K149. Three nodes. .16.29.31.
The character has a rope or reins with three knots that allow you to move faster or slower. Usually, untying the first and second knots causes the character's ship to sail faster (due to the rising wind), or the horse jumping faster; however, contrary to warning, The character (when he has almost reached the goal) also unties the third knot and as a result loses his ship, horse, gets to the wrong place,
etc. D2142.1.2: "Wind raised by loosing certain knots. (Cf. †D906, †D1282.1.) *Fb "vindknude"; Taylor FFC LXX; Danish: Kristensen Danske Sagn VI (1901) 414-16; Scotland: Baughman".
Scots, Irish, Nogais, Karachays and/or Balkarians, Danes, Swedes, Estonians (and possibly North Germans and Finns), Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Latvians, Estonians.
Western Europe. Scots (North Wist Gaels, Outer Hebrides) [{from English Gaelic audio resume}; the young man dated a girl and flirted with another at the same time; the girl found out left him; he went to Lewis Island to see his uncle; met a witch there; tried to return home twice, but was forced to turn back both times because of the storm; the witch wanted he stayed on Lewis; an old woman advised him to take three knots on his ship and told him to untie one or two of them if a stronger wind was required; warned him not to untie a third; The journey home went well, but when the ground was close, the young man decided to untie the third knot; suddenly a strong wind rose, threw the boat into the dunes; the young man returned home, the girl forgave him]: MacLeod 1950; Scots (South Ouist Gaels, Outer Hebrides) [{from English audio summary in Gaelic}; on the Isle of Skye, a woman gave sailors a ball of three-knotted wool thread; them the first and second knots should have been untied if a stronger wind was required, and under no circumstances should the third knots be untied; once off the coast of the Uist, the sailors untied the third knot; a powerful wind rose and brought them back to that woman's house]: MacInnes 1953; Scots (Gales Colonsay, Inner Hebrides) [{from English audio resume in Gaelic}; before going to sea, a man came to the witch to pick up a rope with three knots; untying the first led to a suitable wind for swimming, untying the second caused a stronger wind; a witch warned the man not to untie the third knot; the man untied him, lost his ship]: MacDougall 1969; Scots (Highland, Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, 35 records, 17 of them from the Outer Hebrides) [sailors or fishermen are delayed due to unfavorable winds; the witch gives (sells) them a rope or thread with three knots; you need to untie one knot for the breeze to blow, and one more to produce a fair wind; the third knot should be touched under any circumstances; when the ship is near home, one of the crew members breaks the ban and unties the third knot; sudden the storm brings them back to where they sailed from, causes the ship to crash, etc.]: MacDonald 1994, No. W31:41; Irish (Rutlin Island, Antrim and Mayo Counties) [the witch gives the ship's crew members knotted rope; they should untie one or two knots to raise the wind to get home; they can't touch the third knot, but they do and end up shipwrecking]: Almqvist 1991a: 34.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. The Nogais [fairy tale episode: "Before the race, the riders lined up and, according to the Khan's sign, let their horses go. Batyrbek, on the advice of his father, tied his horse to his front legs on a heavy stone. At first, his horse fell behind. He tried to get ahead and was covered in foam. After a while, Batyrbek stopped the horse, untied the stones and moved it a little to cool it down. He then jumped on his horse and took the reins. There were three knots on the reins. They were tied by Bolat (Batyrbek's father) and told his son to untie every knot at the right time. Batyrbek untied the first knot and before he could blink, his tulpar caught up with the rest of the horses. Batyrbek untied the second knot and before he could blink, his horse was at the place where the competition was supposed to end. His father was waiting for him here. He shouted to Batyrbek not to untie the last knot on the reins, but he did not hear and untied it. At the same moment, tulpar rushed like wings. Batyrbek did not see anything around him, only the wind whistled in his ears. So they reached the sea and the waves closed above them. Batyrbek got ashore and started calling his horse. But no matter how much he shouted, the horse did not respond. Then Batyrbek collected brushwood, made a hut, climbed into it and immediately fell asleep" (see summary in the data in i87aa "The Long Bull"), in K117 ("Nesmeyana")]: Nogai 1979, No. 18:89; Karachays and/or Balkarians [fairy tale episode: "The prince has announced horse racing day. From all over, the best horsemen gathered for this competition. The distance for the races was set one day of travel. And so the horsemen lined up their horses at dawn and rushed forward according to the prince's sign. Aladin, as his father punished him, tied stones to the horse's front legs. Therefore, at the beginning of his journey, his horse was far behind. But the horse could not tolerate such shame, rushed forward with all his might, and that made him all covered with white foam. Then Aladin, as his father punished him, untied the stones, drove a little horse, and sat on it again. Now he tied three knots on the reins (and his father told him to do so). Before putting his horse forward again, Aladin untied the first knot and quickly caught up with those horsemen far ahead. Then the young man untied the second knot - he was the first. The old man told his son not to untie the third knot. But Aladin forgot his father's words, and he also untied him. And as soon as he untied it, the horse flew faster than the wind - Aladin could not hold it back. By evening, the horse rode to the seashore and rushed into the water on a grand scale. Aladin had just jumped onto the sand, and the horse disappeared under water. What was Aladin doing on the deserted seashore? He cut reeds, built a hut for himself and went to bed" (see the summary in the i87aa Long Bull data)]: Aliyeva, Kholaev 1983:92).
Baltoscandia. Swedes or Finns ("Collected in 1915 by V.E.V. Wessman from Ulrik Thomasson in Pargas (Finland)") [the sailors went to Sweden; when they wanted to sail back, there was a headwind; one the guy tied three knots on his headscarf and told the sailors to untie the first and second knots, but not untie the third knots until they saw their native shore; they did as he said; got up favourable wind; with a quarter of a mile to go home, the skipper thought they were safe and untied the third knot; the ship ran aground near Sandejde]: Kvideland, Sehmsdorf 1988, No. 32.1:150-151; Swedes ("Collected by Carl-Martin Bergstrand from Helmer Olsson, Rolfstorp, Halland (Sweden)") [a beautiful woman asked Skipper Rusk to load twenty-four bushels onto his ship rye; said that rye was kept at home and told them to throw the bags into the sea; then asked Rusk to take her hand and jump into the water; they found themselves in a large hall under the sea; there was an old blind man sitting there; on the advice of the woman, Rusk handed him an anchor hook instead of his hand; the old man shook it and was satisfied; the skipper received a three-knotted handkerchief; he was told that one knot could be untied if it was calm, and two if you had to sail fast; it was also said that the third knot should never be untied; when Rusk was in town, he wanted to go home, but there was no wind and his sloop was heavy loaded; Rusk was drunk and untied the first knot; the sails were filled with the wind; Rusk wanted to sail faster and untied the second knot; the sloop rushed through the water; Rusk must have untied the third knot, because since then no one else has seen him since]: Kvideland, Sehmsdorf 1988, No. 52.6:262-263 (cf. Olaf Magnus's message [Finni) offer merchants sailors to cause the wind for a fee; give them a magical three-knotted belt; warn that untying the first one will cause a calm wind, untying the second will strengthen it, and untying the third will cause a powerful storm]:
Magnus 1555, Lib. III, Cap. XVI: 119); Klintberg 2010, No. M102 (many sources, the motif is clearly popular) [a skipper who has lost his way (is calm) gets a rope (shawl) with three knots; if you untie the first one, the wind will blow out; if the second, the wind will increase; but the third cannot be unleashed; the skipper could not resist and untied the third knot; the storm threw his ship ashore]: 258; Danes or Germans ("Aus Fahrdorf bei Schleswig durch Kand. Arndt.") [A witch lived in Siseby near Shlyay Bay; fishermen from Schleswig often landed there; one day, when they were about to return home, a westerly wind rose; the fishermen asked the sorceress to change it ; she agreed and demanded a fish dish as payment; then gave them a three-knotted handkerchief and said that they could untie the first and second knots, but should not untie the third knots until would not reach the ground; the fishermen set their sails, the wind was westerly; when the oldest fisherman untied the first knot, a good wind blew from the east; when he untied the second knot, a sharp wind rose and the ship sailed to the city at the highest speed; the sailors wanted to know what would happen if they untied the third knot; when they did, a hurricane flew from the west; fishermen had to jump in water to get their boats ashore]: Müllenhoff 1845, No. 351:222; Danes (Strandby, North Jutland) [fishermen wanted to return home but there was no wind; while talking to an old one a woman, one of them jokingly asked if she could give them some wind; the woman took an old handkerchief, tied it three knots and gave it to the fishermen; said to untie the first knot when they were ready to sail, and told them to untie the second one if they thought the wind was not strong enough; warned them not to untie the third knot; the fishermen untied the first one, a good wind rose; then they unleashed a second one, the wind got worse; when the house was already visible, the fishermen decided to try to untie a third one; as a result, the storm began and they barely made it to the shore]: Hansen 1997:455 (citing Kristensen E.T. Danske Sagen. Aarhaus, 1900. Vol. 6. S. 415-416, No. 1223); Norwegians ["the legend is, in fact, known in Norway, although it appears to be rare there and is not included in Christiansen's list" {without citing sources; required check}]: Almqvist 1991a: 34; Estonians (from Matthias Johann Eisen's collection) [fishermen went to Hiiumaa Island; after catching fish there, they swam back; a strong wind rose and carried the fishermen back to the island; they boarded, saw a hut; told the old man living there about what had happened and asked to spend the night; the old man took off a three-inch rope with three knots on the wall; gave it to the fishermen and said, "Go get the boats ready, and when you cook, untie the first knot on the rope. A tailwind will rise right away. It will take you far from the island in a blink of an eye. Halfway through, untie the second knot. And the third knot can only be untied on the shore. Do not untie the sea"; the fishermen took a rope, thanked the old man; in the morning they boarded the boats, untied the first knot; a strong tailwind rose; when the second knot was untied halfway through, the boats flew even faster; they decided to untie a third knot at the very shore; when they did, the wind changed and drove them back to the island; the fishermen rowed with all their might, but the shore did not approach; they fought before sunset, until we finally get to land]: Yakubinskaya, Turkina 1965:212-214; Latvians [the guy wants to be a sailor, gets a rope with knots; if the first one is untied, a storm will begin, the second is calm, the third is a tailwind; the guy helps the prince arrive at the bride on time and then return the kidnapped princess]: Aris, Medne 1979, no.*579*: 304.