M136. Unknown sickle, ATU 1202. .15.16.27.-.32.

Some people don't know what to do with cutting guns; they try to use instead tools that are not suitable for this purpose.

Portuguese, Aragon, Catalans, Italians (Calabria), Ladins, French (Upper Brittany), Walloons, Bretons, Germans (Pomerania, Grimm), Bulgarians, Hungarians, Romanians, Russians ( Moscow, Gorkovskaya, Ryazan, Kursk, Tambov, Smolensk), Belarusians, Ukrainians (Galicia, Poltava), Czechs, Slovaks, Crimean Tatars, Ossetians, Armenians, Kho, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Karelians, Finns , Swedes, Western (?) Sami, Komi, Udmurts, Chuvash people.

Southern Europe. Portuguese: Cardigos 2006, No. 1202+1203A [people cut cereals with unsuitable tools; when they first saw a sickle, one cut himself; the sickle is mistaken for a dangerous animal, they burn it spiking field to kill him], 1650 [three brothers inherit a cat, a sickle {scythe - possibly a braid} and a rooster, each selling the inherited for a lot of money]: 266-267, 339; Catalans [fools cut off ears, firing arrows at them; a man brings the first sickle, teaches them how to work with it; they buy a sickle for fabulous money; when they grab a sickle, they cut themselves, throw it away, thinking it was a dangerous creature]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 2002+2003A: 217; Aragon [three brothers inherit from their father a cat, braid and pants; each of the inherited properties sold for a lot of money]: González Sanz 1996, No. 1650:127; Italians (Calabria): Cirese, Serafini 1975, No. 1203A: 273; Ladins: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1203+1203A: 74

Western Europe. The Wallons [the miller left a cat, a rooster and a sickle to his sons; Jean took a rooster, Jacques a sickle, the elder Pierre a cat; P. came to the royal castle, where they were exhausted by the mice, he released the cat Mina; he caught mice, P. married a princess, stayed in the palace; Jean came to the kingdom, where a chariot was sent east before sunrise to restore the sun, otherwise the day would not return; the chariot returned only at 9 am, and only then did it dawn; the next night Jean released the rooster, he sang at 3 am, it was dawn; Jean gets a princess for the rooster, stays in the palace; Jacques came to the country where he reaped with sticks, almost the entire harvest was lost; Jacques also gets a princess for the sickle]: Carnoy 1883:283-291 (translated to Lopyrev 1959, No. 7:10-14); French (Upper Brittany): Sébillot 1894, No. 34 [three brothers inherited a rooster, a cat and a sickle; the one who received the rooster sold it for a lot of money to people looking for a day; a cat to suffering from mice; a sickle to those who stung, shooting at ears with a gun]: 278-279; Soupault 1959, No. 45 [mother tells a stupid daughter named Hanne to cook soup for the groom's arrival, put lard and so on in the cauldron, and then simmer the cabbage; H. puts a dog called Other in the cauldron; mother explains a mistake, tells me to keep the broth on fire so that it thickens ("contacts"); the daughter puts hemp fibers in the cauldron for the ligament; after the groom arrives, the mother sends H. to the cellar for apple wine; she opens the tap in put up a mug in the barrel and begins to think: when she starts giving birth to children, what should they be called, because all the names have already been sorted out; the wine continues to pour; the mother, then the father, go down to the cellar, and begin to think together with his daughter; when he sees what is going on, the groom promises to return if he finds three of the same fools; the reapers cut off a spikelet, take him home, then run back to the field; the young man gave them a sickle; one took him for blade, cut himself, thought that this animal was biting, he began to beat him; the woman carries sunlight in the wheelbarrow to warm the baby's house, but the light disappears in the shade; the young man advises taking the child in the wheelbarrow to sunshine; in the castle, the servants do not know what to do with the crap left by the wolf, the owner suffers from the smell; the young man teaches to throw away the crap; returns to the bride and marries her; everything is fine]: 299-302; Bretons [people in Geda used to not know braids, removed hay with tailor's scissors; Devil had a braid; St. Michael put an iron harrow on his bow, the braid broke; Damn carried it to the blacksmith to repair it; St. Michael asked him to make him the same instrument; taught people; Devil summoned St. Mikhail to fight in the oven, but he grabbed a short-handed hammer and beat him; Damn ran]: Lopyreva 1959, No. 62:293-295; Germans: Grimm, Grimm 2002, No. 70 [=Grimm, Grimm 1987:210-212; dying, the father gave the eldest son a rooster, the middle son a braid, the youngest a cat; the eldest went to an island where they did not know how to keep track of time; the residents gave as much gold for the rooster as the donkey could carry; the middle came to people who cut off ears by firing cannons with cannons; got as much gold for the braid as the horse could take away; the youngest went to an island where people were tortured by mice, received two mules for a cat, loaded with gold; after killing the mice, the cat wanted to drink and began to meow; the king and subjects were frightened, decided to expel the monster; the cat did not leave, but continued to meow; cannons opened fire on the castle; the cat ran away and the castle was destroyed]: 251-252; Sumtsov 2015 [in Germany, the joke about the sickle is timed to the inhabitants of many areas who seemed to mistake it for an animal that devours life, did not know how to start him, beat him with a stick, and like a sickle, bouncing off a stick, hit the man's neck and caused his death]: 39; Uther 2004 (2), No. 1203A (Pomerania): 74.

The Balkans. Bulgarians [fools mistake the sickle for a snake that eats bread; for the edge of the line; hit it; the sickle bounced and hung around the neck of one of the audience; they pulled it, cutting off their friend's head]: Daskalova- Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 1203A: 396; Hungarians, Romanians: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1203+1203A: 74.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Poltava) [The Lord and Peter walk on the ground; the ear at that time was from the ground; they are surprised that people do not know how to reap, they prick ears with awls; the Lord tells Peter to put on the cart sickle; they do not dare to take it; one strong, Timokha, took it, but accidentally cut his neck; the Lord teaches how to reap]: Strizhevsky 1905:163-164; Russians (Kursk) [Lutonya travels and sees that they are naked and barefoot people do not know how to sow and reap bread ("they eat bread by straw"), bring a sickle and a braid, work at night, stick a sickle into a sheaf of hay. In the morning, people think that the worm is eating bread, they want to drown it. Lutonia feels sorry for people, it remains to "teach mind and reason"]: Aristov, Pavlov 1939:67-68; Russians (Kursk, Ryazan, Tambov, Smolensk), Ukrainians (Galicia, Poltava), Belarusians [ During the harvest, they take the sickle for a worm and drown it]: SUS 1979, No. 1202:273; Russians (Moscow) [well done to the girl's passer-by: if you give birth to a son Luton, he will suddenly drown; the girl is crying, followed by her mother ; the girl's brother went to look for big fools; 12 men are fighting - who should lie on the edge; the guy put everyone with his heads to the bump; men and women are reaping their teeth; the guy forged a sickle in the forge, clenched two sheaves and stuck sickle in a sheaf; men: Uh, the worm got up; they began to drag the sickle into the river with a rope, drowned two; the guy bows to the lordly pig: Your mother's Chutsky pig is my own sister, please come to my feast; the lady gave the pig and ordered the best horse to be harnessed; the master chased the deceiver; he promises to catch up with the thief if the master lends him a horse and a whip; beat his master, brought home two horses, a cart, a pig; I stayed with my sister and mother, because I found people more stupid than them]: Vedernikova, Samodelova 1998, No. 85:217-218; Russians (Gorkovskaya) []: Eremina et al. 1979, No. 2:158-161; Czechs [older brother Martin inherited a braid from his father, the middle Matthes a rooster, the younger Michael a cat; Martin left home, came to a country where people tear the grass with their hands; ordered him to leave him alone in the meadow, bring food for two; mowing meadow, sold the king a braid for a lot of money; he believed that the scythe was mowing by itself; the following year the braid was left in the meadow, but she did not eat or mow; the king ordered her to be beaten; at every blow she jumped, the onlookers cut off their nose; they buried it, they still began to tear the grass with their hands; Matthes went to seek use for a rooster in a country where such a bird had not been seen; said that it caused a day; they used to go there accompany the day to the mountain, and in the morning they met; in the evening the rooster fell asleep, the day ended on its own; in the morning he began to crow, the sun rose again; the king paid generously for the rooster; now Michael went selling a cat; in a country where cats were not seen, but where there are many mice, he received a lot of money for the cat; when the mice were gone, they sent a messenger to ask what to feed the cat; Michael did not understand what the messenger said and asked again in German, Was? the messenger thought it was Czech, that who should eat "you"; the cat was locked up, the sentries trembled with fear; one opened the window slightly to look, the cat jumped out and ran away; people locked themselves in houses, but a detachment of warriors I never found the cat]: Němcová 1990:305-313; Poles [peasants reap cereals (rarely: they mow grass) by shooting at them; when they accidentally get a sickle, one of them is maimed; as punishment, a sickle they heat or burn together with the grain field]: Krzyżanowski 1963, No. 1202:26; Slovaks: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1203+1203A: 74.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars [Akhmet-Akhai Ozenbashsky earned a wheat bag and a broken sickle; he sowed wheat, squeezed it, folded a sheaf, stuck a sickle on top; thief Tokon's gang came to steal, mistook the sickle for sitting bird; grabbed on a dogwood stick, one hit a sickle, he hit Tokon around his neck, he pulled, cut off his head; thieves ran away; Ahmet-Ahai's people: a wild animal with an iron beak killed your wheat human; AA: he is dangerous only to dashing people; he took his sickle]: Mirer 1940:132-133; Ossetians [Syrdon advises sledges not to pray to God, but to test his strength; let him come himself - enough for this forget his name and rearrange the doors so that you don't have to bend down when you enter; God sent a swallow to find out what the sledges were dissatisfied with; they said they wanted to measure their strength; God asked if they should at least leave bad offspring or not to leave at all; Uryzmag said that it is better to have no offspring at all than with bad ones; God sent Uastyrji, who ordered that the one-day work of sledges give them no more than a bag of grain; but sledges began to threshing only 7 sheaves per day; then God ordered the grain in the fields to be ripe only at night and green during the day; when the sledges approached the field, it turned green; then they became shoot forked arrows at night, cutting off ears that were still mature; then they decided that it was better to die with glory; everyone dug their own grave and rushed into it]: Libedinsky 1978: 489-492 (in less detail in 1949:292-294); Armenians [the man saw people breaking trees with their hands; showed how to chop wood; people asked for an ax; the elder began to chop wood and hit the leg; people began to beat the axe, then put firewood on it, set it on fire; when they dug it, the axe turned out to be fiery red; they decided to put him in prison, threw him into the ram; there was straw, the sheep burned down; people began to pray to the man pick up the ax]: Tumanyan 1984:87-88

Iran - Central Asia. Kho [when they saw a pocket knife, did the fools think it was a baby of a sword, an ax, and the teeth had not yet erupted? argued, fought, many were injured and killed]: Leitner 1893b:12.

Baltoscandia. Estonians (Saarema) [two people from Hiyum found a knife and don't understand what kind of tool it is; one says it's a knife, the other says it's a pipe; one grabs the blade and tells the other to pull (tõmba pä ästikut), and he himself will blow; it ended badly]: Ränk 2010:105; Lithuanians: Kerbelite 2001:51 [people cut rye with knives, threw sheaves into piles; God taught them to mow rye with braids, put sheaves in the headstock, put a dump on the plow, get fire by friction], 89 [people did not know how to remove rye; God put a sickle on the sheaf, people began to beat it]; Swedes [mostly in western Sweden; the traveler left the sickle; local people mistake the sickle for an unknown animal that eats grass and bites; they call it a crooked clipper (Krummbiβ) and promise a reward to whoever will relieve this scourge; Sickle naming using the words "bite" and "curve" was common in Germany]: Liungman 1961, No. 1203:277; Finns, {Western?} Sami: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1203+1203A: 74; Latvians [Bread reap awl. They find a sickle and drown it]: Arys, Medne 1977, No. 1202:345; Karelians (southern Karelia) [people in Kindasovo send Vanka to Yarn to find out what they are doing there to make them do so; in Yarn, a man ripped off a horse the skin, the Kindas slaughtered all the horses; when to sow, they harvest firewood; one had rye, they pulled it out; a passerby showed how to work with a sickle, left a sickle; the woman cut her hand, decided that the sickle is a killer, we went in a boat to drown, tied a stone to the sickle, threw a stone into the water, the sickle caught on the boat, the boat turned over; then they began to cut the birch tree; to fall, they climbed onto it, she leaned to the river, fell, everyone drowned; only one left]: Konkka, Tupitsyna 1967, No. 57:382-384.

Volga - Perm. Komi: Limerov 2005, No. 33 [wild Chuchkars lived on Cherdyn land before Perm; they were born in the ground, lived in the ground for a long time with moles; prayed to a demon named Kul], 34 [formerly a small one lived Chudsky people; they had grain with their joints, ears of ears diverged from each joint; they reaped like this: they would pierce the lower joint with an awl, tie the sheaf with a rope, drag it along the ground; instead of bags, there were stockings], 36 [chud lived in small houses that looked like stoves in baths; they would make an ice-hole, oatmeal interferes with it; when a lot of people came, the chud hid in the baths, threw stones and smut from the stove], 36 [ chud were such savages that they mowed hay with chisels], 37 [chud like gypsies, they go, lie down for the night, the gullies turned at night - they go back; they pushed oatmeal into the ice-hole; they drink, sleep, slurp again; ax they did not have it, they cut it; in the summer they ate grass, but in winter I don't know what], 38 [the Chudsky were a sensible people, and miracles were small people; they lived in the forest, planted bread in the wastelands, reaped with awls], 44 [small people lived as tall as a child; they plowed a plough the size of a spoon, the horse was as tall as a sheep; their land was good, the ear started from the roots; one stung barley, tired, began to swear, let Chomor reap; C. asks which barley is needed - with a finger long; C. cut everything off, only left an ear at the tip], 43 [the small Chudlyans did not sow, the rye grew by itself; the ear was from the bottom to the top, reaped with an awl; Yong threw a sickle on the ground; one he put his head under him, pulled the other, cut off his head; the chudlyans rushed to run, some became water kul, others became forest kul, others huddled under decks, became lizards], 44 [chudi saw a sickle, stuck in the ground hump up; one climbed to look, the sickle fell, cut off the weird's head; evil spirits, various reptiles, the man was the last to come out], 45 [chud did not know how to reap bread, they tore it; one brought it the sickle, others got scared, decided to drown the sickle in the river, the sickle caught on the edge of the boat, turned it over, drowned it], 46 [miracles tore the bread with their hands, someone brought them a sickle, they threw it into the water, the sickle caught for the boat, drowned it], 47 [12 miracles hid from the rain under the mushroom hat; they did not sow rye, grew by itself, reaped with an awl, threshed with a rolling pin and spindle, instead of bags there were bags (stockings); they will collect rye in a bag , they will lift it to the bed, the mouse will run, drop it, help the miracles gather to lift back; they found the sickle, were frightened, dragged to drown, swam in the lapta, the sickle caught on the bast, everyone drowned], 49 [the chud lived underground in log cabins, ate meat and fish; when they began to convert them to Christianity, they began to destroy themselves, bury themselves alive; they slept in a bathhouse, in ovines; they had a loom without a rear navoi - bushings were driven into the wall, ran from corner to corner]: 40-41, 41, 41, 42, 44, 46, 46, 47, 48, 49; Udmurts: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1203+1203A:74; Marie [two women went to reap; clenched their tithes, left the sickle and went to have lunch; people gathered: this worm ate the tithing of bread; decided to drown it; tied it to a rope and a stone at the other end; 10 people got into the boat, threw a stone into the water; the sickle caught on the side, the boat turned over and everyone drowned; those standing on the shore thought that the sickle had drowned them; one man threw it and the sickle stabbed 12 people; decided to burn it - the village burned down; the sickle was tied again to a heavy stone, The stone was thrown into the water, the sickle caught on the people, stabbed them; they decided to tie it to the top of the spruce; those who tied it jumped with loops around their necks and suffocated; one man came and said that it was not a worm, but a sickle, they should reap]: Lewy 1989, No. 8:14-16; Chuvash: Sidorova 1979 [Chuvash removed bread by pulling it out of the ground; they saw something by the road, the rye was cut off around; they thought that some animal had cut rye; one tied a rope to his handle, brought it to the village, said it was a rye worm; a man from Kazan explained that it was a sickle]: 13; Yukhma 1996 [{the source is questionable, Yukhma has mostly falsifications}; people they cleaned the bread with their hands; Tangar gave Surla a sickle, who quickly removed the bread, left the sickle in the field; people thought it was a snake, hit it with a pole, the sickle fell on one of the people's head, injured him, people ran away; they came back, ran a finger over the teeth, cut themselves]: 99.