L15e2. A sword thrown into the lake. 16.29.

A powerful character instructs his son, warrior, or people under control to throw his blade (sword or sword) into the sea or lake. The person responsible for this claims that the blade was allegedly thrown away. The deception is revealed when a powerful character asks what happened when the blade fell into the water, and hears back that there were no supernatural phenomena. He demands to complete the assignment. This time or next time, the blade is thrown away and its owner dies/goes to another world. Cf. motif L15E "The life of a hero in a sword".

French, British, Ossetians, Ingush, (Armenians).

{The parallel between the Ossetian text and the old French "Arthur's Death" was first noted in Grisward 1969}.

Western Europe. The French [episode of Arthur's Death, which is part of the Lancelot Grail series and dates back to the first half of the 13th century. ("La Mort Artu", text in Old French; the author is unknown, and may have come from Britain): After the Battle of Salisbury, the wounded King Arthur ordered Girfleet to throw the Excalibur sword into the lake, located on a hill; G. felt sorry for E., threw his own sword into the water and hid E. in the grass; then told A. that he had thrown E. away; A. asked what he saw at the same time; G. replied that he did not see anything unusual; A. realized that he was being deceived and demanded to carry out the assignment; G. found E., began to groan; threw a sheath from E. into the water, and hid the sword itself; A. revealed the deception, as in the first time; G. threw E. into the lake and saw a hand come from there, grabbed E., shook it three or four times, then disappeared; G. spoke about what A. saw; he realized that his death was near, and ordered G. to leave; when G. galloped away, it began to rain; G. took refuge under a tree and saw a ship sailing by sea with many ladies on board; among them was Morgana, sister A.; A. boarded with with his horse and weapon; the ship sailed to sea; three days later, G. found A.'s grave in the Black Chapel, whose body was brought there by the ladies on the ship]: Lacy 2010:127-130 (retelling in Grisward 1969:289); the British [episode of Thomas Mallory's The Death of Arthur, completed in 1469-1470: the wounded King Arthur addressed Sir Bediver: "[In] my good sword Excalibur and go ashore with him, and when you get there, I tell you to throw your sword into the water and come back to me to tell me what you will see there"; B. went ashore and, looking at the sword on the way, said to himself: "If I I will throw this rich sword into the water, it will not be good, but only damage and damage"; then E. hid under the roots of a tree, returned to A. and said that he had reached the shore and threw his sword into the water; A. asked what he saw there; B. replied that he saw nothing but waves and wind; A. said: "You are lying. So go there as soon as possible and follow my command"; B. went ashore, again regretted his sword and hid it; answered A.'s question about what he saw as he did the first time; A. called him as a deceiver and demanded that the sword be thrown away; B. threw E. into the water; his hand rose from the waves, caught the sword, clenched it with his fingers, shook it and waved it three times, and disappeared with the sword under water; B. returned to A. and spoke about what he saw; then picked him up on his back and went ashore; there was a barque on the shore with many ladies in black hoods; B. carried A. onto the barque and returned ashore; when the barque began to sail, A. said: "I must hurry to the Avalon Valley to heal my severe wound there. And if you never hear from me again, pray for my soul!" (XXI.5)]: Mallory 1974:752-754.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Ossetians (p. Shanayevo, 1875) [Nart episode: "The laborer, having mercy on them {over the sledges}, replied that after the disasters he had caused, he would be pleased with his death. But he cannot die until his zuss-qar sword is thrown into the sea, and that he is only destined to die this way; otherwise he will live and kill them before theirs extermination. Again, a lot of grief fell on the sledges: how do you throw Batraz's sword into the sea? They invented to say and assure him that his sword has been thrown into the sea and that it is time for him to die; they come and speak with various assurances to sick Batraz that his sword has been abandoned and that the end of his life should to come. The laborer asked them: what phenomena did they see when they threw their sword into the sea? The sledges, of course, replied that there were no special phenomena at sea. "So," says Batraz, "the Dzuss-qar sword is not thrown into the sea, because then you would notice different phenomena." Hearing Batraz's words, the sledges hurried to gather their best efforts and means to fulfill his wish; with the help of several thousand animals, they moved Batraz's sword ashore and threw him into the sea. The sword was abandoned - waves and hurricanes began, the sea itself became boiling, and then turned bloody. The sledges were quite surprised by these phenomena; but their joy was also limitless: they came and told Batraz about the phenomena he had seen; he, convinced of the truth, gave up his last spirit, after which it was easy for sledges to betray his body to the ground"]: Shanaev 1876:21-22 (reprinted with minor editing in Khamitsaeva, Byazirov 1989:314); Ingush (written in 1984 from a resident of the village. Sholkhi, Suburban District of North Ossetia) [hero Ali married, but soon divorced because he fell in love with Petimat, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad; P. did not want to marry him; M. invented a mirror, put it in in the room and said to his daughter: "If you do not marry Ali, we will marry him the girl who is in that room"; P. saw herself in the mirror as beautiful and decided that if such a beauty did not think shameful to marry A., fate itself tells her to do so; P. gave birth to Hassan and Hussein; after the angel Mulkalmovt took her soul, Hassan and Hussein began to be cared for by sister A.; from his former a boy was born to his wife; A. did not know about it; the boy grew up, met A., Hassan and Hussein, who were building a tower; threw up a stone that neither Hassan nor Hussein could lift; defeated Hassan in the struggle, then A. himself; then said that his father was hero A.; when he found out that he was fighting with his own father, he rushed into the sea and disappeared under water; after a while, A. felt death was approaching; he knew that his successor could only be a son who went to sea; said to Hassan: "Take that sword over there, go to the sea and throw it into the water, where your brother went"; H. went to do his father's will; on the way He looked at his sword and wondered why such a treasure should be destroyed; eventually he hid his sword and came back; A. said, "How quickly you came back. It is impossible to walk to the sea during this time"; when H. claimed that he had thrown his sword into the sea, A. asked: "When you threw your sword into the sea, what did you see?" ; H. replied that he did not see anything, that the saber simply went to the bottom; A. reproached him for lying; H. was guilty and brought a sword; A. sent it to throw Hussein; he came to the sea to the place where he disappeared under water his brother threw his sword; before she reached the water, the water parted and a huge heroic hand rose from the bottom; this hand grabbed his sword, fell down, the water closed; Hussein told A. about this; he replied that the saber went to whoever was intended for; the sword was picked up by A.'s son, who could not stand the shame and rushed into the sea; when the light stops, he would leave the sea and he would be in his hands sabre A.; it was called zilbukhar]: Dakhkilgov 2006, No. 77:385-387; (cf. Armenians [the pagan Prosh, who sat in Latar, built seven fortresses for his seven sons and put each in his own; when P. was old, he wanted to bequeath Gavluni's sword to one of his sons; calling the elder to him, handed over the sword with the words: "Take it and throw it into Lake Khachlava"; the son took the sword, but did not throw it into the lake, but kept it with him; when he came to his father, he said that he had completed the task; P.: "What What happened to the lake when you threw your sword at it?" ; the son replied that it was nothing special; P.: "Then go and bring me a sword. He is with you"; the other five sons did the same; handing the sword to his last son, P. said: "Take the sword and throw it into the lake, see what happens, and then come to me and tell me"; the youngest son fulfilled his father's instructions exactly and, when he returned, told him that the lake was boiling, fish began to jump out of it, and a roar was heard from the depths; Gavluni's sword was thrown into the lake on Friday; Since then, every Saturday Lake Khachlava is seething and cloudy; it is said that one group of brave men is holding a sword, and another is trying to take it away, so the water is worried; whoever gets Gavluni will be born only when the lake dries up {the text does not say about P.'s death after the sword was thrown out}]: Karapetyan 1990, No. 314:113).