K157A. Free tavern, ATU 425D,
(ATU 304) .14.-.17.21.23.27.-.29.31.
To find the missing husband (wife, savior), the character arranges a free distribution of food or other goods. This attracts people and one of the visitors is the one they are looking for, or his story helps to find the missing person.
Berbers (Arabs?) Morocco and Algeria (Libyan Arabs), Egyptian Arabs, Spanish, Catalans, Portuguese, Italians (Rome, Calabria), Sicilians, Sardinians, Ladins, French, Germans (Grimms), 1001 nights, Palestinians, Arabs of Lebanon, Iraq, Saudians, Tibetans, Kashmiris, northern India (Hindi), Tamils, Sinhales, Bulgarians, Bosnians, Albanians, Greeks, Czechs, Poles, (Ukrainians, Russians), Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Turks, Kurds, Swedes.
North Africa. Berbers (Arabs?) Morocco and Algeria [the king keeps his beautiful daughter locked up; a merchant walks in front of the castle, she buys bitterness seeds from him; flowers grow from them, black and white birds fly in and pluck them; To keep the birds away, the princess throws one piece of jewelry after another at them while nothing is left; the bitterness is so great that the princess falls ill; she asks women to talk about their own concerns, but her bitterness always seems bitter to her; finally, a black slave tells how she grabbed the tail of a camel, which sank into the waters of the river, ended up in a palace where a young bird became a prince and a black bird became a prince, and a black bird became a prince his servant; the prince opened the box containing all the jewelry the princess had thrown; the princess followed the black woman; married the prince and the black woman married his servant; they remained in the spirit world]: Nowak 1969, No. 120:134-135; the Arabs of Egypt [the king announced that he was marrying three daughters; let each throw a handkerchief at her chosen one; the eldest threw at the prince, the middle on the emir, the youngest on the horns goat; and so on three times; persuaded her father to pass her off as a goat; in marriage, the goat turns into Prince Charming, tells no one to tell anyone about it; the older sons-in-law went to war and returned victorious, wives greet them; the younger princess sees her husband and greets them too; the sisters think she has an affair on the side; the father wants to execute her, she has to tell her everything, the husband disappears; the princess began to run the bathhouse and asked the women to talk about their misfortunes; one day an old woman came and told me something else; she was washing, saw a mule that took two jugs of water, stamped her hoof, and became go underground; the old woman followed him, came 40 goats, another himself riding a goat; turned into a young man, began to mourn their fate; the princess told the old woman to bring her to that place, went down rushed to the prince, he said that the spell was broken and it was possible to return to the palace; everything is fine]: Artin Pasha 1895, No. 5:87-102; (cf. Libyan Arabs [the Sultan's daughter buys a magic mirror from a Jew; it tells her that her happiness is in a dog that should be in the garden; the princess brings the dog into the room; she turns into a young man; her mother spies, throws the dog's skin into the fire; the young man disappears; the princess gathers old people to tell stories; one sees three ships at sea; a dog jumped ashore, turned into a young man, threw three apples: for the east, for the west and for the princess; the princess asks the old man to take her to where he saw it all; lovers recover]: Panetta, l'Arabo parlato, p. 102-105 in Novak 1969, No. 245:237-238).
Southern Europe. The Spaniards (Granada) [when dying, the father tells each of his three sons to go water the flower garden at night after his death; the father was buried in the crypt; the elder went to water the flowers there, the roof of the crypt became beating against the floor, the walls against each other, the young man ran away; the middle brother did the same; the younger one watered until everything calmed down; a beast came out of the crypt and turned off the lantern; the young man saw a light in the distance and went there; I came across an old night woman, politely asked what she was doing; "I'm shortening nights and lengthening days"; he pushed the old woman, she fell down and the night continued; the young man went to the fire of 41 sleeping robbers; lit a lantern the robbers woke up and wanted to burn the visitor; but when they found out that he had been able to lift la cardera {cauldron?} , made him chieftain; vowing to return, the young man came again to his father's grave; there the beast crumbled into pieces; the father promised his son good luck; came to the old woman, picked her up from the ground, dawn came; brothers the young man did not say anything; he got on his horse and returned to the robbers; persuaded them not to steal wine from the poor, but to rob the palace; he climbed first and cut off them as the robbers got up heads; in one of the chambers, a young man saw three princesses sleeping; the youngest took off the ring from his finger and cut off a piece from her skirt; the king wants to know who killed the robbers; many noble imposters have come; the princess said that someone had visited her; decided to have a tavern where they drink and feed for free, but let the visitors tell stories; the brothers also came there, the youngest everyone told; the elders were ashamed of not fulfilling his father's requests; the youngest showed his princess ring, became the royal son-in-law]: Camarena, Chevalier 1995, No. 304:43-47; Portuguese (many texts) [after her husband is missing, the heroine gives alms (feeds free of charge) to those who come, and for this she demands stories to be told; from one of them she learns that her husband was turned into different animals and now he is fed with animals; she disagrees with him, in particular after she was able to recognize him among several identical animals]: Cardigos 2006, No. 425D: 99; Catalans (one entry without accurate localization) [the young man goes to look for a way to cure his blind father; gets to three giants; goes with them to the castle where the dog protects the peace of the sleeping princess; the young man shot a dog made of bow and regained strength by drinking water from the pool; killed giants with a sword; lights a candle in the princess's chambers to look at her sleeping; wax dripped on her face; the princess wakes up, the young man runs away; the water brought heals the father; they come to the inn, where they meet the princess {free food is not mentioned, but this is a short summary}; from the young man's story, she finds out that he came to see her he, marries him]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 304:67; Italians (Rome) [Roman, Florentine and Neapolitan retired from military service; stopped in the woods, guard one by one; the Roman killed the giant who came up, threw the body into the well, did not tell anyone; the same Florentine; the Neapolitan killed the giant and went to see where he came from; there is a house with three old women in it; worried about their missing husbands ; one has a flashlight that can be seen for miles; the other has an all-striking sword; the third has a gun that can be used to kill a wolf in a distant palace; old women take turns leaving the house to look for giant husbands, A Neapolitan kills them, takes possession of objects; sees an army and a she-wolf besieging the palace; a wave of a sword destroys an army, a shot kills a she-wolf; a young man came to the palace, kissed the princess, took off one her feet and left; the princess and everyone in the palaces woke up, the spell broke; the king promises the princess her savior; the princess arranged a tavern where they feed for free, but told tell stories; those three soldiers came; a Roman and a Florentine talked about the giants they had killed; they did not listen to the Neapolitan, they consider him incapable of anything; he told his story and presented a shoe; wedding; Roman and Florentine were made counts]: Calvino 1980, No. 100:366-370; Italians (Calabria), Sicilians: Cirese, Serafini 1975, No. 425D: 101; ladins [mother went with her three sons to Santiago de Compostela; at night, the youngest guards at midnight; climbed a spruce tree, light in the distance, the young man approaches the fire of three giants; shot a piece from one mouth meat; giants are ready to take it into action, send the princess through the window to widen the hole so that they can also climb in; the young man cuts off everyone's head when he gets up and slips it through ; snatched each giant's tooth; at the bedside of a sleeping princess, he took one golden shoe from the pair, half a ring and half a handkerchief; quietly returned to his brothers and mother; to find out who she was the deliverer, the princess, ordered to build an inn on the pilgrims' way; food is free there, but everyone should tell us what they know about giants; on the way back, the young man also stopped there; showed the teeth torn out from the giants; the princess appeared, the young man showed his shoe, halves of a ring and a handkerchief; the wedding; if they are not dead, they are still alive]: Decurtins, Brunold-Bigler 2002, No. 60:161-164; Sardinians: Uther 2004 (1), No. 425D: 253
Western Europe. The French (Lorraine) [the poor man is dead; the widow and two sons do not have money to celebrate mass; at night, a knock in the house comes dead, demanding that they pray for him; the youngest son came to praying the grave; the bird began to lure him; following her, the young man found himself in the forest; night fell, he climbed an oak tree; three robbers stopped under the oak tree; one brought fire, the other meat, the third wine; a young man hears their conversation; there is no way to rob the castle - a watchdog interferes; the robbers noticed the young man and told him to go to the castle to kill the dog; he made a hole in the wall, killed the dog, told the robbers too climb, cut off everyone's head with an ax; there are three sleeping princesses in three rooms; the young man took the most beautiful slipper; returning home, celebrated his father's mass; the younger princess set up an inn, where are fed and watered for free, but visitors must tell stories; the young man tells his own, shows his slipper, the princess shows another; wedding]: Cosquin 1986, No. 40:69-71; Germans [ the young man first studied with a locksmith, and then went to study with a hunter; when the training period ended, the young hunter received a wind gun from the master, which hits without a miss; at night in the forest unnoticed went to the fire of three giants; shot the meat out of their hands with a gun; the giants asked the hunter to help them find the princess in the tower; the hunter shot a little dog that started barking at strangers approached; entered the castle, there was a sword that can kill everyone, the hunter took it; the sleeping princess; the hunter took one of her shoes and cut off a piece from her dress and shirt; when the giants came in, the hunter cut off everyone's head, cut off their tongues, took them with him and left; the commander told the king that he had killed the giants; the princess refused to go for him; the king told her to dress as a peasant and sell pots and told the peasants to beat the pots; then the king placed his daughter in a house where she was supposed to cook for passers-by, and not take money; on the door there is an inscription: "Now for free, tomorrow for money"; everyone began to come there, the hunter also came; the princess recognized her father's sword, which is now with the hunter; the hunter showed the king the tongues of giants, cut off pieces of shirt and dress; wedding; the commander chose his own punishment: when the king asked what someone who would contradict him deserved, the commander replied that he should be cut to pieces; the commander was quartered]: Grimm, Grimm 2002, No. 111:369-373 (=Grimm, Grimm 1987:294-299).
Western Asia. "A Thousand and One Nights" ["The Story of Ali Shar and Zumurrud"; Father Ali-Sharu's dying covenant: not to communicate with those who want evil, do good, save money, consult with elders, and not drink wine; A. spends all her money; joins the circle of those who buy the slave Zumurrud; she is offered to choose a buyer, everyone is ugly; Z. chooses A., gives him money to buy her back; A. sells beautiful curtains on the market, which Z. sews, she warns not to sell them to a passerby; a Christian buys for twice as much; following A., enters his house, drinks A. with a potion, takes the keys to the house to his brother- an old man who did not get Z. at the auction; the old man beats Z., tells him to give up true faith; the old woman helps A. find Z.; he finds the old man's house when he hears Z.'s moans; convinces the slaves not to beat Z.; A. must take Z. at midnight, falls asleep; the thief puts on his turban, Z. goes down to the robber, who brings Z. to his mother's cave; Z. looks in her head, she falls asleep; Z. dresses in men's clothes, enters the city with a bag of gold, becomes a sultan (the former is dead, the person who came along this road is chosen as the new one); Z. Sultan arranges a feast every first day of the month; the feast comes that Christian, his skin is peeled off and stuffed with straw, his body is burned; the same goes for the robber and the old man; when A. comes, Z. tells him to rub her legs above the knee at night, so reveals himself; Z. orders to choose a governor before his return, leaves with A.]: Salye 2010 (1), night 308-327:961-992; Iraqi Arabs [the poor man lives by harvesting and selling for fuel thorn; found nothing, began to look for vegetable waste to feed the children, found a pumpkin; put it on a shelf at home; in the morning the pumpkin gives gold and tells him to marry him the Sultan's daughter; the vizier advises not to execute the man, and to give him an impossible assignment; the sultan demands a palace of gold and gems, the palace arises; a marriage contract is concluded, a bird flies in to the princess, turns into a young man; forbids the bride to tell about him; one day she goes to a public bath, and women whisper that her husband is a sparrow; she screams that he is human; a bird flies in, grabs her gold comb and bracelet, flies away; a woman builds another bath, where you can wash for free, but you have to tell stories; the old woman went to the river to wash her clothes; a rooster comes out of the river, she grabs his tail, he drags her to the underwater world, where the palace is; 40 doves turn into female maids, and the prince mourns for his lost wife; the old woman talks about what the owner of the bathhouse saw, brings her herself, the son of the genies recognizes his wife, returns to earth forever as a human appearance]: Stevens 2006, No. 11:45-57; Shia Marsh Arabs (Southern Iraq) [when the Sultan goes to Hajj, his youngest daughter Fatima, whose mother has died, asks for "od al-Marasi"; Od al-Marasi gives three nuts and a mirror; F. breaks the first walnut, a palace appears; a servant comes out of the second, O. himself comes out of the mirror; he breaks the third walnut, a bath appears; the daughters of the Sultan's young wife they throw pieces of glass into the bath; O. is wounded, disappears; F. arranges a bathhouse, lets women wash for an interesting story; one talks about a boat in which a wounded young man sails; F. hears a conversation pigeons - they must be burned, the ashes will cure O.; F. comes under the guise of a doctor; O. recovers, lives with F. in another country]: Yaremenko 1990, No. 3:32-35; Saudia [the fortuneteller told the poor man that the reason The misfortunes in his family is his beloved youngest son, born under an unhappy star; the father reluctantly married his son, having married the poorest girl, but promised him that he would not know his wife until will earn money; one day a young man hears birds talking: a child conceived that night will find a pearl in his mouth every day; contrary to his promise, the young man got together with his wife and went to work in the morning; noticing her daughter-in-law was pregnant, her husband's parents accused her of debauchery and she ran away; she was picked up by a kind woman, she gave birth to a boy; the ruler's childless wife ordered him to be stolen, replaced by a dog; a dog they threw him away, and the boy grew up and the ruler married him to the daughter of a neighboring king; but every time the young tried to unite, their bodies seemed to become stiff; the dervish told the king to ask his wife two questions: where pearls? and Where is your puppy? she understood everything, brought the accumulated pearls and confessed everything; the ruler expelled his wife and executed the old woman who kidnapped the baby; to find the woman's husband, the dervish advised to give alms generously, maybe Perhaps a woman recognizes her husband among those who came; she found out that her husband called himself the happiest; the ruler kept both the young man and his parents with him]: Juhaiman 1999:111-116; Palestinians, Arabs of Lebanon : El-Shamy 2004, No. 425D: 203-304; (cf. Syrian Arabs [Abu-Sharr ("Father of Evil) and Abu-Kheit (Father of Good") worked in a bakery but decided they would earn more money working in the field; on the way, ASH offered to eat AH's supplies first, and then refused to share his own and parted with his comrades; he reached the garden where fig trees grew, ate fruit and lay under a tree; three doves flew in and began conversation; a blind shoemaker does not know that where three pots of gold are buried; the people of Damascus pay dearly for water, but if you dig at the gate, they will score a spring; the sultan cuts the heads of doctors who are not in can cure his daughter, but she will recover if she eats the meat of his hunting dog; AH asked the shoemaker to let him spend the night in his shop, dug up gold; the last pot says: only the cursed son of the cursed father will be enriched at the expense of the poor man; so AH took only a few gold and left the rest; in the morning he gave the shoemaker gold, ordered him to buy food, ate, and left the rest to him; wife The shoemaker danced with happiness; then AH gave the shoemaker all three pots; he wanted to divide them in half, but AH took only as much as he needed to go to Damascus; asked the Sultan to diggers, they became dig at the gate, the water poured out; the Sultan was ready to make AH rich, but he took only as much as he needed to get to the country where the blind princess; there are the heads of loser doctors on the city wall; the dog was killed, the princess was healed; AH received the princess and asked the king to set up a bakery where everyone could eat bread for free; meanwhile, ASH ate all his earned money and became beggar; he was sent to that bakery; ASH and AH recognized each other, and ASH asked him to be taken to the garden where the fig trees were; during this time that fig tree had dried up, the deep stream had almost dried up, and the three Afrites realized that someone had overheard them; ASH: Of course it was the Father of Good; Afrites: what is your name? - The father is evil. Afrites: Let them be named after them; they tore up ASH and threw the remains into the well]: Bushnaq 1987:129-132).
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Tibetans [East Villagers are at odds with Western Villagers; Xialinsai young man and Lulin-Saimo girl grew up in different villages, fell in love, and were forced to flee and settle in in a secluded place; L. ordered S. to sell her ring and buy thread; weaved a cloth depicting birds; ordered to sell it, but not to say what his wife was weaving; the king bought the cloth; after drinking S., he learned about his wife beautiful woman and took her to the palace; L. asks for a month to postpone the marriage; S. found L., she gave him a bracelet, told him to sell and buy a horse to escape; but the horse was taken away by three robbers; at night they came to palace; thinking that S. had come, L. sat on a horse and galloped with the robbers; invited the robbers to go to the far about and run to her; whoever was faster would become her husband; galloped off herself; L. returned to the palace , asked to open a tavern and hang her portrait there; whoever pays attention to him is a robber; the guards caught both the robbers and S.; L. asked to gather people, told everything; the robbers punished with whips; the tsar had to let her and S. go, they got lost in the crowd]: Komissarov 1997:132-142.
South Asia. North India, Mirzapur, Hindi {this text does not explicitly contain the stated motive, but since there are other records in India, its distribution among the Hindi-speaking population probably} [two brothers went to cut the forest; one met a sadhu under the banyan, who told the young man that he was marrying Rani Singaldipa; a bird flew in, a chain on his leg, the young man grabbed the chain, the bird brought him to Singaldeep; there the groom is crooked and lame; everyone thinks that it is better to replace him with a handsome young man during the wedding ceremony; that lumberjack was chosen; after the ceremony, the young man speaks to rani that she is terribly hungry; she is amazed: there was so much food at the wedding; she feeds him; that bird appeared in the morning, he grabbed the chain and she carried it back to the forest; she looked for it for five years, then put on a man's clothes, came to that country, asked for stories to be told; the young man told his own, Rani recognized him as her husband; he brought his wedding clothes, which he buried in a vessel; Rani returned with them to her father; everything is fine]: Crooke 1895, No. 256:103-104; Kashmiris [the brahman has an absurd wife; he decided to leave home, but a snake crawled into his bag by the spring and he decided to take the bag to his wife - let the snake bite her; but the snake became a beautiful boy and the brahmana and his wife no longer quarreled; the young man grew up, his name was Nágray, he must swim in clean water; for this purpose, a snake penetrates the fence of the Raja Garden; daughter Raja Hímál saw him and fell in love; told his father to marry her to N.; N. came with a wealthy retinue, built a palace; but his naked wives sought to return him; one persuaded H. to check from which her husband's castes; to do this, he must dive into the source; he did it and the nagas dragged him back into their world; H. she built a caravanserai and began to feed the poor there; a beggar and his daughter described seeing the king and his army at the spring at night; then the army returned to the spring, and the king lamented about her fate; H. ordered her to be taken to this spring; hugged N.; he turned her into a pebble, took her into the naked world; the naked wives told her to warm the milk for snakes; but H. accidentally knocked on the vessel while the milk was still hot; the snakes drank and died; the naked killed her; the hermit asked Narayana to revive her; N., in the form of a snake, crawled to H. while she was sleeping in the hermit's house, and his son killed the snake, not knowing what it was N.; N.'s body was burned and H. as the widow burned down with him; the hermit hears the conversation of two birds, Shiva and Parvati took their form: the ashes must be thrown into the spring, N. and H. will come to life; and so it happened; N. and H. became live near a spring]: Knowles 1888:491-504; Tamils [Raja has no children for a long time; finally a son was born with a bow in his hand, who knows the secrets of magic; the bird sat on the old woman's hump; the prince shot the bird and the old woman has lost her hump; she is angry; now her daughter-in-law will make her work; let the prince free Peacock Princess (PP) from behind the 7 seas; along the way, the prince saved the cobra and then the frog caught on the hot sand; the cobra has built steps to get over the steep mountains; the PP princess asks for a braid of hair 16 feet long for her from the pond; the young man dives - there is no way to reach it; the frog got it; having received a braid, PP approached the young man; gems fall from her lips, when she cries, the flowers bloom, and when she goes, jewelry appears; at rest, the sadhu stabbed the prince and is about to take PP away; she invited him to dig up first for the prince, the grave is deeper; saw how one monkey healed the broken legs of another monkey with grass; invited the sadhu to go down to the grave to measure it; covered it with earth, revived the prince with grass; in the next time they spent the night with the blacksmith; in the morning he said that PP had already rode away, although he simply hid it; PP agreed to give himself to him, but only six months later, and on the last day let him feed everyone who came; the prince also came and saved her; stopping under a banyan by the pond, the prince put PP on a branch and went to prepare the wedding ceremony; the potter saw the PP's reflection, took it for her own; PP laughed, the potter raised her head; PP went down, the potter pulled her eyes out, pushed her into the water, put on her clothes and jewelry; the spouses carrying brushwood pulled out the PP; after settling her in, the couple began to pay huge brushwood money; PP gave them two pearls and told them to give them to whoever gave their eyes in exchange; the potter's mother gave her eyes, PP saw the light, and the potter's pearls faded; at the prince's wedding, there was only dust from under the bride's feet , when she smiles, you can see black teeth, worms in his hair; the guests ran away, the prince is horrified; PP saw him from a distance from the terrace of her new 7-story palace, told him to bring him home; now a real wedding; as PP walked to the wedding platform, the ground was covered with pearls]: Blackburn 2005, No. 94; (cf. Tamils (informant: I read this story from the book) [when Raja's son and vizier's son grew up, the fathers handed over their posts to them; but first they went on a journey; once a young vizier went for food; a young Raja saw a snake crawling, killed it, put a ring on his finger that fell out of its mouth; this ring spreads the waters, he went into an underwater tunnel; there was a girl; a snake killed - the Rakshasa who kidnapped her; she becomes the wife of a Raja; tells her not to leave their refuge; the husband does not listen; the other Raja sees them; the old woman pretended to be an unhappy widow; the Raja took her to their shelter, although the wife did not wanted; the old woman gave the young man a potion, put his body in the coffin, took the ring; before that, the young man told his wife how he and the vizier had lost each other; and that the vizier's son was able to revive the dead; the wife promised The Raje, who sent the old woman, to become his wife, but in the meantime, asks to feed 1000 people for free and send everyone who has lost a friend to her; the vizier returned 4 days before the deadline; pretended The old woman's long-missing son, lured her ring; he was brought to the girl, everything turned out; at night they went down to the underwater tunnel, the vizier revived the raja, all three jumped into their kingdom; at night The vizier hears two parrots talking; now a banyan will fall on the raja; and if he survives and climbs the platform, the platform will collapse and the Raja will die; and if he is saved, the cobra will bite him on the bed; who says petrified; can be revived by sprinkling the stone with the blood of his only son; the vizier dragged the sleeping raja from under the banyan, he fell; the horse jumped over the platform; in marriage, the vizier hid under the bed, killed a snake, a drop of blood fell on Rani's chest, the vizier wiped it off with his finger, and then the Raja woke up; the vizier was sentenced to burn; he told everything and petrified; the couple cut off his son's head% the vizier came to life and revived the boy] : Blackburn 2005, No. 5); the Sinhalese [the king will give his daughter to someone who pays the price of five burdens of elephant tusks for her; one prince managed to do it, got the princess; they spent all the money when they returned; the princess told her husband to buy thread, weaved a handkerchief; the husband sold it to a merchant; one of the prince grooms rejected by the princess saw the handkerchief, asked who made it, went with the prince to his to his wife to order more; at night he intoxicated the prince with sleeping pills and stole the princess; immediately went to war; the prince husband saw his wife in the palace window, she sent him a note stating the time and place; he read it out loud, and the logger (creeper-cutter) overheard it, came instead of him, the prince fell asleep at that time; the deceiver took the princess away; she said she wanted to marry: everyone should say a vow, tied by others to a pole or tree; ties the kidnapper firmly and runs away; when she meets two Veddhas, promises to go with whoever shoots the arrow further; while they search for their arrows, she again runs away; she is picked up by a merchant; when he fell asleep, she put on men's clothes, left, hired the sons of the king and minister to teach; they noticed that she was a woman; she put on prince's clothes and ran away again; local the princess saw the imaginary young man, told her father to take him as her husband; on her wedding night, the imaginary princess told the newlywed everything, she promised not to give her away; began to distribute food for free and put her wax figure: let whoever stops in front of her be detained; all the men the princess encountered during her adventures came; the lumberjack was executed, two Veddas were forgiven, The newlywed, who was left without a husband, was presented as a prince, whom the princess was supposed to teach as a teacher; she herself returned to her lawful husband]: Parker 2014b, No. 247:313-320.
The Balkans. Bulgarians [the youngest of three brothers on guard at night, kills a monster (lamia, dragon); fire (covered in monster blood) goes out; sees fire on the mountain and goes there, meets an old woman (named Day and Night, Evening Star), she spins; he makes her spin only black yarn until he returns; by the fire, robbers, they test the young man (they tell her to get a boiling pot out of the fire), recognize him as a strongman; they order to help rob (kill) the king (kidnap the princess); after entering the palace, the young man kills the incoming robbers one by one; kisses the sleeping princess, takes her ring, kills a snake or lamia who was ready to kill the princess; to find the hero, the king sets up an inn, feeds visitors for free, but for this they must tell stories; the young man talks about what happened, shows a ring and his knife stuck in the wall; the king gives his daughter for a young man (and his eldest daughters for his brothers)]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 304:106-107; Bosnians [dying, father tells three sons to give their three sisters to be the first to come for them; the eldest do not go to give sisters to strangers, the younger Mula-Mustafa gives them away; the brothers go to look for them; spend the night by the lake, first the older brother guards the night, a dragon crawls out of the lake, the young man cuts off his head, cuts off his ears, throws his head and body into the lake; on the second night, the same middle brother, a double-headed dragon; on the third MM, a three-headed dragon ; when he threw his body into the lake, a wave flooded the fire; MM sees fire in the distance, comes to the fire of giants; they will fire if MM kills the sultan in Istanbul; the giant takes MM to the Sultan's chambers, but MM kills the giant himself, takes the Sultan's ring, leaves; the awakened sultan tells him to find his savior, to arrange inns where to ask visitors about their adventures; three The brothers meet in such a yard, tell them what happened to them, get to know each other; the Sultan gives his daughter to MM; after leaving, he tells them not to unlock the room where Atesch Perischa; MM unlocks, AP takes his wife (i.e. daughter of the Sultan); MM goes in search; comes to the tower, where the older sister is married to the king of ravens; the raven sends to his middle sister, she is for the king of dragons, the youngest to the king of eagles; the king of eagles summons eagles, only one old patient can deliver MM to the AP, but first he must swim in living water, it is between rocks that open once a year; MM feeds the eagle with rams, the eagle has time to rejuvenate before the rocks slam shut; AP arrives on a three-legged horse; in his absence, MM negotiates with his wife to find out what AP's life is like; he says he's in a broom, in a tube, in a mug; MM tells everyone once his wife decorates them; AP admits that he is in a three-legged horse; whoever kills a mare that comes out of the lake once a year and takes her foal will defeat him; he did not kill a mare himself, but wounded a foal, so he three-legged; MM killed, took a foal, his wife gave him milk to a cow, which became a powerful horse; MM killed AP, put his wife on a three-horse, returned with her to the Sultan]: Schütz 1960, No. 4:31-48; Albanians [the three siblings have sisters married to the Sun, the Month and the South; they decide to visit them; they spend the night three times, each time one brother guards the others; the elder killed the lamia, did not tell the brothers about it; the same middle; the youngest too, but the lamia managed to put out the fire with her tail; the young man sees the light in the distance, goes there; on the way he meets the mother of the night, asks her to prolong the darkness; she promises to do so, but he does not believe and binds her; when he goes to the light source, he sees a huge cauldron with 12 ears standing on the fire; he picked it up, lit the torch, and put it in place; the 12 robbers are struck by this force: they can only lift the cauldron together; they led the young man to rob the king; after breaking through the wall, they climbed into the stable; the young man stayed outside; raised the alarm, cut off the thieves as they got out; left his knife there; on the contrary the mother of the night freed the ways; the king found the dead robbers and a knife; ordered a tavern where food is free, but let everyone tell us what he did; older and middle brothers they told how each killed a lamia, the youngest also about robbers; the king gave his daughter for him; prisoners were released on the occasion of the royal wedding; half of them were made of iron; the young man persuaded the king free him too; as soon as the king broke his shackles, the monster swallowed the princess and flew away; the young man asks the king to give iron shoes and a staff, promises to return the princess in a year; comes to his sister, whose husband is the Sun; she she hid her brother, the Sun senses a man, but promises not to touch her brother-in-law; advises to ask the Month; he sends to the South; the South also does not know where the Iron Man is, directs him to a huge falcon, tells him to approach he is behind and threatened to slaughter him if he does not tell him where the Iron Man is; the falcon tells him to prepare meat and fix his wings - he is too old; they are flying to a high mountain, the young man cut off the last piece of meat from his thigh; when he reached, the falcon regurgitated this piece and grew it back; the wife hid the young man, but the iron found him, drank blood, and spit out his skin and bones; the falcon saw, flew between the crushing mountains, picked up the beak of the swallow's milk, revived the young man with it; he taught his wife to pretend to be dead and ask her husband where his strength is; iron; in a broom; the wife burned the broom, but nothing happened; pretended to be sick again; iron: there is a boar on the mountain, he has a silver fang, a hare in his fang, there are three pigeons in the hare, they are strong; the young man came to the shepherd, began to ask about the boar, he heard, the young man began to fight with him; boar: I would racine de gouet sharpen his fangs; young man: I would have flour, fried fish and wine; the shepherd brought everything, the young man killed the boar, took out pigeons; turning two heads, the young man came to the Iron Man, killed the third, iron died; the falcon brought the young man and princess to the king; everyone is happy]: Dozon 1991, No. 15:121-134; the Greeks [the robbers stole the sister of three brothers; they went in search; they made a fire in the evening; the first night The elder brother was on guard; a lamia came, he killed her, did not say anything to the brothers; the second night he was the same with his middle brother; on the third, the youngest killed three lamias who had come; but the fire went out, the young man went to look for fire; I saw a light in the distance, went to it; I met an old woman, who replied that a distant fire is a fire of robbers; and she herself brings the day into the world; the young man asked her to stay still while he goes to get the fire; she promised, but he did not trust her, tied her to a tree; 40 robbers are sitting around the cauldron with 40 ears; the young man took off the cauldron, took the fire and put the cauldron back; returning to the old woman, the young man untied her, came to brothers; it was dawn and they moved on; but the robbers brought the young man to their place, told him to climb into the royal treasury; he found a sword and cut off the heads of all the robbers who crawled into one by one hole; after drinking water from the bowl, the young man left; to find out who killed the robbers and saved the treasury, the king set up an inn where everyone was supposed to talk about their adventures; the young man too came and began to tell; the king married him to his daughter and his brothers to the daughters of nobles]: Hahn 1864 (1), No. 52:286-288.
Central Europe. Czechs (Moravia) [after the death of the Count, his widow and three sons went on foot to Rome; they took turns awake for the night in the forest; when it was the younger Slavotech's turn, he noticed the fire, came to the fire of three giants; shoots, the giants think one of them hit the other; then S. comes out, says he can hit a penny with a gun; the giants ask him to shoot a dog that guards the princess's castle; S. shot the dog, ordered him to be thrown into the castle - he will help them enter themselves; there is a heavy sword in the castle; S. drank the contents of three bottles, was able to cut it with this sword; S. gave the giants shovels, they began to dig a dig, pierced a hole in the basement; S. cuts off everyone's head, cuts off, takes their tongues with them; takes a ring, a slipper, half the princess's handkerchief; returned to his brothers and mother; in The centurion said that he killed the giants; the princess asks to postpone the wedding for a year and three days; changed into an innkeeper, feeds and wateres for free, but everyone must tell a story; S. tells his story; at the wedding he shows his tongues, a handkerchief, a slipper and a ring; the centurion was quartered]: Erben in Lifshitz-Artemyeva 2017:369-378; Poles: Shcherbakov 1980 [Yuzefek came up with to travel, the mother went with him; they stayed in the woods with the robber; the mother suggests that he marry her; the robber is afraid of Yu; suggests that the woman pretend to be sick - she needs the meat of a wild animal; Yu. brings boar meat, lionesses; took the lion cubs for himself; the mother sends them to the robbers for wine; Yu and the lions killed them; Yu took the wine, freed the queen; she gave her cloak and ring; mother suggests Yu to look for in his head, asks what his strength is; in three hairs; she cut them off; Yu weakened, his eyes gouged out, taken to the road to beg; the queen tells all the poor to drink wine; found it in an empty mug Yu took her ring; the king agreed to marry, but lodged the young in a hut outside the city; the queen brought the lion cubs to the robber and told him how to heal the blind man; robber: there is a well with a magic with water; they came to the well; two birds were fighting, one pecked out the other eye, she dipped her head into the well, saw the light; Yu also saw the light and grew three hairs; Yu defeated the king's enemies, he gave him half the kingdom; at the wedding, the narrator was shoved into a gun and shot; gunpowder is still in his ass, no, he will shoot]: 76-81; Krzyżanowski 1962, No. 304 [the young man gets a magic gun (from a mysterious hunter, from an old woman, from a father whose coffin he guards); approaches the robbers (giants), knocks food out of their hands with a bullet; goes with them to the castle, and when he gets there, cuts off everyone who enters robbers (giants) head; spends the night with the royal sleeping; leaving, leaving a letter or taking items with her; the queen gives birth to a child and the king is looking for his father; in the hands of the royal the impostor claims; the queen receives guests at the tavern and tells them to tell stories; the young man comes there, talks about what happened and confirms his words, showing taken from the royal rest]: 88-89; (cf. Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Ugric Russia, Transcarpathia, Podolia), Russians (Karelian, Yaroslavl, Ryazan) {it seems that the plot is rare in Eastern Slavic traditions} [Hunter: he has a wonderful gun with which he kills giants (snakes) who want to kidnap the princess; from the palace where everyone sleeps, he takes various objects that show that he is a savior; officer, posing as the princess's savior, punished]: SUS 1979, No. 304).
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars [when dying, the water carrier asks his wife not to tell her son Asan what his father did; hands over a purse with an inchangeable chervonets and a pipe in which an invincible army; A. got drunk and lost purse; taking the pipe, he went to Shah Azamat; he would give his daughter for someone who solves her riddle; executes those who did not solve; the old woman sold Asan a talking bird; Princess Emine Sultan ordered her to be recognized among 40 girls in veil; the bird turned into a bee, pointed out; the Shah was going to throw Asan out, but he called an army; the Shah and daughter pretended to marry, Asana got drunk, E. took the pipe, Asan returned to his mother; made her tell her what her father did; went to the capital, became a court water carrier; Princess Suadet Sultan fell in love with him; they agreed that Asan would send her mother treasures and S. herself in the chest, then she will arrive by herself; Asan's mother quarreled with S. (she refused to move to a new home until Asan returned) and wrote to her son about S.'s debauchery; he returned and hit S. with a sword, the body was thrown away to be eaten by the birds; the Jewish doctor healed S.; she fled from baths, put on men's clothes and galloped off; a falcon sits on her head three times; he was released to determine the future king; S. was made a padishah; tells her to wear her portrait and bring those who recognize her; they brought a Jew, S. rewarded him; Asana; S. forgave him and made him a husband]: Kondaraki 1875, No. 4:52-62; Armenians [when dying, the father tells his son, when he hears the bells ring, to immediately go to pray in church; not cross the river without knowing the ford; wait for a knowledgeable person, even if you lose a few days; do not travel at night, wait out the night where darkness has found; the young man became a merchant; on the way from Tiflis he insist that they do not wade across the river; another merchant disobeys, drowns; then a local resident showed a ford; a rich merchant takes a young man into business; sends him to his wife in Ganja; she seduces him, he refuses; when the husband returns, he complains to her husband that his partner has attempted on her; the merchant tells the baker to throw the first one who comes in the morning into the oven; the young man hears the bells ringing and goes not to the bakery, but to the church; The merchant's wife comes to the bakery, is thrown into the oven; everything is clear, the merchant paid the young man but asked him to leave; he tells the drivers to spend the night not in the village, but nearby, where darkness found; at night he sees how the robber drags something to the cemetery; finds a wounded girl there; healed her, married her; she turned out to be a princess who refused to marry the son of a treasurer, who sent her to kidnap her; one day she asks her husband sell the gem; he sells it to the treasurer's son without knowing who he is; after visiting the treasurer's son, the young man invited him to his place; at night, his wife stabbed him and told her husband to bury the corpse in the cemetery where they wanted to bury it; the couple ran; at night, the husband sees a red cloth with jewels in his wife's hair, takes it off to sell it, the crow takes it away; the husband goes to Istanbul alone, is hired as a gardener, finds a cloth under the poplar on which the crow's nest; left alone, the wife, disguised as a man, started a caravanserai; her husband came there, not recognizing the woman, and her father came in search of her daughter and son and treasurer; everything turns out, everyone makes peace, the young man's wedding with the princess]: Nazinyan 2014:94-105; Azerbaijanis (Iranian Azerbaijan; there are no other records from Iran, so it's more likely Azerbaijanis) [the princess falls in love with a blue bird; loses her husband; tells to build a bathhouse where stories should be told instead of paying; from the story of a bald man (Kačal) she learns about her missing lover, returns him from the peri country]: Marzolph 1984, № 425D: 87-88; Turks: Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 92 [the king promises a daughter to whoever makes her laugh; the monkey did it; at night the monkey turns into young man; he leaves his wife; she asks his father to build a bathhouse where they pay stories instead of money; Keloglan (bald) and his mother tell how they saw a man (on the throne in the middle of the sea, in the underground palace), suffering apart; the wife returns her husband], 93 [the princess falls in love with a pigeon bringing her jewelry; the dove takes away jewelry; the girl falls ill with love; she orders to build a bathhouse in which anyone can come if they tell a story; someone says that he saw that young man who takes the form of a dove; a princess finds a lover and lives with him; shortly before the child is born, she becomes the maid of his beloved's mother; he comes to her at night; burns pigeon vestments; other pigeons throw themselves into the fire; the spell is broken], 98 [same; the magical husband is a horse or others]: 105- 106, 106-107, 114; Walker, Uysal 1966, No. 11 [the pigeon takes the princess's needle first, then the thimble; the girl falls ill from grief; one doctor advises building a bathhouse that anyone can come to if will tell a story; most of them are not interested in the princess; the old woman sees a caravan loaded with goods and food descending into the sea; the old woman grabbed the tail of a camel, goes down too; wanted her voice forbade her to eat something; a dove flew in, plunged into the water, became a young man; the same next, only 200-300 young men; the last was a padishah; he took out a needle and a thimble: how beautiful the hands that held them, let everyone cry; everyone cried and the camels laughed; when the old woman got ashore, she found herself in an unfamiliar place and came to wash in the bathhouse where the princess listened to stories; the princess became asking the old woman to tell this story every day; then asked her to be brought to those camels; the princess became the wife of the pigeon padishah, and the old woman returned to the shore; when the princess is ready to give birth, the husband tells her to go to his parents; if the pigeons find out, they will kill him and her; he himself is Shimsi Bani ("giving life"), the son of an earthly padishah; at first, her mother-in-law did not recognize his daughter-in-law, but then overheard her talks to a pigeon that has arrived; when the SB became a young man, he ordered his feathers to be burned, but so that he could not throw himself into the fire, where some force would pull him; he was a baby kidnapped by the fairies, them witchcraft is in feathers; feathers burned, SB married a princess, inherited his father and wife's possessions]: 104-111; Kurds [the shepherd's wife gave birth to Pumpkin, the pumpkin son asks the father to marry the khakim's daughter; performs the condition to bring 40 horsemen with gold armor by morning gets a wife; the pumpkin splits, Mehmed Khan comes out of it, tells his wife to make coffee but not let it boil; the coffee boils, the young man disappears; the wife asks her father-in-law to make her iron sandals and an iron staff, promises to look for M. until she wears them out; wanders in vain for seven years; asks his father to build a palace, listens to the stories of travelers in it; the guide tells how he sat in a bucket that rolled out of the rock, got into the rock, where 40 pigeons flew in, turned into young men, one was sad; the wife penetrates the same way; M. tells them to run, his mother is not good will release; M. turns into a shepherd, wife into a sheep; the mother recognizes them, but since the bride turned out to be more beautiful than her son, she blesses]: Farizov, Rudenko 1959:23-28.
Baltoscandia. The Swedes [a young man has a gun that always hits the target; he leaves his brothers, meets a giant who likes the shooter's accuracy; pretends to help the giants penetrate castle, but kills them one at a time when they enter the door; there is a sleeping princess in the castle; when she wakes up, she discovers that she is pregnant and her golden apple is gone; the castle is broken and the princess sets off look for the father of her child ; starts an inn where everyone is fed for free; from the story of a young man who comes (or from the golden apple that comes with him), the princess identifies the hero]: Liungman 1961, No. 304:53-54.