M29g2. Cancer is a cunning winner.
.15.16.17.20.24.26.-.29.31. (.52.)
Cancer (crab) defeats or deceives strong opponents by cunning.
Italians (Emilia Romagna [cancer and fox], Tuscany [cancer and wolf], Abruzzo [cancer and wolf]), Irish [crab and fox], Germans [cancer and fox], Aramaeans [crab and fox], Yap [hermit crab and fish] garfish], Ponape [hermit crab and garfish], Palau (?) , Kusaie (?) , Truk (?) , Kapingamarangi (?) , Mentawai [crab and monkey], Koreans [crab and fox; crab and toad], Greeks [cancer and fox], Bosnians [cancer and fox], Russians (Tver, Tambov) [cancer and fox], Western (?) Ukrainians [cancer and fox], Belarusians [cancer and fox; cancer and people], Poles [cancer and people], Armenians [cancer and fox], Turks [cancer and fox], Danes [cancer and fox], Swedes [cancer and humans], Lithuanians [cancer and fox], Latvians [cancer and fox], Latvians [cancer and fox; cancer and humans], Estonians [cancer and fox], Finns [cancer and fox], Komi [cancer and fox], (chontal [crab and fox]).
Southern Italy. Italians: Dähnhardt 1912:79 (Emilia Romagna: 15th century, Piacenza) [cancer and fox agree to race; cancer: I give you a head start on your body length, tell me when you start; clings to fox tail, fox admits defeat], 79-80 (Tuscany: Pistoia) [wolf speaks contemptuously of cancer, they agree to race; wolf: let's start when I wave his tail; cancer clings to the tail the wolf, he is exhausted, the cancer is not tired, the wolf admits defeat]; Del Monte Tammaro 1971 (Abruzzo) [the cancer clings to the wolf's tail and wins the race], No. 1:5.
Western Europe. The Irish [fox and crab compete in the run; the crab clung to the fox's tail and wins]: Jackson 1936:285; Germans (13th century) [the fox despises cancer's slowness; they negotiate to race; the cancer clings to the fox's tail, the fox admits defeat]: Dähnhardt 1912:80; Germans: Dähnhardt 1912:80 ( Brandenburg) [fox and cancer race, cancer clings to the fox's tail, wins], 80-81 (Pomerania) [fox and cancer (var.: hedgehog) race, cancer clings to the fox's tail, wins].
Western Asia. Aramei [crab and fox harvested and threshed wheat together; fox: whoever runs first gets everything; the crab clings to the fox's tail, takes wheat, the fox gets straw]: Dä hnhardt 1912:78.
Micronesia-Polynesia. Yap [needlefish argues with the hermit cancer who is faster; he puts another cancer at the end of the race; the fish swims to the finish line, but the hermit cancer is already there; when it swims back, dies of fatigue]: Mitchell 1973, No. 11:39-41; Ponape [garfish and crab argue who swims faster; decide to swim to Kusaie Island; crab places Triton mollusks at a distance; when ways garfish calls out to the crab, they answer instead of him each time; garfish pleaded defeated]: Hambruch 1927, No. 44 in Permyakov 1971:34-35; Palau, Kusaie, Truk, "Race won by deception: relative helpers" is known in much of Micronesia with minor variations]: Mitchell 1973:247.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Mentawai [a brown monkey lures other monkeys into a trap; races against a crab that puts a lot of crabs instead]: Loeb 1929, No. 14:184-188.
China - Korea. Koreans [the fox went down to the sea, saw that the crab has many legs, offered to race; each time she sees the crab right behind her, as it grabs its tail; the fox leaves, counting defeated - because the crab has many legs]: Choi 1979, No. 35:15; Koreans [The toad caught the Crab, does not know how to start eating it more conveniently; he suggests drowning it first; hides in the water]: Choi 1979, NO. 32:14.
The Balkans. The Greeks (Lesbos) [the cancer and the fox cultivated the field together, harvested wheat; decided to give it to the first to run to the current; the cancer clings to the fox's tail, gets wheat]: Dähnhardt 1912:79; Serbs (Bosnia) [cancer and fox agree to race; cancer clings to fox tail, fox falls dead from fatigue]: Dähnhardt 1912:79.
Central Europe. Russians (Tverskaya, St. Kalinin, 1986) [the fox invited the cancer to race; the cancer grabbed her tail; at the finish she tells the fox that she has been waiting for her for a long time]: the archive of the Center for Tver Regional History and Ethnography, sent by V.E. Dobrovolskaya; Russians (Tambov) [the only known Russian version; the fox and the cancer agreed to race; the cancer clung to the fox's tail, saying at the finish it is already waiting for it]: Afanasiev 1958 (1), No. 35:52 ; Ukrainians: Berezovsky 1979, No. 453 (the place of recording is not known) [the fox mocks the slowness of cancer, he offers to race, clings to the fox's tail, she has reached - the cancer is nearby; no longer laughed at him], 454 (Hutsulshchyna) [~ (453)]: 459-460; Western Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Galicia, Hutsulshchyna), Belarusians [Fox (lion, hare, etc.) and cancer (hedgehog, turtle) : racing; cancer clings to the fox's tail]: SUS 1979, No. 275:97; Belarusians (one entry, poleshchuks; Federowski, III, No. 422:213; this text is also taken into account in Krzyżanowski 1963, No. 1310), [ cancer is mistaken for a tailor: they want to drown]: SUS 1979, No. 1310:280; Poles (7 entries) [fools caught cancer and demand that it sew clothes for them; cancer knocked down candles, causing a fire; says what it should be drowned; fools threw cancer into the river]: Krzyżanowski 1963, No. 1310:39.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Armenians [the cancer and the fox cultivated the field together, harvested wheat; decided to give it to someone who runs away from the mountain faster; the cancer asks the fox to hit it with its tail to know when to start running; clings to tail, ends up on a pile of wheat]: Orbeli 1956, No. 69:93 (=Dähnhardt 1912:78-79); Turks [turtle, crayfish and fox decide to cultivate the field together; the fox shies away from work and then offers give the harvest to the fastest; loses both times: the turtle places other turtles along the distance, and the cancer clings to the fox's hair]: Dor 2002, No. 19:61-62; Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 4:29.
Baltoscandia. Finns: Rakhimova 2000:174 [the fox laughs at the slowness of the cancer; he offers to race up the mountain; quietly clings to the fox's tail, turns out to be the winner]; Dähnhardt 1912 ( Kivima, Kaari, Loppi) [fox and cancer agree to race; cancer clings to the fox's tail, fox admits defeat]: 81; Danes [fox laughs at cancer's slowness; they negotiate race; cancer clings to the fox's tail imperceptibly, turns out to be the winner]: Dähnhardt 1912:81; Swedes [punish cancer by throwing it into the water]: Liungman 1961, No. 1310:282; Latvians : Arys, Meedne 1977, No. 1310 [Cancer is mistaken for a tailor. They decide to drown it], *1310D [Eel decides to teach a lesson: they throw it into the river]: 346; Latvians [cancer and fox race; cancer clung to the fox's tail and was the first to reach the goal]: Aris, Medne 1977, № 275:268; Lithuanians [the fox laughs at the slowness of the cancer; they agree to race; the cancer clings quietly to the fox's tail, asks why it's so late at the finish line, fox admits defeat]: Dähnhardt 1912:81; Estonians: Kippar 1986, No. 275 (rare, but all over Estonia except the southeast) [fox (hare) and cancer (frog, flea, snail) have agreed to race ; the cancer (snail, etc.) clung to the fox's tail and was the winner]: 167; Mälk et al 1967, No. 40 (Otepää) [the pond is almost dry in the heat; the fox speaks contemptuously of cancer; he says it is probably , walks better than runs; the fox offers to run to the mountain, the loser will pay the golden stick; the cancer clings to the fox's tail, pretends to come first; the fox paid the controversial]: 86-87; Normann, Lä tt 1968 [the fox and the cancer agreed to race; the cancer clung to the fox's tail, at the finish line he says he's tired of waiting; since then, the fox and cancer have not talked]: 87.
Volga - Perm. Komi [fox and cancer race, cancer clings to fox tail]: Korovina 2012, No. 275:78
(Wed. Mesoamerica {Euro borrowing} Chontal [the fox invites the crab to race; it clings to its tail and jumps off at the finish stone; says he's tired of waiting for it]: Pérez Gonzälez 2013: 98-100).