M191B. The snake will not forget its severed tail, ATU 285A.
.13.-.17.23.27.-.30.
A person does good (does no harm) to a snake (fish, lion) and benefits from it. His son (rarely someone else or himself) wounds a snake (usually cuts off its tail) and, if it is a son, dies from a bite). The snake refuses to continue a relationship with a person, both of them will not forget their loss.
{The reference to the Tajik text in Uther 2004 (Levin et al. 1981, No. 106:177-178) is wrong, our motive is F86}.
Somalis, Egyptian Arabs, Spaniards, Catalans, Italians (Campania, Lazio), French, Dutch, Germans (south?) , Aramaians, Arabs of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Ancient India, Ancient Greece (Aesop), Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, Hungarians, Albanians, Greeks, Western Ukrainians, Russian written tradition, Czechs, Poles, Ingush, varnishes, Turks, Persians, Tajiks, Turkmens.
Sudan - East Africa. Somalis [there was a drought, rer withdrew; after a long journey they saw a plain covered with grass; the head of the rer ordered the camels to be examined; a snake appeared, said that this was her land; a nomad prayed, she allowed them to stay overnight; when the people had rested, the head of the rera took an ax and went to look for the snake; she slept around a tree; the nomad crept up, hit him with an ax; the snake had time wake up, slipped off the tree and disappeared; at night she crawled into the house of Chief Rehra and stung his son; in the morning the nomad came to the snake and said: "Forget what I did to you, and I will forget what you did to me. There's plenty of room for us and for you. Let's live in peace"; the snake replied, "No. As long as I see the footprint of your axe and you see your son's grave, there will be no peace between us"]: Kapchits 1997, No. 114:90-91.
North Africa. Egyptian Arabs: El-Shamy 2004, No. 285D: 94.
Southern Europe. Spaniards, Catalans: Uther 2004 (1), No. 285A: 165-166; Italians (Campania, Lazio): Cirese, Serafini 1975, No. 285A: 40.
Western Europe. French, Dutch, Germans (no place of recording; south?) : Uther 2004 (1), No. 285A: 165-166
Western Asia. Syrian Arabs [a fisherman plays the pipe by the sea, his catch is invariably abundant, he is getting rich; the fisherman tells his son everything; he cuts off the tail of a pilot fish; killed by a flying tail; father finds a body; fish: now we will break up, for you will not forget the loss of a son]: Nowak 1969, No. 203:204-205; Arameans, Arabs of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen: El-Shamy 2004, № 285D: 94.
South Asia. Ancient India (Panchatantra) [a man brings milk to the snake, and the snake gives him a piece of gold each time; his son tries to kill the snake to get hold of all the gold at once; the snake bites him to death and refuses to make peace with a person]: Bødker 1957, No. 221:32
Balkans. Ancient Greece: Gasparov 1962, No. 167 [a prose retelling of Babrius's fables made during the Byzantine era (The Bodleian Paraphrase): "A snake nesting at a peasant's doorstep once stung his little son and he died. The parents were in great sorrow; and the father, fueled by grief, grabbed an ax and wanted to kill the snake as it crawled out of the crack. The snake leaned out, and the farmer hit, but missed, and only split the stone at the entrance. Then he left, and soon, believing that the snake had nothing to be angry with him, called her to put up with bread and salt. But the snake hissed with a thin whistle: "Now there can be no trust or friendship between us as long as this stone is in front of my eyes, and my son's grave is in front of yours" (trans. Mikhail Gasparov)]: 156; Gasparov 1968, No. 51 (=Perry 1952, No. 51) ["The Main Aesopian Collection" (senior manuscripts): "A snake crawled up to the peasant's son and stung him to death. The farmer, unaware of his grief, grabbed an ax and sat near her hole to kill her as soon as she showed up. A snake looked out and hit him with an ax, but missed the snake, and split a stone near the hole. But then he became scared and asked the snake to make peace with him. "No," said the snake, "neither can I wish you well when I look at the crack in the stone, nor can you wish me anything good at my son's grave." The fable shows that reconciliation is not easy after intense enmity" (trans. Gasparov)]: 78; Gasparov 1962, No. 39 [a fable known from the Wissenburg manuscript of the 10th-11th centuries and possibly going back to Phaedra: "About those who dirty others. A hand snake usually crawled into the poor man's house and fed, keeping him alive with the remnants of his poverty. After a while, the poor man became rich, and the snake became a burden to him. One day, grabbing her carelessly with his hand, he hit her and injured her. Shortly thereafter, he fell back into poverty and suddenly became impoverished and realized that the snake had made him happy and that it was the reason why he was suffering from poverty. When he met the snake, he begged her to forgive him for a misdemeanor committed out of ignorance. The snake said, "Since you regret your wrongdoing, I will forgive you; but until my wound is closed, before my pain is gone, do not expect me to trust. I will change anger to mercy if I forget treachery safely" (trans. Mikhail Gasparova)]: 76; Bulgarians [near the vineyard there was a pile of stones under which a snake lived; the winegrower brought her milk; the snake crawled out, drank milk and left one gold in the bowl; the winegrower began to bring her milk and pick her one gold one at a time; this went on for several years; the winegrower called his son, who was supposed to get the vineyard; talked about the snake; the son became carry her milk and received a coin every day; one day I thought that there must be a lot of gold under the stones; decided to kill the snake and take it away; when the snake crawled out and started drinking milk, hit her with a stick; not killed, but tore off part of his tail; the snake bit him; the son went home, told his father about the incident and died; after a long time, the winegrower came to the vineyard and invited the snake to be friends again; she replied: "Choloviche, I can't see a lot of friendship. Keep your blue grave, and I'm my broken tail, and I can't be friends. If you are robish, think about naslidki"]: Ketkov 1979:36-38; Albanians [the poor man saw a lion lying; he opened his mouth and spit out the gold; this continued day by day; on the advice of his wife, the poor man brought the lion's house, fenced off his place, brought meat, and the lion gave gold; his comrades told his son about this; he was offended by his parents for their distrust, came to the lion with a sword, cut off the end of his tail, and his lion tore it; when the father came to make peace, the lion said that everything was fine between them: a man would not forget his dead son, and he, a lion, would not forget his severed tail]: Dozon 1881, No. 17:139-145; Serbs (for the first time published in 1807) [a snake lived near the house, often crawled out to bask in the sun; it was considered domestic; the child cut off its tail with an ax; the snake bit him and he died; after a while the father of the deceased became ask the snake to crawl out: let's be friends as before; snake: it won't work, because neither will I forget the severed tail nor you forget your dead son]: Eschker 1992, No. 66:243-244; Macedonians, Hungarians, Greeks: Uther 2004 (1), No. 285A: 165-166
Central Europe. Western Ukrainians (Hutsulshchina, Podolia) [Already in the hut: drinks milk; a peasant cuts off the tip of his tail; friendship is broken; a peasant is haunted by misfortune]: SUS 1979, No. 285:99; Western Ukrainians: Berezovsky 1979, No. 495 (Ternopil region) [husband and wife lived richly because they had a household; he sat under the stove and went out when he wanted to eat; the hostess gave him a bowl of milk; One day she poured milk to her little son and he spilled it; he smelled the milk, crawled out; the son hit him; in response he bit the boy; the father ran, hit the snake and cut off his tail; he hid, the child died; the farm became bad; the owner went to the sorcerer; she said that everything would be fine if he reconciled with an old friend; the owner returned home, put milk for the snake; he got out, the owner asked for reconciliation; he already answered: "We can't live a long time ago, even if bi mi i khtili. If you leash marveled at me, at once guessed sobi, what you mav one sina and vin through me pishov into the ground to rot, and at once you will find anger, so turn my head. I know, as if I marvel at you, I'll also guess what I'm mav khvist, and through you I spent it, and I'll find such evil itself, what bim at once in your tooth flooded that vika you. It will be like this: you yourself without me, and I will live without you"; that's what they parted], 496 (Podolskaya Gubernia, 1906) [the man had a viper, he fed her milk; thanks to it, he was doing well; the hostess gave the baby milk porridge; the viper was attracted by the smell of milk; she crawled to the bowl and started drinking; the baby hit with a spoon on the head; the viper bit him; the child died; the owner beat off the tail of the viper; she crawled away from home; the owner began to suffer; when he saw the viper, he asked that it return to live with him; the viper refused: "No, we're not friends anymore: you look at me, guess your sina's angry; and I'm looking at you - looking at you - looking at my tail"]: 477-479; Russian written tradition [" Jesop Frigi's parables, or fabulousness, by Fyodor Gozvinsky (1607, more than 20 copies of the 17th - early 18th centuries, including The Book, Verbal Jesop), which are a translation of the younger edition of Aesop's fables, published circa 1479 Bon Accurus in Milan: a snake nesting at the peasant's gate bit his child; saddened by this, the peasant took an ax to kill the snake and eventually hit the hole leading to its hole; then decided Make peace with her and put bread and salt in front of the hole; the snake said: "From now on there will be no nama and love, I see a stone, but you will not be your coffin" (option: "From now on, there will be no stone love and love myself, I see a stone, you're in your coffin")]: Tarkovsky, Tarkovskaya 2005, No. 136:253-254, 299; Czechs, Poles: Uther 2004 (1), No. 285A: 165-166.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Ingush: Akhriev 1875 [=Dakhkilgov 2003:130-132; sage Magal lived in a village in the Shan Gorge; he kept a "wind star"; it lay in a sturdy chest that no one could break tools; a white snake lived in Magal's house; one day Magal went south; after finishing his business there, he returned and drove into the village of Zator on the way; while eating, he noticed that a goat lying near huts, his beard swung; Magal was amazed because there were no winds in the mountains at that time; he remembered the "wind star", galloped home; found out that one of his sons was playing with white in his absence with a snake and cut off her tail; an angry snake bit the boy and he soon died; when she saw her son, the mother ran around the room looking for rags for his wound; as a result, she opened the chest (Magal left left her a key), which contained a "wind star", and began to stir up things there; when she picked up the last object that covered the "star", it flew to the sky; since that time, the mountains began to blow almost daily strong winds that had never happened before; after learning about what had happened, Magal promised the snake that he would make it a tail out of gold and silver, and for this he asked for assistance in the return of the "star of the winds"; The snake crawled out of the hole and approached Magal, but looked at its tail and changed her mind and said, "No, Magal! Just as I don't forget my severed tail with gold on, you won't forget your son and kill me sooner or later. That is why there can no longer be peace and harmony between us!" ; when the snake crawled out, the "star" fell so low that it could be reached from the roof of the hut, and when it crawled back, the "star" rose again; after Magal's death, he had three sons: Gui , Cyclney and Ketlo; Gui was very tall, had two mouths: one on his face and the other on the back of his head; he ate ordinary food with his first mouth and gnawed bones with his back; Cyclney tried to kill him unsuccessfully; Guy's sons in a pillar was erected in memory of his father]: 15-18; Malsagov 1983, No. 161 (zap. 1965) [the graceful bird produced abundant harvests, the wind star did not allow the winds to blow, the snake protected the cattle from animals; the knotweed left the star and the bird in the same room, and the snake kept watch over the children; boy cut off her tail, she ate it and crawled away; the bird and the stars went after her; the highlander saw that the beard of the goat guarding the sheep was swaying in the wind, and realized that it was a disaster; at home, the children told him what had happened; he decided To make peace with the snake and went to its hole; she said, "You will remember your son, I will remember the tip of your tail, there will be no peace between us, so I will not return"; since then the proverb has arisen: "Father remembers the son, the snake remembers the tip of its tail"]: 300; Lucky [the man pulled a snake out of the fire, it began to strangle him; the bull and the horse answer that people themselves are not grateful; the snake let the man go for promising that he would no longer kill snakes; promised to give a gold coin every day on the condition that the person would not tell anyone about it; one day he left on business and left his son in his place; the boy decided that There is a treasure under the stone, hit the snake, cutting off its tail, and it bit it and he died; the man came back and was going to continue the relationship; the snake: no; I will not forget the severed tail, and you will not forget the dead son]: Omar-ogly 1868:59-61 (reprinted with a little editing in Khalilov 1965, No. 85:264-265); Turks [every day a man brings milk to a snake and the snake gives him gold; when he leaves, his son decides to kill a snake and get hold of all the gold; but he only hurts the snake, and it bites him and he dies; when he returns, the man tries to make friends with the snake again, but it fails]: Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 49:59.
Iran - Central Asia. Persians: Marzolph 1984, No. 285D (Isfahan, Fars, Hamadan, Markazi) [a man brings milk to a snake, and it gives him gold; his curious son wants to find out where gold comes from, hits a snake, cutting off the tail; she bites it; later the person tries to return to his previous relationship with the snake, but the snake refuses]: 58-59; Osmanov 1987 []: 359-360; Tajiks [in the old man's yard there is a pit, in which the dragon lives; the old man gives him milk, and the dragon burps gold; the old man's son decided to kill the dragon and take all the gold at once; but he only cut off his tail and the dragon tore it; the old man to the dragon: I sacrifice an ungrateful son to you; dragon: we will no longer be friends, because you will not wake up my son, and I will not wake up my tail]: Amonov 1961:111-112; Turkmens [the man became friends with the snake, she made him rich; once they quarreled, a man cut off a snake's tail; a snake stung a man's ten-year-old son, he died; one day a man came to a snake: let's be friends again; snake: no, I won't get pain in tail, and in your heart]: Stebleva 1969, No. 18:44.