Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

L108b2. Ants make the voice thin .11.13.14.

To get a subtle voice, the character lets ants bite his tongue.

Kamba, Kinga, Mundang, Sudanese Arabs, Kabila.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Kamba: Zhukov, Kotlyar 1976, No. 128 [the hunter has a tumor on his leg, wearing two boys and a girl; he stays with them in the forest, makes a house on a baobab; when he comes up, he sings, the son lowers rope; the cannibal Muvia comes up twice, sings the same song, his voice is rude; the sorcerer advises to exude his tongue with the bites of ants and scorpions; the son lowers the rope, M. takes the children to his village, tells weed the field; the father finds them, tells his son to answer M. rude, kills him; before his death, M. tells him to cut off his little finger, throw them into the fire; those killed by him come to life]: 310-315; Arnott 2000 [the widower has two boys and a girl, he makes a tree house; every time he comes back, he sings a song, the children go down the stairs; the witch overhears, the two older children understand that it is not the father, they refuse to let them down stairs; the witch turns to the sorcerer, who advises the ants to stick their tongue out, he will swell, there will be the right voice; the children lower the stairs, the witch takes them away, makes them work; with the help of a sorcerer, the father finds the road, hides in the witch's house, kills her; before she dies, she tells her little finger to be burned; the people and cattle she has eaten come out of it; the father and children get rich]: 142-151; kinga [woman has 4 children; she walks work in the field, the children are playing in the cave; the jackal overheard a woman calling them; said the same words, the children answered, he ate the elder; the mother asks not to sound a rude voice; the next time the jackal shoved the tongue in the anthill, the voice became thin, the children answered again, the jackal ate the second child; the next day, the third; the fourth; the woman complained to the sorcerer; he told everyone to jump over the fire; the snake, the deer, etc., jumped over; the jackal was the last to fall into the fire; said that it was his tail to blame, tore off his tail, jumped again, fell again; tore off one leg - fell again; so he tore off all his legs one by one; burnt]: Wolff 1905, No. 1:129-132.

Sudan-East Africa. Mundang [Matallé's girl went to a distant village in the evenings to dance; returning, singing a song, telling her father to open the door; Hyena overheard, sang for M., father heard a rude voice, not opened it; the fortune teller advised Hyena to go to the Guianriang monster, who gave her a subtle voice; her father believed that M. had come, opened it, Hyena ate it; M. saw Hyena in blood, told two the young men kill her, put on her skin; began to grind millet for beer for her father's funeral, asked the frog for help; she told her to be hit with a millet stalk, became beautiful, and M. in Hyena's shoes was ugly; both came to to the leader, he took the Frog, sent M. to herd oxen; when swimming, she sings every day that the beautiful woman is herding oxen, and the despicable woman is in the palace; the old woman hears, advises the leader to listen; tells the hawk to grab throw the hyena's skin into the fire while M. is swimming; M. grieves for the skin, the chief grabs it, leads it to the palace, sends the Frog to herd oxen]: Louafaya 1990:117-120; Sudanese Arabs (jaaaliyin) [brother hunts , sister at home; when he returned, the brother sings a song, the sister unlocks; the ghoul overheard, sang the same song, but the voice was rude; he went to the blacksmith, and he advised him to sit on the anthill; Gulya's voice became thin, sister unlocked it and ghoul ate it]: Hurreiz 1977, No. 35:113.

North Africa. Kabila: Taos Amrush 1974 [a paralyzed old man opens the door by pulling a rope when his granddaughter Aisha brings food; asks her to rattle with bracelets; the cannibal hears, asks to open, old man recognizes someone else's voice; the sorcerer tells the cannibal to smear his throat with honey, open his mouth, ants crawl, make his voice thin; the cannibal speaks in A.'s voice, rings with bracelets, the old man opens, the cannibal eats it, puts on his clothes, lies down in his place; A. sees blood from under the door, calls people, they burn the ogre, an oak tree has grown in this place]: 136-138; Frobenius 1921b, No. 14 [=Frobenius, Fox 1937:77-79; Sheep everyone once he knocks on the door, says to his two lambs, "A jug between the legs, the hay on the horns," they unlock; the Jackal overheard, knocked, the lambs heard a rude voice, did not unlock it; the witch doctor advises him to lie on the anthill, The ants thinned his tongue, his voice became thin, the lambs were unlocked, the Jackal ate them; the sheep threw hay on the Jackal, lay down on him, told the shepherd, who killed the Jackal]: 43-44.