K127A. The silent heroine .15.16.22.23.27.28.31.

The heroine must remain silent for a long time and therefore cannot answer the charges. They want to execute her, but at that moment the restrictions expire, she is saved.

Italians (Veneto), Irish, Germans (Grimms, Swabia), Shans, India (translated from Hindi), Punjabi, Croats, Bulgarians, Russians (Arkhangelsk, Voronezh), Czechs, Norwegians, Danes, Latvians, Lithuanians, Lutsies, Livons, Finns.

Southern Europe. Italians (Veneto) [two boys went out to meet their father; he was in a bad mood and sent them to hell; the hell took them; the boys' sister went to look for them; came to the iron door; standing by the entrance advised me to go to a room with 24 beds; she found brothers in it; flames under the beds; her sister would free them if she remained silent for 7 years and fire and water passed; she met her in the forest the king and married him; the Queen Mother hates her daughter-in-law; she gave birth to a boy, her mother-in-law replaced him with a puppy, left him in a box on the roof; wrote to her son; he ordered the queen to be expelled; the servants did not kill her, but they just cut off her hair and took away clothes for men; she was picked up by sailors and she was heroic in battle; then 13 robbers came to the house, took only a little from each plate, but forgot to pick up hers spoon; the robbers left her; were going to attack her husband's castle; she warned him in a letter; the surviving robbers ran away, but she was captured; want to hang; she asks for signs to postpone the execution for a day; for an hour; her two brothers come and tell everything; the Queen also says, tells me to see what is in the box on the roof - there are the baby's bones; the Queen Mother and the midwife have been hanged, brothers were made ministers]: Calvino 1980, No. 31:87-90.

Western Europe. Irish [the king and queen have 12 sons; when she saw a raven go down to a slaughtered calf in winter, the Queen wished to have a daughter with skin white as snow, cheeks red as blood, hair black as a raven, ready to give all 12 sons for her; an old woman appeared and said that the daughter would be born, but at the same time her sons would be gone; when she gave birth, the sons turned into geese and flew away {pass pdf pages}; a girl comes to the brothers' house; they have sworn to kill her, but they don't want to; an old woman appears: if you kill, I'll turn you into cane; let the girl collect swamp fluff in five years, he will hide threads from him, wear shirts and will remain silent all this time; the prince met the girl and married her; his mother hates his daughter-in-law; when the Queen gave birth, the Queen Mother put her to sleep and gave the child to the wolf , who appeared in the garden and took it away; the same for the second time; the Queen smeared blood on the mother's lips so that everyone would believe that she ate the child herself; they decided to burn her; at the moment when the hangman ignited the fire, the Queen finished her work, put shirts on the geese that had arrived and they became young men; a woman appeared, leading one hand and holding the Queen's baby, the Queen's children; the Queen Mother and her henchmen ripped with horses]: Kennedy 1875, No. 2:14-19; Germans [the king and queen have 12 sons; the king orders them to be killed if a daughter is born; the mother tells the sons to leave and see if she raises them white or red flag; brothers see red, so a girl was born, they go to the forest promising to kill her sister; she grew up, saw 12 shirts, found out from her mother what happened, came to the house in the woods; there younger brother Veniamin, he hides her, takes the word from the brothers not to kill her; they see a sister with a gold star in her forehead; they promise to love her; she accidentally picks 12 lilies, the brothers turn into crows, fly away ; the old woman says that it is necessary to remain silent for 7 years and not laugh; the sister spins while sitting in a tree; the king finds her, marries her; his mother persuades her son to burn a strange beggar; crows arrive at the last moment, Seven years old, they became young men, scattered a fire; the king's mother was put in a barrel of boiling oil and snakes]: Grimm, Grimm 1987, No. 9:32-36 (=Grimm, Grimm 1987:30-34); Germans (Swabia) [woman baked three pies, took them to the cellar; her three sons sniffed and ate everything; woman: let those who ate them turn into crows; the brothers flew away in crows, telling her sister to take three chicken legs and come a year later to glass mountain, where their castle would be; she came, the castle was empty; took her older brother's spoon, ate from her middle plate and drank from her youngest's mug; hid; the brothers flew in before midnight; began to look who ate and drank from them; found a sister; she will be able to spell them out if she goes to the forest and does not say a word in 7 years; a year later, the hunter found her, married her; she gave birth to a son in his absence; the midwife changed his dog, and threw the child into the river; the crows brothers picked him up; the same with his second son; after the third, the husband ordered his wife to be burned at the stake; the years were just over; three white knights appeared on white horses, missing sons in their arms; the midwife was burned at the stake; the brothers did not leave their sister and her children to their abusive husband, but took them with them]: Meier 1852a, No. 49:174-179.

Burma - Indochina. Shana [the queen dies, leaving 11 sons and a daughter; the stepmother feeds her stepchildren with enchanted dishes, they turn into ducks; blames their sister for this, turns her ugly, drives her away; the old woman tells her in a dream that at night the brothers turn into people again; the girl bathes, restores her former beauty; brother ducks also fly to the lake, throw off their bird's clothes; the old woman explains that brothers will remain human if the sister silently weaves burdock clothes for them; the prince sees a dumb woman, takes her home; the watchman sees a girl picking burdock in the cemetery at night; she is gathered burn like a sorceress; brothers fly in, grab clothes, turn into young men, save their sister from the fire; the brothers' father drives his wife away as a sorceress, sons inherit his throne]: Zapadova 1977:318-322 (=Kasevich , Osipov 1976, No. 184:534-540).

South Asia. India (translated from Hindi) [sadhu gives the queen a drink of ash and milk, she becomes pregnant; in order for a daughter to be born, the queen's 12 sons must go to the forest; the daughter sees the princes' children's shirts, the mother is forced to tell her about her brothers, she leaves, finds them; the 12-year spell ends; the sister comes to the garden, tears flowers, a witch appears, the brothers turn into ravens; to turn them back into people, the sister must remain silent for 11 years; the king finds her; his older wives smear her new mouth with the blood of an infant; the king orders his wife to be burned; the crows who have arrived take her away from the fire, turn into princes; the king burned seven wives and counselor]: Zograf 1964:398-410; Punjabi [{not all pages are on the Internet, but the plot is clear};... the king is hungry and thirsty, there is only gold around; an ugly witch (dain) appears gives water; she is immensely rich and the king decides to marry her; after becoming queen, the witch turned 7 princes into swans, they flew away; their sister goes in search; the old woman says that swans in the evening they fly to the spring; the sister waited for them, they are happy, after dark they became young men; in the morning they flew away again in the guise of swans; a ruff voice teaches the princess; on the mountain a tree with red fruits; from The fibers in its leaves must be woven by the brothers, then the spell will dissipate; but until the shirts are ready, we must remain silent; every night the princess makes a shirt; but on the fifth day he saw her and took her away prince; notices that at night she goes to a tree, that swans are circling around her during the day; decides that the girl is a witch, going to put a poisonous snake on her; but she opened the window and the swans pecked the snake; the sister put shirts on the brothers and they became boys again]: Sheikh-Dilthey 1976, No. 10:48 -51 {52?}.

The Balkans. Croats [the poor widow has 9 sons and a daughter; she has nothing to feed her sons - let them at least turn into wolves; the brothers ran away as wolves; the girl grew up; when she found out what had happened to her brothers, she went looking for them; came to the house where the old woman came; she hid her from the wolves on the roof; wolves came running and became young men; the old woman showed them the girl, they are happy; to spell them, the sister must remain silent for 9 years; she herds cows, the prince saw her; married; when she gave birth, her mother-in-law threw the baby out the window into the lake, but the white wolf picked him up; so three times; puppies instead of babies; the prince agreed to hang his wife; at the last the moment 9 knights rode on white horses, brought three children; the term expired, the spell was removed; the prince expelled his mother]: Eschker 1992, No. 23:121-127; Bulgarians [according to the witch (or mother's curse) 9 (11) The brothers are turned into birds (swans, crows) and fly away; the sister goes in search, meets them, they carry her on their wings (in a net) across the sea to another kingdom; she meets the prince, marries; she finds out what can spell the brothers if she manages to weave a nettle (linen) shirt for everyone without saying a word during this time; accused of witchcraft; at the last moment the brothers arrive, she throws on they are shirts, they turn into young men; only one sleeve was not ready; (influence of published translations)]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 451:160.

Central Europe. Czechs [the farmer is impoverished, the neighbor refuses to baptize his newborn daughter; he goes with the girl, the old woman agrees to baptize the girl if Marishka returns to her after 12 years; on the spot a future meeting, a rose bush grows; the old woman gives inexhaustible money, the peasant's affairs are recovering; when M. is 12 years old, she comes to the rose bush, the old woman opens the dungeon, there is a castle; gives the keys to all rooms, you can't look into the sixth; after 5 years she leaves, M. unlocks the sixth door; there is a skeleton shaking her head in the coffin; the old woman returns, feels that M. opened the room, but she Denies everything despite threats; M. finds himself in a deep forest and is speechless; Queen Milboi asks her parents for permission to go to the forest; meets M. there; hides her, tells her parents that he brought her deer; M. writes his story to him; Milboy marries M.; goes to war; M. gives birth to a son; an old woman comes in, demands to say what M. saw in the sixth room; she again denies everything (for a while she is speechless returns); the old woman tears the child in half, disappears; everyone thinks that M. killed her own child; the same with the second child; the third time Milboy stays with his wife but falls asleep; again the same; M. they decide to burn like a sorceress; on the way to the fire, the old woman reappears, M. again denies that she entered the sixth room; just before the burning, a chariot appears, wearing a noble woman with a baby in her arms, two little boys behind her; the woman says that she was both an old woman and a skeleton in the sixth room; refusing to confess, M. freed the woman from the spell; everyone apologizes to M.; they they come to the castle, the sixth room is gilded, there is a treasure chest in place of the coffin]: Němcová 1990:187-217; Russians (Arkhangelskaya, Mezen, d. Vozhegora, 1927) [The king has 12 sons, he decides to kill them if the queen gives birth to a daughter and prepares 12 coffins. She tells her sons about this, shows the coffin room and promises to hang a red flag if she gives birth to a girl and a white flag if she gives birth to a boy. The brothers see the red flag, go into the forest and build a hut. The daughter finds a room with 12 coffins, a chest with 12 shirts, asks her mother where her brothers are, she says. The girl goes looking for her brothers. They agree to kill every girl they meet because their sister is forced to live in the woods. The girl meets one of her brothers at the house, tells her who she is, he feels sorry for her and introduces her brothers, but forbids them to kiss. The brothers accept their sister, but she happily forgets the warning and kisses her brothers. They turn into crows and fly away, and she stops for 7 years and makes nettle shirts for them. The girl marries the prince, she weaves shirts day and night, they hate her silence, she does not have time to tie the sleeve of her last shirt when she is sent to the fire. She is rescued by her crow brothers (they extinguished the fire with their wings), she puts on shirts for her brothers, they become human again, only one brother is left without an arm. She starts talking and lives happily with her husband again]: Karnaukhova 1934, No. 136:262-263; Russians (Voronezhskaya, 1968, p. Vorontsovka, Pavlovsky District) [The witch stepmother turns 12 stepsons into swans, takes her stepdaughter to the forest. The girl lives in a cave by the lake and sees 12 swans flying ashore, hears 12 knights talking about looking for a sister, going out to them and recognizing their brothers. The witch's grandmother tells the girl that she must knit 12 nettle shirts for her brothers to be human again, but she can't talk until she does. The girl goes to the cemetery to pick nettles, meets the prince and he takes her to his kingdom. They don't like her there for her silence, they suspect that she is a witch. When she is taken to death, swans appear, she puts on shirts, does not have time to tie her sleeve on her last shirt, and one brother has a wing instead of a hand. She tells the prince that she rescued her brothers, her stepmother is put in a barrel and thrown into the sea. Prince marries a girl]: Kretov 1977, No. 31:53-54; Russians (Voronezh) [Tsar Paltim has 12 sons, his wife Lisaveta is expecting another child, and the tsar promises to kill all sons if a daughter will be born and prepares coffins for them. Lisaveta tells her sons about her father's plans, they leave home and climb a tree, and their mother knit shirts for them. When a girl, Lisaveta, is born, the mother raises a blue flag over the palace (which means that a daughter is born and sons cannot return, red would mean that they can return), the sons go to live in the forest. When her daughter, the Golden Star, grows up, she learns from her mother about her brothers, takes their shirts and goes looking for them. She comes to their forest hut, tells her brother who she is and he explains to others. She stays with them. The girl drops her brothers' shirts into the river, finds them and enchants them by Baba Yaga. Brothers turn into swans. Baba Yaga tells the girl how to heal her brothers: knit nettle shirts. Hunters notice a girl, one of them marries her, but she does not talk, she tears nettles at night. He decides (at the suggestion of his mother) that she is a witch and wants to burn at the stake. Twelve swans arrive, she puts shirts on them, and they turn into her brothers (she doesn't have time to tie her sleeve alone)]: Baryshnikova 2007, No. 39:165-169.

Baltoscandia. Norwegians [the Queen has a drop of blood from her nose falling on the snow; she wants a daughter white as snow, red as blood, ready to give her 12 sons for it; the trollich promises to fulfill her wish, will pick up her sons as soon as her daughter is around; the queen orders a silver spoon for her sons and daughter; sons turn into wild ducks, fly away; daughters are sad that she has no brothers; mother tells her the truth, she goes looking for her brothers; finds a home in the woods, secretly cooks and cleans; 12 ducks arrive, become princes; take their silver spoons, see another one, realize that her sister nearby; the elder offers to kill her because she is to blame for their transformation, the youngest says she is not to blame; the brothers find her under the bed; the eldest promises to save her life if she helps them; sister must hide the thistle fluff, sew 12 shirts, 12 capes, 12 scarves, then the brothers will find human forever; before that she cannot talk, laugh or cry; when she collects fluff, she is taken away prince, marries; prince's stepmother hates her; throws her child into a hole with snakes, cuts her finger, smears blood on her mouth, says she ate the baby; so three times; prince agrees to have his wife burned; clothes for The brothers are ready, only the younger brother's shirt does not have one sleeve; the youngest is reborn without an arm; the sister can talk, explains everything; the stepmother was torn apart by 12 horses; three children were found alive in the hole and healthy]: Dasent 1970:51-59; Danes [12 brothers successively leave home and disappear; all horses are foals of the same mare; the younger sister on this mare goes looking for brothers comes to the ogre, his brothers; they tell her to hide under the bed and not take anything that falls there; the ogre's golden comb falls; his sister takes it and combs her brothers, they turn into deer; the youngest says they can be spoiled; to do this, the sister must collect herbs and weave 12 shirts in 12 years without saying a word or tear; the king met her and married her; when she gives birth to a child, the Queen Mother takes him and tells the maid to kill, accuses the daughter-in-law of eating the baby; the maid hides the boy; so three times; after that, the king agrees to send his wife to a fire; standing in front of a fire, a woman washes a tear with a handkerchief; deer take turns running up, a woman puts a shirt over each of them, restoring their human appearance to the brothers; the youngest is missing one eye; sister takes it from her scarf and inserts it; the Queen Mother is punished, everything is fine]: Holbek 1987:547-548; Lithuanians [133 options; sometimes brothers turn into crows, sister weaves nettle shirts; father died, the mother was left with her four sons, went to borrow peas from her neighbor, slipped back, the peas crumbled, the mother in her hearts wished her sons to run away as wolves; so happened; from her second husband the woman has a daughter; when she found out that she had brothers, the sister weaved a shirt and a towel for each of them, went to look for brothers; she came to the sun, she told her mother to cook the chicken: let the girl eat, and she will put the bones in a bag; the moon has the same; the star knows that the brothers are in the palace on bone mountain; to get up, you have to take it out the bone and put it under your feet; one bone was not enough, girl bit off her little finger; in the palace she put her shirt and towel on each of the four beds; 4 wolves ran in, threw off their skins; when they saw her sister, they were angry: if she hadn't come, the spell would soon have slept; now let her sit silently in the forest for three years (9 years); the king's men noticed her in a tree; without getting an answer from the girl, the king ordered her to be burned; at the last moment her four brothers rode, returned from sister to mother]: Kerbelite 2014, No. 111:273-278; Latvians [Sister saves bewitched brothers. A father (mother) turns sons into birds (wolves). (Also: a father wants to kill his sons if a daughter is born. Sons run to the forest) My sister is looking for brothers. To save them, she must remain dumb for a long time and weave herb shirts. The king marries her and they have children. The witch takes them away, the king thinks his wife is a witch and is going to burn her. At the time of execution, brother birds flock, the sister puts shirts on them, the birds turn into people and the sister can speak again]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 451:287; Lutsie (1893; the informant found out a fairy tale from non-Estonian speakers) [the family has three sons and a daughter; mother is dead, father married a witch; brothers want to go to church and everyone wants a better horse; started fighting; stepmother: fight like this; brothers they're leaving. (it is clear from the following: they are friends at night, they fight with iron clubs during the day); the sister went to look for brothers; the old man called animals - they don't know; sent them to another, who called birds; birds: brothers fight in the ninth a kingdom by the sea; the sister came to their house, bit off her older brother's edge, hid behind the stove; the next day she put her mother's ring in the middle town; the brothers recognized him and rejoiced at his sister; she will save them if she has not said a word for 9 years; the sister left, lay down in the coffin; the prince was driving, the servant found the girl so beautiful that she could not leave; the same second; the prince himself came, brought them to him, married them; the wife gave birth; the prince's stepmother cut off the baby's leg, put it in the mouth of the woman in labor; the same with the second child; the woman was going to hang; 9 years passed, brothers appeared, and angels appeared from heaven; everyone to heaven, and the prince's stepmother to hell with no sun or moon]: Annom et al. 2018:131-134; the Livs [mother has 7 sons and a daughter; she can't feed them, she turned her sons into eagles; when the daughter asked where her brothers were, her mother made her dumb for 7 years; she went to look for her brothers, came to their cave; there are 7 hats, plates, spoons, beds; she cleans everything up; brothers suspect it is a sister; on the third day they find her under the bed; young the master decided to marry the girl; his father is against (the bride is dumb), decided to hang her; the son dissuaded her, and the next time the seven-year sentence ended; she told everything; married, and the brothers too turned into humans]: Setälä in Kippar 2002:53-54; the Finns [the king has 12 sons, the queen is pregnant; the king decides to kill his sons, if a daughter is born, then she will have a large dowry; the mother sends her sons to the cave from where you can see the castle tower; if a boy is born, they will raise a white flag, if the girl is red; then they should leave; a daughter was born; the brothers left, promising to kill their sister - the culprit for their expulsion; the sister grew up, found 12 men's shirts and went to look for brothers; the sister was met by her younger brother, the others also fell in love with her; 12 red flowers grew in front of the house; the girl, not assuming the consequences, she ripped them off, the brothers flew away in crows; old woman: to restore their human appearance, it takes 7 years not to talk or laugh; the king found the girl and married them; his mother considers her a sorceress and tells me to burn; when the fire caught fire, seven years old, the crows flew in and became young men, extinguished the fire; the king's mother was expelled]: Concca 1993:85-93.