K90A. He aimed at black, hit white. .26.27.29.30.32.

Seeing two contrasting colored snakes fight, a person tries to hit one, but accidentally hits the other. The relatives of this snake are going to punish him, but when they learn how it happened, they reward him.

Chinese (Liaoning), Greeks (Asia Minor), Stavropol Turkmens, Ingush, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Bakhtiyars, Kazan Tatars.

China - Korea. The Chinese (Liaoning; Western 1986, said a peasant woman 69 years old, y. Xinjin City Datan, d. Shanzui) [Confucius Gongye's disciple climbed the mountains with a hoe and saw yellow and black snakes intertwining. The yellow snake was a female, a bigger black snake, a male. "They're fighting, not showing closeness!" - understood G. Believing that black was oppressing yellow, he hit a black snake with a hoe, but hit a yellow snake and cut off its tail. Returning home, the yellow snake in tears asked her mother to punish G. In the evening he was writing at the table, his mother was lying on the cana. Through a hole in the window frame, a huge old snake entered the house and rushed to G. G.'s mother was frightened and asked what he had done. G. remembered snakes and told his mother all races. Hearing this story, the old snake crawled home and beat her daughter, who admitted her guilt. At night, an old snake spit saliva into G.'s sleeping mouth, after which he began to understand the language of birds]: Liaoning 1994:21.

The Balkans. Greeks (Asia Minor) [hunter Murad brings a deer every day; a girl milks a deer, she knocks a bucket over; girl: M. shoot you! M. shot this deer; girl: to dry M.'s hands; M. can't even lift his gun; he sees black and gray snakes fighting; shot a gray one; the black one crawled away {but apparently hit by a bullet}; told her father (this is the king of snakes) that it was M. who shot her; the king sent two snakes to kill M.; they came disguised as two men and asked M.; he told how he shot the gray snake; the snakes returned to to the king and told him that his daughter was a harlot; the king rewarded him; {exactly how, it is not said: he told him a cunning device and ordered not to tell anyone}]: Dawkins 1916:559-561.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Stavropol Turkmens [the young man saw a white snake crawling, followed by a black snake; wanted to kill a black snake with a stick, accidentally killed a white one; the snakes gathered, brought him to Azhdah; having found out what was going on, Azhdaha praised the young man for killing his daughter, but saved her from being scolded by a black snake, rewarded her understanding of the language of all living creatures; when he returned home, the young man did not find his sister there; from a conversation between a sheep and lambs finds out that she was taken away by a horseman; drives up to the mound, from there that black snake crawls out, turns into a horseman, refuses to return the girl; arrows do no harm to him, the young man calls Azhdaha, he wins Khan of black snakes; when he died, the snakes disappeared, the young man's aged sister appeared]: Bagriy 1930 (2): 70-74; Ingush [Ahmed sees a black snake fighting a white snake; shoots a black snake, hits a white snake , she disappears; A. finds out that black is the son of the king of Christian genies, and white is the daughter of the king of Muslim genies; the white father tells her to bite A.; she hears A. laments what he did, as a woman marries him, tells him to ask her father to spit under his tongue; after that A. understands the language of animals, gets rich; one day she laughs, listening to sparrows talking, the wife thinks that she is over is going to return to his father; A. hears a rooster saying that he can cope with 10 chickens, but the owner and one wife cannot; A. beat his wife with sticks]: Dalgat 2004:93-96; Georgians (Ingiloyans) [the snake knows all tongues; a person sees four black snakes fighting with one white one; throwing a stone, falling into a white one, tearing off its tail, black ones crawl away; white leads to his father, who spits in the man's mouth, rewarding knowing the languages of animals and birds for saving his daughter; if he tells others about it, he will die immediately; a person laughs when a mare and a foal talk, the wife demands to tell, he says, dies]: Janashvili 1893, No. 10:151-154; Armenians [hunter Markós saw a black snake strangling a variegated snake; shot at a black one, but hit a variegated one and killed it; the snake king sent two snakes to sting M. that he had killed his wife; but the snakes heard M. lament what had happened; advised him to ask the king to lick him with his snake tongue; the black snake was torn apart; M. received the ability understand the language of animals, plants and stones, but should not talk about it; hearing dogs talk that wolves will attack at night, M. gives instructions to the shepherds; hears a lamb saying that its owner will become the owners of huge herds; buys lamb; neighbors persuade M.'s wife to find out how he got rich; M. is preparing to die; M. hears a sheep inviting a ram to jump off the hill, then he will come out for him; ram: I am not as stupid as M. to die; after that M. expelled his wife; the king fell ill, he will be cured by a decoction from the head of the snake king, and only a man covered in snakeskin can get it; this is M. the snake king orders M. to cut off his head, drink one bowl with the broth himself, give the other to the king; both are younger, the tsar made M. chief vizier]: Ganalanyan 1969:20-25; Azerbaijanis: Bagriy 1930 (1) (Nukha District, 1899) [a hunter sees a black snake strangling a white snake, shot a black snake, hit a white one, she screamed, snakes crawled out from all sides, the queen of snakes asked the wounded daughter what was going on; replied that the hunter was not to blame, he wanted to help her; the queen ordered the black snake to be brought to her, torn to pieces; the white one advises the hunter to ask the queen to spit in his mouth as a reward; after that, the hunter acquired the ability to turn stone and wood into gold]: 24-25; Bagriy, Zeynally 1935 [after the death of his father, Ahmed became a hunter, married Guller; saw a white and black snake fighting, shot a black snake, but he got into white; the serpent king ordered the poisonous snake Shahmar to kill A., but she overheard his conversation with his wife, told the king that A. had accidentally made a mistake and mourned; S. advised A. to ask the king of snakes in a gift is the ability to understand animal language; for this purpose, the king spat in his mouth; but if A. spoke about it, he would die; one day A. and pregnant G. returned from a wedding riding a mare; her foal said that I was tired; mare: I was wearing three and one in me - how can I help here; A. laughed, G. began to demand an explanation; threatened to return to my father; A. was ready to tell everything, but heard the ram speak sheep: I'm not your hunter A. to listen to your wife; A. beat his wife and lived well with her]: 243-248; Kurds [Avci Ahmad hunts, the white snake asks him to protect him from the black snake, he shoots, but by accident shoots the tail white; the white one returns to her father, the shah of the serpent; he sends the cobras to sting AA, but they hear his story addressed to agha, tell the khan that AA is innocent; the shah summons AA, orders to point to the guilty snake; AA indicates that he is being killed; the daughter of the Snake Shah orders to ask for poison from her father's mouth as a reward; AA has begun to understand the language of stones, plants, animals; the Shah's daughter tells her to be buried at home cut off the tail; a tree with unprecedented fruits has grown; AA asks everyone what kind of tree it is; the caravan persuaded AA's wife to find out the secret, AA answered correctly, so he won the dispute, got his house and wife; the white snake tells me to sleep by the mazar; the saint buried there tells the caravan to argue with the caravan that the sun will rise in the west, set in the east, gives a jug of gold for the mortgage; the sun has risen in the west, AA got his home back; more on how AA understands animal words, gets into trouble, then avoids misfortune; finally dies]: Jalil et al. 1989, No. 23:238-247.

Iran - Central Asia. Bakhtiyary [chief hunter Adagar and his three brothers went hunting; the black snake fights the white snake; the black snake is stronger, A. shoots at it, but misses and the arrow cuts off the white tail; A. mourns, promises never to hunt again; the white snake is King Peri's daughter, she tells her father everything; King Peri tells her to bite A. if he does not repent and return if he repents; after finding out what is going on, the king Peri sends a messenger in human form for A.; A. tells how it all happened; Peri offers to give him a gift; A. refuses where the black snake has crawled; white snakes tear the black to pieces; king peri gives A. the ability to understand the language of all creatures; if you talk about it, you will die; A. hears two dogs talking: a herd is lost with a calving sheep; tells the shepherd where his sheep are; a shepherd offers a reward, A. asks for a newborn female; the owner stigmatizes her; a few years later A. comes for his sheep; invites the shepherd to take some salt and walk in the same direction, and he and his lamb will go to another; half of the herd follows him; he laughs at the conversation between the sheep and the lamb; the wife demands an explanation of the reason for the laughter; A. warns that she will die if he tells, the wife insists; A. prepares her funeral; the dog grieves, reproaches the rooster for not worrying about the fate of the owner; the rooster calls the owner a fool: after his death, the wife will take possession of the property and marry another; A. talks about The behavior of her wife and her brothers, everyone approves the divorce; after a while, the wife stole money from her brothers, gave it to her ex-husband and he remarried her; everything is fine]: Lorimer, Lorimer 1919, No. 34: 225-231.

Volga - Perm. Tatars (2 records in Tatarstan, 1 in Tyumen) [the hunter sees snakes fighting; shoots a black snake, but accidentally hits a white snake; lamenting, tells his wife about it; snakes hear; queen the serpent summoned the hunter, ordered the black snake to be identified, which confirmed everything; the queen of snakes told the hunter to touch the white one, she came to life and became a girl; the queen spat in the hunter's mouth, giving him the ability to understand animal language; if he speaks, he will die; the hunter hears the muttering of a sheep, laughs; the wife demands an explanation; preparing for death, the hunter orders to heat the bathhouse, feeds the dog; she reproaches the rooster for not feels sorry for the owner; rooster: I have 40 wives, and the owner alone does not know how to command]: Zamaletdinov 2008a, No. 51:230-232.