L15G. A burnt log (Meleagra's death), ATU 1187. .13.-.16.27.31.
A person's life is connected with an object that can be burned. As soon as an object is burned, a person dies.
Darasa, Portuguese, Spanish, Aragon, Ladins, Sardinians, Irish, Scots, Welsh, British, French, Friesians, Flemish, Germans (Rhineland-Palatinate), Ancient Greece, Greeks, Finns, Lithuanians, (Japanese: Uther 2004 refers to Ikeda, but this motive is not there, and the text in which a person deceives Death is a literary retelling of the Italian original).
Sudan - East Africa. Darasa [the man went to war with others but evaded the battle; he is afraid to return out of shame; God advises him to either commit suicide or return to his wife, who gave birth to his son ; the man returns; the son grows up, goes to war with his father, the father is weak, returns home; before death he makes a wooden rod, tells him to keep; the son returns, marries; when he dies, the mother hands over the rod daughter-in-law; the young husband no longer loved his wife, she threw the rod into the fire; when it burned out, the husband died]: Jensen 1936, No. 34:524-525.
North Africa. The Arabs of Algeria [the Sultan has two wives; he sees a beautiful woman (this is a gulya), marries, she tells her former wives to be expelled, although they are pregnant; one took the Sultan's seal with her; they found a hut, gave birth to to the boy, one of the wives put a Sultan's seal on everyone's back; the Sultan has another son: an adult from his deceased wife; the shepherd told him about the expelled wives; he returned them to the palace, the sultan asked them forgiveness; the gulya wife wants to eat the returnees, but they are locked in their room; the sultan does not know what to do; the adviser suggests that the Sultan's son write, as if on behalf of the relatives of his guli wife, that her the mother died; then he would leave the palace; but she refused to leave; instead gave the young man a letter for her mother, putting her hair in it; allegedly sending her own son to her; there are parents and 7 brothers guli; there are 7 candles in one room: these are the souls of the guli, if they are extinguished, the guli will die; and a turtle floats in the pool: this is the soul of the guli, the Sultan's wife; the young man extinguished the candles, strangled his throat; the gulya wife immediately is ill; the young man does not know how to leave the room; the good spirit of Jania appears; it will help if the young man marries her and remains faithful; she moves the guley castle to the Sultan's palace; her good spirits win an army of guli; she gives the dove to the Sultan's wives (who were expelled); one twisted the dove's neck, the other broke her leg; Jania threw Guli's corpse from heaven at her army and it disappeared]: Desparmet 1910:357-373.
Southern Europe. Aragon [for various reasons (a pact with the devil or with a saint), in exchange for fulfilling his wish, agrees to die as soon as the log or candle that is currently burning burns out; then extinguishes the log (candle) and hopes that he will live forever; tired of living, he himself asks to burn the log (candle)]: González Sanz 1996, No. 1187:108-109; Spaniards, Ladins: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1187: 68; Portuguese [Meleagr. Man in heaven: permission to live until the candle goes out]: Cardigos 2006, No. 1187:265; Sardinians: Cirese, Serafini 1975, No. 1187:268.
Western Europe. Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, French, Frisian, Flemish, German (Rhineland-Palatinate): Uther 2004 (2), No. 1187:68.
The Balkans. Ancient Greece: Apollod., I, VIII, 1-3 [Meleagr was the son of Oineas, king of Elis; his real father is Ares. The Moira told his mother Altea that the child would die when the log in the hearth burns out. Althea snatched and hid the smut. In autumn, Oinei sacrificed the beginnings of fruit to all the gods, forgetting Artemis. She sent a boar to the outskirts of Calidon. Oinei invited all the heroes of Hellas to hunt him down. A girl named Atalanta was the first to hurt the boar. Meleagr finished him off and handed the trophy skin to Atalanta. The Altea brothers are outraged that the trophy was given to a woman, not to them. (Since Meleagr himself refused it, they are his closest relatives). Meleagr killed them. Upon learning this, Althea burned the smut, Meleagr died] (Apollodorus 1972:12-13); Ant. Lib. ["Metamorphoses" by Antonin Liberal (2nd century), referring to Nikander Kolofonsky's lost poem "Transformations" (2nd century BC): "Oinea, son of Portheus and grandson of Ares, reigned in Calidon, and from Alfea, daughter Festya, his sons Meleagr, Ferey, Ageley, Toxey, Klimen, Periphant and daughters Gorg, Eurimed, Deyanir and Melanipp were born. When Oinei once sacrificed his first child on behalf of the whole country, he forgot Artemis, and she angrily sent a wild boar to ravage the land and killed many. Then Meleagr and the sons of Festi gathered valiant heroes from <всей> Hellas to fight against the wild boar. They came and killed him. Meleagr, while dividing his meat to the heroes, took his head and skin as honorable prey. But Artemis was even more angry that they killed her sacred boar and aroused discord among them. Namely, the sons of Festi and the rest of the courets demand boar skin, saying that they own half of the prey. Meleagr, on the other hand, takes their skin by force and kills Festi's sons. For this reason, a war broke out between the Kuretas and the Calydonians, but Meleagr did not go to fight, blaming his mother for cursing him for the death of her brothers. When the Kurets were close to taking over the city, Cleopatra, Meleagra's wife, convinced him to help the Calidonians; rebelling against the Kuret troops, he himself dies because his mother burned the smut, given to her by Moirami. After all, they have straightened his share that he will live as long as the smut remains intact" (trans. V.N. Yarho)]: II; Gigin 2000, No. 171 [when Oinea and Mars lay down with Alfea, daughter of Festi, on the same night and Meleagr were born, the parks of Kloto, Lachesis and Atropos suddenly appeared in the palace; they They sang his fate: Kloto said he would be noble, Lachesis what was brave, and Atropos said he would live until the smut burned. When his mother Alpheus heard this, she jumped from the bed, put out the smut and buried it, fatal, in the middle of the palace to prevent it from falling into the fire]: 206; Greeks: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1187:68.
Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [after giving birth, the mother and midwife lit a fire in the bathhouse, heard a voice, "Until the firewood burns out"; the mother extinguished the fire, put the charred branches in her chest; the son grew up, got married, the mother died; mother-in-law and wife found branches in the chest, threw them into the fire; when they were burning out, the husband came in, told his secret, died]: Vėlius 1998:31 (beginning briefly in Kerbelite 2001:246); Finns: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1187:68.