L116. Singer in a bag, ATU 311B. .10.-.12.14.28.30.
Thecannibal (old man, gypsy) grabs the girl, carries her in a sack, makes her sing. People recognize the girl's voice, release her.
Hottentots, Sakata, Ganda, Douala, Lamba, Zulu, Xhosa, Kaguru, Swahili, Yoruba, Mungaka, Egypt, Morocco, Spaniards, Aragon, Catalans, Portuguese, Russians (Arkhangelsk), Baluchis.
SW Africa. Hottentots [the children were swimming, a man came up, everyone ran away, one girl did not have time, the man put her in a bag, began to walk around the villages, told her to sing, everyone was surprised at his bag; came to where he came from The girl was born; people recognized the voice; invited the person to stay overnight, pushed into a hole with fire, the girl was pulled out of the bag, the man burned down]: Schmidt 2007, No. 65:141-142.
Bantu-speaking Africa. Sakata [the mother gave her daughter food, she went swimming with the other girls, refused to share them; after swimming, she forgot her necklace on the shore; others refused to return with her, she came back alone; Kenshune-nshune put her in a bag, went to the villages, asked for beer, gave the captive to sing; when he got to her parents' village, people recognized her voice; K. got drunk, in the girl's place in a bag they put pieces of termite mound, and burned the house where K. slept with him]: Colldén 1979, No. 8:159-161; ganda [{in the 2006 manuscript this text is referred to matumbi}; the girl went with her older sister, returned for the beads given by her father; met the cannibal, he carried it in his bag; when he asked for food, he said that he had a singing bag; hit the bag, forcing the girl sing; she sang about what happened to her; Jezzik comes to the girl's parents; they recognize the voice, send the ezzike to bring a leaky calebasa, put banana peels and stalks instead of the girl; the bag no longer sings Jezzike throws her into the fire; banana stems burst, he thinks these are the girl's eyes and other parts of her body]: Anpetkova-Sharova 2010:395-397; douala [the mother left the children to swim in the forest; if there is a rustle leaves from the upper reaches of the stream, then continue, or go home if from the west; when they hear a rustle from the west, the children grabbed their clothes and ran home; one girl forgot her clothes and returned; a long-legged man put it in a bag, began to walk around people and ask for food, saying that he had an unclean spirit in the bag; he came to the girl's parents' house, the father recognized his daughter's voice; the man was killed, and when the girl was taken out, it turned out that she had reached maturity and had breasts]: Lederbogen 1903, No. 10:78-80; lamba [when a woman is away, the cannibal grabs her child, puts her child in a drum, takes her away; coming to villages, taking the child out of the drum makes him dance; the child's mother sends his father to follow; the ogre is killed; two ants conjure the corpse, it bursts, swallowed people go out]: Klipple 1992:67; Zulu: Knappert 1977, No. 3 [in veld, a girl meets a handsome man; he asks to collect larvae for him; puts her head in the basket, eats them; the girl realizes that this is an ogre, runs, he catches her, carries her in basket; her brothers meet an ogre, her sister sings a song, they recognize her voice; call the ogre to eat meat, send them to wash their hands; put scorpions, snakes, ants in the basket instead of their sister; the cannibal brings basket home; bitten, stung]: 117-119; Snegirev 1937 [Situngusobenhle girl was abandoned by her sister and friends, she came to the ogre, he carried her in a bag, came to her village, hit the bag, from there he heard her voice; Father S. sent the ogre to fetch water, gave a leaky calebas, took out his daughter, put snakes, scorpions and other creatures in a bag; at home, the cannibal opened the bag and was bitten to death; at this time another girl cleaned with branches instead of S.; leader (father S.?) cut down all the girls who did this]: 73-75; braid: Ohotina 1962 [Pyongyang went to buy flowers on the eve of her wedding day, put her in a bag by the Umkolonyan ravine, walked and told her to sing, otherwise he stabbed him with thorns; in the kraal of his future father-in-law W. ordered to sing first loudly, then quietly; P. sang her story, but no one heard the end; in the parents' kraal, P.'s father recognized his daughter's voice; gave W. salty meat, he was thirsty, sent to the river, told him to take water where there were no frogs; while he was looking, a swarm of bees was placed in a bag instead of P.; W. came, put his head in the bag, the bees were behind him, he was so bitten that looks like a tree, a woodcutter cut it in half; P. married her fiancé]: 348-350; McCall Theal 1882 [the girls went for red clay; on the way back they swam, went again; the leader's daughter remembered that forgot the jewelry on the shore; the others refused to return with it; she came to the pond, grabbed her, put her in a bag by a one-legged cannibal; began to carry it to the villages, ask for meat, and in response to ask the "bird" to sing, but did not open the bag; the girls told the chief that his daughter had started her period and left her in a ritual hut; the father had a party; the cannibal came to the girl's village; first the brother, then the father found out her voice; the father sent the ogre to fetch water with a vessel full of holes, took out his daughter, put snakes and toads in it; the ogre brought the bag home, called the guests to eat the girl; when they saw what was in the bag, they ate himself cannibal]: 125-128; kaguru [mother does not tell four daughters to go to the forest, they go, an old woman with red eyes asks which of them should not eat what (they are daughters of the same father, so it's really food their prohibitions should be the same); three say that they do not eat goat meat, lamb, chicken, the fourth says that they do not eat dog meat either, keeps this girl with her; teaches her dance, go to villages with her, they are paid with goats and cows; in their native village, people recognize the girl, bring her and the old woman to her father's house; the father tells his son to put the old woman in beer and sprinkle it on the top of her head witchcraft potion, witch dies]: Beidelman 1967b, No. 2:377-379; Swahili [the girl picked up a shell on the shore, put it on a stone, forgot; came back for her, the others left; zimwi sat on the stone, put the girl in the drum, began to walk around the villages, playing the drum, and the girl inside was singing; in the girl's native village, the parents recognized their daughter's voice; gave them beer, replaced their daughter with a snake and bees; the next time the drum was silent; Z. opened it, died of bites]: Werner 1909:448-450 (=1933:180-182).
West Africa. Yoruba [father gave Sigo a horse, his mother a sheep, and he went hunting; the rain washed him into the ravine; he asked the turtle to pull him out, promising to become her slave for it; the turtle put him in a drum, told him to sing when she beats the drum as she walks through villages; in S.'s native village, the king gathered people to listen to an amazing drum; S. sings about what happened to him; the turtle was invited to S.'s house, fed and they got drunk, replaced S. with a crow; when the turtle left and started hitting the drum again, it only croaked; opening the drum, the turtle found a crow inside]: Ellis 1894, No. 1:260-263; mungaka [married daughter; her mother told her to follow an overgrown path, not an open path; she went on a clean path, came to Nesí, who put her in a drum and began to walk around the people who work in the fields; they feed him, and he hits the drum for it and the girl sitting inside tells her story (how she went the wrong way); the next time the women gave N. a leaky calebass when he asked for water; while he tried to dial water, they released the girl, put a snake and a grasshopper in the drum; seeing that the girl did not sing, N. opened the drum to kill him; the snake bit him and he died]: Meyer 1942, No. 12:233-236.
North Africa. Egypt, Morocco (Jews): El-Shamy 2004, No. 311B*: 120
Southern Europe. Spaniards: Malinovskaya 2002 [the girl lost her ring, the old man offered to look in his bag, stuffed the girl into it, began to walk with her, demanding to sing, otherwise he would beat her; people thought she was singing a bag; the hostess of the inn secretly takes the girl out, puts snakes and lizards in her bag; the bag does not sing, the old man began to beat her, snakes bit him; the girl returned to her parents]: 228-231; Shishlova 1971 [mother sent the girl to get water to the spring, the girl forgot her necklace there, returned, the beggar grabbed her, carried her in a bag to the villages, making her sing; she came to the girl's native village, her mother recognized her voice, left a beggar spend the night, she replaced her daughter with a cat and a dog; when the beggar told the bag to sing, there was barking and meowing, he opened the bag, the cat and the dog scratched the beggar, he ran away]: 37-41; Aragon: González Sanz 1996, № 311B [a man takes the girl, carries it in a bag, makes her sing - supposedly singing a bag; an aunt recognizes the voice, lets the girl out, fills the bag with unpleasant animals and other abominations; the person opens bag, bitten, dies], 311C [a person finds a pea or bean; sleeping in different houses, makes him change it to a chicken, a pig, a cow, a bull; a woman kills a cow to cure her blind daughter blood and liver; the girl sees the light, she has to be given for a cow; a man carries her, makes her sing, her aunt recognizes her voice, the girl is released]: 75-76, 76; Catalans [a person kidnaps a girl, wears in a bag, makes you sing (Canta sarró, si no et donaré un cop de bastó!) , says he has a singing bag; one day he leaves the bag in the house where the girl's parents live; they recognize her voice, put stones or a dog in her place; the kidnapper opens the bag, runs away from the dog, or goes down to the well for a drink, stones pull it to the bottom]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 331B: 69-70; Portuguese: Braga 2002 (Algarve) [widow keeps daughter at home; daughter's friends persuaded her to let her go swim in Ivan Kupala; advised me to leave the earrings on stone; an old man came up, put them in a bag and took them away; the girl ran after him; he promised to give the earrings if she found them in his bag; she became watch, he pushed her there and carried her; carried her to the villages, making her sing; from her song people find out what was going on, tell her superiors; the girl was released and sent to her mother, the old man was chained]: 103- 104; Cardigos 2006, No. 311B [a thief steals a girl's jewelry, she runs after him, he puts her in a bag, carries her to villages, making her sing; from her song, people learn what's going on, release her, put cats in a bag or excrement]: 66-67.
Central Europe. Russians (Arkhangelskaya, 1927, Karpova Gora, K.L. Fofanov, 65 years old) [A man rolls snow in the yard and he turns into a girl, she screams, the man and his wife call her daughter. They send her to the forest for berries, an old man meets her with a bag, hits her with a key and puts her in her bag, demanding that her bag sing. The girl from the bag sings about what happened to her. The old man stays with her parents in the village, says that his bag knows how to tell stories, hits her with a key, and the bag sings about the Snowflake. They realize that the daughter is in the bag, the mother sends her husband and the old man to the bathhouse, pulls out the girl, and puts horse feces instead of her. The old man hits the bag with his key, orders him to sing, but the bag is silent. Snezhurochka's mother says the bag fell asleep. In the morning, the old man leaves, his parents lock the gate. The old man hits the bag, she is silent, he opens the bag and realizes that he has gone to the girl's parents. Parents feed Snezhurochka, dress up, look for a good groom]: Nikiforov 1961, No. 84:200-201.
Iran - Central Asia. Baluchi [Princess Zaitun forgot her jewelry by the stream, returned for it, she was seized by robbers; put her in an expensive box, trying to sell it; Z. asks to buy it from the box for a lot of money; her uncle, father and mother refuse, they say that Z. is dead; the groom buys and bags the robbers not money, but stones; Z. returns sight to parents blind with grief, marries his savior; husband warns to beware of the old woman; Z. has a little servant Asklo ("deer"); the old woman brings Z. to the well, lures her clothes and jewelry, pushes her down; in the well, Z. gives birth to three the twins are sons Musa and Isa, Shari's daughter; their spirits nurse them; the husband wants to slaughter A. for not saving Z.; A. asks for permission to drink, complains Z.; she replies that M. is on one thigh, I. another, S. in the cradle, she herself is covered in mud up to her neck; the husband comes to the well, recognizes his wife's voice, pulls her out and washes her, throws the old woman into boiling oil]: Porozhnyakov 1989:58-63.