him by the back of his boot, brought him to his mother; she says that after them, Oghuz, peace will be eaten by these little ones; and even later by the dwarfs; they will be even smarter; the man immediately showed how to feed the horse: it bent its neck to the oats itself; and the Oghuz put feeders on the porch to make it higher]: Virsadadze 1973, No. 62:102-108.
Baltoscandia. Swedes [a giant girl picks up a man with a plow and a horse and brings it to her father; he tells her to be carried back - this is one of the people who will live on earth after them]: Liungman 1961, No. 701 *: 193; Western Sami (Västerboten, Sweden) [a giant's daughter brings a man in an apron to her father with a horse; his father tells him to take him to where he was]: Qvigstad 1925, No. 73:47; Lithuanians: Kerbelite 2018, No. 172 [one giant lived in Legay and the other Mikieriai; a giant from L. was walking home from M. and saw a man plowing on oxen; put him and the oxen in a mitten and brought him home; at home said that little people eat little and work hard, we need to let them go; put them back in their mitten and let them go], 173 [giants from two villages, between which there is an impassable swamp, talked and said that over each other; found a man plowing on oxen; the giant put him, along with the plough and batog, in the thumb of his mittens and brought him to play]: 83, 85; Norwegians, Finns, Livs: Uther 2004 (1), No. 701:376.
Volga - Perm. Kazan Tatars [people were of great stature, making their way through spruce forests like through tall grass; the son of such people saw a man with a horse, who plowed the land; put it in the palm of his hand and brought it to his father like a curiosity; the father ordered not to harm the little man: after them, all people would be so small; the boy took the little man back; shook out his bast shoes - two mountains appeared]: Gilyazutdinov 2015, No. 288:284-285; Chuvash (1906-1908) [Yuzhnochuvash. street, northernochuvash. old 'giant'; the giants were huge in height, but all were already extinct; every step they took was a milestone, the tallest forest only reached their knees; the giant raised the plowing peasant along with six horses and a plow, and brought home to his mother: "Look, mother. I brought ants, they plow such land!" {mother's answer is not given}; when he walked, he shook out the ground and dust from his bast shoes, which formed large hills (mounds)]: Meszaros 2000:53; Marie: Tudorovskaya, Eman 1945 [Onar lived with a decrepit and blind mother; walked through the forest like hemp; noticed a little thing in the field - people burning rye; put people with horses in his pocket, brought them to his mother; mother wanted to touch people - a long time ago did not see it; Omar gave his mother a heated oak stick; she clutched it in her hand, water flowed from the stick; said that after them all people would be like that, told him to take it to where he took it; he saw a speck, mother she licked and spit it out; it was a big stump, the man heated the stove with it until the middle of winter; where Omar shook out his bast shoes, there were still mounds]: 38-39; Ranstedt 1902 (mountain) [first giants lived on the ground, spinning they made from larch trunks; one day a giant son noticed a man who was plowing and brought him to his mother; she ordered him to be taken back: we would soon be gone, and all people would be like this]: 203; Udmurts: Potanin 1884 [=Kralina 2008:13-14; the first people on earth were giants, could neither build, sow nor hunt; the forest was like nettles for them; where they set foot, a log appeared, where they shook sand out of bast shoes are hills; before the giants disappeared, people appeared; the little man began to plow the land, build huts; when he saw one, the giant boy took it in his hand, put it in his pocket, brought it to his mother: I the woodpecker caught, he hammered the spruce; mother: this is not a woodpecker, but a man; soon we will be gone, only such people will remain; we run soon; where her tear fell, rivers formed; giants moved north; turned into boulders or descended into a deep well]: 192:13-14; Moshkov 1900 (Osinsky y. Perm Province) [the first humans were giants, for whom the forest was like grass for us; "At this time, there were also little people smaller than us (Pichi-murt), and it took 12 people to slaughter one ram. The giant once put them in his pocket and brought them to show his mother: "We will no longer live on earth," he said. "But these little people will live in our place." So it did not happen, the narrator added, we are now much smaller than the first people, and after us there will be even fewer people"]: 199.