Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

K160. Get Satan's hair, ATU 461.

.13.-.16.21.23.26.28.-.33.

The hero is given the task of bringing hair, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous character. He does this with the help of that character's wife or mother.

Zande, Tunisian Arabs, Italians (Tuscany, Calabria), Spaniards, Catalans, Portuguese, Irish, French, Germans (Schleswisch-Holstein, Grimms, Austria), Kachin, Bengalis, Chinese, Czechs, Slovaks, Luzhitans, Poles, Western Ukrainians (Transcarpathia), Russians (Arkhangelsk, Pskov, Voronezh), Turks, Livons, Latvians, Estonians, Karelians, Finns (?) , Western Sami, Swedes, Norwegians, Komis, Kazakhs (including Xinjiang).

Sudan - East Africa. Zande [a man named Gumba has two daughters; he promises each to someone who will bring him a monstrously long beard of a certain Zipi; one of the applicants came to Z. when only his wife is home; she teaches hide under the bed; when Z. lies down, he will chant "Urr, Zipi," and when this cry is quiet, it means that Z. is sleeping; you have to cut off his beard; Z. came, smelled a man, but the wife says what is the smell of a smoking pipe; the man cut off his beard and started running; Z. has long teeth, he clicks them in front of the runner, but the man whistled through his magic whistle and slipped between his teeth; got wife]: Evans-Pritchard 1965:76.

North Africa. Tunisia [The emir had a daughter and called a stargazer to predict her fate. He said that she would marry a poor man who was born with her on the same day, looked like her, and he lives near the palace. The Emir was upset, found it, bought it from his parents, put it in a chest and sent it to sail along the river. He was found by a farmer and his wife and raised as his own son. The Emir found it again and decided to get rid of it. He sent him to the palace and sent him a letter. When the young man stayed in the same house and fell asleep, the owner opened the letter and read: "Hang him as soon as he comes to you." The owner wrote: "Welcome him warmly." He was allowed into the palace, and the emir was already there. He decided to get rid of the young man for the third time. I sent him to get three hairs from Gulya's head, then he marries his daughter, otherwise he dies. He met a carrier across the river. Why did the boat sail slowly? Garden owner. Why did apples get bitter? A well. Why did the water disappear from it? The old woman ripped her hair out and found out the answers. The boat is a mermaid, you must sacrifice a bird on the river bank (!). Apples are tree roots. You should spray them with incense (frankincense). The well was filled with locusts. The young man did everything, he was rewarded, and he returned to the emir with three hair. He told him everything that had happened to him, and the emir decided to marry him to his daughter because this young man was the bravest and most worthy. "Bravery and high moral character are better than position and wealth!"] : Al-Aribi 2009, No. 3 in Korovkina MS

Southern Europe. Italians (Tuscany) [the sick king is told that he will be cured by an ogre's pen; one of the courtiers goes for the pen; the inn owner asks to bring the pen to him too; the ferryman asks for how long he will be at this job and also wants a pen; two well-dressed men at a dried spring ask them to bring a pen; the monk gives a candle to shine in the cave and advises come there at noon when the ogre is away; the ogre's wife promises to get feathers, hides the young man under the bed and intends to run with him; the woman pretends to be sleeping, pulls out her pen every time and speaks the cannibal that she dreamed of this and that; the monks must begin to do good deeds; then the devil that has come to them will be found and they will stop quarreling; the cannibal who returned began to sniff out the young man, but not I found it; you have to get a snake from under the spring, the water will flow again; the ferryman must jump out before his passenger, he will take his place; the owner of the inn misses his daughter - she is the ogre's wife; the young man settled everything, married the daughter of the inn owner, the king recovered; the cannibal rushed after him and stayed working as a ferryman]: Calvino 1980, No. 57:185-188; Italians (Calabria): Cerise, Serafini 1975, No. 461:108; the Spanish (Ciudad Real; also Castilla, Extremadura, Murcia) [when the husband went to war, the wife gave birth to three boys and her two sisters sent a black man to throw the babies into the river; but the old woman asked me to give them to her; the dog ran to the palace and carried the best pieces for the boys; the sisters poisoned the food; the old woman put the dead boys and the dog in the trough and went to the Mother of the Wind (Madre) del Aire) for a way to revive them; on the way, the river asks to know why it has dried up; dove - why can't it fly; granao {pomegranate tree?} - why does it not bear fruit; Mother of the Wind hid the old woman; The wind senses the man, but his mother asks questions and he answers; there is gold in the tree trunk; there is a chain on the dove's foot; the river must swallow the old woman; Mother of the Wind begins to comb her son using different strokes; each one remains a hair; the tree gave gold, began to bear fruit, the dove flew up a gold chain; the river about the old woman a woman speaks, crossing to the other side; the river began to fill with water, but the old lady ran away]: Camarena, Chevallier 1995, No. 461:332-336; Catalans [the king promises to give his daughter to whoever gets it three hairs from the devil's beard; on the way he hears people complaining about the devil: he dried the lake of wine, ruined an apple tree with golden apples, put the princess to sleep and she does not wake up, etc.; wife the devil helps the young man, he turns into an ant, pulls out his hairs and hears the devil explain what to do to solve problems; the young man corrects everything the devil has ruined, gets a princess]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 461:101-102; Portuguese: Braga 2002 (Algarve) [a wealthy merchant hired a soldier; he wanted to marry one of his daughters; the merchant made it a condition to go to hell bring three curls of a trait {anel, this is both a ring and a curl; but in meaning more a curl, a bundle of hair} along the way, one king asks the hell to know where the ring he lost is; the second is how cure his daughter; at a fork, a soldier walks along the road where there are traces of people (on the other there are traces of sheep); a hermit gives three beads; they must be thrown at a carrier across a dark river; in hell, a mother hides a devil ; when the hell falls asleep, his mother snatches his bundle of ox, hell wakes up, she explains that she had a dream about a king who lost his ring; hell: it's in the garden under a stone slab; next time: under lying to the sick princess is a toad; on the way back, the bird gives beads to throw at the carrier; kings were awarded for help (the ring was found, the princess recovered); the young man married the merchant's daughter]: 237-241; Cardigos 2006, No. 461 [a poor boy is destined to marry a princess; the king sends him to get three devil rings, or a giant's golden hairs, or valuables to pay for the bride; people they meet ask to know where the king's lost ring is, how to cure a sick princess, why a tree or spring has dried up, when a carrier across the river can get rid of his job; mother (grandmother, wife ) the devil or giant helps the young man get rings or hairs and find answers to questions; he tells the questioners to marry a princess; the greedy king wants to repeat everything, goes the same way; the carrier, as the young man taught him, gives oars to the king and he is forced to take his place forever]: 109-110.

Western Europe. The Irish [the daughter of a rich man is seriously ill; the healer says she will be cured by three feathers torn from the griffin's tail; the poor guy goes to get them; on the way, another person asks for information why his daughter is unconscious; another - where the key to his money chest went; the carrier - why he can't leave the boat and when the shift comes; the griffin's wife hides the guy in the closet; when the griffin arrives and goes to bed, she successively pulls out three feathers, each time asking one of the questions; the girl is unconscious because a lock of her hair has fallen into the swallow's nest; the key fell into a crack in the floor; the carrier must hand the oars to another person; after receiving the feathers, the young man explains to the carrier what to do after he is on the shore; receives money from the chest owner; teaches how revive that girl; treats a rich man's daughter, marries her]: Danaher 1967, No. 37:119-12; the French (Provence) [{very similar to the German version of the Grimms}; the king was driving through the village; he was told that the newborn son of a lumberjack was predicted to marry a royal daughter; the king asked for the baby to be given to him, gave him gold; he wrapped the child in a cloak and left it on the river bank; 16 years later, the king visited those places and realized that the peasant's adopted son was that boy; sent the young man to his wife, giving a letter asking him to kill the bearer; the young man spent the night with the robbers, they changed the letter by order to marry the young man to the king's daughter; when he returns, the king tells his son-in-law to bring three golden ecus traits; on the way, the young man is asked to know why the fountain of wine in the city square has dried up; why the apple tree no longer brings golden apples; on the river, the carrier asks when he will be replaced; the devil turns the young man into a cricket; the hell falls asleep, the devil takes his ecu three times, he wakes up every time the devil says that she dreamed of this and that (about a fountain, an apple tree, a carrier), the devil answers; under the fountain stone there is a toad; a rat gnaws on the roots of the apple tree; let the carrier give oars to another; the young man transfers news to the carrier only when he was on the other side; the king himself went to get gold ecus, the carrier gave him the oars, he remained working as a carrier]: Delarue, Tenèze 1964, No. 461:147-149; the Germans [the king drove through the village; he was told that the son of a poor woman was born in a shirt and was predicted to marry a royal daughter; the king asked for the baby to be given to him; he put the child was thrown into the casket, threw it into the river; the miller caught the casket, raised the boy; 14 years later, the king visited the mill, found out that the boy was a foundling, understood who it was; asked him to send a letter to the Queen ; in the letter, an order to kill the applicant before the king returns; the young man spent the night with the old woman in a robber's den; the chieftain read the letter, ordered the applicant to marry the royal daughter; wedding; when the king returned, he demanded that his son-in-law bring three golden hairs from hell from his head; on the way, the young man is asked to find out why the fountain of wine in the city square has dried up; why the apple tree is larger does not bring golden apples and even the leaves have fallen; on the river, the carrier asks when he will be replaced; the grandmother turned the young man into an ant, hid it in his skirt; the devil falls asleep with her head on his grandmother's lap; she She pulls out his golden hair three times, each time she says that she dreamed of this and that (about a fountain, an apple tree, a carrier), the devil answers; under the fountain stone there is a toad; the roots of the apple tree are gnawed by a mouse; let the carrier will give the pole to another; the young man gives the news to the carrier only when he is on the other side; receives gold from the owners of the fountain and apple tree; tells his father-in-law that he has collected gold on the river; the king himself set off, the carrier gave him a pole, the king stayed as a carrier]: Grimm, Grimm 2002, No. 29:100-107 (=Grimm, Grimm 1987:95-100); Germans [the royal daughter will recover if she eats an apple; the peasant's eldest son carried the apples; the little man asks what he is carrying, the guy replies that they are frogging; when the basket is opened, the frogs in it, the guy was driven away; the same with the middle son (pork stubble); younger Hans and the little man are polite, the princess has recovered from the apples he brought; but the king demands 9 boats to walk on water and on land; the older and middle brothers make boats, answer the little man, who carry wooden dishes; G. is polite again, sails to the palace in one of the boats; the king demands that a hundred birds be herded without loss; the little man gives a horn to the sound of which they come running; the princess sends maid - let G. give the hare urgently; G. demands that the princess herself come; she comes, gets a hare, he runs back to G.; the king demands a griffin feather; on the way, the owner of one the castle asks him to know where he lost the key to the chest of money; the inhabitants of the other - how to cure the owner's daughter; the man by the river - how many more people he should carry to the other side; the griffin's wife tells G. hide, at night G. pulled out his pen; the griffin's wife says that the Christian really came in and told all sorts of nonsense; then asks questions and the griffin answers; the key is under the threshold outside the door; the toad in the cellar made a nest out of the girl's hair; the man by the river must throw off the one he was carrying; G. took out a toad, found the key; when he saw that G. was rich, the king himself followed in his footsteps; the man threw him into the river , and G. married a princess]: Grimm, Grimm 2002, No. 185:482-485 (=Grimm, Grimm 1987:382-387) Germans (Schleswig-Holstein): Uther 2004 (1), No. 271-272; Germans (Tyrol, Zillertal) [from a rich the owner's beautiful daughter Lisa (Liese); the handsome and brave son of a poor lumberjack fell in love with her, she agrees; her father demanded three golden dragon feathers; on the way, the man asks the dragon to ask how to cure his daughter; people gathered at the apple tree - why there are no more golden apples on it; fisherman - how many more people he can transport across the river; the dragon's wife promises to help, hides the young man under the bed; wife He pulls out the dragon's pen three times and, when he wakes up, asks questions: as if she dreamed of it; dragon: from under the patient's bed, you need to get a wafer hidden there; pull out a snake from under the roots of the apple tree; the carrier must leave his shuttle first to sit in it and run; after crossing, the young man shouted to the fisherman what to do; received gold and silver from the apple tree owners and the father of the recovered girl; young man married Lisa]: Zingerle, Zingerle 1980:71-74.

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Kachin [the sage predicts a peasant son to be king; the king throws the boy in a chest into the river, he is picked up; the king meets the young man, finds out, orders him to carry the letter; he is ordered to kill giver; on the way, robbers replace the letter, the giver must marry the princess; the king tells his son-in-law 1) to bring three golden hairs of the naked; on the way, the young man is asked to know why he is dry a spring, a golden tree does not bear fruit, how can a carrier across the river get rid of this work; an old woman (apparently nata's mother) pulls out golden hairs from a dormant nat, every time she says that she saw in a dream that the spring has dried up, etc.; nat replies that it is necessary to drive the frog that sat on a stone near the spring, drive the rat out from under the roots of the tree, the carrier must give the boat and paddle to another; the young man heard the answers, becoming an ant; the greedy king himself goes for hairs, receives a boat and a paddle from the carrier]: Kasevich, Osipov 1976, No. 31:109-114.

South Asia. Bengalis [the king's daughter fell ill; healer: she must eat an orange; only one peasant who brought it from afar grew an orange tree; it should just bear the first fruit; Jadu's eldest son bore fruit; a finger-sized man (Hüpf-auf-Meinen-daumen) asks what's in the basket; the young man replies that frogs; when he opens the basket in the palace, there are frogs in it; he is strong beaten; the same with Gostha's second brother (trichosant seeds (pumpkin seeds, Trichosanthes cucumber, Schangenkürbis in the basket); the younger fool Mānik is kind to the dwarf, replies that he carries oranges princess; after eating orange, the princess recovered; the king does not want to give her for the son of a peasant, comes up with new difficult assignments; 1) build a ship that moves on water and on land; I. takes the ax, responds to the dwarf, what makes the barrel; the barrel turned out; the same G. (it turned out to be a plough); M. is polite with a dwarf again, it turned out to be a peacock-shaped ship painted in appropriate colors; 2) dragon feather N āgapakshvara decorate the royal the crown; the dragon lives far away in a golden palace, swallows people easily; along the way, a rich man asks the dragon to know where the lost key to his iron chest is; another asks for information on how to cure his daughter; by the river, a man who carries travelers on his shoulders asks to know how much more he must do without sleep or rest this job, which he has been doing all his life; the dragon's wife hides M. under bed; the dragon smelled a man, but believed his wife that no one was there; when he fell asleep, M. pulled the feather out of his tail; the wife tells the dragon that his feathers were simply pinched; that a man came in who asked about the key, the sick girl and the carrier; the dragon: the child put the key in the mattress; the toad bit off the girl's curl and is sitting in the corner of the house, she must be removed from her hole; the carrier must leave in the water whoever he will carry, and let him go home; M. gave the carrier the words of the dragon after he was on the other side; as soon as the toad was found and the curl was taken away, the girl recovered; opening the chest, the owner gave M. gold; the king gave his daughter for M., but envied the treasures he had brought from the dragon's land; he went there himself; the man by the river left him in the water and the king began to perform his duties]: Mode, Ray 1967: 309-320.

China - Korea. The Chinese [Prince Lan Dan throws a gold ball, whoever finds it will become a son-in-law; finds a shepherd, the prince demands to bring three hairs of the Sun; the shepherd goes, meets people who ask find out why 1) the fruits of a tree can no longer raise the dead; 2) the living water in the well has dried up; 3) no one has come to replace the carrier boatman for 60 years; the Mother of the Sun hides the young man in a chest; She pulls her sleeping son's hair three times; each time she says what she dreamed, asks for an answer; the Sun explains that a snake has settled under the tree, a frog in the well, whoever takes the old man's oars will replace him; the young man says all this on the way back (after telling the old man, he runs away so that he does not give him an oar); the young man was gifted, the prince gave him his daughter; he went to the Sun himself, received oars, remained a boatman]: Tishkov 1954:32-35.

Central Europe. Czechs [a wealthy merchant has a daughter Svatava; shepherdess Chestmir is 4 years older than her; they are children, playing together; Father S. takes C. to study, sends him to distant lands; 10 years later he returns; father finds C. and S. together; promises to give his daughter only for the one who brings three golden feathers of a huge bird; C. comes to a city where people complain that the healing well has become poisonous, from it stench, let C. ask the bird why; the other king's apple tree bore gold fruit, and now the king's daughter is almost withered and withering away at the same time; the carrier across the sea asks to know how long he still has to be a carrier; overseas, the old woman hid C.; she is a bird's servant; the bird senses a human being, but the old woman denies everything; when the bird falls asleep, the old woman consistently pulls out three golden feathers from her; each once says that she dreamed of a parched well, an apple tree, etc.; bird: people forgot God, he put a spider in the well; if they sacrifice to God, they will kill a spider; the king planted a page lover for his daughter into prison, she buried a stillborn child under an apple tree; it must be dug; the carrier must jump off the boat before the passenger, who will take his place; C. jumped ashore, told the carrier the words birds; the page was released, the princess recovered, C. was rewarded; sacrifices were made, the spider was killed; C. gave his feathers, married S., her father handed him the management of affairs]: Němcová 1990:34-52; Luzhitans [the miller's beautiful daughter suddenly fool; a young worker who liked her went to the dragon to ask why this happened; on the way, people ask to know why the water in well; ferryman - how long does he have to transport people; a woman hides a young man; at night she pulled out the dragon's feather; she dreamed that the miller's daughter was beautiful and ugly; dragon: the priest dropped his wafer, Padde {toad?} I swallowed it, we need to find and get a wafer; next time, a well; we must get and kill Padde, which is at the bottom; third time: the carrier must push the person he is transporting into the water; in the morning, the woman is all told the young man and gave him three dragon feathers; on the way back, the young man answered the carrier and the people at the well, received an award; took out a wafer from Padde, gave it to the girl to eat, she became beautiful; old the miller went to the dragon himself, the carrier pushed him into the water and he drowned]: Veckenstedt 1880, No. 13:237-240; Slovaks: Uther 2004 (1), No. 460:271-272; Poles: Krzyżanowski 1962, No. 461 ( very popular story) [the king tries to destroy the contender for his daughter's hand by giving him stubborn assignments; the hero must bring three hairs from the beard (head) of the trait; find out who the world is stronger (wiser); along the way, he helps people, and they ask them to ask their questions about the line; why does the tree not bear fruit; how long will the carrier across the river do this work; how cure a sick queen; why did the spring dry up; where is the missing queen; how to find the missing key; why a girl can't get married; why do cattle die; the wife hides the hero; hell smells him, but believes his wife that there is no one; the wife pretends to dream of this and that, asks questions, answers the devil; a treasure is buried under the tree; the carrier must hand the oars to someone else; royal will recover when they find a swirka dragged away by a rat; a stone must be removed from the source; the missing queen is a devil's wife; in conclusion, the devil tells what his life is; the hero returns after getting hairs and receiving a reward from those whose questions he received answers; in particular, tells the father of the kidnapped queen what to do to get her back; the hero gets the princess; her his father himself follows his path, becomes a carrier]: 143-145; Shcherbakov 1980 [in winter, a pan in a fur coat freezes, but a soldier in tattered clothes does not; pan tells him to change clothes; he freezes completely; having received his fur coat back, promises the soldier an estate; sends a letter to his wife to drive the giver with a stick; forgives for promising to bring two gold feathers from a glass mountain; on the way, the king asks to know where his missing daughter is; the townspeople - why the water was gone; in another city - why does the apple tree no longer bring golden apples; two people standing in shallow water and overgrown with algae - how long can they stand; a soldier climbed a mountain in a palace mistress; promises to do everything; hides the soldier under the bed; the serpent flew in and fell asleep; his wife wakes him up, each time pulling out a golden pen; says she had a dream, asks one of the questions; snake: missing the royal is you; the water will go if you remove the stone; a dog is buried under the apple tree; thieves are standing in the water, standing for another thousand years; a soldier hacked down a snake, they took treasures from the royal, went to their country; received an award from the townspeople; wedding; the narrator hid from the rain in a gun, started shooting, they were shot, now he has arrived here]: 55-59; Western Ukrainians (Transcarpathia) [the king is lost, spending the night on in the attic of a coal miner, whose wife gives birth; hears angels predict that the boy should marry the king's daughter, who was born at the same time; the coal miner's wife died during childbirth, the husband gave the baby to the king, who threw him into the river, caught by a fisherman, called him the Swimmer; the king found out; the king gives P. a letter ordering him to kill the giver, tells him to take him to the Queen; on the way, the Mother of the Sun replaces the letter with an order marry P. to their daughter; the king tells his son-in-law to bring three golden hair from his grandfather Vseved; on the way 1) people ask to know why there is no water in the well, 2) the carrier - how long will he be carrier, 3) people - why won't she give birth to an apple tree; Mother of the Sun hides P., her fiery son enters; she pulls him by the hair three times, asking questions; it is necessary to remove the frog that has closed the water, the carrier must put another in his place, remove the stone from the root of the apple tree; the owners of the apple tree and the well give gold and silver, the carrier P. tells lime after he has transported it; the king also goes to My grandfather always hopes to get rich; the carrier throws him an oar, leaves him for himself]: Verkhovyna's Tales 1970:272-277; Russians (Arkhangelsk or North Karelia) [a childless old man caught a box, in he was a boy; he was called the Water Finder; the king hunted, stayed in the same house for the night; two women came: his grandmother and godmother; she said to W. that he would marry the princess and sit on the royal throne; the king bought V. from the elderly, raised him; he wants to marry the king's daughter; king: go to Grandfather Vseved, bring three golden hairs; on the way, the carrier asks what should be done to stop being carrier; gardener, why did the garden dry up; man at the well, why there is no longer living and dead water in it; V. came to the godmother, she lives with Grandfather Vseved, and this Grandfather is the sun; she consistently pulls a thread and asks questions; let the carrier jump out when someone gets on the boat; there is a frog under the roots in the garden; the well should be deepened; V. received an award from the owners of the well and garden; when returned and told the tsar, he went himself; became a carrier, and V. married his daughter and became tsar]: Razumova, Senkina 1987:50-54; Russians (Arkhangelskaya, year of recording? Lapin volost, now Karelia, is a peasant woman) [Poor parents had a son, they named Poor Boy. The mother does not know how to feed him and wants to sell it. A visiting wanderer orders not to sell his son, because he becomes the princess's husband, but this cannot be talked about. The mother tells her neighbors and the king learns about the prediction. He offers his parents two hundred rubles, they can't resist and agree. The king puts the boy in a bag and throws him into the water. The bag is nailed to the miller's doorstep, who pulls out the boy and raises him to the age of 19. The king comes to the miller and asks where he, an unmarried man, has a son. He talks. The king writes a note to his wife and asks the boy to carry her. In a note, the king orders the boy to be killed The boy loses his way and goes to the robbers's hut, they feed him, give him a new note saying that the boy should marry a princess. In the morning they escort the boy to the road. The queen marries him to his daughter. The king is angry with the queen and orders the boy to snatch three golden hair from the cannibal hero. On the way, the boy meets a man who asks why the well is empty, a woman who asks why apples dry, and a man who asks why he can't transport people across the river step ashore. The boy promises to answer on his way back. He comes to the hero's house, he is met by a hero, he asks her to answer questions from people he meets, she hides her husband in a chest. The hero returns and senses the Russian spirit, the hero replies that after flying across Russia, he brought his spirit with him. He asks to "look in his head," she looks for and pulls out three hairs, each time she says she fell asleep, that's why she pulled it out, three times she dreamed of a man with an empty well, a woman with dried apples, and a man not setting foot on the ground. The hero explains that in the first case you need to kill a frog, in the second case, a mouse, and in the third, give another man a ruble and a steering wheel. The hero gives the boy his hair, he tells the people he meets what to do, they promise to thank him. The boy gives his hair to the king, refuses to continue serving him and refuses his daughter. The man and the woman give the boy a cart of money, the tsar and the princess beg him to return and the boy returns to them]: Tseitlin 1911, No. 16:17-19 (=Azadovsky 1947, No. 19:117-120); Russians (Pskov) [boy was born wearing a shirt saying that he would be happy with Mark Bogatov; MB found out, bought a baby, left him in the snow; he was picked up by peddlers and brought to the same MB; he forgave them their debt, took the baby and let him go to sea in a barrel; she sailed to the mill, the miller raised the boy; when he was 15 years old, MB found himself at the miller, understood from a conversation who the young man was; sent him to his wife ("to the nobleman", "to the elmozhi") with ordering to throw the giver into the cauldron at the distillery; the young man stayed with the old woman, the robbers came there, replaced the letter with an order to marry the giver to the daughter of MB; when he returned, MB sends a son-in-law bring three hair of an ogre snake; on the way, a person asks to know why water has disappeared in the well, the carrier asks how long it takes to transport him; in the cannibal snake, the old woman turned the young man into an ant, hid it in a fold clothes and told him to listen; when the serpent came and fell asleep, the old woman consistently wakes him up and asks him to solve the dreams she supposedly had; the snake explains; there is a toad in the well; the carrier must give the oars to another; the old woman also pulled out three hair, gave it to the young man; the owner of the well took out the toads, rewarded the young man; he answers MB that he took the gold across the river; he hurried there, the carrier gave him the oars; MB still has been working as a carrier since]: Chernyshev 1950, No. 15:32-36; Russians (Voronezh) [two wanderers spent the night with Marco Bogaty; his little daughter overheard what they were saying; after a while Ivan Beschastny was born, M. was called a godfather; he asked to sell the child to him and left him in the field in a ditch; he was immediately picked up and brought by M.; he threw the child in a barrel into the sea; the monks picked up and learned information security; M. I found out, bought it, sent it with a letter ordering him to cook the giver in the cauldron; to meet the old man, blew on the letter, it was replaced by an order to marry his daughter; M. sent him to the magician; on the way, the oak asks find out how long he still has to stand; two men in the boat, how long to be ferrymen; the whale people ride on, how long to lie; the wizard's wife tells him to hide under the bed (otherwise the husband will eat it), asks herself questions; the oak will fall if kicked; whoever is left in the boat instead of himself will become a ferryman; the whale must regurgitate 12 (swallowed) M. ships; IB kicked the oak, treasures under it, he loaded them onto ships; M. he ran to the wizard himself; the ferrymen left him instead]: Pukhova 2006, No. 9:63-64.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Turks: Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 125 [the padishah learns that his heir will be the son of poor people who live nearby; buys and throws away a baby, but finds it; the padishah meets and recognizes the young man, sends a letter ordering the death of the applicant; the robber's daughter replaced the letter with an order to marry the padishah's daughter; this is what happened; the padishah adjusts the young man so that the young man horses trampled on; he escaped death, and the horses trampled on the padishah, who went to see if the young man was dead; var.: the padishah sends the young man to bring three golden hair to the line; on the way people they ask why wine has stopped flowing from the spring; why the tree has dried up; why do those sitting on a chair stick to it; the wife pulls out her hairs and gets answers from the devil; the padishah sticks to the chair himself] : 141-143.

Baltoscandia. Liwa [the king spends the night in a house; dreams that his wife has given birth to a daughter and the poor mistress of the house has a son, and that these children will get married; the king bought the baby for 300 rubles, put it in a box, lowered it down the river to the mill; the miller caught him, called Kaarel the foundling; he grew up quickly; the king started talking to the miller, understood everything, asked for permission to send the foundling to his wife with a letter; the young man was stopped in the forest robbers; the chieftain read that the letter ordered the boy to be executed; replaced it with a letter ordering the boy to raise and teach; 6 years later, the king returned, was surprised that the letter was like his handwriting; told the young man bring four hairs or scales from the devil's back; ask why one king has apples on one side of the tree and pears on the other; along the way, the young man goes through three kingdoms; the first the king asks the devil to ask why three castles fell into the ground and how to bring them back; second: during communion, his daughter's wafer fell to the floor, disappeared, and the daughter began to dry; the third king: wife gave birth, daughter was stolen, where is she; every king sends an army to help the young man; by the turbulent river, the young man finds paper, which instructs: call the shuttle, it will transport it; the shuttle transports, the army remains on the other shore; in the devil's house, the girl hides the young man; tells the devil that the smell is she who burned her hair; the sleeping devil consistently pulls out four hairs, each time replies that she supposedly dreamed a dream about castles that have gone into the ground, etc.; the devil gives an explanation and falls asleep again; 1) the keys are under the threshold, you have to get them, the locks will return; 2) the toad took the bread under the floor, we must get it, let the princess eat it wafer; 3) the girl herself is the kidnapped princess; 4) on the side where the pears are buried silver, where apples are gold; the young man and the girl ran away, crossed the shuttle, the devil could not; the third, second the kings promise the young man a daughter and half the kingdom, the third gives him the returned locks; the fourth, whose apples and pears, refused to dig himself; the young man took gold and silver almost everything for himself, abandoned the princess; married a woman kidnapped by the devil, gave the chieftain of the robbers the one who had lost her wafer, gave the robbers wealth and castles; the city of the king who tried to destroy him ruined]: Setälä in Kippar 2002:54-61; Latvians [Three beard hairs are a trait. By God's command, the poor man's son should marry the king's daughter. The king wants to kill the child, leaves him in the forest, throws him into the water, but the boy is saved every time. Finally, the king sends him to the palace with a letter demanding his execution. An old man who meets on the way replaces a letter, and the young man marries a princess. The king, trying to free himself from his unwanted son-in-law, sends him to hell for three hairs from the beard of the devil. On the way, the young man is asked questions: why there is no water in the city, why the apple tree does not bear fruit, and who will replace the eternal ferryman. The devil's wife pulls out three hairs at night and finds out the answers. The king, wanting wealth, also goes to hell but becomes a ferryman]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 461:288; Estonians (Tarvastu) [princess rejects prince grooms; king from time to time goes to the miller to chat; the miller has a young assistant; the king is told that he is destined to marry the king's daughter; the king writes a letter ordering the death of the giver and gives it to the young man; the robber replaces him with an order to marry a young man to a princess; when the king returned, he drove him away, but promised to recognize him if Satan brought three hairs; the young man set off; the sailor asks to know why his ship has not moved for 7 years; the owner of the birch tree - why juice does not flow from it anymore, although milk used to flow; the old man - why the water in the well disappeared; the damn mother tells the young man hide, and she pulls her son's hair three times and asks questions; the captain of the ship must lure the king at him, and jump ashore himself and ask the king to throw his rod to him; the king will remain on the ship, and the ship will sail away; a rotten root must be removed from the birch tree; there is a toad at the bottom of the well; the young man told the owners of the well and the birch tree what to do, returned, the king married him to his daughter; then he went to that to the ship; the ship sailed with the king, the young man reigned]: Mälk et al. 1967, No. 65:176-181; Finns: Uther 2004 (1), No. 460:271-272; Western Sami [rich Piera learns from the witch that his his daughter will marry his shepherdess when he grows up; P. lowers the boy in a barrel into the river, fishermen find him, he grows up; P. finds out about him, sends him to his home, gives him a letter; on the way, the young man falls asleep in in the house of robbers, they read a letter saying that the applicant must be killed, replaced by a letter asking him to marry the owner's daughter; the young man is married to daughter P., he goes to look for Stallo {it is clear from the following that P. sent him to bring three C hairs. ); on the way, one king asks the young man to find out why he does not have clean water in his well, the second - where to find the keys lost by the Queen, the third - where his daughter went, the ferryman - how much more he has to transport people across the river; S.'s girl hides a young man, pretends to be dreaming, each time S. tells, asking an appropriate question; he replies that rotten driftwood and keys must be removed from the well under the bush where the Queen was with the king, the kidnapped queen is her, the ferryman must throw the one he is transporting into the water; the girl tells the young man to drink strong water, cut off the head of sleeping S., pulls out hairs; they give S.'s answer to the ferryman by jumping ashore; at home P. finds out that S. has a lot of gold left, goes there, the ferryman dumps it into the water]: Klaus 1995:47-54; Norwegians [rich man refuses his daughter's grooms; goes to the stargazers to find out who she will marry; they are responsible for the miller's son, who is now born; a rich man buys a baby, puts him in a chest, lowers him down the river; finds him another miller adopts; the rich man goes back to the stargazers, who confirm the previous prediction; the adopted child has already grown up, the rich man buys it; sends it to his wife with a letter asking him to burn the one who is him will bring; the young man spends the night in the house of the robbers, they replace the letter, the new one says that the wife must immediately marry her daughter to the young man, give the young cattle and property; when he returns, the rich man sends the young man to bring three feathers from the dragon's tail; he stays with the king, the king asks to know why there is no clean water in his well; another king asks to know where his daughter has gone; in the third castle the queen wants to know where the lost golden keys are; the hunchback carrier - how long he has to carry travelers across the river on his back; the dragon's castle across the river; the princess in the castle gives a drink of strong water, tells hide under the bed; when she goes to bed with the dragon, asks him, saying that she dreamed of the question; the first king must pull the rotten stump from the bottom of the well; the missing daughter of the second is the wife dragon; the queen forgot her keys when she was lying in the bushes at the hour she knew; the transporter must throw another rider into the water, saying that he will now carry people until someone frees him; the dragon fell asleep, the young man cut off his head, took his feathers, jewelry and the princess; the transporter listened to the story, asked about himself when the prince and the bride were already on the other side; the Queen was grateful, but told keep silent; the princess's father gives her to the young man as his wife; the first king takes out the stump, rewards the young man; the rich man goes for the dragon's remaining treasures; the carrier drops him, since then he himself carrier]: Dasent 1970:199-213; Swedes [it is predicted that a poor baby will be the heir to a rich man; he buys a child and leaves it in the forest or drops the river in a box (or leaves on the way of the herd, on the road, etc.); the child is saved and brought up; after identifying the young man, the rich man sends him home with a letter ordering him to be killed, but the letter is replaced by an order to marry him to the owner daughters; then the father-in-law sends the son-in-law on an errand, hoping that he will be thrown into the oven; but by coincidence, the rich man himself or his son is thrown into the furnace; or the father-in-law sends the son-in-law to bring three hairs from beards are a feature; on the way, the young man promises to find answers to the questions he is asked; why the tree does not bear fruit, the water has disappeared in the well when the suffering of a certain person living in the water ends creatures, how to cure a princess when the carrier is released from his duties; the woman in the house pulls out his hair and gets answers to questions asked; father-in-law goes along the way of his son-in-law and remains working as a carrier]: Liungman 1961, No. 461:107.

Volga - Perm. Komi [the wanderer tells the poor spouses that their newborn Ivan will become king; the wife talks to her neighbors, the king buys the child, puts it in a bag, throws it into the river; he catches the baby, raises the baby a bachelor miller; the king asks him, understands everything, sends a young man with a letter to the queen, telling I. to kill; in the forest, the robbers read the letter, replace him; after reading the letter, the queen passes her daughter off as I.; The king tells his son-in-law to bring three hairs from the ogre's beard; on the way, a digging well asks why there has been no water for ten years; bird cherry why it dries and does not bloom; the carrier why he everything works as a carrier; in the ogre's house, his wife hides I.; consistently pulls out the hairs of her sleeping husband; he tells a dream about a digging well (you need to remove the frog from the well), bird cherry ( kill mice under the roots), the carrier (you have to give the paddle and the whole one to another, jump ashore yourself); on the way back, I. sets up the merchant, who is done by the carrier; kills mice and a frog; these three were the old woman's brothers; she is grateful, gives a ring; the king orders I. to be executed, he tells the ring to send an ax to kill the guilty; the ax kills the king, I. reigns]: Doronin 2004:27-32.

Turkestan. Kazakhs: Lin Lin, Ustin 1959 (Xinjiang) [Khan learns that a peasant's son is predicted to marry a khan's daughter; tells him to throw the boy in a box into the river; the box finds a miller; Ada reaches 18 years of age , the khan sees him, sends him with a letter, it says to kill the bearer; the robber replaces the letter with the command to marry A. to the khan's daughter; the khan demands three hairs from the head of the king of the jinns; the guard the city asks why the spring has dried up, another city asks why the apple tree has dried up; the boatman crossing the lake to the city of gins asks why he is not being replaced; the grandmother of the king of genies turns A. into an ant, hides it in his sleeve; pulls a hair from his sleeping grandson three times; says three times that he had a dream, in dreams the questions of those whom A. met; genie: under the source, a toad, a mouse under the apple tree, the boatman must pass on the steering wheel is a man in a red coat; A. kills a toad and a mouse, tells the khan to wear a red robe to take treasures across the lake; Khan becomes a boatman]: 299-305; Sidelnikov 1962 [Khan went around incognito khanate; in one village he was told that the boy who was born would become the khan's son-in-law; the khan persuaded the poor man to sell his son, ordered him to be thrown into the river in a box; the miller picked him up and raised him, his name was Ada; by accident Having arrived there, the khan understood who the young man was and sent a letter to his wife; in the letter an order to kill the messenger; at the night, the robbers replaced the letter with an order to marry the man sent to the khan's daughter; the khan returned and sent his son-in-law to bring three golden hairs from the head of the prince of giants; on the way, in one place, the guards ask to know why the spring has dried up; in another, why the apple tree no longer bears golden apples; the carrier on the lake - when he is on his shift; the old woman turned A. into an ant, hid it in her sleeve; wakes up the sleeping giant three times, each time pulling out her golden hair and asking a question; giant: at the bottom of the spring toad; the roots of the apple tree are gnawed by a mouse; the carrier must hand the paddle to the man in red clothes and leave; on the way back, Ada received an award from the owners of the spring and the apple tree; Khan said that the lake has a treasure, but You should come for him in red clothes; Khan became a carrier]: 36-42.