K103C. An assistant bull fights in a copper forest .11.15.16.27.31.32.
Sitting on a bull or in the wild, a boy or girl runs away from his stepmother's house. On the way, the bull fights other bulls (monsters), the latter of which most often kills him.
Xhosa, Portuguese, Irish, Croats, Hungarians, Danes, Norwegians, Mordovians.
Bantu-speaking Africa. Xhosa [the women of the village force the poor orphan Magoda to do different jobs; he sits on the father's remaining ox, leaves; towards the herd, the ox defeats the ferocious bull; M. is hungry, from ox horns pour food, excess food goes to another horn; the ox warns that he will die in the fight with the next bull, tells him to break his horns, take it with him; M. comes to the village, feeds everyone; one person replaces horns; M. returns, the thief tries in vain to beg the horns for food, they will give it only for M.; he takes the horns, runs away; asks the horn for good clothes, comes to the village, marries, lives in prosperity]: McCall Theal 1882:139-160 (=Arnott 2000:79-85; Held 1904:21-25 classifies this text as Hottenot).
Southern Europe. The Portuguese [stepmother tyrannites her stepdaughter, his father's bull protects her; he has a magic tablecloth in his ear or horn; either he helps her find food or helps her spin; the stepmother watches the bull; pretending to be sick, asks him to slaughter; stepdaughter runs away with him; the bull carries her through a copper, silver, golden forest; tells him not to touch the trees, but she accidentally touches them and takes it with him; because of this, the bull must fight demons every time; the girl lubricates his wounds; he tells him to kill and bury him, everything the girl needs appears in this place; or the killed bull turns as a prince and takes a girl as his wife]: Cardigos 2006, No. 511A: 126-128;
Western Europe. The Irish (Longford County) [the king and queen had a son; the queen died, the king remarried; his stepmother disliked his stepson, he was sent to herd cows; he began to cry, and a red one came up to him the goby asked what was going on; the young man said that he was starving and had to sleep outside; the goby offered to unscrew one of his horns to find food, and admitted that it contained the soul of the deceased queens; the young man unscrewed the horn, found a knife, tablecloth, food and drinks; after eating, put the tablecloth in the horn and screwed it back; the goby began to feed him every day; the stepmother wanted to find out why the young man gaining strength; noticed the goby leaving him; told the king that she was sick and asked for the heart and liver of a red bull; the king agreed to be stabbed; the goby ran away; there was a castle in the forest in which four giants and their mother lived; the young man brought the cows to their land, in the evening they gave so much milk that there were not enough buckets; the next day the young man brought the cows there again, the giant began to track him down; the goby told the young man to sit on his back and told him not to touch the trees; warned the young man to take his skin if he died; in case of danger, he should stand on this skin, swear by his heart and with a red bull's liver - this will ensure victory; they jumped, the young man hit a branch, the forest rang; a big bull rode to them, the red goby defeated him; the next day they returned to the forest, the giant followed them chased; the young man touched the branch, a bull appeared, killed a red bull; the young man took his skin and horn, allowed the cows to graze in the giants' possessions; one of them came, the young man stood on the skin of a bull, killed who came; in the following days he killed all the giants except one; came to their castle, met the mother of giants there; she helped him hide; when her son returned home, the young man killed him; took possession of him giants' treasures; richly dressed, he went on a royal hunt; they were surprised by a stranger; when he returned home in old clothes, the stepsister knew from her golden hair that it was him; The two of us went to the castle of giants, decided to get married; the stepmother, after learning that he was rich, died of a heart attack; the king repented]: Mac Gréine 1930, No. 16:268-272.
The Balkans. Croats [the widower married a widow, both have a son; the wife demanded that her son herd cows and her husband's son an ox; give her bread and cheese, and her stepson crusts; ox: twist my right horn, there you will find food; when the stepson sees his stepson full, the stepmother pretended to be sick, she needs the meat of that ox; ox: when the butcher comes, jump on my back; took the young man far from home; warned: I will butt with the fat with an ox and I will win; and the thin one will kill me; then take both my horns, but do not open my left horn until you come home; but the young man, when he reaches the bridge, opened his left horn and from there the cattle came; pitchfork: I'll put it back if she would be allowed to come the morning after her wedding night to brush his wife's hair; the young man thought: it is not yet known whether I will get married; so he promised; he found only his father at home, the farm is in decline; the young man sent his father to to ask the king to marry a princess; after the third time, the king descended to talk to the peasant: if your son has the same castle as mine, I will give it back; the young man looked into the horn: there was a better castle royal; now the king demands cattle; cattle come out of the horn; wedding; pitchfork appeared in the morning; but there was yarn in the corner with three breadcrumbs in it; the crumbs spoke: if you go from God to God, and if from hell, then to hell; Vila combed the princess and disappeared]: Leskien 1915, No. 44:197-199; Hungarians [the wife died, the poor man took another one, from that 5 daughters with three, four, five, six and seven eyes, the last one on the back of his head; the ox Mischievous teaches the owner's son to take food from his right horn; stepmother sends daughters to spy; every time the young man waits for all eyes to fall asleep; forgot about the seventh eye; stepmother asks her husband to slaughter the ox; he tells the young man to sit between his horns, flies away; they fly into the copper, silver, golden forest; each time the ox tells him not to pick a flower, the young man plucks; the ox has defeated the copper wolf, silver forest lion; tiger, dragon, hare in gold; killed a tiger, a hare tore him up; a young man picked up a horn; a herd came out of it at rest, the young man does not know how to put it back; the witch drives him a promise never to marry; a young man marries a miller's daughter, who leaves bread and a scoop at the door with a broom cut down; the witch orders to open, the scoop, the broom, the bread refuse; the witch admits that the mill is stronger than it and bursts]: Ortutai 1974, No. 7:158-164.
Baltoscandia. Danes [stepmother tyrannites stepdaughter; she herds cattle; red bull tells me to get food out of her horn; they run away; contrary to the ban, the girl breaks a twig when they jump through the copper forest, the bull fights a copper bull; then a silver bull in a silver forest; a golden one kills him; the girl keeps the bull's right ear, it gives her everything she needs; is hired as a maid in the kitchen; in a different form three times comes to church; names objects (token objects): water, comb, towel; running away for the third time, loses a golden shoe; wearing a gold dress, sitting in a golden carriage, is behind a shoe; wedding]: Cox 1893, No. 59:24-25; Norwegians: Dasent 1970 [stepmother and her daughter tyrant princess Katie; she herds cattle; Ox says she will get any food out of his ear; noticing that K. is prettier, stepmother sends the maid to peek; pretends that she is sick, she will be cured by the Ox's meat; at night K. sits on the Ox, they run away; contrary to the Ox's prohibition, K. tears off a leaf in the forests with copper, silver, gold with leaves; every time a troll attacks, the Ox kills him; tells K. to cut off his head, hide plucked leaves under his skin, wear a wooden dress, hire pigsties in the palace; K. offers the prince water for a bath, a towel, a comb; every time he rejects them with indignation; every time after that K. knocks on the rock with his wand, her copper, silver, gold outfit appears, she comes to church, the prince falls in love with her; grabs her golden shoe for the third time; tells everyone to try it on; the stepmother's daughter wears but washes her feet to blood; when she wears K., she fits, she throws off her wooden outfit, prince marries her]: 357-372; Hodne 1984, No. 511A (Nordland) [an orphan boy finds a caterpillar on his parents' grave and fattens it; it grows into a bull (ox); a young man sits on it, leaves; they drive through three forests - with brass, silver, gold leaves; each time the bull must fight monsters, because the young man violates the ban on touching the leaves; the bull orders him to be slaughtered, turns into a prince; a young man marries his sister and gets half a kingdom]: 119.
Volga - Perm. Mordva (Erzya) [mother died, children are small, husband married Baba Yaga's daughter; she has 7 daughters - One-eyed, Two-Eyed, etc., to Seven Eyes; stepmother does not feed her sister and brother, tells her to row manure from under the cow; the cow tells her to milk; the stepmother is surprised that the stepdaughter and stepson are getting fat, sends Seven-eyed to watch; the girl looks in her hair, says, "Sleep a peephole, sleep the second one..", etc., The seven-eye falls asleep; so with everyone; the last one is One-eyed, her huge eye does not fall asleep, she tells her stepmother everything; she tells her husband to slaughter a cow and kill the children; the cow agrees with the children that the moment when they start slaughtering her, she will run, let them jump on her back, taking a stone, soap and a spindle; her stepmother is chasing, the cow tells her to throw the spindle (thorny thickets), stone (mountain), soap (soap the mountain, it is slippery, the stepmother has stopped chasing); they drive through an iron, copper, silver, golden forest; every time the cow tells her not to break off the branches, but her sister tells her every time that they are her they will come in handy, take it with them; they settled in a mushroom leg house covered with nettles; one day a silver bull came and demanded that a cow come butting at silver for breaking the children silver branches; the cow won, the bull fell to pieces; the same with the copper bull; but the plain iron goby broke it into pieces himself]: Paasonen 1941:236-257.