K65F. Which eye can you see? (ATU 476**)
.16.17. (.21.) .28.31.32.34.36.
Once in the locus of demons, a person sees them in their true form. When a person returns, he sees a demon again, which ordinary people are not capable of. The demon dazzles him.
British, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, French (Upper Brittany, Provence), Germans (Hesse), Palestinians, Poles, Russians (Terek coast, Voronezh), Ukrainians (Podolia), Western Sami (Herjedalen, western Sweden), Finns, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Lithuanians, Mari, Udmurts, Bashkirs, Trans-Baikal Buryats, Central Yakuts.
{In Uther 2004, there is no motivation for gaining the ability to see spirits and then being dazzled; in the German texts referred to and I was able to verify, they are not there; the Frisian, Dutch, Ladin versions have not yet been tested}
Western Europe. British: Jacobs 1890, No. 40 [Aunt Goody is a nurse and nanny; a strange man on a black horse came to pick her up, brought her to a house; there is a woman with a baby, and there are many other children around; the woman gave G. an ointment and ordered the baby's eyes to be anointed as soon as he opened them; G. anointed herself; then she saw a well-furnished mansion, a young mother in silks, instead of a village house; the baby became even more beautiful, and the other children were devils; G. did not show it; she was taken home with good pay; she went to the bazaar, saw the cross-eyed man who came to pick her up; he I took various things from the stalls without paying, no one noticed it; she greeted him; he asked what eye she saw him; she replied that with the right, he hit him and she went blind in her right eye]: 211 -214; Thorne 1851 (2) (Tavistock) [a woman was called to give birth to elves; gave an ointment to lubricate the baby's eyes; she touched her eye and saw everything around her as it really was; when she went to the bazaar, I saw an old man who took her to the elves; he stole from merchants and she turned to him; How do you see me? - Right; he pointed her (finger_ in his right eye and he went blind; there are similar stories elsewhere]: 13; (see also numerous English versions in Hartland 1891:37-93); Welsh: Brusot 1908 [on All Saints Day, the husband and wife went to hire a duzhanka; they liked one blonde and agreed; one day she went to dance and disappeared; one day, a gentleman on horseback came on a full moon and asked the woman was a midwife; they entered the cave; there was luxurious peace and a woman in labor; after giving birth, the baby's father gave the midwife a bottle and asked her to lubricate the baby's eyes, but not to touch her own; but she accidentally she touched one and saw an armful of reeds instead of a bed and a cave instead of a room; among those present she noticed a missing maid; one day, at the market, a midwife noticed a man whose wife had her was giving birth and asked how her ex-maid was doing; man: OK, but with what eye do you see me? she answered and he stabbed it out to her with a cane]: 51-54; Owen 1896:64-65 [midwives knocked on the window late in the evening; there was a crew in front of the house, she was brought to a house she had not seen before; after she took the baby, gave her a gift and took her back; one day, at a fair, a midwife saw a woman giving birth to her; she came up and asked how she was doing; she was surprised that the midwife saw her, asked with which eye ; the midwife covered one eye with her palm; the woman immediately touched the other and disappeared from her eyes], 66 [the fairies brought the midwife to take the baby; warned her not to touch her eyes with her hand if the hand was wet with water, whom the baby was being washed; but the midwife touched one eye; soon after, at the fair, she saw the child's father and asked him how he was doing; he looked at her attentively: what eye did she see him with? she pointed out and he immediately snatched that eye out from her]; Irish: Almqvist 1991b, No. 5070B (Donegal County, 1959) [The midwife was invited by an unknown man; they came to the house where the girl and many other women were staying; the girl gave birth; one of the women took out a box of ointment and told the midwife to anoint the baby's eyelashes; the midwife did this, and then, without noticing it, rubbed her eyes with her finger; the man took her back home; a year later, the midwife went to the fair; she was overtaken by that man; she asked him about at the fair; he asked how she saw it and if she could see it with both eyes; the midwife admitted that she saw it with only one eye; pointed to the eye with her finger; the man knocked it out with a stick; the midwife I never saw this man again]: 239-246; Plénard 2017 [in Samhain, i.e. on the eve of All Saints Day, the guy hears beautiful music coming from the old ruins; a castle and dwarfs appear in front of him they invite him, but tell him not to try or touch anything; he sees them dipping their fingers in a vessel and rubbing their face with them; he also moistened his finger and touched his right eye with it; suddenly appeared a horse, the guy jumped on it and, along with a large cavalcade, rode around the world; woke up in a haystack half a mile from home; in the afternoon he saw the same dwarfs at the bazaar and spoke to one of them; he was surprised that the guy sees them and knocked out his right eye with a stick]: 102-103; Scots [late in the evening, a Fetlar midwife was returning home; to meet a man, he asked his wife for help with childbirth; she was told smear the baby with ointment; she accidentally touched her eye and saw that she was in the fairy house; she was paid, taken home; much later she saw the same man walking down the hill, holding a stick in his hands; the midwife came and asked how the mother and child were doing; the man was surprised and asked what eye she saw him; she said and he knocked this eye out to her with a stick]: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/67551/5; French: Sébillot 1905 (Haute-Brittany) [a woman is asked to be a midwife for a woman in labor in a cave and try to make the ointment that she used it, did not get into her eye; she quietly anointed one eye and immediately saw the palace and people around her in luxurious clothes; she was well paid; since then she has been able to see fairies and saw one of them steal something; told her so and the fairy ripped her eye out that had been smeared with ointment; the same story in Provence]: 131; Thorpe 1851 [Gervasius of Tilbury, who lived in the twelfth century (Gervasii Tilberiensis. Otia Imperialia Tertia Decisio. LXXXV. De lamiis et dracis et phantasiis) talks about some aquatic spirits that live in southern France called drakes. They can take on human form and appear in markets. It is alleged that they live in river caves and lure women and children who bathe. Drakes take the form of gold rings or bowls; when people try to get them, they try to dive deeper, and then they are dragged to the bottom. This is often the case with lactating women who Drakes want to get to feed their unbaptized children. Drakes keep the women for seven years, after which they are released with an award. Drakes and their wives are said to live in spacious palaces located in caves on river banks... It is said that drakes eat men caught in this way. One day, a drake gave a woman serving him some eel-stuffed cake. She accidentally smeared her finger in fat and then leaned it against her eye, and then suddenly became able to see clearly underwater. After serving for three years and returning home, she met Drake, who was living with, at the market in Beaucaire, and asked about her owner and pet. "How do you see me?" - Drake asked. She pointed to an eye that she rubbed with her grease-stained hand. Upon learning this, Drake pointed a finger in the woman's eye, after which no one else could see or recognize him]: 13 (translated to Thorpe 2008:214; retelling in Hartland 1891:64-65); Germans [late at night midwife in Frankenberg, they knocked on the window; when we drove, she thought she could only see a lantern, but as if there were no people; little people lived in the house where she was brought; everything went well; she was advised a little wait to return home; told her not to touch the ointment, but she still smeared her finger and then touched her right eye with it; 8 days later she was told to pick up the trash outside the door (Kehrdreck) and sent home; what was taken at home turned into gold coins; after a while the midwife saw a little man in the bazaar, quietly putting what he had taken from other people's pockets and shelves in his pockets; The midwife came and asked him what he was doing; little man: How do you see me? The midwife said he was right; he blew in her eye and he went blind]: Lyncker 1854, No. 71:44-45.
Western Asia. Palestinians [when she saw a pregnant frog, the woman wished her not to relieve herself of the burden until she was called to be her midwife; woke up in a cave at night; the genie said that underground people, going upstairs, take the form of different creatures; the woman had to be his wife's midwife, fortunately, a boy was born; the genie ordered to paint the boy's eyelids; the woman also managed to herself smear one eyelid; they poured onion peel into her sleeve, sent home, where the peel turned gold; one day a woman saw a genie's wife at the bazaar, who stole things; she stopped her, kissed her child; people thought she was kissing the air; a genie woman gouged out her genie's eye with her finger]: Hanauer 2009:191-193.
(Wed. Tibet is the Northeast of India. Tibetans (Qinghai) [the poor man falls into a deep hole; sees a worm licking something glowing; also begins to lick, stops feeling tired, hungry and thirsty; the worm grows into a dragon, He flies away, the poor man has time to cling to him, finds himself on the ground; now the people on earth do not see him; he lives in a rich house, eats up the owners; the monk expels him, he finds himself in his poor hut again ]: Tshe dbang rdo rje et al. 2007:178).
Central Europe. The Poles [the humpback musician is brought to play the line; there he smears his eye with magic ointment and sees the line in its true light; the next day he pulled this eye out]: Krzyżanowski 1962, No. 504: 158-159 (quoted in Radenkovich 2020:47); Russians (Teresky Bereg) [the old woman did not have to babble; she came across a fat frog, jokingly said: when you give birth, take me to babble; follow her they came, she gave birth, went to the bathhouse, but she was not allowed to wash; she tore off a piece of her sundress, recognizing it as her daughter-in-law's sundress, and moistened one eye; fell asleep on a feather bed, and woke up in a tree by the river; her fishermen they took me home; the sundress is the same; in the store he sees a man stealing, says to the saleswoman, but she does not see anyone; the hell asks: what eye do you see? - Right. The devil stabbed him]: Balashov 1965, No. 15:72-73; Russians (Voronezh): Baryshnikova 2007, No. 40 [cheerful girls have an evening in an empty hut, invite a famous accordion player. He says he played for everyone but the hell at weddings. A stroller comes to pick him up and takes him away. At the festival, he wipes himself off with a curtain (wipes his eyes) and sees that it is not people who dance, but devils, but "drownings" and "suffocations" - suicides. They offer him coal and money as payment, rubs his eyes and sees that coals are actually money, and takes it, calling it coals. Suicides, former villagers, are taking him home, he is not afraid and talks to them. They're surprised he sees them. The girls call the accordion player for another party, he sees that people are dancing here and devils are playing. A girl with a child notices this, pushes the accordion player out of the hut and leaves by herself, then the door is locked and the girls cannot leave. They shout that devils are fighting them, but they can't break the door (they broke the door - they shout "their sides hurt", they removed the ceiling - "whiskey hurts"). In the morning, parents find leather hanging in the hut on hooks. Children are buried], 40b [The famous accordion player brags that he has been to everyone's festivals except the devils. At night, he is brought to the ball to play. He wipes his face with a curtain, and sees that the curtain is the skin of "drownings", "suffocations" and "sprinklers", the skin on the devils's aprons and pants. He is rewarded with coal and money, he realizes that he sees the opposite now, he takes coals, which are actually money. A drowning and suffocation who committed suicide in his village are being brought home. They recognize them, they are happy to meet him, and they say that eternal torment awaits them. The accordion player breaks his instrument and refuses to play, he is afraid that the devils will tear it apart]: 169-170, 171-172; Ukrainians (Podolia, Litinsky y.) [two peasant musicians were returning from the wedding; they met gentlemen in nifty carriages; they asked them to play at their wedding; after joining the carriage, the musicians found themselves in a huge house and began to play; one accidentally spoke to the coachman; he explained that he himself was drowned and that the devil was around; advised him to moisten his eye with water in the vessel by the window; doing so, the musician saw a devil and a swamp; after the wedding, received the money turned out to be pottery shards; later at the fair, the musician saw that line, began to demand money; he gave it back, but asked how he could see it all; hit his right eye and he went blind]: Chubinsky 1972: 190-192.
Baltoscandia. Western Sami (Herjedalen, western Sweden) [underground people stole a girl and passed her off as a local boy; when she was about to give birth, she asked the midwife to hire her mother to help with childbirth ointment; one day at a fair, the girl's mother saw her husband's mother; she asked what eye she saw her; she said that she was right, and the underground woman immediately gouged this eye out to her; more earthly woman I did not see the underground]: Lagercrantz 1957, No. 455:117-118; Finns: Jauhiainen 1998, No. K61 [a woman is brought to forest spirits as a midwife; she can use eye ointment and see ruins instead of a palace; Later at the bazaar, the father of a forest child gouged out the midwife's eye that she smeared], M31 [a mountain troll comes to a woman to ask her to give birth; brings her into the mountain; in the world of trolls, you can't laugh even if the troll has such a long nose that it reaches a bowl of food; you cannot bless the meal, otherwise the food will turn into snakes and garbage; the midwife (it may also be a man) smears one eye with ointment; When she returns, she sees her father newborn at the market and he gouges out the eye she anointed; she was rewarded with a shirt that does not wear out or get dirty, but the shirt disappears after how the woman told her where she got it]: 253, 268; the Swedes [the midwife are called to take the child; they bring her to the (underground) room where the fairy gives birth; when the child is born, the fairy's husband tells the midwife smear the baby's eyes with ointment; the woman secretly applies ointment to herself in one eye; receives something useless (for example, chips) as a payment, then turns into valuables (silver spoons) ; one day a woman sees a fairy husband stealing something from people, comes up and talks to him; he asks what eye she sees him; she answers and then goes blind to this eye]: Klintberg 2010, № K191C : 202; Danes [Andrup was home to an old maiden An Ovseter (i.e. Ovesdatter), who was often called to give birth; one day a little man with a beard came to pick her up to the ground; they traveled somewhere for a long time in the dark; then A. saw the corridor, and a little woman in bed in the hay; A. sympathized that the woman in labor was so poor; she objected and ordered to take a pot of butter from the windowsill, let A. grease it for herself right eye; as soon as A. did this, she saw a luxurious hall with expensive furnishings around her; the woman in labor took gold coins from under her bed, gave them to A. and warned her that she should go back jump off the cart, otherwise she won't return home; A. did so; the next fall, mountain dwellers came to help harvest; A. saw that little man and noticed him steal something; when she became his reproach, the little man was surprised that she saw him; told me to cover his left eye: do you see now? A. said she saw, and he gouged out her right eye]: Kristensen 1892, No. 64. 1113:338-339; Norwegians [poor woman was weaving baskets; went to fetch water, a toad was sitting on the road; a toad woman: "If you leave the road, I will help you give birth"; after a while a man came: the wife will give birth, you promised to help, I will pay a lot of money, but it cannot be given as alms and you can't talk about it; the woman realized that he was the king of Mount Ekeberg; the man came again: the wife was giving birth; they went up the mountain, there was a luxurious atmosphere; the king's wife could not give birth while her husband was sitting and hugging his hands knees; they asked him to go out, but he refused; then they said, "Oh, the baby has been born!" ; the king jumped up and at that moment the Queen was able to give birth; said to the woman: "My husband has nothing against you, but he will have to shoot you when you start leaving: quickly hide behind the door"; the woman was sent to the kitchen to bring ointment to lubricate the child's eyes; there she was surprised to see her maid and quietly cut off a piece from her dress; when the king shot, the woman jumped out the door, a bullet in she did not get there; when she returned home, the woman saw the maid sleeping; "Where were you at night?" The maid complained of back pain all the time; replies that she was nowhere, she slept; the woman showed her the cut off flap; it turns out that you also work for the king at night; she taught the maid to pray so that it would not happen again; after that night, a woman found silver coins outside the door every morning, became rich; but one day a poor woman asked her for money, she gave it to her, all the money disappeared; and the king Ekeberg often went "for women" to the city, and freaks were born from it; they also exchanged human babies for their ugly ones, stole and nurses with their children; one wet nurse managed to escape later a year; while she was still living in grief, she had to lubricate a human child's eyes with ointment every day; once she tried to apply ointment to her right eye; six months after returning to people she saw the trollich queen stealing something at the market; greeted her and asked about the child's health; the trollich: can you see me? - Yes. ~ Which eye? - Right. Trollich spat in her right eye, and that eye went blind; when the war broke out in 1814, the mountain became so noisy that King Ekeberg moved with his whole house and cows to his brother in Kongsberg, quieter there]: Asbjíørsen 1870:11-17; Icelanders [When an elf fails to have a child, all you need is a mortal man to put his hand on her, and the Aulvas are well aware of this remedy. One day, a girl was collecting dried clothes in the evening. A man comes up to her and asks her to go with him, because this is very important to him. The girl went with him, and they came to a stone in the field; then the hill opened and the man took the girl inside. She found herself in a room with an elevation on both sides. The man took the girl to one of the hills, and she saw a woman lying on the floor; she did not see anyone else there. She helped the woman give birth and washed the baby. Then the man took out a bottle and asked her to smear the child's eyes out of it, but wiped it off to prevent it from falling into her eyes. She took a bottle and smeared the baby's eyes. Then the girl wanted to know what it meant, and she touched her right eye with the tip of her finger. And what happened was that she saw a lot of people at the other end of the room. She knew this ointment was for seeing elves, but then that man came in. Then the girl gave him the baby and the bottle, and he thanked her; after saying goodbye to the woman, she left. The man escorted her and said she would be happy. He gave her a good-bye gift and she came home. This woman later became the wife of a priest. She constantly benefited greatly from seeing elves, as she was able to adapt to their way of farming, such as harvesting hay in the summer. One day, the priest's wife came to the market, and that elven man was there, because it's common knowledge that elves go to the market like us and buy from elven merchants even though we don't see them. She greeted the man and he got scared, put his finger in his mouth and touched the woman's eyes. She stopped seeing the elf and has since lost her second vision forever]: Árnason 1955:33 (translated by Timofey Ermolaev http://norse.ulver.com/src/tales/alfa/a-barn/index.html); Lithuanians: Kerbelite 2014, No. 116 [the son always slept in the kitchen, lauma came to see him; the priest advised him to hide the consecrated candle under the pot, open it suddenly; lauma had to marry, she gave birth to a child; when stung with her mother-in-law, crows came to her; she explains that they are inviting her father to the wedding, where she will also be given a dowry; on the way, lauma tells her husband not to take food and water from his father for washing; but he moistened one eye; began to see chambers with one eye and mud and swamp with the other; the wife tells me to take not gold, but coals, not horses, but two aspen logs; in the village, coals have become gold, aspens - horses; in the church, the husband sees a trait brother-in-law who records what he sees in a bull's skin; began to stretch it, she hit him in the face; the man laughed; hell: did you see it? - Yes. - And with which eye? - With this one. The devil gouged this eye out for him]: 288-290 (a brief retelling of a similar text in Kerbelit 2001:225); Lebit 1965 [the capital of devils was the capital of the devils in the Tamuzhin Forest; musician Miknius got lost, came to a rich house, he was invited to play at a feast; he sees the master put a rope around his neck, shoved him into the closet where the fire is; M. dipped his finger in the bowl at the doorstep, smeared his left eye, saw horned animals, pigs, goats around, manure and carrion instead of food; asks feasts why they are so terrible; hell asks what eye he sees, gouges it out, everything disappears, M. sits on the Imbara mound; came back in the morning, found out that neighbor choked]: 387-389; Lithuanians: Velus 1989:63-65 [the musician was invited to play at the wedding; after the dance, everyone anointed their eyes with something; he also smeared and saw a swamp around; and that the pot was not food, and the jerk rinses his ass in him; hit him with a stick; later towards panych: what eye do you see? musician: right; he gouged him out; and the tiredness with whom the Vyalnyasy danced is nowhere: they danced with a strangled woman], 90-91 [if on the night of St. Jonas make a pipe and look through it, you'll see the velnyas; the guy did, looked through the keyhole, how the young people were dancing; who tramples louder, velnyas with a stick on his legs; the guy talks about this dancing; a velnyas comes up; when he finds out about the pipe, he asks what eye the guy sees them with; gouged out this eye for him].
Volga - Perm. Marie [no one gives birth in the village; midwife: if only a goblin is invited to his wife; the goblin knocks on the window, calls the midwife, carries him in a sleigh across the field into the ravine, blindfolds the midwife, brings her into the house; a woman in labor gives the midwife an ointment to lubricate the newborn's eyes; she quietly smears her left eye; she sees all the devils; she was drunk and fed, taken home, given money; the midwife is frightened, at home says that she was at devils; goes to church on Sunday and sees all the same devils there; asks the goblin about the child's health; he is surprised that she sees him; she talked about the ointment; he gouged out her eye, she remained crooked]: Beke 1938, No. 10:36-39; Udmurts: Vereshchagin 1996 (1889) [no one marries a beautiful woman; her father says let the hell take her away; rich merchants come to pick her up; her grandmother accompanies her to the river, sees how the wedding train goes into the water; the daughter took a wumurt (water); after seven years, the son-in-law invites her grandmother to be a midwife when giving birth to her granddaughter; leads to the underwater world; gives a bottle, tells her to smear newborn eyes, but do not smear herself; grandmother smears her right eye; returns to the ground; goes to the shop, no one sees her, she picks up the goods without paying; next time she is asked what She sees with her eye; she answers; her right one is pulled out, she becomes visible, and those who asked are invisible to her; the Vumurts carry goods from one merchant to another if they are laid without prayer]: 175-177 (= Kralina 1960, No. 13:55-57); Wichmann 1901, No. 51 [no one has been calling the midwife for several days; "At least I would call the water!" the water leads her to the river, under the water; tells her to wash the baby, but not wash herself with this water; but she moistened her left eye and immediately saw a lot of water perfume; on the fourth day, the water gives silver money, tells me to close her eyes and the woman finds herself on the shore; before that, she saw her clothes on her wife, quietly cut off a piece; now her clothes are with her and this piece is cut off; she tried it on - it fits exactly; at the bazaar, a woman sees water spirits and asks one of those she saw underwater what he was carrying; he answered: with what eye do you see? - Left. The water gouged this eye out with his finger]: 163-164; the Bashkirs [three came to pick up the old violinist in the evening; he was brought to a wealthy house for a wedding; playing, the old man noticed that the hosts and guests from time to time time they approach the vessel and wet their eyes; he also imperceptibly moistened one eye and saw them that there were monsters around him; later at the fair, the old man noticed the man who was coming to pick him up; came up and spoke to him; Parey (master of the winds) understood everything and pulled out the old man's all-seeing eye]: Roudenko 1908, No. 20:62-63.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Trans-Baikal Buryats (Khorinsky, Kizhinga Ulus, Kizhinginsky District, Buryatia, 1981) [a famous midwife lived in Maxokhon {Mogsokhon} ulus; people from all neighboring uluses came to her for help; she did not refuse anyone, went to the nearest and far nomads; an old man came to pick her up, asked him to help his wife to be born; he had two riding horses; he rode one by himself and put a midwife on the other; when they left Moxohon, she noticed that the old man's horse was not reaching the ground with his feet, and she was flying above the ground - through the air; then I felt that the horse was also flying under her through the air, above the ground; she did not ask anything, accepted the child safely; the old man said that nothing for her She will regret it; the midwife replied that she does not need anything; the old man punished: "Never ask me about my son later. Maybe we'll meet"; many years later, the midwife met the old man in the shop; he was leading the boy's hand; the midwife asked if it was his son; her light immediately faded, she went blind; they say the old man was Buural Baabaem (dosl. "gray-haired father", the deity of the Khorin Buryats); his name is also Noen Buural Baabay, the gray-haired prince father]: Tugutov, Tugutov 1992, No. 117:288-289.
Eastern Siberia. Central Yakuts (1st Nakharsky Nasleg of Megino-Kangalassky Ulus) [(probably Russian borrowing; syullukyuns - from Russian shulyukuns); in winter, when the Syullyukuns came to land, the elderly the midwife went to relieve her need; a young man drove up, threw her into a sleigh, brought her to a gloomy country to help his wife give birth; the woman gave birth, advised her to take garbage and moss as a reward, they would turn into money; but it must be spent in 7 days; the old woman is in the same place; they did not have time to spend all the money, they became garbage again, but still got rich; once she saw that man at a wedding, and others did not see him; he asked what eye she saw; she said that with his left, he pressed her eyelid, she became blind and did not see any more syullukyuns]: Alekseev et al. 1995, No. 48:245-249.