K142. Buries one dead man three times, ATU 1536B.

.14.-.17.22.23.25.27.-.34.

After killing several, the person asks the gravedigger to bury the dead man and each time says that the dead man has returned. The gravedigger buries everyone but believes that there is only one dead man.

The Kabiles, the Arabs of Egypt, the Spanish, the Catalans, the Portuguese, the Italians, the Maltese, the Irish, the Frisians, the Flemish, the Walloons, the Germans (north?) , Syrian Arabs, Palestinians, Lao, Khmer, Vietnamese, Nepali, Assamese, Tagals, Slovenes, Croats, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians (Arkhangelsk, Olonetskaya, Novgorod, Pskov, Kostroma, Voronezh, Ryazan), Ukrainians (Ugric Russia, Transcarpathia, Galicia, Podolia, Pokutye), Belarusians, Abkhazians, Ingush, Laki, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Turks, Persians, Turkmens, Icelanders, Swedes, Finns, Estonians, Livonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Veps, Maris, Udmurts, Dungans, Oirats (Torgouts).

North Africa. The Arabs of Egypt [like the Arabs of Syria]: Nowak 1969, No. 348:333; Kabila: Frobenius, I, No. 32:164-166 in El-Shamy 2004, No. 1536B: 844.

Southern Europe. Spaniards: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1536B: 270-271 Italians (Tuscany, Umbria, Rome, Abruzzo, Calabria): Cerise, Serafini 1975, No. 1536B: 331; Maltese [three capuchins asked for overnight with the robber's wife; she hid them in the oven; the thief noticed this, lit a fire and fried the monks; the wife claimed she knew nothing; he hired a man named Jahan (fool and trickster) to quit one at sea; then the second and third - supposedly dead man returned; seeing a capuchin riding a donkey, C. thinks it's the same dead man, kills him with a club, takes a donkey]: Stumme 1904, No. 28:79-80 ( paraphrase in Mifsud-Chrcop 1978, No. 1536B: 597-598); the Portuguese [after killing three hunchbacks, a woman asks a fool to bury the body; then the second and third; the fool thinks it's still the same dead man who returns every time]: Cardigos 2006, No. 1536B: 318; Catalans [one entry; husband kills three monks who molested his wife; tells the guard that the monk died from the cold at night; he buries the corpse; The person says that the corpse was not buried properly and returned; so twice; when he sees the monk, the guard thinks that it is a dead man who has come back to life, kills him and buries him]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 1536B: 251.

Western Europe. The Irish [a woman hired a fool to bury three hunchback brothers; he also drowns her humpback husband]: Jackson 1936, No. 1536B: 291; Friezes, Flemish, Walloons: Uther 2004 (2 ), No. 1536B: 270-271; Germans [von der Hagen 1850, no. 62 (born and lived in Brandenburg; texts from there?) ; the wife, with the help of her husband, got rid of three monks by dipping each in boiling water; the husband asks the drunkard to throw the corpse into the Rhine; each time he says that the dead man has returned; when he leaves the third, he sees him alive the monk, thought it was all this, drowned him too]: Cosquin 1887:337.

Western Asia. Syrian Arabs [quoted in Nowak 1969, No. 348:333; during the service, the bishop, priest, and deacon ask the Greek wife where she lives; her husband advises her to invite everyone at intervals of an hour; when Every next person knocks, the woman says that her husband has returned, tells them to climb into the well; the husband poured resin and boiling oil into it, all three are dead; the husband leaves everyone's body at the wine shop, the owner thinks that they are drunk; then realizes that they are dead bishop, priest and deacon; husband gives vodka to drunkard Iskander, tells them to throw the corpse into the sea; then says that the dead man has returned, asks to take it again; after For the third time, I. sees a priest on a donkey, thinks he is a returning dead man, kills him]: Lebedev 1990, No. 58:268-271; Palestinians: El-Shamy 2004, No. 1536B: 844.

Burma - Indochina. Lao [Chum Paw negotiates with seven suitors; when they learn that she ran to everyone, they come to kill her; she asks to sell her to the captain of the ship; tells him what will bring him for sale seven slaves, gets paid for them, runs away into the forest, hides in a tree; the grooms ran away from the captain, came to the same tree; one climbed on him; the emergency told him to remain silent: she only loves him and arranged everything, to get the money; the groom fell and crashed to death, the others ran away in horror; the state of emergency invited them to a feast, poisoned them; paid a neighbor to bury her husband: only the dead man comes back every time, and the fee is the same; the neighbor buries five, and decided to burn the fifth; left, at that time a coal miner, black from coal, came; the neighbor decided that it was a dead man who had come to life, rushed at him, both fell into the fire and burned down; emergency built a house and lived well]: Fleeson 1899:89-93; Khmers [the basket maker fell off a palm tree but caught on a branch; the elephant driver tried to grab his legs, but the elephant went ahead and the driver stayed hanging; they asked four bald men to spread the blanket; they fell, the bald ones hit their foreheads and died; the basket and driver brought the dead to the old woman and asked for help get rid of them; she pretended that her old man died and asked her neighbors to burn the dead; the next day she said that the deceased had returned; so three times; on the fifth day, the old woman's husband was returning from the forest; the neighbors decided that it was The deceased returned again, burned him alive, and the ashes were scattered]: Gorgoniev 1973:195-197; the Viets [four Buddhist monks were killed in an inn; the hostess hides three corpses, and asks the fourth to bury a monk passing by as if it were her nephew; when he returned, he sees the corpse again; mistress: it's not surprising, my nephew loved me very much, I have to bury it deeper; so four times; when you see a living monk on the bridge, the gravedigger thought it was the same again, threw him into the river]: Landes, No. 80 {in Landes 1886 under this number is another story} in Cosquin 1887:337.

South Asia. Nepali [poor Gonu Pandit negotiates with the landowner to plow virgin lands from a share of the crop; he has no oxen; at night he begins to dig up the field, tells a group of robbers that the field is buried gold; they dig up; the robbers decide to come to steal the harvest; the GP screams to different voices, the robbers think that the peasants are coming, running away; three come to the GP's house, he cuts off everyone's nose, the wife is loud says where is the medicine to make noses stick; robbers drink poison and die; the GP asks the gravedigger to bury the dead man; says twice that the dead man has returned; the third time the gravedigger ties the load, throws a dead man into the water; a nearby traveler thinks there's a spirit there, rushes to run; the gravedigger thinks a dead man is running away, catching up and hitting the runaway]: Sakya, Griffith 1980:143-145; Assames : Jason 1989, No. 1536b: 51.

Taiwan - Philippines. Tagals [Pablo and Juan treated Pedro's younger brother badly; all three humpbacks; P. married a rich woman, healed separately; told his wife not to let his brothers in; they came, and their wife fed them; When she heard that her husband was returning, she hid it in the chests and forgot; they suffocated; the wife asked the neighbor to bury her brother-in-law; said that the dead man had returned; the neighbor carried to bury him again; after burying him, he saw the third hunchback who was carrying fish; killed him, and that was P.]: Rybkin 1975, No. 153:354-356.

The Balkans. Hungarians [three monks harass a woman; she sets a time for each and tells them to bring 300 coins; a husband kills everyone; a woman to a soldier: a cursed soul, a monk, comes under the window; leaves there body; a soldier cuts a dead man with an ax, carries to bury; a woman sets up the second - returned; each time the soldier tells the guard that he is damn and carries the monk to hell; throwing a third into the water, the soldier sees the dean's horses; killed him and also threw him into the river; they are looking for the missing, the guard replies that they were taken away by the devil]: Ortutai 1974, No. 38:396-399; Romanians [a woman with a baby comes to the priest to order he agrees with the condition that she will sleep with him; two more priests want the same; the woman has agreed with her husband to invite them all in the evening; hearing that her husband is coming, each takes turns hiding in the chimney above the hearth; the husband makes a fire, all the priests fall, the husband hits them on the head; the devil is ready to get rid of the body if the child is given to him; takes the corpse to the ravine; the husband exposes the second, says that the dead returned; the same with the third; in the morning the devil sees the singer, thinks that it is the dead man who has come to life again, throws him into the ravine; the wife is ready to give the child if the devil turns her hair into a ring; hair every time straightens; the husband ties the arm line to make it more comfortable to work and advises to temper your hair by throwing a line into the fire; the child is saved]: Bîrlea 1966:484-485; Slovenes, Croats, Bulgarians, Greeks: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1536B: 270-271

Central Europe. Czechs, Slovaks, Poles: Uther 2004 (2), № 1536a: 270-271; Russians (Arkhangelsk, Olonetskaya, Novgorod, Pskov, Kostroma, Voronezh, Ryazan), Ukrainians (Ugric Russia, Transcarpathia, Galicia, Podolia, Pokutye), Belarusians [A man buries three priests: a man kills three priests (lords, merchants) - his wife's lovers; hires a soldier (drunkard ) to throw the body of one of his priests into the river, then slips the second and third; the soldier throws the live priest he meets into the river, mistaking him for a drowned person who has come to life]: SUS 1979 1536B = AA *1730 I: 315.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Abkhazians [Samyrtal became impoverished, called his priest, killed, took the money, hid the corpse in the basement; the same with the second priest; the third was afraid that priests were being killed, decided to hide in the house of a respected person, went to S.; S. also hired a man to bury the priest, warning that if the deceased returned, he would have to be buried again for the same money; the man buried the priest, returned for money, S. says that the pop came back; the man buried the second priest, thinking it was the same, crushing his head with a stake; on the way to S. he saw a priest going to hide; decided that it was still the same, caught up, killed, buried, got their money]: Shakryl 1975, No. 63:303-304; Ingush [three merchants planned to deceive Tsagen; when he brought the bull to sell, everyone claimed it was a goat; Ts sewed a colorful hat, paid the owners three taverns for tomorrow's lunch, agreed that tomorrow he would only wave his hat; three merchants bought a hat; started waving it, but had to pay; C. dug a hole in the yard, the merchants fell into it and died ; C. pays the beggar to bury the dead man; says that the dead man has returned, tells him to dig a hole deeper; the same with the third; on the way back he saw a mullah, thought it was a dead man returning again and cut it to him skull]: Malsagov 1983, No. 114:262-265 (=Sadulaev 2004, No. 98:248-251); Lucky [by agreement with her husband, the woman decided to get rid of the shopkeepers who harassed her; made dates for five at intervals of an hour; every time the next one knocks, the woman tells the previous one that her husband has suddenly returned, tells him to go into the room, where everyone falls into a boiling pot; in a mosque, a woman asks Mutalims should bury their husband, warning him that he was trying to return home from the grave; the third mutalims were thrown off the cliff, the shepherd ran away in horror, and the mutalims thought that the dead man had run home again; they tried to drown the fourth; a naked kadiy bathed in this place, he ran away, the mutalims thought it was the same dead again; when they took the fifth, the woman promised not to send them again; the fifth they threw him into a mill barrel, a miller jumped out, he was thrown there; the next day, the kadiy, the miller and the shepherd met; Kadiy ordered to distribute offerings, became rich a lot; said that the missing God took shopkeepers to heaven]: Aliyeva 2013, No. 70:300-303; Georgians [the pop should return at 11 pm, and the popadya invited three lovers, also priests, to 8, 9 and 10; each feast for an hour and hides it in a jug of wine when there is a knock; all three drowned; the husband did not notice anything; the popadya hired a man: this pop drank wine, throw it in the landfill; so three times, the person thinks that carries everything to the same priest; for the fourth time he sees Popadya's husband returning home; thinks it's all the same pop; killed him and threw him away; the popadye had to give the promised 10 rubles]: Kurdovanidze 1988 (2), No. 139:276-277; Azerbaijanis [the girl refuses the Chief of Guard, who complains to the judge; now the judge bothers her; then the Shah; she pretends to agree by agreeing with an old woman, invites everyone in the evening; there is a knock, she supposedly hides everyone in a well from her husband, fills them all with boiling water; asks the shepherd to bury the corpse, warning that the dead man can escape from the grave; The shepherd decided to grind the third dead man in the mill; when he saw the miller, he thought it was the same dead man, killed him; received money from the girl, but she was no longer disturbed]: Nabiev 1988:111-114; Turks [The hunchback's wife has three humpback lovers; she tells each to come an hour later than the other; when they knock on the door, she hides them in the basement; the husband pours boiling water on them; consistently leaves the corpses at the door coffee shops; the owner of the coffee shop orders every time to throw the corpse into the sea; the person responsible for this thinks that the dead man is the same; seeing a woman's husband riding a donkey, thinks that it is again the same dead man, kills and throws into the sea]: Eberhard, Boratav 1952, No. 264:317-318.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians (Mazandaran, Isfahan, Markazi, Azerbaijan) [one person consistently asks another to bury 7 dead; he thinks it's the same dead person who every time returns; then sees a man who looks like those he buried, kills and buries him]: Marzolph 1984, No. 1536B: 222-223; Turkmens [Aldarkose sees two lovers coming at the same time; the husband separated them, they killed him and each other; A. was afraid that he would be accused of murder; paid a man to bury his old father, warning him that he might get out of the grave; so three times; a man threw a third into a pond where someone was swimming; he ran, the gravedigger killed him and threw him there]: Kekilov, Kosayev 1962:78-79.

Baltoscandia. Icelanders, Swedes, Finns, Estonians, Livonians, Lithuanians, Veps: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1536B: 270-271; Latvians [A man drowns three priests. A man kills three priests (finding them from his wife); hires a drunkard to throw their bodies into the river. A drunkard also throws a live priest he meets]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 1536B: 357; (cf. Karelians [his wife has a lover; the husband came from the forest, tells his wife that there is a hollow pine tree in the forest, the pop forgives everyone's sins in the hollow; the old man climbed into the hollow himself, answers his wife not in his own voice; wife admits that it is inconvenient - the husband sees that she has a lover; the imaginary pop advises to dazzle her husband by cooking a soup of milk and butter; the husband ate, pretended to be blind; wife: who will slaughter the bull now; husband: Pekka the butcher (this is his wife's lover); his wife brought him, her husband asks to hold the bull by the horns, he will hit him with an ax; hit Pekka and killed him, ordered him to take him to the basement; so he killed all lovers named Pekka; They did not have time to clean the latter, left under a bench; the wanderer asked to spend the night; the old man warns that they have many dead; the wanderer takes him one by one and throws him into the waterfall; then his wife quit, my husband cheered; {the end is an incomprehensible episode of ATU 1636B, our motive is K142}]: Evseev 1981:303-305).

Volga - Perm. Marie []: Chetkarev 1948:174-177; Udmurts: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1536B: 270-271.

Turkestan. Dungans [three bald men came to the woman; the husband came and she hid them in the stove; the husband lit the fire, they suffocated; in the morning the wife paid the beggar to bury the dead man; he took him to the city wall, came for money, and the wife says that the dead man has returned; the same for the third time; a man was recovering at the pit when he saw the dead, ran; the beggar thought that it was a dead man running away, and that man - what was behind him the dead man is chasing; the beggar decided not to go to the woman for money]: Riftin et al. 1977, No. 60:256-257.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Oirats (merchants) [a woman takes three bald men as lovers, they do not know about each other; the husband guesses, but is silent; the first bald man comes, they have dinner, there is a knock on the door, the woman hides lover in a barrel; the same with the second bald man; the husband comes and she hides the third; the husband says that everyone asks him for a barrel - in order not to offend anyone, it is better to break it; breaks the barrel with an ax and kills bald people ; leaves; the woman asks the beggar to bury her brother; warns that the deceased may return; he buries three bald men, believing that they are the same; when he sees the fourth, he chases him; he meets advised him to sell the shovel he was given to bury the dead man; the couple then lived peacefully]: Benningsen 2012:78-81.