M126. Talking skull. 11.-.14.17. (.21.) .22.23.
A person sees a talking skull (turtle) and reports it to the leader, the king. In the presence of the king, the skull (turtle) is silent, the person found is accused of lying and punished.
Congo, Mbundu, Ambundu, Lamba, Bamileke, Efik, Ashanti, Hausa, Nupe, Amhara, Mauritanian Arabs, Moroccan Berbers, Saudia, (Mustang), Burmese, Karen, Thais, Khmers, Maldives.
Bantu-speaking Africa. Congo [Moni-Mambu came to brothers who never quarreled; one was a fisherman, the other was getting palm wine; MM placed fish on palm trees, calebasses and wine in the river; the brothers got into a fight; a woman told MM that he could go to her house to eat baked peanuts with her children; he ate peanuts and children; the chief tells MM to shoot anything they chase him (during a driven hunt); he kills hunting dogs, hunters, the chief's wife; they want to kill him, he says that bullets and knives do not take him, let them take him to the top; porters go to the river to look for drinking water; MM speaks to passers-by merchants who appoint chiefs; the merchant is put in a net, MM takes his property, the merchant is drowned; MM shoots an antelope, it jumps out of its skin, runs away; MM blows out, the dog takes away the snot, MM throws she smut into her, she enters the house, the house burns down; he is told to build a new one, he cuts a tree, a machete falls into the water, the crocodile grabs MM, but the osprey snatches it out of the crocodile's mouth; MM meets the talking skull, talks about it; people go to check, the skull is silent; the chief orders MM to kill, he is pierced with a spear]: Belcher 2005, No. 15:82-87; mbundu [the guy sees the skull, hits him with a stick, says he stupidity killed; the skull replies that the guy will be killed by anger; the guy brings people, hits the skull with a stick, but he is silent; people kill the guy; the skull says that the guy was killed by anger]: Anpetkova-Sharova 1975: 259-260; ambundu [young men walk along the path past the skull; the latter says that stupidity destroyed him; the skull replies that the guy will be destroyed by cunning; the guy tells others, no one believes it; he says that if this is not true, let his head be cut off; the skull is silent, the guy's head has been cut off; the skull says he was destroyed by a trick]: Serauky 1986:175-176; lamba [man sees a skull and is drunk asks why he died; the skull replies that the person's tongue (letter mouth) will bring him to the same; the man tells the chief; the chief sends servants to check, the skull is silent, the servants kill the person; the skull is with them says he warned him]: Doke 1927, #95:177.
West Africa. Bamileke [when faced with a skull, the person asks how it got here; the skull replies that he died because of his mouth and that the person will die for the same reason; the person talks about the meeting to the chief; The chief goes to look at the skull on the condition that if he does not speak, he will kill the narrator; the skull is silent, the person is killed; the skull says he warned]: Voorhoeve 1976, No. 12:103-104; ashanti [the hunter heard music and singing in the forest; it turned out that a turtle was singing and playing the harp; she allowed the hunter to take it on condition that he would not talk about it; but the hunter became her everything demonstrate; the leader summoned him; if the turtle does not sing, the hunter will be executed, and if he sings, he has the right to do whatever he wants with the leader and his men; the turtle was silent, the hunter was beheaded; After that, she said that he had been given the punishment he deserved: no one prevented him from coming to the forest and listening to her]: Barker, Sinclaire 1917, No. 21:119-121; hausa [the traveler came across a severed head; she advised him to keep his mouth shut; the traveler ran to the ruler; he promised to reward him if his story was true and execute him if he was false; the traveler brought people to his head - she was silent; he was cut off head; head: after all, I said to keep my mouth shut]: Zhukov, Kotlyar 1976 [], No. 177:432-433; ether [after tripping over the skull, the man says that he died because of his stupidity; The skull replies that a person will die because of his great mind; he flees to the village, tells the elders, denies that he is a liar or crazy; brings elders to his skull, kicks, the skull is silent; a person is executed for lying; The skull says he was right]: Jablow 196:213-214; nupe [the man came across a skull, he replies that he was here thanks to his chatter; the man told the king; he sends a guard check; the man asks again, the skull is silent; the guard kills the man; now the skull asks what brought him here; the skull of the executed person replies that chatter]: Frobenius, Fox 1937:161-162.
Sudan-East Africa. Amhara [the deceitful servant comes across a severed head; the head replies that it was cut off for her tongue; the servant hurries to inform the master about it; the master does not believe, comes, the head is silent; the servant beheaded]: Gankin 1971, No. 76:100.
North Africa. Mauritanian Arabs [the blacksmith saw a turtle repeating: "The mother of someone who does not keep his mouth shut will lament" (Celui qui ne tient pas sa langue, sa mère sera injurée); The blacksmith reports this to the king; he promises to give gold worth his weight to the blacksmith if he is telling the truth and to execute him if he lies; but the turtle was silent; when the blacksmith was executed, the turtle repeated its statement]: Tauzin 1993:67; the Berbers of Southern Morocco (Taserwalt) [the turtle went out to sing, the falcon heard it and carried it away and threw it away; the turtle, dying: whoever does not know how to keep his mouth closed will drive his mouth to death; the man heard and was surprised: the turtle was talking; he brought the turtle to the king and said that it was talking; the king: show me; the man asked the turtle to say something, but it was silent; the king ordered cut off a man's head]: Stumme 1895, No. 31:193.
Western Asia. Saudia [where the sands of Rub al-Khali are now, was the rich city of Ubar, known as Jennat ("paradise") 'Ad; it was ruled by a king who decided to go up to heaven and kill God; taking a supply of meat, he sat on an eagle and flew, holding a piece of meat in front of the eagle's beak, and thus provoking it to fly further; two months later it reached the sky; the angels said that God was lower; the king sent an eagle there, but it rushed so sharply that the king fell and fell for 20 years; only the skull reached the ground; it was covered with sand; many years later, a wolf settled in one eye socket and a gazelle in the other, and they did not know about each other; one day he drove up on a camel the man from Badawi and began to knock on the skull with a stick, trying whether it was a bone or a stone; the skull: do not hesitate; don't laugh; the man hurried to Solomon and talked about the talking skull; he promised to reward the man if what was said is true, and put him in prison if it is a lie; when Solomon knocked on his skull with a stick, he was silent; the man was thrown into prison; heard the voice of the skull: Didn't I warn you and not told you not to doubt or laugh at me; but Solomon felt sorry for the man; he called the birds and asked if they knew about the city of Umar; the last was an old eagle with feathers ; S. promised to rejuvenate him if he led him to the city; fulfilled his promise and the eagle led him to a sand-covered city; S. called for four winds and they freed the city from sand; seeing gold and gems, S. decided that treasures like this could seduce people and told the winds to fill the city again]: Taibah, MacDonald 2016:27-28.
(Wed. Tibet is the Northeast of India. Mustang [two sons are cunning, the third is a simpleton; aged parents tell them that they will rejuvenate if they bring back youth flower from China; the eldest has reached a place where a triangular stone was dancing, a monkey with a silver head was singing, and the baboon was hitting the drum; then he saw an old woman, told her about it; she refused to believe it, her older brother bet all the money he had He was there, brought the old woman to that place, but found nothing; picked up more beautiful flowers, returned home; the middle brother was the same; the youngest stepped to those stone and monkeys, they fell dead; when the old woman I came to see, they were there, even though they were dead; he goes on, stops successively with three old women, who warn of demons guarding the flower; he comes and sees a statue girl, pulls the peg out of her head, she comes to life; says she is that flower, but the demons have deprived her of her power; she hid the young man in a hole, covered a stove, a copper pot of water on top, skin on him, on him a wicker tray to clean the chaff (Worfelplatte), stuck a peg in the back of her head so that the demon would not notice anything; a demon came, revived the girl, told him to look in the hole above her the plain, the lake on it, the plain again; the demon does not understand, leaves; the girl tells the young man to split the log house with an ax, bees will fly out from there, hit everyone, they are demons; she herself swept away with a broom hit by the ax back to the log house; the girl tells her to smear the floor with cow manure, cut her throat, take her legs, sprinkle the manure with blood, flowers that give youth will grow; and so it happened; the young man combined Sprinkled the girl's head with water, she came to life; they collected flowers, gave a flower to those old women, they became girls; rejuvenated the boy's parents]: Kretschmar 1985, No. 10:79-80).
Burma - Indochina. Burmese [3 strangers sailed to the shore: a thief, a witch, a squabbler; the king ordered the squabbler to be executed, and the thief and witch gave money and a house; after the execution, the nobleman saw his head cut off: she moved, ordered to tell the king to come and kneel in front of her; the king came, his head did not move, the nobleman was executed; then his head laughed; the king ordered to bury his head, and grew out of it first coconut tree; coconuts look like that squabbler's head, with a gurgling sound inside, as if he still wants to curse]: Maung 1957:113-114; Karen [rich Phatakain ("scoundrel") envies poor Phatalun ("good man") for loving him; invites him to go by ship to buy goods; gives him food and drink in exchange for his eyes; left on a deserted island; the owner of the sea sends three dog-shaped servants whose names are the three truths of Buddhism; the dying man whispers these words, the natians think he knows their names, takes on a human form, heals P., and takes them home with pumpkin seeds; pumpkins grow, they are gold and silver; Phatakain tries to repeat everything, tells the servant to pull out his eyes; chases, scolds dogs, dies in agony; Phatalun comes to the island, finds bones and a skull Phatakaina, the skull asks to take it away, tell the king that he, Phataluna, has a talking skull; the king's skull is silent, Phataluna is imprisoned; Phatalun's wife hits the skull with a stick, he screams, king rewards Phatalun; the skull is thrown out, sails to the old man and the old woman; lies to the old woman that the old man is not loyal to her; the old man breaks it, a tree with fruits grows like a skull]: Kasevich, Osipov 1976, No. 172:461-467 ; Thais [Lee is cunning, Suun is simple but honest; L. persuades S. to go trade, they lose everything; L. gives S. rice in exchange for his eyes, leaves a tiger on an island in front of the cave; he touches the tip S., S. sneezes and says "Buddha, dharma, sangha"; the tiger reports this to the hermit, whose guardian he is; he returns S.'s vision and gives a boat with rice and goods for sale; S. meets L. and on the way back leaves him dazzled in front of the same cave; the tiger tickles him, but L. only grabs his tail; the tiger ate L., only the skull remains; when S. comes again, the skull offers him to take and bet; no one will believe that the skull says any bet can be won; S. bets, but the skull is silent and S. is left without a boat; furious he breaks the skull into small ones pieces; they turned into shells that are used as gambling chips]: Coyaud 2009, No. 31:187-193; Khmers [Asok Evil is jealous of Asok the Good for being loved by everyone; called cut him into the forest to cut bamboo, gouged his eyes out and threw him into the river; the crocodile brought him to the wizard; he restored Asok's Good eyesight, let the sand sprinkle on the mat at home, the sand turned golden, Asok the Good with his grandmother they built a new house; Asok the Evil told the Good to blind him in the forest and throw him into the river; the fish ate him, left his skull, which continued to cry out the name of the Buddha; the sethay (landowner) picked him up, placed him in the house, began to tell everyone; when the dignitaries came, the skull fell silent, the Sethay had to pay gold; the servant threw the skull into the water again; the rector of the church burned and cut the skull, mixed the ashes with the paint, and painted her temple and wagon; the wagon began to shout at people, the rector burned it down]: Gorgoniev 1973:26-34.
South Asia. Maldives [a young man named Ibrāhīmu was wandering through the forest looking for food; he came across a talking skull; he said there was a watermelon vine behind him, he could eat watermelons until he was full; but for this he must come every day and talk to him and not tell anyone about him; I. began to come every day to eat watermelons and talk to his skull; when asked who he was, the skull replied that he was a rich and prosperous man, but his mouth destroyed him; despite the ban, I. decided to tell the king about the skull: when he saw the curiosity, he would reward him; but when the king and his entourage appeared, the skulls were not found; for lying, the king ordered I. to be tied to a tree and left to die; whoever released him would be subjected to the same execution; when the people left, the skull reappeared and said that he himself was close to the king, promised him something and then lied, after which he was executed in the same place; the skull laughed and disappeared]: Romero-Frias 2012, No. 22:80-83.