Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

L33G. Beard stone .12.

A tree, a creature on a tree, a stone kills (seriously injures) anyone who calls it a certain way, climbs it, etc. The character provokes others to do so and eats the dead, the last guest deceives the provocateur himself.

Kono [spider], manjak [jackal], mano [spider], dark [spider], bambara [hyena], dagari [Dar].

West Africa. Kono (kpelle subgroup) [The spider refuses to go with Francolinus (Francolinus bird) to work in the field; the spider finds his field, decides that it is a draw, builds a bins, collects rice; sees a stone with with a beard; as soon as he speaks, a stone with a beard! he hits him, but the Spider remains alive; the Stone explains that it will kill anyone who calls him that; the Spider brings Hyena, who utters a forbidden exclamation, is killed by the Stone, the Spider eats her; so leads to the death of many animals; Francolin discovers that half of the rice is missing, sends an insect like Cricket to guard; he frightens the Spider and his wife, turning into a human or falling dead; the Spider remains in the forest like a spider, francolin bites rice in the plots, believing that this is his harvest]: Holas 1975:287-271; manjak [The jackal sees a stone with a beard; Hyena comes up, exclaims, "A stone with a beard!" , falls dead; so with everyone who says "with a beard"; The Jackal builds a hut nearby, feeds on the dead; animals begin to bypass this place; the Jackal calls the Hare, tries to provoke him turn to the stone; The hare stubbornly says "Stone with hair"; The Jackal could not stand it, said it properly, fell dead himself]: Nikolnikov 1976:94-98; dark [The spider sees a stone with a beard, speaks out loud, loses consciousness; in the evening he recovered; leads to the stone on purpose, the Deer says "with a beard!" , loses consciousness, the Spider kills him; the same with the Gazelle; with other animals; brings the Rabbit; he evades saying these words, the Spider says it himself and loses consciousness; The Rabbit ran to village and warned that no one should say these words]: Cronise, Ward 1903:167-171 (=Frobenius 1909:361-362); mano [Big Bird sits on a tree with cola nuts in the forest; the Spider found a tree, climbed, BP threw pepper in his eyes, he fell, healed his eyes for a long time; called the Black Deer to pick nuts, he climbed the tree, got pepper in his eyes, the Spider finished him off; the same with the Red Deer and others; The Dwarf Antelope noticed that all traces lead to the tree, but not back; invited the Spider to climb first; the Spider got pepper in his eyes, but also threw pepper into the Big Bird's eyes; both fell, Dwarf The antelope killed BP; the Spider ordered her to be buried and given him all the cola nuts - then he would keep silent about the murder, otherwise a scandal; he dug up the bird himself, brought his wife to cook; in the dark he tied himself by the leg: when the bird is ready, let the wife pull it and he will come; the Dwarf Antelope tied the rope to her; the wife pulled, the Dwarf Antelope ate everything instead of the Spider; when he demanded food, the wife replied that he he had already eaten everything himself; he started beating her, neighbors ran; The spider began to talk about crabs; wife: what crabs, he killed BP; there was a scandal]: Pinney 1973:177-179; bambara [baobab gives food and drink, but with a condition that only the Spider knows about; leads to the Hyena tree to resolve the dispute between them; after listening to both sides, the tree opens the trunk, there is food and drink; contrary to the prohibition, Hyena did not eat there, and is going to take the meat home; the Spider argues with him, the Hyena says a "talking tree" (the spirit of the tree kills for this), gets hit on the head; however, Hyena woke up and decided to deliberately bring others to the baobab; tells the Camel that if he wants food, he must call the baobab the Talking Tree; the camel does so, killed by a fallen female, the Hyena feast with his family; the same with an ostrich, an antelope, a gazelle, a giraffe; the jackal guessed it and did not fall into the trap; the hare pretends not to know how to name the tree; after losing patience, the Hyena suggests that he has been killed by a fallen branch; the hare pulls roasted peanuts out of the tree; the Hyena has come to life and hid away from the tree]: Mariko 1984:78-81; Dagari: Métuolé Somba 1991:74-76 [Der threw his hand into the hollow, someone grabbed him; D. asks who it is, gets an answer - it's Vir-Vã g ("pull-throw"); D. asks what he can do, BB throws it away, D. falls to the ground; marking a place, puts arrows with their tips up, invites the partridge to get eggs out of the hollow and to repeat the dialogue with BB; the partridge falls on the arrows, D. takes the prey; so with different animals; he sees everything with his nightjar and, when D. invites him to stick his hand, pretends not to understand how to do it; hand D. himself slips into the hollow, he asks the nightjar to remove the arrows, but he only pierces them more firmly into the ground; D. is forced to enter into dialogue with the explosives, falls on arrows, carries away prey with a nightjar], 77-78 [God has forbidden insult each other, death for violation; seeing an animal, D. pretends to loosen a rock with a hoe; the passer calls him names for his stupidity and laziness, falls dead; so with many; guinea fowl sees this, asks D. if he saw the partridge - she went to the hairdresser; D. did not see it; the guinea fowl pretends to leave, hide; D. scolds her for being stupid - what kind of hair the partridge has to comb your hair? partridge: it is forbidden to swear; D. falls dead, partridge takes prey].