M127C. Scared in vain. 12.17.27.-.31.33.

Seeing an object deliberately abandoned or accidentally thrown, or hearing a sound it makes, the character sees it as an indication of danger and reacts inadequately.

Manden, Kotoko, Palestinians, Iraqi Arabs, Greeks, Ukrainians (Chernigov, Yekaterinoslavskaya), Adygs, Armenians, Turkmens, Mountain Tajiks, Yagnobs, Sarykols, Uzbeks, Latvians, Kyrgyz.

West Africa. Manden (group not specified) [the hare offers the hyena to sell its mothers; leads his own to the bazaar on a rotten rope, quietly tells him to escape, run away, hide in the hollow; the hyena brings his own to with a strong rope, sells, buys a cow, they slaughtered it together; the hare sends a hyena for fire, carries the mother's meat, buries the cow's bones, buries his head so that the horns stick out; speaks to the returning woman hyena that the Earth ate a cow; the hyena pulls out the horns, pulls out the skull - the Earth has eaten; at night, the hare's mother eats meat, throws bones at the head of a sleeping hyena; he thinks that hail is coming; then understands, promises bring the ostrich; she sticks her head into the hollow to get meat, the hare throws a noose, two eggs fall out of the ostrich; the hyena: one for me, one for you; the hare lets the ostrich go, says it was the hyena that was going to kill her; the ostrich drives the hyena into the hole, leaves a feather at the entrance; the hare and its mother take the remaining meat and two eggs, go home; the hyena is afraid to go out: seeing the feather, she thinks that the ostrich is watching her; by an old woman goes, says that there is no ostrich; the hyena is hungry, she sees a lioness, she does not have milk to feed the lion cubs, says that the old woman knows the remedy; old woman: you have to cut off the hyena's buttocks, cook it in a pot on her head; the lioness does so, milk appears, the old woman is visiting the lioness, the crippled hyena runs away; the old woman meets her, the hyena cuts wood to burn the old woman, tells her to cut it herself; the old woman climbs on tree; screams that a lioness is coming for a new dose of medicine; the hyena runs away; this is repeated elsewhere; the third time an old woman kills a hyena with an ax]: Frobenius 1922b, No. 53:110-114; kotoko [lion left a canari hyena (?) at the entrance to the house ; the hyena is afraid to go out, thinks the lion is still guarding her; ate the kids and the wife is finally out, the canari crashed]: Ruelland, Caprile 1993:119-121.

Western Asia. Palestinians [the fox asks the eagle what the world looks like from above; does not believe that it is as small as the eagle says; the eagle offers to carry it through the air and, when the world is gone, drops it; the fox fell on the soft ground where the shepherd's sheepskin lay; ran away with sheepskin; told the leopard that he was making jackets; the leopard agreed to send six lambs; then the fox demanded three more; etc.; finally, the leopard rushed at the fox, grabbed the tail; the tail came off and the fox disappeared into the hole; the leopard left a hornet's nest at the entrance, the fox was afraid to go out for several days because it heard a noise; ate the children and his wife; when he came out, the tailless fox brought others to the vineyard, tied everyone by the tail so that the foxes would not make noise; called people; all the foxes cut off their tails, ran away]: Hanauer 2009:253-256; Iraqi Arabs [translated to Lebedev 1990, No. 2:26- 29; the fox invited the stork, poured the soup into a flat plate; promised to teach her how to run, sat it on her back, ran over the thorns; the stork grew feathers, he invited the fox to teach her how to fly, threw it off heights, she fell on the shepherd; he ran away, the fox put on his sheepskin coat; told the lion that she was sewing sheepskin coats; he asked her to sew, she demanded 300 sheep skins; dug a hole, hid the skins there, hid herself; the lion hung a jug at the exit, it was buzzing in the wind, the fox thought that the lion was guarding her; got out; offered the lion to feed him, led him to the mule; the lion said that his valley, the mule, was a record of his ownership of the valley in him on his hoof; the lion leaned down, the mule killed him, the fox ate the lion]: Weissbach 1908, No. 28:139-145.

The Balkans. The Greeks (Epirus) [the shepherd replies to Bezbuyorod that he cannot give him cheese, because the dragon eats everything; the beardless took cheese in his hand, put on iron shoes, poured coals on the floor; when the dragon came, squeezed water out of the cheese, saying that it was a stone, stepping on the coals, knocked the fire out of the ground; the dragon promised to leave the shepherd alone and make friends with Beardless; they began to hunt; the boar chased the Beardless on the tree, the boar plunged its fangs into the trunk and got stuck; the Beardless told the dragon to carry the caught pig; the dragon offered to fight, Beardless has an eye on his forehead; explains what he is looking, throw the dragon at east or west; he was frightened; invited him to his place; Beardless left a bag of straw on his bed, the dragon chopped it, in the morning Beardless says that the flea bit; said he could not be killed or to wound, promised to make the dragon the same; ordered him to climb into the barrel, closed it, cooked it; the dragon's mother fished out only the boiled cocks of her son; the grateful shepherd gave Beardless a sheep; on the way she was stolen by a fox, hid in a hole; Beardless left an empty pumpkin in front of the entrance, which was buzzing in the wind; on the fourth day, the fox could no longer stand the thirst, went out, saw that it was just a pumpkin, tied it to its tail and went sink into the sea; fell and drowned]: Hahn 1864 (1), No. 18:104-109.

Central Europe. Northern Ukrainians: Rudchenko 1869, No. 8 (Chernigov, Kozeletsky district) [the man was plowing in the field; a bear came and said he would eat the ox; the man persuaded him not to eat the ox until it passed the furrow; the bear lay down on the cart; the fox ran up and asked what was on the cart; the bear asked the man to say it was a deck; the man did so; the fox said that an ax would have been stuck in then; the bear told me to stick an ax; the man hacked it; the fox asked what the man would give her; he called her with him; said he would give chickens; the fox ordered them all to be brought to her; the man put three chickens and a dog in the bag; the fox said to release the chickens one at a time, caught them all; the man released the dog, it chased fox; the fox ran into the hole; the dog stood above the entrance; the fox asked her eyes what they were doing when she ran away; they said they watched how closer to the hole so that the dog would not catch up; the fox said that she would buy them glasses; asked her legs what they were doing; they replied that they jumped and did not stumble to prevent the dog from catching up; the fox said she would buy them shoes; then asked the tail; he replied that he was dangling and clung to the bush and then to the stump so that the dog could catch up with it; the fox stuck out its tail and told the dog to bite it off; he barely escaped in the toga; a man came, decided to dig it out; went home for the spade; left it at the hole an empty jug directed against the wind; the wind was buzzing, the fox thought it was barking; looked out and saw a jug; said: "Dak se ti mene? I'll give you!" ; tied him with a rope to his neck, carried him to drown; the jug began to gurgle; the fox told him not to ask - it would not help; the jug filled with water, began to pull it; the fox: "Tyu is stupid! I'm crazy, but woon is already good!" ; went on, saw the balalaika, started playing, saying: "Beautiful voice, damn thought!"] : 17-18; Eastern Ukrainians (Yekaterinoslavskaya) [the man dropped a pumpkin, the wind was buzzing in it, the fox was angry that it frightened her, threw it around her neck, went to drown it, she almost dragged it into the water; on the road violin and trap; fox goes around the violin, sits on a trap, gets caught]: Pankeev 1992:13.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Adygi [the old woman took a jug of milk into the field; The fox hears the wind buzzing in it, frightened; then comes up, puts her head in the jug, drinks milk, but cannot take off the jug; persuades him get down, then, angry, decides to drown; the jug is filled with water, the Fox sinks]: Kapiyeva 1991:76-77; Armenians [wolves ask the fox to sew their fur coats; he demanded a hundred skins, ate them slowly with foxes; in the spring, the wolves were tired of waiting, grabbed the fox; he said that his fur coats were in a hole; he ate his own foxes out of hunger; when the thirst became unbearable, he went out; it turned out that the wolves hung at the hole a pumpkin that was hitting rocks in the wind, and the fox thought it was wolves gnashing their teeth; the fox tied the pumpkin to its tail, stood above the water, the pumpkin filled with water, dragged the fox; he begged the wolves for him pull it out, the wolves told him to drown]: Nazinyan 2014:153-154.

Iran - Central Asia. Turkmens [The fox sees the caravan, hides in a hole; three days later, the caravans left, throwing a broken jug into the hole; the wind is blowing in it, Lisa is afraid to go out; when she went out and saw that it was broken a jug, promised to punish him; found meat in a trap, offered Wolf, he got caught, the Fox ate the meat; decided to punish the jug by drowning it; tied it to the tail, the jug pulled it to the bottom, she jerked, the tail came off; to meet Wolf with a crippled leg; Lisa said she wasn't the one who lured him into the trap - she had no tail]: Fur Fair 1980:60-63; Yagnobtsy [the fox threw a fur coat on the wolf's head, his head gets into the sleeve, the wolf runs, the fox catches up, says he can sew, the wolf asks him to sew a fur coat; the fox asks for 20 rams, eats it, throws his skins into the river, then asks for 10 lambs, also eats, runs away; hides in a hut, the wolf hangs a leaky vessel above the entrance, says he is urinating; the fox believes that only after 3 days he comes out hungry; ties the jug to its tail, lowers it into the river, the river has carried it, the tail has come off; Four foxes hit her, she pretends to be dead; she gets up, offers to beat the one whose tail breaks off, and she herself will tie the chapar to her leg; puts stones on the chapar to others, goes to the mountain to see, screams what is coming hunter, foxes run away with their tails cut off; the fox pretends to be dead, two apricot sellers pick it up, she points her finger in the back, he thinks at the companion, they fight, the fox steals donkeys with apricots; offers the wolf goes to eat a fat tail, supposedly there is no owner; when the wolf is full, leaves the house, shouts that the owner is coming, people beat the wolf half to death; the same with the vineyard; with fried cakes; the fox leads the wolf to a well dug for her, brushwood and a fat tail on top; the wolf fails and dies]: Andreev, Peschereva 1957, No. 39:181-184; mountain Tajiks [the fox asks the quail to feed her, she takes her to the vineyard; asks to make them cry; the quail brought the dogs; the fox hid in the hole; someone tied a pumpkin in front of the hole; the pumpkin rattled in the wind, the fox thought it was dogs; finally got out; tied the pumpkin to tail, carried to drown; the pumpkin was filled with water, the fox barely got out; two deckhans thought the fox was dead, put it on the bunch of thorns it was carrying; the fox was scratching, the dekhanin thought it was thorns; thought the fur will be a collar and hat for the wife, but the fox ran away; asks the quail to make fun of her; she distracted the attention of the woman who was carrying milk, the fox drank milk; the husband scolded his wife in the field, the fox laughed; the quail flew into the woman's house, sat on the edge of the cauldron; the wife told her husband that because of her she did not bring milk; she threw a ladle into the quail, he got into the cauldron, the cauldron cracked; the fox saw everything through the hole in roof]: Rosenfeld, Rychkova 1990, No. 35:136-137; Sarykoltsy [The fox steals pears from three Armytik pears; he smears it with glue; the fox promises to get him the royal daughter; tells him to sell pear trees, buy 400 hats; when she brings the king, throw them into the river; the tsar believes that Prince A.'s warriors have drowned, but he himself is intact and his father will not attack our kingdom; explains to the king that A. is surprised at the new clothes, food, because his groom wore one, the rice was oily; the fox runs forward, tells him to say that the herds, tabyna, are not witches in the iron fortress, but King A.; the witch has poker legs, broom hair; the fox says that An army moves at her, advises her to hide under a pile of firewood, burns her; A. and his wife live in the castle; Lisa pretends to be dead; A. says that there is a way; Lisa forgives A., leaves, pretends to be her the lamb is gone, gets the old woman's daughter for it; carries her in a sack, goes down to the well for a drink; the young man catches up, replaces the girl with a dog, the Fox hides from her in a hole; the young man leaves the pumpkin vessel to buzz in the wind, like a dog is still howling; finally, the Fox finds it out, ties the pumpkins to its tail to collect water; the tail comes off; the other foxes ask the little one to shake the mulberries; she climbs the tree with the condition what would tie the tails of the others; ate berries, shouted that the dog was approaching, the other foxes ran away, cutting off their tails]: Grunberg, Steblin-Kamensky 1976, No. 64:471-480 (=Pakhalina 1966:95-101); Uzbeks [someone hangs a calebasa in front of a deer's den; he hears a knock, is afraid to go out; when he goes out, sees a calebass, ties it to its tail, lowers it into the water, the calebass has suffered, the deer's tail has come off; other deer they promise to take revenge; the tailless one offers to grind the grain on the threshing floor and carry it away; you must contact with your tails - if a hunter comes, it is easy to untie it; when they see a man, the deer flee, cutting off their tails, now they all deer are short]: Sheverdin1972 (1): 51-53.

Baltoscandia. Latvians [The fox was creeping up on the geese, suddenly she heard a whistle, it was the wind whistling in an empty jug; she put her face in her handle, went to drown the jug; it was filled with water, pulled the fox to the bottom]: Alksnite et al. 1958:54.

Turkestan. Kyrgyz [The fox found an expensive robe; promises the Wolf to sew one if he brings her rams; the fox ate them, disappeared into the hole, the Wolf managed to tear off her tail; the Fox invited others into her hole fox; said that the Wolf was waiting at the hole, we must tie each other by the tails, go out together; while the Wolf chooses the best one, you can run away; when you see the Wolf, the foxes rushed, all cut off their tails; the Wolf continued to watch the Fox; hung the neck of a broken jug by the hole; the wind howls, the Fox thinks that the Wolf is still sitting; when she went out, she put her head in her neck, went to the river to drown him; poked into the water, her neck dragged to the bottom, she drowned]: Brudny, Eshmambetov 1981:279-280.