M136C. A fool takes death prediction seriously, ATU 1313A. .14.-.17.21.23.27.-.32.
Afool takes a passerby for a visionary and asks when he will die. He jokingly replies that this will happen after he coughs, makes an indecent sound, etc. The event happened and the fool believes he is dead.
Berbers of Morocco, Arabs of Tunisia, Egypt, Basques, Spaniards, Aragon, Portuguese, Italians (Tuscany, Basilicata, Calabria), Sardinians, Ladins, Irish, French (Upper Brittany and, probably, etc.), Walloons, Bretons, Friesians, Flemish, Germans (Pomerania, Austria), Palestinians, Arabs of Syria, Yemen, Tibetans, Lepcha, Ancient India, Punjabians, Kumaoni, Bengalis, Sinhales, Bulgarians, Slovenes, Croats, Hungarians, Romanians, Greeks, Poles, Russians (Olonets, Vologda, Voronezh, Kursk, Orel), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Transcarpathia, Galicia, Stavropol Turkmens, Dargins, Turks, Pashtuns, Norwegians, Finns, Karelians, Livons, Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Maris, Udmurts, Chuvash people.
Uther 2004 (2) refers to Ting 1978 in connection with the 2014 and 1313A stories. In one case it is a Nanai text (we should check Nagishkin 1975), in the other it is probably a Uighur text. In both cases, it is impossible to determine the specific content of the linked texts.
North Africa. The Arabs of Tunisia [Juha tells a king named Yahya that Yahya is stupid; he is furious; D. asks for a hundred piastres and 9 days to prove it (this is not about the king, but about any person named Yahya); D. bought a camel, asked at the bazaar if there was a man named Y., came up and said that Archangel Gabriel was sending him a camel; he was happy; a week later D. came disguised as an angel of death and said that Mikhail and Gabriel will come to his house in the evening for his soul; J. is indignant; D.: as a camel as a gift, so thank you, but as an hour of death, for some reason I am dissatisfied; at home, I said goodbye to my neighbors and relatives and lay down; D. came, the archangels are the king and vizier in disguise; D. covers Y. with a shroud and Y. is sure he died; in the morning Y.'s son brought the mourners and brought a stretcher, Y. carried him to the cemetery; D. agreed with the woman that she would come out and shout that I had deceived her in trade affairs; when I heard this, I raised his head and objected decisively; the king and vizier are happy, the king tells D. to ask him, what he wants]: Stumme 1893, No. 14:126-130; Moroccan Berbers (Laoust, No. 69:77-79), Egyptian Arabs: El-Shamy 2004, No. 1313A, 1313C: 732.
Southern Europe. The Basques [the mother sent her son to bring a load of firewood on a donkey from the forest; he climbed a tree and sawed the branch on which he was sitting; a person passing by warned that he would fall; when he fell, the young man rushed catch up with a passerby thinking that he is God and knows when he will die; man: when your donkey farts four times; after the third time, the young man rushed to the ground and waited for death, and the donkey came home himself; mother sent two men to look for her son; they found him and carried him on a stretcher; at the fork they doubted which road to take; the young man raised his head: if I were alive, I would follow this one; people threw him on the ground and told me to go by yourself]: Vinson 1883, No. 1:93-94; the Spaniards [(continuation of ATU 1240: despite the warning, the man continues to saw the branch on which he sits); when he falls, he takes the passerby for God also asks when he will die; he replies that when his mule stumbles or farts three times; when this happens, a person lies down on the ground and thinks he is dead; he is carried home; at the crossroads the deceased indicates which road to take (he walked it when he was alive)]: Hernández Fernández 2013, No. 1240:184; Portuguese [man saws the branch he is sitting on; passer-by warns that he will fall; when he falls, a fool takes a passerby for a visionary and asks him to say when he will die; passer-by: when a donkey howls three times; after this happens, the fool lies down and thinks that he is dead; people who carried the body begin to argue which way to go; imaginary dead: when I was alive, I walked this road; var.: man plugs a donkey's ass; plug (stone or stick) flies out and kills a fool]: Cardigos 2006, No. 1240, 1313A: 268, 274-275; Aragon [a man sat on a donkey in such a way that he can easily fall (or another); another warned him about it; falling, the first takes the second for a fortuneteller or for God himself and asks you to say when he will die; "When your donkey fairs three times"; the man plugs the donkey's ass; the plug flew out and killed the person; or he lies down and considers himself dead; he is carried and they don't know which road to take; imaginary dead: when I was alive, I walked this road, but now I don't know]: González Sanz 1996, No. 1313A: 114; Italians (Tuscany, Basilicata, Calabria), Sardinians: Cirese, Serafini 1975, No. 1313A: 286-287; Ladins: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1313A: 117
Western Europe. Wallons [Jean-Loup sees a man sawing the branch he is sitting on; warns him, but the man continues to saw and falls; asks when he will die; JL: when your donkey farts three times; fool he plugs the donkey's ass, and when the plug jumps up three times, lies down at the side of the road and thinks he's dead; he is carried home on a stretcher; it rains, the water spilled; the imaginary deceased says that when he was alive, he was walking here there; people are horrified that the dead man came to life and threw him into the river]: Laport 1932, No. 1240:95-96; the Bretons [the man carried manure on a donkey into the field; he answered rudedly to the old woman; she said that today he is a leg he will break; on the field, the donkey kicked him and the man lay for a long time with his broken leg; when he met the same old woman again, asked her when he would die; old woman: when did your donkey fart for the third time; after the second once the man began to plug the donkey's ass with a piece of wood, but he feather for the third time, the plug hit the owner's forehead and he fell on his back; he was carried to the cemetery; at the fork they began to think about how to carry it; man : When I was alive, I went like this; people left him and he walked home]: Sébillot 1910, No. 26:142-144; the French (Haute-Brittany) [someone tells a man for fun that he will die after his donkey is feathered three times; he tries to shut the donkey's ass, but the inevitable has come to pass; the man lies down on the ground and replies that he is dead; the giant brought him bumblebees and he puts seven on a needle; tells the king that he killed seven with one blow; the king orders Gaboulle to be killed (like a horse with two horns); the man hides behind a tree, the beast is stuck in horns in the trunk and the man has killed him; the king orders to kill Seven cats in a cave; they scratched a man to death]: Sébillot 1894, No. 45:338; the French (Haute-Brittany) [a man climbs a tree and cuts the branch on which he is sitting; passer-by: you will fall; falling, the man mistook the passerby for a fortuneteller and asked when he would die; passer-by: after your donkey had faked three times; when this happened, the man lay down on the ground; the carpenter came to make the coffin, but felt that the deceased was warm; but the man began to prove that he was dead; then he came home; met that passerby again and asked when he would die again; - As soon as your donkey feather at least once; the man squeezed his donkey's ass with a barrel hoop; on the third day, the donkey feather so much that the hoop flew off and killed the man]: Sébillot 1894, No. 46:338-339; French, Irish, Flemish, Germans (Pomerania, Austria): Uther 2004 (2), No. 1313A: 116-117
Western Asia. Palestinians (Schmidt, Kahle 1918, No. 29:66-69), Syrian Arabs: El-Shamy 2004, No. 1313A: 732; Yemen: El-Shamy 2004, No. 1313C: 732.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Tibetans [a foolish young Muslim was sitting in a meadow sniffing yellow flowers; a passer-by: your soles turned yellow, which means that you are about to die; a Muslim dug his own grave and lay down in it; A man was passing by, carrying a jug of butter for the king; when he learned his story from a Muslim, told him to stand up better and help carry oil, for which he promised chicken; on the way, the boy began to wonder how the chicken will lay eggs, he will raise new chickens, etc., eventually get a house and marry; slipped and broke a jar of butter; the man dragged him to the king; smiling told the guy, the king laughed and gave a bar of gold for him; when the young man came to the house, he saw a dog carrying a purse with money in its mouth; his mother, fearing that the money would be taken away from them, put sugar on the roof and told her son that it was from heaven sugar was falling; while the son was collecting sugar, the mother took the dog's money; they agreed to marry; the young man promised to come to the bride's house in the evening; rides a horse and sees a shadow, takes it for a stalking spirit, consistently throws up all his garments, jumps off his horse, hides in the shade of the poplar, where the shadow disappears; climbed onto the poplar, fell asleep; the travelers picked everything up, sat down under the poplar to divide; the young man screams from the tree: and me; they ran away, the young man went down, got dressed and sat on his horse; during the wedding ceremony, the young man put the best pieces for his mother in a jug; put it deep in his hand, she got stuck; I had to say that he does not want to eat anymore; wife: knock a jug on a white stone on the street; it turned out that he hit his father-in-law on the head; thinking that he had killed a man, the young man ran away; in some yard he lay down first on honeycombs, and then on wool; in the morning he decided that he had been turned into a sheep as punishment for murder; joined the flock; at night, the thieves came to steal the sheep, found the biggest young man; on the river bank they wanted to slaughter a sheep, the young man shouted that it was not necessary; the thieves ran away, the young man returned to his wife; after a few years he went to work; the owner said that the lamp would be held at night not by the servant, but by the cat; if this does not happen, the guest he will take all his property, and if so, he will give everything to the owner; so this man regularly robbed travelers; after losing, the young man remained a servant in the house; the wife dressed up as a man, went in search; agreed with her husband that he would release the mice; the third time the cat rushed after the mouse, dropped the lamp; the husband and wife received wealth, returned home]: O'Connor 1906, No. 6:30-42 (retelling in Parfionovich 1976:110- 121, the name of the hero Lodup); Tibetans [a man saws the branch on which he is sitting; a passerby warns that he will fall; a person has fallen; convinced of the mind of a passerby, asks what the signs of death are; passer-by: when the buttock is cold, you will die; one day a man was fishing, his ass froze; he returned home and announced that he was dying; and he died]: Komissarov 1997:182; lepcha [passer-by speaks to the sitting on the tree to the lumberjack that he will fall with the tree; this is what happened; the lumberjack mistakes a passerby for a magician and asks you to tell me when he will die; passerby: when your ass becomes cold; feeling your ass , decides that he is cold, digs a hole at the crossroads and lies into it; passers-by ask about the road; the fool replies that he used to know it, but now he cannot say because he died; he was mistaken for a revived dead and stoned]: Stocks 1925, No. 27:457-458.
South Asia. Ancient India (Panchatantra): Thompson, Roberts 1960, No. 1313A: 137 (references to the Indian writing tradition in Parker 1914a: 74-75); Punjabi [a village weaver went for firewood, became cut the branch he sat on; a passer-by noticed that he would fall; when he fell, the weaver ran after the passer-by, thinking he was God - let him say when he died; passer-by: when your mouth bleeds ); the weaver made a red cloth, often taking a thread in his mouth; saw red between his teeth in the mirror, lay down on his bed and prepared to die; the buyer showed him a thread, the weaver was happy and came to life]: Swynnerton 1884:156-157 (similar version in King 1925:262ff); Kumaoni [the man remembered that the dead were getting colder; went to dig up an edible root in the winter; feeling that his hands and feet were cold, threw the basket and returned home to die; relatives left the body where one river flows into another; two travelers came up and began to argue which road was best to take; deceased: when I was alive, I walked over there, but now I'm dead; travelers mistook man for an evil spirit and stoned him]: Upreti 1894, No. 22:76; Bengalis: Bradley-Birt 1920, No. 2 [weavers are held for fools; weaver Padmalochan asks the palmist who came up when he would die; knowing P.'s stinginess, he replied that as soon as a thread stuck to his ass; the thread stuck and the weaver lay down, believing that he was dead; carrying the body to the place of burning, neighbors argued which way to take; P.: I would tell you, but Yama tied my tongue; those present mistook the deceased for a given (evil spirit) and ran away; P. himself believed that he was now given, but still climbed from the jackals to the tree where he fell asleep; his leg hung; the robbers who came to divide the money pulled it, P. fell, the robbers asked who he was; speaking through his nose, as expected, P. told his story; the robbers realized that they were a fool in front of them, invited them to join them; they made a hole in the house and let P. inside, telling him to take the most valuable thing; he thought that the most valuable thing was a heavy stone and dragged him; then began to beat the drum; the robbers ran away; the inhabitants of the house offered to take the strange man home; P. was afraid to return so that, when given, he would not harm the family, and stayed drummer]: 6-10; Stokes 1879, No. 7 [Sachúli is a fool, a widow's son; asks a mother how to make women laugh; mother: throw a pebble at them; S. began to throw stones at three girls at a well; two left, a third he killed on the spot; when he saw her grinned mouth, he thought she was laughing; called her mother; she recognized the daughter of a rich man; took her jewelry, threw her corpse into the well; the father promises a reward to whoever would return her daughter; S.: my mother pushed her into the well; her mother managed to pull out the corpse, threw a sheep into the well; S. went down to the well, asked if the girl had eyes; mouth; long face; tail; four legs; pulls out the sheep; when S. returned, the mother threw the corpse into the well again; beat her son; gave him bread, he left; brought a broken camel loaded with jewelry; the mother let the camel go, hid the jewelry, scattered sweets, told her son that it was raining with sweets; S. says that it rained on the day when his mother got the jewelry; but people found nothing in S.'s house; S. climbed the tree, began to cut the branch he was sitting on to break; a passerby says that S. will die if he falls; S. makes him say when he dies; a passerby: seeing a red thread on his clothes; once he saw dug a grave, lay down to die; a man carries a jug of butter, looks for a porter; S. undertakes to carry; thinks how much money he will earn, get rich, marry; stumbled and spilled everything; he met four in the forest fairies, they were frightened of him, gave him a samovar pot; they changed it in the tavern; the fairies gave him a chest with any clothes in it; the fairies gave a rope that would tie the person to point to and a baton that She beats herself; S. tells them to tie up and beat the owners of the tavern, they returned everything]: 27-34; Sinhalese [mother sent her son to buy two plates; the seller asked for them {originally local currencies} 20 kopecks; the young man said that his mother ordered him to buy plates for 2 rubles and let the seller not deceive him; with plates, he came across thieves who sent him to climb into the yard of the house and drag him to the break all he could and could not lift; he began to drag the stone on which the owner was sleeping, he woke up; the judge let the young man go, the owner took him as a worker; led him to cut down the tree to make a plough; the young man sat on a branch , began to cut it; a Buddhist monk passed by and said that the young man would fall; when he fell, the young man ran after the monk and, threatening with an ax, asked when he would die; monk: when a raindrop falls on your head; one day she fell and he died (the end of the story is unclear); there are other records]: Parker 1914a, No. 90:70-73.
The Balkans. Bulgarians [fool (Nastradin Khoja) saws the branch on which he is sitting; a passer-by (Sly Peter) tells him that he will fall; a fool takes a passerby for a visionary and asks when he will die; answer: when his donkey dies three times (he will live as many years as his donkey pernets); or he dies in a day (three days, 14 days); something else (usually in connection with a donkey); when a predicted event It happens that the fool thinks he is dead; he is put in the grave and he accidentally frightens camels carrying clay pots; the pots are broken, the fool has been beaten; he comes back and says that in the next world archangels (caravans, potters) fight hard]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 1313A: 417-418; Slovenes, Croats, Hungarians, Romanians, Greeks: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1313A: 116-117.
Central Europe. Russians (Vologda, Voronezh, Orel), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Ugric Russia, Transcarpathia, Galicia), Belarusians [A fool takes death prediction seriously : lies down on the road to die, he is beaten, he runs]: SUS 1979, No. 1313A: 281; Russians (Olonetskaya, Zaonezhye, d. Shunga-Bor, 1926) [A man lived with a woman, they had 3 children. The man went to the forest to buy firewood, cut down the branch he was sitting on. A gypsy was driving by and warned him. The man did not listen, he fell down. I thought the gypsy was a sorcerer. He catches up with the gypsy, asks what his wife's name is, saying her name himself. The gypsy answers correctly. The man asks how many cows he has, listing each one by name. The gypsy answers correctly. The guy asks when he's going to die. The gypsy replies that when you "sneeze three times". The man sneezed three times, lay down on the ground the third time, froze and died]: Karnaukhova 2008, No. 10:70-71; Poles [the fool saws the branch on which he is sitting; a passer-by says that he will fall; when he falls, the fool accepts a passerby for the prophet and asks about the time of his death; he replies that it will occur when his donkey (horse) farts (stumbles) three times; after this happens, the fool lies down and believes that died; when he is carried to his house and there is a swamp ahead, he says that when he was alive, he crossed over there]: Krzyżanowski 1963, No. 1240:33.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Stavropol Turkmens [the old man found a needle, put brushwood in a bunch, cannot find it; the wife says he should have pinned a needle to the beshmet; then the old man follows his wife's advice every time, one step behind; tries to attach an iron axis to the beshmet; drags a puppy by the rope, strangling him; tries to lure a hare; says to a passerby "dash yatyr" ("the stone lies"), if so to speak, the hare will freeze) ; says "hairley big syn" ("let good be") to those carrying the deceased; to the wedding train - "nesibsiz gün" ("unhappy day"); decides not to listen to anyone else, saws the branch on which he sits, falls; thinks that a passer-by is a visionary, asks when he dies, he replies that when the donkey stumbles three times; after the third time, the old man lies under the bridge to die; the merchant asks for help raise the arba; the old man does not answer, gets up after the third blow with a whip; brings a whip to his wife, tells him to save him by the day of his death]: Bagriy 1930 (2): 99-102; Dargins [Mullah Nasreddin went to buy firewood, climbed a tree, became cut down the branch on which he sat; passerby: you will fall; N. fell, caught up with a passerby, said that since he could predict his fall, he must know when he would die; when your donkey would fart three times; it happened; N. got off his donkey, lay down on the ground; wolves came and ate the donkey; N.: Oh, if only I were alive!] : Amirov 1878, No. 5:41-42; Turks ["in a similar Turkish version of the series of stories about Nasreddin, the "visionary" replies that a person will die when his donkey farts twice; he lies down believing that died; when carried and stopped confused in front of a marshy place, an imaginary dead man teaches where to go]: Parker 1914a: 75.
Iran - Central Asia. Pashtuns [the weaver went to get firewood, cut down the branch he had climbed on; Saint Sayad, who was passing by, noticed that the chopper would fall; when he fell, he ran after the seer and asked him to say when he would die; he replied that when he farted; in the evening it happened, he asked him to be wrapped in a shroud and put him in the grave; the mullah noticed that the deceased was alive; figured out how to reason with a fool; at night the deceased saw two figures who came to the grave; one said that they were angels Nakir and Munkir; that since the weaver was alive, he should give up his shroud as punishment; the weaver returned home and thought he had misinterpreted saint's words]: Thornburn 1876:206-207.
Baltoscandia. Norwegians [crooks predict that a fool will die if his horse laughs three times within an hour; a person lies down and thinks he is dead, and only gets up when his wife comes and hits him]: Hodne 1984, No. 1313A: 235; Karelians (southern) [a man comes to the river in front of the village, shouting, "Breadknife, bring a boat!" A man on the other side takes out his knife and sees that the knife was really in the bread; thinks that the witch doctor is screaming; asks how many cows he has; he answers correctly - two; the man transported the petitioner brought him, told his wife to bake pies, heat the bathhouse, asks why he would die; guest: I'll tell you in the morning on an empty stomach; in the morning: if you go on a horse, a horse pernet, you'll die here; the man thinks: nowhere else on horseback I won't go; in winter he is summoned to the city; the man rode a horse, the horse feather, the man fell on his back in sledges and lies; the wolves ate the horse, left; the man froze and returned home on foot, says his wife how he died; the wife told the neighbor; the man believed he was alive, stopped believing the healers]: Konkka, Tupitsyna 1967, No. 65:392-395; Estonians [the old man went to the sage to find out when he would die; he replied that after the third sneeze; carrying a bag of flour from the mill, the old man sneezed for the third time, lay down on the ground and stayed lying; the pigs tear the bag; the miller: what's the matter? old man: I was dead or I would have driven away the pigs; the miller began to beat the pigs and the old man at the same time; he jumped up and thanked him for being resurrected]: Yakubinskaya, Turkina 1965:215-216; Livs: Kecskeméti, Paunonen 1974, № 1313A: 253; Finns, Lithuanians: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1313A: 116-117; Latvians [a person warns a fool that the branch he sits on and who saws will break; a fool takes a person for a predictor and asks him to predict the day of his death]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 1313A: 346.
Volga - Perm. Marie [the man told the guy he would die when his horse released air three times; the guy went to the forest to buy firewood; when the horse released the air three times, lay down on the ground and waited for death; rode master, sent the coachman to find out what was going on; the coachman hit the guy with a whip, he jumped up; when he found out, the grandmother (or aunt) with whom the boyfriend lived said that she would spit on such a person; the guy went to to a neighbor and spat on his plate, he beat him; grandmother: I should have said: let bread and salt be enough; the guy said this to the person who was relieving himself; he beat him; grandmother: you always say the wrong thing]: Beke 1938:543-558; the Udmurts [the man went to buy firewood, climbed a spruce tree, and began to cut down the branch he was sitting on. Lopsho Pedun was walking by: you'll fall down! When he fell, the man mistook him for a sorceress and asked him when he would die. The LP replied that after he coughed three times. When this happened, a man lay down on the road. He was warmed with a whip, he jumped up, glad to be revived]: Kralina 1976:314-315; Chuvash [the old man went on a donkey to buy firewood; climbed a tree, sat on a branch and cut it; a passer-by says he will fall; when he falls, the old man thinks that a passer-by is a visionary and knows when he will die; passer-by: when your donkey fakes three times; it happened soon; the old man fell off the cart, and the donkey himself wandered home; a cart with apples was driving; when he saw him lying on the road, the horse knocked over the cart, the apples fell on the old man; he thought he was already in paradise, began to eat apples; the owner of the carts hit him with a whip, the old man jumped up and at home he told me how he visited paradise]: Sidorova 1979:209-210.