M203. The Great Pan died, ATU 113A. 16.27.-.29.31.32.

A supernatural being sends a message to an unknown addressee through a person he meets. Upon fulfilling the request, a person provokes an unexpected reaction from another supernatural being (usually living in his home). Most of the material was collected by K.Yu. Rakhno.

Dutch, Friesians, British, Scots, Irish, Germans (East Germany, Bavaria, Austria), Ancient Greece, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Russians (Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kostroma, Vyatka), Northern Ukrainians (Rovenskaya), Belarusians (Smolensk region), Dargins (Akushins, Mekegins, Kubachi residents), Lithuanians, Norwegians, Icelanders, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Estonians, Komi (Zyryans and Permyaks), Mordovians.

Western Europe. The British [The church guard's wife and her big black cat, Old Tom, are expecting a husband. He still doesn't come back. He finally runs into the house out of breath and yells, "Who is Tommy Tildrum?" The wife asks what happened and why he wants to know who Tommy Tildrum is. My husband says he was digging in the cemetery when he suddenly heard a loud "meow". He looked around the corner of the cemetery and saw nine black cats, like Tom, all with a white spot on their chest, carrying a small coffin covered in black velvet, and a small golden crown on the lid. With every step they took, they all shouted "Meow" loudly. They were getting closer and closer, and their eyes were shining green. Eight held the coffin, and one, the largest, was in front. When they arrived, the one who didn't carry the coffin, staring at it intently, said in a thin voice, "Tell Tom Tildrum that old Tim Toldrum is dead." And now the church guard is puzzling over who he should tell who Tom Tildrum is. Suddenly his wife screams for him to look at them at Tom. Tom gets up, looks at him in amazement, and yells, "What? Old Tim is dead, so I'm the king of cats then!" He jumps into the fireplace and disappears forever]: Jacobs 1894:156-158; the British (Steindrop, Durham) [In northern England, the Fae often look like cats. At night, a farmer crosses the river across the bridge. A cat jumps out and looks at the face and says, "Johnny Reid! Johnny Reid! Tell Mrs Momfort Molly Dixon is dead." The farmer returns home and tells his wife what he has heard. Their black cat jumps up and says, "Is she dead?" and it's gone forever. This is a fae in exile who was invited to her sister's funeral. In the north of England, the Fae live and die, so that the shady green tracts are considered quiet people's cemeteries]: Halliwell-Phillipps 1849:51; Scots (Highlands) [A traveler caught in the mountains at night I rushed into the light, thinking that there was a place to live there. Instead of a house, it's like a lighted chapel from which disturbing sounds can be heard. Through the window, you can see many cats lining up solemnly. They lament a member of their species over the body. Around the deceased are the emblems of the supreme power. The frightened traveler rushes away. When he gets to a friend's house, he talks about what. When finished, the cat, lying peacefully at the hearth, jumps up, exclaims, "Then I'm the king of cats," rushes into the chimney and has not been seen again]: Combe 1785:35-36; Scots [Two people live in the wilderness of Scotland brothers, they are served by an old cook. Except for the three of them, there's not a soul in the house, except for an old black cat and hunting dogs. One fall, Elshender's older brother decides to stay home, and his younger brother, Fergus, goes hunting alone. He goes far into the mountains, he's been gone for a long time, and finally Fergus comes back, wet and tired, and doesn't want to tell you why he's so late. But after dinner, Fergus says that he lost his way in the fog, saw a light, and went to it. But as soon as he got close to him, he disappeared and he found himself near an old oak tree. He climbed a tree to make it easier to find the light, saw a hollow in the trunk, and in the hollow something like a church, and the funeral was taking place there. He heard singing and saw a coffin and torches. The black cat raises its head and listens attentively. Fergus goes on to say that cats carried the coffin and torches, and a crown and scepter were painted on the lid of the coffin. The black cat jumps up and shouts: "My stars! Old Peter is dead and I'm the cat king!" Then he jumps into the fireplace and disappears forever]: Rhys 1913:138-139 (translated into Kharitonov 2008:292-293); the Irish (Leicester) [The cab driver leaves Banklody for Dublin, sees the neighbor's cat running along the road and yells, "Tell Mall Brown Tom Dunna is dead; tell Mall Brown Tom Dunne is dead." The cab driver throws a stone at the cat, arrives, takes a beer from the bar and talks about what happened along the way. When he mentions what the cat from Banklody told him to hand him over, the gray cat basking by the fire cries out, "This is my husband! This is my husband!" , jumps out the door. They didn't see her again]: Kennedy 1866:157-158; Scots (south) [A witch story. The Spirit gives the following instruction to the frightened spiritualist: "Mader Watt! Mader Watt! Tell your cat, old Girniegae from Kragend is dead"]: Leyden 1901:318, Palgrave 1819:98; Germans (East Germany) [Wanting to visit a friend who lived on the edge of a vast forest, a gentleman lost his way. He wandered through the trees for several hours and finally saw a light in the distance. When I approached, I found that a light was shining in the ruins of the monastery. Before he knocked, the gentleman looked through the window. He sees many cats surrounding the grave; four of them lower the coffin on which the crown lies. Amazed by this sight, and thinking he was on a bunch of devils or witches, the traveler jumped on his horse and hurried away. He arrived at his friend's house late, but they're waiting for him and awake. After much persuasion, a person decides to talk about what he saw. As soon as he mentions the coffin with the crown, a cat dozing by the fire jumps up and shouts: "Now I'm the king of cats!" , rushes down the chimney and disappears]: Shelley 1972:328-329; friezes (Western) [a man came from the field and told how he heard strange voices: the prince of the underground (dwarfs) died; as soon as he did said, there were other voices (reacting to the news)]: Clement 1846:331; Germans (Bavaria) [mouse, sausage and frog farm together; sausage cooks food, frog - firewood, the mouse pulls out bread; the frog asks the sausage how it manages to cook such a delicious soup; sausage: I boil the water and dip it; the next day the sausage went for firewood, the frog stayed cook, and the mouse went to the wedding for crumbs; when the sausage came back from the forest, found a frozen frog; a man came into the house; sausage: tell the mouse to go home: the frog in the soup is cooked; the man does not understand where the voice came from, came to the wedding and talked about what he heard; the mouse threw his bag under the table and hurried home; during this time the dog ate the sausage; the mouse saw swimming in the pot a frog, but didn't find the sausage and went out the door; a cat ate it there]: Jahn 1891, No. 17:26; Germans (Austria), Dutch: Uther 2004 (1), No. 113A: 84.

The Balkans. Ancient Greece ["On the Decline of the Oracles" by Plutarch (c. 45 - c. 125): During the reign of Tiberius, a ship with many passengers en route to Italy fell into calm; from Paxos Island it was heard a loud voice calling on Tamus; this was the name of the Egyptian helmsman; the voice called him twice, but T. did not answer; the third time T. responded; the voice told T., being in front of Palodes, to announce that the great Pan was dead (Pn); T. did it and heard sorrow screams and cries of surprise in response]: Plut. De defect. orac. 17 (419b-d).

Central Europe. Russians (Arkhangelskaya, Pinezhsky district, d. Okorok) [The house is empty. They moved from it to a new one, but the housewife was not invited. A woman walks by to visit its former owners, hears that someone in an empty house is crying, howling because she is not invited. He says from there: "Tell Vukhrysh, Vakhra is dead." And she cries. A woman comes to visit her new home, says. Someone is howling in this house too. Probably, one of her housewives died, and the housewife sensed who she was visiting]: Ivanova 1995:11; Russians (Arkhangelskaya, Kargopol District, p. Nokola) [Agafia comes to the threshing floor. Someone from the ram says: "Agafia, tell Kutafia that Stogafia is dead." She comes home and says this is what happened. Something is crying in the pipe. He gets up in the morning and there's a satin shawl hanging there. It was presented for transmitting this news]: Frost 2014:317; Russians (Vologda) [A woman walks past a haystack along the way. Suddenly, someone like a little man comes out from under the haystack and shouts to the woman: "Honey, tell the cutie that the stove is dead!" The woman gets scared, runs home, climbs to her husband on the floor, retells what she heard. Immediately after that, something moans underground: "Oh stozhihonkya, oh stozhihonkya." Something black comes out like a little man, throws the woman the novelty of the canvas (32 arshina) and goes out, the doors from the hut open by themselves, it howls: "Oh stozhihonkya, oh stozhihonkya." Husband and wife are scared]: Russian peasants 2007:340; Russians (Novgorod) [A small river called Black Stream flows into Lake Ilmen on the west side. A mill is being set up on the Black Creek, the fish turn to the Black Stream, asking him for protection: "We were both spacious and free, and now a dashing man is taking our water away." The black stream promises its patronage to the fish. A resident of Novgorod is fishing with a fishing rod on the Black Creek, a stranger dressed in black approaches him, says hello, asks him how the catch is, and promises to indicate a place where the fish is teeming if he serves. The service is not great: when he is in Novgorod on Sunday, he will meet a tall, tight man in a blue caftan, wide blue trousers and a tall blue hat; he must say: "Uncle Ilmen- lake! The Black Stream sent you a petition and told you to tell you that a mill had been built on it. As you say, it will be so!" A resident of Novgorod agrees to comply with the request, and a black stranger shows him a place where the fish are dark and dark. With a rich catch, a man returns to Novgorod, meets a man in a blue caftan and gives him a petition. Ilmen replies: "Take my bow to Black Creek and tell him about the mill: this has never happened before, and it will not happen." The resident of Novgorod is also fulfilling this order. At night, the Black Stream broke out, Ilmen Lake roamed, a storm rose, the waves demolished the mill, they no longer build it there]: Kupriyanov 1853:25-26; Russians (Vladimirskaya, Muromsky District, d. Saksino) [A woman walks across the dam from another village to her own village. A naked girl comes out and asks: "Tell my sister that my mother is dead." A woman comes home, says. The same girl runs out from behind the stove, rushes out of the house, cries. These are mermaids]: Kotelnikova 2008, No. 6:464; Russians (Vladimirskaya, Pereslavl-Zalessky y.) [A woman walks in the field, hears a voice: "Aunt, feel sorry for me, I'm dying..." She asks who it is. This is me, the field. Go home, tell the brownie that his field brother is dead..." A frightened woman runs home, tells others under her window, the window opens by itself and something terrible flies out noisily from there. This brownie flew to say goodbye to the field]: Smirnov 1927:7; Russians (Kaluga, Kubyshevsky District, d. Mileevo) [A woman goes to pick mushrooms, meets a forest house - all in white, with long black hair; she says: "If you come home, tell home that the Pole is dead!" Frightened to death, the woman throws the basket and runs home. In the hut, she retells her husband the words of the forest. After that, under the stove, it buzzes, the door opens, the creature howled like a woman and ran to the forest]: Minenok 2004:275; Russians (Kostroma, Pavinsky district) [The woman goes to the bathhouse, hears a scream: "Tell Maura Makura is dead." Maura cries for the deceased at night (d. Dorovitsa); Two women go to the bathhouse at night, they do not have enough water, go to the river to scoop up. They just lower the scoop, they hear a voice: "Kakura, tell Makura that the uterus is dead." One thinks her mother is dead. They get scared, they run to the bathhouse (d. Cuckshing)]: Sinitsa 2010, No. 3:45; Russians (Vyatskaya, Podosinovsky District, p. Ogorelitsa) [In early autumn, when they reap near the forest and the girls knit sheaves, someone in the forest keeps walking, hooting and saying: "Tell Batamanikha: Bataman is dead! Tell Batamaniha: Bataman is dead!" When they come back, everyone talks about it at home at lunch. One girl also talks; a door opens from the underground, a shaggy female creature comes out and roars; leaves the hut. That year they have a misfortune: two cows are bullied by a bear, and wolves eat a herd of twenty sheep. Apparently, Batamanikha and her child lived in the house, underground, and she still has her child here. Then she comes back. After that, they start seeing her. She is human height, naked, shaggy like a monkey]: Ivanova 1996, No. 41:19-20; Russians (Vyatskaya, Oparinsky district, p. Moloma) [The man is coming from the district center, the road is uphill. He gets off the sleigh, walks, hears: "Uncle, tell Okutikha that the wreck is dead." He raises his hat to hear better, and again his voice: "Uncle, tell Okutikha that the backbone is dead." He looks around - there is no one. He comes home, sits down for dinner, and he tells his wife: "Today I heard: "Uncle, tell Okutikha that the wreck is dead." Suddenly he hears: someone cried quietly, thinly, and then the door slammed - someone left. Then they explain to them in the village: "You had an okutikha in a kut, and a skeleton is by the haystack"]: Ivanova 1996, No. 42:20; Belarusians (Smolenskaya) [young peasant women are looking for calves until evening, the moon is already shining. A simple-haired white woman coming out of the bushes indicates where the calves and peasant women are frightened. The white woman calms them down and asks them to tell them at home that the Pole has died. Young women bring calves, tell men what happened to them at dinner. At this time, someone invisible splashes his hands, cries, howls in a pleasant voice, slams the door and walks across the garden into the fields. Older men persuade women not to be afraid]: Dobrovolsky 1891:91-92, 1914:157-158, 177, 649; Belarusians (Smolenskaya, Velizhsky District, d. Kolotovshchina) [The girl reaps rye, in the evening she hears: "Tell the merchant that Arzhanitsa gave birth." She thinks she imagined it. Again, the same voice: "Tell the witch that Arzhanitsa gave birth." The girl gets scared and hurries home. A black snake crosses the road. The girl comes home and tells her mother what happened. Just saying the last words, a snake crawls out of the kuta, the same as it saw on the road, crawling across the hut to the doorstep. The old people explain that it was a house snake, a merchant, and she crawled to visit the Arzhanitsa snake. You can't touch such a house snake, otherwise misfortune will happen]: Koshelev 1997, 190; Northern Ukrainians (Rivne Region, Rokitnovsky District, p. Stone) [A man kills a snake in the field. He hears someone saying to him: "When you get home, tell the brownie that there is no field worker." The owner comes home and tells his wife about it. As soon as he repeats to her the words he heard in the field, the brownie crawls out and bites his leg, avenging his field brother. The owner dies from a bite]: Gura 1997:319; Poles [at home, the guy talks about the shout he heard: Tell Aidze that Dyrdze is dead; after that, you can hear the pitiful scream of a redman (redmen - dwarfs living in the house)]: Krzyżanowski 1962, No. 504C: 159; Czechs: Uther 2004 (1), No. 113A: 84.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Dargins (Kubachins) [Abul goes to the mill, grinds grain; on the way back, he stops to rest at a place called the "Yard of Seven Nuts"; a narrow road between the rocks, the forest and the river below ; Huge men in white come out from behind the rocks and invite him to dance to the wedding; A. refuses because he must take the bag home, there is no flour at home; one of the people takes his bag to take him home; they lead him inside the cliff, opening 7 doors; for the seventh wedding; they treat his family to food, then invite him to dance; they say, clapping his hands: "Oh, Abul, hey, Abul, Like a tiny millet seed , dear Abul! One more time Abul, dear Abul!" ; forced to dance until dawn; he says it's time to go home; he is taken 7 doors to the same place; they say: "Tell me that Utzran killed Supran"; A. wants to ask who to tell him, turns around, but no one is gone; the wife says that she heard someone say, "Oh, this is your Abul's bag," and there was a bag on the top step, and no one was there; A. also says everything; when she says she didn't knows who to tell the message to, four men in black jump out of the chimney, shouting: "Hoy, hoy!" , they grab their flaming guns and throw themselves out of the house; the husband and wife are frightened, the husband realizes that it is good that he has given what they told him; the wife cooks food out of flour, but the flour does not run out; they do not run out of flour all winter with her they use flour, do not go to the mill; neighbors notice this; his wife says that Abul bought flour at the bazaar, but her persistent neighbor forces her to reveal the secret; in the evening there is only flour dust in the bag]: Khalidova 1992: 106-107; Dargins (Mekegin residents) [A traveler returning from the forest comes to the exit from the gorge. An amazing woman calls out to him from the rocks, asking him to convey the message to the village: "Chirinay turns to Gichynnay, you say. Anashar Kapaskhara killed, you say, the old man was wounded, you say, Hkani was killed, you say, fingers like red grapes ordered to be ruined, you say, hair like red silk told me to tear, you say, I ordered to scratch my cheeks, like barley and grapes, you say..." When a traveler comes home (or enters the fortress gate), he talks about an extraordinary encounter in the gorge. Before he had time to finish talking, a heartbreaking scream rang out of the pillar standing in the middle of the hut, and a woman like the one he saw in the rocks at the exit from the gorge comes out of him - tall, stately, her large breasts are thrown over her shoulders, and her red hair, falling from her head in a wave, covers her body to toe. Accompanied by the eyes of the astonished owners of the house and the villagers, she leaves, screaming into the village and gorge. This is a chiune woman. Kyune are creatures that see humans but people don't see them. The places they live in are sacred. The owners of the house are people with large relatives and good incomes. But since the Kyune woman leaves their home, they lose their wealth, their family disappears]: Alikhanova: 156-157; Dargins (midwives) [in the evening a girl goes to the spring to get water, hears someone's voice:" Cindy was killed, Hindi was wounded, Tsibandi's eyes were gouged out"; when she got home, she talks about what she heard; at the same moment, armed men appear from all corners of the house and run out of the house]: Bulatov 1990: 171-172.

Baltoscandia. Icelanders [Icelandic mythology is known for the dark balder (skuggabaldr), a creature dangerous for humans, a cross between a maternal fox and a paternal cat. A dark balder alone causes great damage to sheep people from Bear Lake. They find him in a hole in Blanda Gorge and kill him there. When he is stabbed, the dark balder says, "Tell the cat in Bolly's Court that her dark balder was stabbed into the gorge today." When the Dark Balder killer returns to Bolly's Court, it's already night. He's lying in bed telling this story. An old cat is sitting on the crossbar. As soon as a person conveys the words of the dark balder, the cat jumps on him, clings to his throat with its claws and teeth, and does not calm down until his head flies off]: Shenyavskaya 2010:77; Danes (Ling near Soroe) [Not far from the village there is a hill called Brondhoje. It is inhabited by a people of trolds, creatures that are somewhere between humans and devils, but closer to the latter. Among these trolds is one sick old devil who is grumpy and feisty because he married a young woman. This trold often pits others against each other, which is why he is nicknamed Knurre-Murre, that is, "Spor-Grumbling". Knurre-Murre found out that his young wife had given him an extra pair of horns. To avoid revenge, Knurre-Murre, a trold in love who aroused his jealousy, is forced to fly out of a stone pyramid to save his life and hide in the house of a man named Platt. He lets him sleep in a large wicker chair and feeds him bread and milk twice a day. One evening, the owner comes home late and is surprised to tell his wife that when he was passing by Brondhoje, a trold came out and spoke to him, saying: "Listen, Platt, tell your cat that Knurre-Murre is dead." When the cat heard this, he kicked a bowl of milk and bread, jumped on his hind legs, like a man, and ran out of the house, meowed: "What?! Is Knurre-Murre dead? So I can go home"]: Palgrave 1819:98; Lithuanians (Zaraisky u., d. Zhukliškės) [A man picks berries in a swamp. He hears: "Yuozapas, Yuozapas, tell Nopia that Zopia is dead." He comes home, says. Everyone sees a snake crawling out from under the stove and crawling into the swamp]: Kerbelite 2019, No. 126:67; Lithuanians [A man goes to the field for sheaves of compressed rye. He finds a snake under the sheaf, kills it. She manages to say in a rude (i.e. Belarusian): "Tell the brownie that she is dumb." A man comes home for lunch, says at lunch that he killed a snake, and the snake spoke, but in a rude way: "Tell the brownie that the snake is dumb." A snake crawls out of the corner, stings a person, he dies]: Kerbelite 2019, No. 63:46; Lithuanians [a person hears a request said in Lithuanian: "Tell Kolodezny (Shulinyu) that the Last (Galina) dies"] : Kerbelite 2019:261; Estonians [in the forest, a spirit tells a person to give a message when he returns home; at home, a person talks about what happened; at the same time, the devil flies out with a terrible noise stoves]: Aarne 1918, No. 45:123; Finns: Uther 2004 (1), No. 113A: 84

Volga - Perm. Komi-Permyaks [1) Gainsky district, d. Verkh-Lupya; Leshy asks to tell Kokra that Mokra was killed in the war; 2) Perm Krai, Kochevsky District, d. Vorobyevo; The man was riding a horse. There's a house on the farm, no one lives in it anymore. Something comes out: "Hey, tell Chukcher Chakcher that your mother is dead." A man comes home, sits down for dinner. A story starts at the table. The doors snap in the head and someone runs away. This is a housekeeper Chukcher Chakcher]: Goleva 2011:159; Komi Zyryans (p. Vishera) [A hunter-fisherman can't shoot a squirrel. He calls the goblin, asks him to shoot for him. A very tall man in a black sign comes in, kills a squirrel and gives it to a hunter, and finally asks him to tell Kokle-Mokla that his son was killed in the war. The hunter returns to the hunting hut, tells his brother about the help and strange assignment of the goblin, wondering who Kokla-Moklya is. My brother doesn't believe it. The floor of the hut opens, an unknown creature jumps out and weeps into the forest crying. The hut is getting brighter and more fun]: Zhakov 1908:93; Komi [A woman walks from Storozhevsk to Bogorodsk at night. It comes to the Musyur watershed, where there is Krasnaya Gora, a coastal steep. Walking across the bridge over the stream, suddenly someone screams, "Hey, when you get to Balya-way stream, tell me Kuvin Kawa is dead!" The woman promises, although she does not see anyone, comes to the Balya-Way stream, near Bogorodsk, stops and says: "They told me from Mount Krasnaya that Kuvin Kava died!" There someone says, "Well!" The woman goes further]: Rochev 1984 No. 120:125; Mordovians - Erzya (Kochkurovsky district, p. Kochkurovo) [People lay peas in the field of Novaya Pyrma village. The third cart is loaded at dusk. At this time, a voice is heard on the boundary: "Tell Kudaltina (the patroness of the house) that Paksealtine (the patron saint of the field) has died." They come home, unload, sit down for dinner and talk about it. A subtle voice sounds from under the stove: "Dead...". Something like the wind comes from under the stove, opens the door and flies away, leaves the door open, and the family at the table gets scared. According to the storyteller, this is Yurtava (the patroness of the hearth), a relative of Paksyava (the patron saint of the field)]: Sedova 1983, No. 108:159.