K170. Water without frogs, land without flies. 11.12.30.

The character goes in search of an area where there are no ordinary creatures living everywhere (water without frogs, air without flies).

Shona (karanga), Swazi, Kikuyu, Moshi, Uzbeks.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Karanga: Sicard 1956, No. 171 [the wife fell ill and asked her husband to bring her meat without blood; the sorcerer suggested bringing her snails; the wife ate them and said she was well; now the husband is ill, asked for water without frogs; his wife came to the source of the river where Wickelbär lived, took the veda there, brought it to her husband, he said he had now recovered; Wickelbär waited for the woman, demanded that she return it what he took and was going to eat it; the woman offered meu to come to her tomorrow: she would give birth to a child and he would eat it; but the boy who was born immediately spoke, scaring both the woman and Wickelbär], 172 [the wife is pregnant, asks her husband to bring her a certain bird; the husband climbed into a hole so that only one eye can be seen through a hole in the soil; a bird flying by thought it was a snake, went down to grab it, but the man grabbed it himself a bird by the legs; now the husband asks his wife to do a favor: to bring water from a pond where there are no frogs; the woman met a leopard; he showed such a pond on the rock, but in return she must give him the child who will give birth; the baby was born from a woman's leg, with a bow and arrow in her hands; said his name was Cigana-gana; the woman promises to send her son to check the rat traps at night - let the leopard come at night and snaps like a rat is caught; S. asks his cigana-gana {apparently this is not only a name, but also an amulet or inner strength} whether to go out; SG replies that it is not necessary to be dangerous; next time mother sends her son to bring peanuts from the field; SG tells him not to go, but to send a scarab for peanuts; now the mother has hidden the leopard in the house in a basket with a lid; SG tells her son to sit on the lid - then the danger is not threatens; finally, the woman pretended to be sick, asked her son to spend the night in the house, and left the door unlocked; SG advises to exchange clothes with her mother; she agreed; the leopard came in and ate not her son, but him mother]: 344-346, 346-349; shona (hungwe) [the husband cannot hunt, the wife hunts herself, exposing the child as bait to guinea fowl; the guinea fowl takes the child, the husband drives the wife away, takes another; she is pregnant two years, will give birth if he drinks water in which frogs did not live; they find water belonging to lions, they kill their husband, call the child Ntsuntsu, tell the Hare to raise it to eat it later; N. breaks the house with an ax, runs away with her mother, flying away in a basket; comes to people, does not eat poisoned porridge, changes places with the woman's child (at night she kills the child, not N.); hides the sun; returns when the chief gathers all the girls, from whom N. chooses the 10 most beautiful ones]: Zhukov, Kotlyar 1976, No. 112:257-261; Swazi [while son and daughter-in-law are working in the field, mother-in-law puts their clothes on a hoe, tells the hoe to work on her own, comes to her son's hut, puts on his clothes, eats food prepared by his daughter-in-law, sings a song on behalf of her son; her son is waiting for her; promised not to kill, but ordered to bring water , which has no frogs, no fish, or other living creatures; it finds such water at the top of the mountain, but trees grow around it and it cannot budge; animals wonder what to do; they send a rabbit, he gnawed through the passage, collected water for the woman and told her to run; behind her, the mountain and the forest turned into a city, and the animals into people; they were bewitched; the son forgave his mother]: Bourhill, Drake 1908 , No. 6:58-65; kikuyu [men agree to slaughter bulls and eat meat where there are no flies; the poor man does not have cattle, he takes a quiver of flies with him; when a bull is slaughtered, he releases flies, others throw meat, move on, the poor man stays, eats; so several times; when the last bull is left, the poor man does not let flies, others decide they have found a good place; we must find fire; not far from the hut, the first man comes, the old cannibal promises to fire and more bananas, cuts off the head with a knife; so four died; the latter noticed blood and corpses, puts a smut in the old woman's eyes, runs away; the old woman pursues, throwing lightning knives that cut down the forest; she did not catch up, but cursed the fugitive, he lost his way; came to the house, where there was a calf and milk; the man drank off, the calf asked who he was; said that he should milk his mother, she has still milked herself; the cow is grazing in the air; tells the man not to look at the sky, but to build a pen before he looks; on the seventh day she looked, the cow fell dead, from the sky into the pen A lot of cattle gathered, and the companions killed by the cannibal came to life; they returned home with their cattle]: Gagnolo 1952, No. 9:123-125.

West Africa. Mosi [the man decided to stab a bull where there are no flies, and taking his son and went to look for such a country; two months later he reached; stabbed a bull and sent the boy for fire; an elephant rushed at him; father with They ran as a son, and the elephant gathered the animals and offered to eat the bull; after finishing the bull, the animals rushed after the people; the boy climbed a tree; the elephant took it off with its trunk and brought him to him; the boy promised to make him an amulet; the elephant left it in his house and a few days later sent the bustard for the amulet; boy: lie down, I will hang the amulet around your neck; cut the bustard's throat; the same with the warthog; the elephant wanted to send a hyena, but the hare he advised to send two messengers at once: it is strange that the bustard and the warthog are gone; the hare went with the hyena and saw the boy cut off her head; the hare told the elephant that the boy was a thug; all the animals ran away, and the father and son returned home; since then, people have not been looking for a country without flies - this is dangerous]: Tauxier 1917, No. 90:490-491).