M196A. The Dead Who Talked. 14.15.23.27.29.
Arguing over a negligible reason, the husband and wife (or one of them) lie down and do not move, they are going to be buried. At the last moment, the imaginary dead man opens his mouth, people think that the dead have come to life; or the imaginary dead is actually buried in the ground.
Spaniards, Catalans, Portuguese (?) , Galicians, Moroccans, Nepalis, Himachal Pakharis, Gondas, Bengalis, Kannadas, Tamils, Sinhales, Serbs, Georgians, Turks.
North Africa. Morocco [wife to husband: you always eat two eggs and I always eat one, let's go the other way around today; husband: if I don't eat two, I'll die; he fell down like dead; he is being buried, he continues to whisper to his wife that will eat two; at the last moment the old woman says - yes, at least all three! husband: eat all three; people think the deceased wants to eat them, they ran away; the husband came home and ate three eggs along with the shell]: Lebedev 1990, No. 66:292-293.
Southern Europe. Catalans (Mallorca included) [husband and wife agree that the dishes will be washed by whoever speaks first; relatives and neighbors come and mistake them for dead; during a funeral, a wife or the husband talks because they put the body in the wrong way]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, № 1351:232; Portuguese {there are no other details in the paraphrase, but probably like the Spaniards} [whoever speaks first will get only one egg]: Cardigos 2006, No. 1351:278; Galicians [the couple roasted three eggs for dinner (? chichos); everyone wanted him to get two and the other one; they got into a fight, the husband lost consciousness from the blow; he was buried; on the way he woke up and shouted, "Eat two!" {same as "Let's eat two!"} ; the people ran away, but the man was lame and could not run after her]: Contos 1972, No. 39:45-46; Spaniards [the wife always cooked an egg for herself and her two husbands; once decided to do the opposite; husband: it is better to die than live with such a stubborn person; pretended to be dead; at the funeral, husband and wife talk quietly, but continue to stand their ground; when the coffin was lowered into the grave, wife: eat all three, cattle! husband: all three for me! the people fled in horror - they decided that a dead man would eat three people]: Malinovskaya 2002:173-174;
South Asia. Nepalis [the husband brought three mangoes, gave two to his wife, she demands three; they agree that the first to speak will receive two; they put the mangoes on the windowsill and lie motionless; neighbors surprised: why swearing is not usually heard; five neighbors take the bodies to cremate; the first to set fire to her husband's fire, he jumps up and shouts - why they didn't start with his wife; both continue to argue who will eat two and who three; neighbors think that those who become spirits are arguing about which of them will eat three people and who will eat two; run away; the couple return to the house, find mangoes rotten]: Sakya, Griffith 1980:184-185; himachali plowmen [the wife baked 5 cakes; the couple cannot divide them; they agreed to lie down silently, and whoever speaks first will receive a large portion; but neither husband nor wife wanted more the other, so they kept silent; the neighbors entered the house and were going to take the imaginary dead to the cremation site; when I heard this, my husband shouted: OK, you can eat two (two), and I will eat three (three); who came in They ran away in horror, believing that the dead would eat them]: Seethalakshmi 1960, No. 13:52-53; the gondas [the wife made seven flatbreads (chapati), demanded most of it, and the husband said he was the money earned money, wanted most of it for himself; agreed that the first to break the silence would receive three cakes; seven neighbors decided that the couple had died, had to be buried; when the wife was lowered into the grave, she said she would take three, let her husband get four; the neighbors decided that the spirits were going to eat them, ran to the police; when they saw the couple approaching, the police also fled, and then the king; the couple began to live in the royal palace; people have been afraid of spirits ever since]: Elwin 1949, No. 2:432; Bengalis [the brahmana's wife asked her husband to buy fish (of a certain kind); he brought three fish ; the couple began to argue about who would eat them two and who would eat one; the wife suggested that only one fish should get to the first person to speak; they went to bed and did not get up in the morning; the neighbors broke down the door and decided that the couple died and took the corpses to the place where they were burned; three people remained to cook the fire; when the fire caught fire, the husband jumped up and shouted that he would eat one; the wife screamed that two were hers then; people thought that the dead had turned into bhuts and shouting about how many people each would eat; they fled, and the brahmana and his wife followed them; at home, the husband ate one fish and the wife two]: McCulloch 1912, No. 14:125- 128; kannada [son-in-law came to his mother-in-law, who served pies; out of modesty, he bit off a little, but decided to ask his wife to cook more of them at home; he forgot the name on the way home; when it turned out what the case, the wife baked three pies, which she loved herself; they agreed: whoever moves or speaks first will get one and the other two; in the morning the neighbors came in and decided that the couple was dead; when their they put it on the funeral fire and set it on fire, the wife screamed; the husband jumped up: you are alone and I have two; people thought that the dead have come to life and want to eat them, they ran away, and the couple returned home and ate pies ]: Ramanujan 1997, No. 23:68-70; Tamils [the wife baked five pies; the couple decided that the fifth one would be eaten by the first to open their eyes and speak; the villagers decided that the couple had died and they carried them to be cremated; feeling that it was burning, the husband shouted "Two is enough" and the wife shouted "I'm three"; people ran away, but one brave man stayed and found out everything; the couple was resettled out of the village]: Natesa Sastri 1884- 1888, No. 22:277-281 (about the same in Blackburn 2005, No. 73); the Sinhalese [married one daughter, the other's wealthy fiancé was turned down because he was of low origin; she was passed off as a poor man of high origin; the father came to visit, the daughter began to fry the seeds of the tamarind tree; said that she was of high origin, they had nothing else; the father was angry, went to his eldest daughter, who she treated him to vellawehum cakes; he liked them very much, but on the way he stumbled, forgot the name of the tortillas, began to repeat "oyoyoi"; asked his wife to fry him oyoya; she said that such cakes does not exist, the husband - that he just ate them; they began to swear; neighbors about his wife: her mouth is like a vellavehum cake; now the husband remembered; they fried 5 cakes, argued who is 2 and who is 3; they decided that two whoever speaks first will get; hearing no voices, the neighbors thought that the couple had died, broke the door and carried them to the cemetery; when they tied her husband's legs, he groaned, "Oh oh!" ; "You're two," said the wife; the neighbors scolded them and left]: Volkhonsky, Solntseva 1985, No. 299:453-454.
The Balkans. Serbs [seeing a crane wedge in the sky, the wife says that the leader is hers; husband: no, mine; the wife has lay down as if dead; neighbors perform washing and other rituals, but the wife refuses to admit that she is right husband; when the grave must be covered with earth, the husband shouts: OK, let it be yours; the wife jumps up and shouts: my leader! People mistake her for a werewolf, she runs after her ass, screaming, my leader! Pop thinks this is about him, falls out of fear; the woman returns home]: Golenishchev-Kutuzov 1991:355-356.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Georgians: Kurdovanidze 1988, No. 1225 (Kartli) [the wife is in a hurry to slaughter a pig; the husband replies every time that it is too early, let the skin shine; the wife smeared the pig with bacon; the pig was stabbed to death, prepared the legs; while the husband was going to buy wine, the wife ate one; flatly refuses to confess; the husband lies down as if he was dead, asks about the leg from time to time, but the wife continues to deny; so to the end, the husband buried; wife: I took out my leg with my foot, drove my living husband into the coffin - honor and praise to me!] : 254-255; Chikovani 1954, No. 74 (Pshavia) [the wife tells the lazy husband to do the housework, she went to the field herself; he tied the chickens so as not to run away, the kite took everyone away at once; the husband chased the kite, carrying a bag of flour, a sieve, milk to sift the flour and knock down the butter at the same time; scattered and spilled everything; decided to sit on eggs like a chicken to raise new chickens; his wife drove him back into the field; put on a man's clothes, as if from the king: the prince is sick, he needs a lazy liver; he squeezed everything in a day; he does not want to slaughter the pig - let the fat climb out of it; the wife oiled the pig, she was stabbed; the last ham, wife does not give; husband: then I will die; the deceased has already been brought to church and left; the wife shouts: a new temple is being built in the sky for her, dead, everyone should wear bricks! the lazy man jumped up and has since started working]: 350-353; the Turks [Beardless's wife cooked the four lamb legs he had bought, but ate one; they began to argue how many legs there were, Beardless pretended that he is dead; when he is washed, he asks to leave a hole in the grave for his wife to bring food; on the way to the cemetery and after the funeral, his wife and Beardless continue to repeat that there were three legs or four; the governor's wife was traveling with a caravan, spent the night, gave birth, Beardless put the baby in the grave, lay down next to the woman in labor; she believes that she gave birth to a huge baby who talks and asks yes; and Bezborodoy's wife found the governor's child; once brought it to the bathhouse, where the governor's wife also came; recognized her husband, returned the baby to the governor's wife; Bezborody ran away]: Stebleva 1986, No. 62:261- 263.