M168. Who is more cowardly than a hare? ATU 70.
.15.-.17.27.-.29.31.-.34.36.
The hares are desperate that they are the most cowardly, but they are happy to learn that there are animals (frogs, sheep) that fear them themselves.
Spaniards, Portuguese, Sicilians, Latins, French, Walloons, Irish, Friesians, Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, Pomerania), Dutch, Flemish, Aramaians, Ancient Greece, Slovenes, Hungarians , Montenegrins, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Romanians, Greeks, Czechs, Poles, Russians (the place of recording is not specified, but within Tver, Smolensk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod), Ukrainians (Hutsulshchina, Kursk, Voronezh), Belarusians, Kalmyks, Adygs, Abkhazians, Balkarians, Ingush, Laki, Georgians, Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Latvians, Lithuanians, Livonians, Estonians, Setus, leaders, Karelians, Finns, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Western and Eastern Sami, Mordovians, Komi, Buryats, Evenks (Podkamennaya Tunguska), Evens, Central (?) Yakuts.
Southern Europe. The Portuguese [the cowardly rabbit calmed down when he found out that frogs and toads were afraid of him]: Cardigos 2006, No. 70:31; Spaniards (Chevalier 1983, no. 11): Uther 2004 (1), No. 70:64; Sicilians [the hare runs away from the hunter; a frog frightened by a shot jumps into the hare's nose; he realizes that there is someone more cowardly than him, laughs, his lip burst]: Lo Nigro 1957, No. 70:5; Latins [ The late antique collection Romulus, containing retelling Phaedrus's fables and texts that go back to the hypothetical Latin Aesop: "Once, after hearing a terrible noise, the hares decided to end their lives so as not to tormented by eternal fear. They came to the river bank, where many frogs were sitting. When a crowd of hares came, the frogs got scared and dived into the river. Hares saw this, and one of them said: "It turns out that there are others who are as shy as we are; so let's live like everyone else and endure if we are bad: we will not be bad for a century" (Romulus II, 8 [9]; per. M.L. Gasparova)]: Gasparov 1962, No. 35:75.
Western Europe. Irish, Friesians, Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, Pomerania), Dutch: Uther 2004 (1), No. 70:64; Flemish: Meyer 1968, No. 70 [the hare invited to dinner, he's coming wash to the river, the frog jumps into the water in horror, grimaces; the hare laughed so much {because it was tested} that his lip burst]: 24; Van den Berg 2000, No. 77 [running away from the hunters, the hare ran up to the river; at the sight of him, the frog threw himself into the water; the hare laughed so much that his lip burst]: 94; French: Delarue, Tenèze 1976, No. 70 [considering that none of them are more insignificant, the hares go to drown; seeing that in front of them Frogs rush into the water when they approach, they come to the conclusion that there are creatures more cowardly than them; they laugh so much that their lip burst]: 345-346; Kabakova 1998 (Niverne) [the hare speaks disdainfully of the snail; she says she will overcome the field faster than him; they agree to race; the snail puts another snail at the finish line, the hare loses; then she suggests who will reach Paris faster; the snail attaches himself to the wagon, gets to the appointed place; the hare comes running, it is already there; out of grief, the hare goes to drown; at the sight of his frogs, they jump into the water in fear; the hare is in a good mood and so on laughed that his lip burst]: 56-57; walloons [the hunter frightened the hare, he runs up to the stream, the frog jumps into the water in fear; realizing that he is not the most cowardly, the hare laughs, his lip burst]: Laport 1932, no.*70:28.
Western Asia. The Arameans [complaining about their insignificance, the hares decided to drown themselves, but noticed frogs jumping into the water as they approached the shore; the hares cheered up and decided to move on]: Belov, Wilsker 1960:168-169 (=1972:368).
The Balkans. Ancient Greece [hares realize their cowardice; decide to drown themselves at once; they come to a cliff; their tramp is frightened by frogs, jump into the depths; hares decide that there are more cowardly creatures refuse to drown]: Gasparov 1968, No. 138:104 (=1991, No. 24 (Babriy): 358); Romanians [the hare decided that he is more cowardly and weaker, went to drown; when he saw him, the frogs jumped into the water; the hare understood that someone was afraid of him, did not die]: Gaster 1915, No. 106:314; Hungarians [lamenting their cowardice, the hares decided to drown themselves; when they saw them, the frogs jumped into the river; then the hares did not drown]: Kovács 1987, No. 70:261; Montenegrins [the leader of the hare invited them all to drown themselves in the lake: this is better than living in constant fear; the hares rushed to the shore and saw how the legs jumped into the water in fear; the leader told the hares to stop and continue to live]: Eschker 1992, No. 57:229-230; the Bulgarians [after learning that the frogs were afraid of him, the hare abandoned the intention to drown himself; common in the written tradition]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 70:52; Slovenes, Macedonians, Greeks: Uther 2004 (1), No. 70:64.
Central Europe. Czechs, Poles: Uther 2004 (1), No. 70:64; Ukrainians (Hutsulshchina, Kursk, Voronezh), Belarusians [Who is more cowardly than a hare? After making sure that there are animals (sheep, frog) more cowardly than him, the hare abandons his intention to drown himself]: SUS 1979, No. 70:62; Ukrainians [the hare ran away from the hunter, decided to drown himself; by the river there is a toad at the hare jumped into the water; the hare decided not to drown]: Berezovsky 1979, No. 79:134; Russians (the place of recording is not specified, but within Tverskaya, Smolenskaya, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod) [the hare is tired to be afraid, he decided to drown himself; when he saw him, the frogs jumped into the water; the hare decided that since there are those who are afraid of him, there is no need to drown]: Chudinsky 1864:136; (cf. Afanasiev 1958 (3), No. 432 (no place of recording) [Fomka Berennikov is strong, but shy, afraid of the sparrow; he went to drown; saw that frogs were jumping into the water from him, and decided that his people were afraid; slammed with the palm of a hundred husbands and horseflies, went on a journey; ATU 1640]: 241; Russian written tradition: Tarkovsky, Tarkovskaya 2005, No. 53 ["Proverbs, or Fabulous, by Jesop Friga" by Fyodor Gozvinsky (1607, more than 20 copies of the 17th - early 18th centuries, including "The Book, Verbal Jesop"), which are translations of the younger edition of Aesop's fables published around 1479. Bon Accurus in Milan: grieving how much fear their lives were filled with, the hares decided to drown themselves; the toads sitting by the lake heard the sound of approaching hares and jumped into the water; the wisest of hares stopped his brethren, pointed to toads and said that they were more cowardly]; No. 111 ["The Spectacle of Human Life" by A.A. Vinius (1674, dozens of copies of the last quarter of the 17th century, printed edition of 1712, read and rewritten in the same 18th century), which is a translation and retelling of the collection of fables "Theatrum Morum", published by E. Sadeler in 1608 in Prague in German: hares were tired of living in constant fear and decided to drown themselves; toads sitting on the shore of the swamp were frightened and jumped into the water; the leader of the hares urged his brethren not be afraid and proclaimed that they had found those who were afraid of them]; No. 15, 132 ["Jesop" by Simbirsk captain Pyotr Kashinsky (1675, of the two surviving lists, one dates back to 1684, and the other to the first third of the 18th century), which consists of three books and is a free translation of fables from the collection "Przypowieśći Aezopowe, z Łacińskiego na Polskie z pilnośćiů przeł ozone. Przydane sů k temu przypowieśći z Gabryela Greka y Laurenthego Abstemiusa", published in Krakow around 1600:1) Hearing the noise of the forest, the hares ran in fear; when their leader saw that the toads jumped into the water, he urged his brethren not to be afraid of noise; 2) the hares agreed to discuss the hardships of their lives and decided that it was better to drown themselves; when they came to the lake, the toads jumped into the water; the leader of the hares stopped his comrades, encouraged them and said that there are animals that, when they see them, run and drown in the water (Book 1: "The Parable of Jesop Frantsky")]: 228, 275, 354, 370, 404.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Kalmyks [the hare decided to drown, since it was getting stronger than him; when he saw frogs jump into the water as he approached, he was happy and stayed alive]: Basangova 2002:207-208; Adygs [hares decided drown because they are afraid of everyone; on the shore, frogs jumped into the water in fear; when they found out that someone was afraid of them too, the hares did not drown]: Maksimov 1937:94-95; Abkhazians [ashamed of their cowardice, the hare decided to go to live elsewhere; I saw frogs hide by the swamp; decided to move here because they were afraid of him]: Bgazhba 2002:90; Balkarians (Western 1958) [the hares gathered, the elder hare offered to drown themselves in the sea, since they were afraid of everyone; when they saw a lot of hares, the ram got scared and ran; the whole flock followed by shepherds and dogs; the hares laughed so much that their lip burst; decided not to drown]: Malkonduev 2017:151-152; Ingush [the hares decided that there was no one more cowardly than them, they chose a padishah, who offered to drown himself; but when he saw a frog at the sight hares jumped into the water, the padishah withdrew his offer]: Sadulaev 2004, No. 6:23-24; Lucky [the hare decided that he was the most cowardly, went to drown; sheep grazed near the shore, ran in fear; the hare I saw that there were creatures that were afraid of him, ran merrily to the mountains]: Kapiyeva 1974:138; Armenians [30 birds decided to drown themselves because they were so weak; when they saw them, the frogs jumped into the water; the hares understood that there are those who are weaker than them]: Orbeli 1956, No. 126:123; Turks [hares decide to drown themselves, since they are more cowardly; they decide to move on when they see their frogs jump into the water in fear]: Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 18:37; the Kurds [hares decided that they were the most cowardly and went to drown; when they saw them, the sheep who came to the watering hole ran away; the hares decided that they should not drown, and so on laughed that their lip had burst]: Jalil et al. 1989, No. 173:483.
Baltoscandia. Latvians [the hare decided to drown himself, but when he saw his frogs throw themselves into the water in fear, he laughed; his lip has been torn since then]: Alksnite et al. 1958:88 (same as Arys 1971:71); Estonians: Jakobson 1954 [since they are afraid of everyone, the hares decide to move to another country where they are not known; they came across sheep at the floodplain and fled at the sight of their hares; the hares laughed so much that their lower lip has burst; but they have abandoned their intention to move]: 187-188; Kippar 1986, No. 70 (many records, including setu) [hares decide to drown themselves, since they are more cowardly; but when they see sheep running away from them or frogs jumping into the water give up their intentions and laugh so that their lips burst]: 74-76; Normann, Lätt 1968 [since they are afraid of everyone, the hares go to drown; by the river we came across sheep that rushed to run at the sight of the hares; the hares laughed so much that their lower lip burst; they refused to drown themselves]: 86; the Finns [the fox says everyone is afraid of her-her the long tail can be seen from afar and mistaken for a wolf; the hare promises to prove that they are afraid of him; jumps into the sheep pen, they flee in panic; the hare laughed so much that his lip burst]: Salmelainen in Schreck 1887, No. 6:228, in Concca 1991:313 (=1993:164); Lithuanians: Kerbelite 2001 [the hare hid by the river and suddenly jumped out - frightened sheep or frogs; laughing made his lip burst]: 49; Löbite 1965 [the hare went to drown; the woodpecker advises to jump out of the bushes when the sheep are brought to the meadow; when they were frightened, the hare laughed and his lip burst]: 402; Livons, counselors, Karelians, Western and Eastern (Inari) Sami: Kecskeméti, Paunonen 1974, No. 70:218; Swedes [the hare goes to drown, but when he sees that the frogs, seeing him, jumped into the water in fear, refuses from his intention and laughs until his lip bursts; the Danes have the same story]: Liungman 1961, No. 70:13; Norwegians [when the hare found an animal that is afraid of him, he laughed until the lip did not burst]: Hodne 1984, No. 70:33.
Volga - Perm. Mordvians [the hare runs through the forest, frightened of a fallen twig, a leaf; decides to drown himself, since he is such a coward; on the shore of the frog, they were afraid of a hare and jumped into the water; the hare decided not to drown; people they will get scared of him and jump into the water too]: Paasonen 1947:846-847; Komi [the hare is going to drown; fox: take your time, maybe someone ahead will be scared of you; it's the hell drove the hares to drown, but if anyone is up to them, Once he jumps into the water, let them live; when he saw the hares, the frog jumped into the water in fear; the bunnies stayed alive]: Fokos-Fuchs 1951, No. 3. 4-5:45.
Turkestan. Kazakhs [the hare complains about fate, goes to drown; seeing that the frog was frightened of him and rushed into the river, the hare changed his mind about drowning]: Sidelnikov 1971 (3): 209-210.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Buryats: Barannikova 2000, No. 17 [the hare runs from the fox, from the wolf, but the sheep are running away from him; the hare has stopped reproaching himself that he is the most cowardly]: 83-85; Kungurov 1946 [the hare is afraid of everyone, he goes to drown, sheep shy away from him on the shore; realizing that there are animals more timid than him, the hare laughed and his lip burst]: 3 (= Eliasov 1959:146-147).
Eastern Siberia. Evens [hares decide to drown themselves because they are the weakest; when they saw them, the frogs jumped into the water; realizing that someone was afraid of them, the hares returned to the forest]: Novikova 1987:27-28 (=Robbeck 2005:186); Evenks (Podkamennaya Tunguska) [hares were afraid of a man, wolf, bear; decided to drown themselves, but abandoned this intention when they saw that the mouse and hazel grouse themselves were afraid of them]: 58-59; Yakuts [hare decides to drown himself because he is afraid of everything; runs to the lake, the frog rushes into the water in horror; the hare is surprised, returns to the forest]: Sivtsev-Omolloon 1976:17-18.