M38c1. Converting old to young: an unsuccessful imitation, ATU 753. .15.16.27.-.29.31.32.

The character (supposedly) forges a person, rejuvenating or reviving him, the other unsuccessfully tries to imitate him.

Sudanese Arabs, Catalans, Ladins, Italians (Ticino, Veneto), Sicilians, Ladins, Bretons, French (Gascony, Lorraine, Dauphine), British, Scots, Irish, Germans (Grimms, Pomerania), Friezes, Walloons, Flemish, Romanians (Transylvania), Bulgarians, Greeks, Slovenes, Russians (Novgorod, Karelia, Tula, Tambov, Voronezh), Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Podolia, Yekaterinoslavskaya) ), Belarusians, Czechs, Georgians (Racha), Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Finns, Estonians, Lutsies, Latvians, Lithuanians, Mari.

Southern Europe. The Portuguese [the blacksmith brags that he is a master craftsman; St. Peter came in, shoved the donkey, taking off his legs and putting it back; Jesus forges the old woman; the blacksmith tries to do the same; Peter puts his legs on the horse, I. heals the blacksmith's mother, whom he began to beat with a hammer] : Cardigos 2006, No. 753:175; Catalans [Jesus hired a blacksmith as an apprentice; to shove an animal, cuts off his leg, then puts it back; the blacksmith tries to imitate; I. forged an old woman into a young girl; the blacksmith burned his mother; asks I. for help; he attached his leg, revived the blacksmith's mother]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 753:149; Italians: Crane 1885, No. 51 (Veneto) [=Widter et al. 1866, No. 5: 28-29; the blacksmith considers himself the best of the best; the Lord asks permission to use his workshop, forges St. Peter from an old man to a handsome young man; when the Lord is with St. Peter leaves, the blacksmith puts his father in the furnace, he burns; the blacksmith runs to the Lord, who tells him to return home - his father is alive; the blacksmith has tempered his pride]: 188-189; Wildhaber, Uffer 1971, No. 65 ( Switzerland) [blacksmith Sep Antoni was able but arrogant; believed that he was unrivaled in his craft; one day a man accompanied by an old man came and asked for him to use the mountain and tools, said that he was from Jerusalem; he threw the old man into the horn, forged, threw him into the water, he became young; the SA decided to rejuvenate his father in the same way, he only charred; the SA guessed that the Lord and St. Peter; he had a hard time finding them, begged for forgiveness; the Lord revived Father SA, the SA changed his character, everyone loved him]: 243-245; Sicilians [man asks the Lord to rejuvenate his father; Jesus orders the old man to be put in a hot stove, takes out the young man; later the man asks St. Peter to rejuvenate his mother; St. Peter tells us to do what Jesus commanded to do, but the old lady burned down; Jesus revived and rejuvenated her]: Calvino 1980, No. 163.II: 595-596 (retelling in Dähnhardt 1909:155-156); Ladins: Uther 2004 (1), No. 753 : 407-408.

Western Europe. The Bretons (Lower Brittany) [{cf. Norwegians}; Jesus wanders with St. Peter and St. John; tells Peter that he must marry the first person he meets; Peter does not dare to object; a dirty peasant girl, Peter refuses in horror; then an old woman; then an ugly old woman; Jesus does not accept any more refusals, Peter is forced to agree; they come to the blacksmith, Jesus asks for permission to try work-he is also a blacksmith; the apprentice says that the craftsman should be contacted respectfully - he is the best of the masters; Jesus does as the apprentice told him; throws Peter's wife into the horn, pulls her out with ticks, tells her to be beaten with hammers three times; an ugly old woman turns into a young woman beautiful; the guests leave; the blacksmith decides to reforge his old mother, but the result is only a porridge of bloody bones and burnt meat; the blacksmith catches up with Jesus; he tells him to get rid of arrogance; when he returns, the blacksmith finds the old mother unharmed]: Soupault 1959, No. 24:231-236; the French (Gascogne) [the couple has five children; one does not want to work and has gone on a journey; his name is Larramé; towards the other , Pelyalo, went together; P. offers L. to steal the sheep; but there is a shepherd with a stick; he goes by himself, asks the sheep, the shepherd gives it happily; P. tells L. to cook it while he goes to town himself; tired of waiting, L. alone ate giblets; said that they were not there; after eating, P. offered to convert the old into young ones; the old lady was ready to give 3,000 francs if she was made 15 years old; P. put her in a boiling pot, took it out, put it on the bed - there's a young girl; P. divides the money into three parts: a third for the one who ate the giblets; L.: it's me; after receiving the money, L. went to convert old people into young people; the old lady agreed for 4000 francs; when she saw the corpse boiled, the maid called the gendarmes; P. appeared, put the lady back into the cauldron, she came to life young; P.: I am Lord and do not try to imitate me]: Delarue, Tenèze 1985, No. 785:224- 231); French: Cosquin 1876, No. 30 (Lorraine) [a soldier meets a man, does not know that it is Jesus; he gives him money, tells him to buy a ram; the soldier buys; the companion goes to get water, and the soldier ate liver; says the ram did not have a liver, but when a companion offers him two-thirds of the ram, he admits that he ate it; they come to an 80-year-old rich old woman; she promises half of the fortune to whoever has her will rejuvenate; I. burned her, wrapped ash in canvas, the old woman was born as a 15-year-old girl; another old woman asked to rejuvenate her, I. fulfilled; after parting with Jesus, the soldier volunteered to rejuvenate another woman, but she burned down, he was captured; then I. came up, revived and rejuvenated her]: 285-286; Joisten 1991, No. 64 [Jesus and St. Peter travels; an old woman takes lice out of her grandson's head; I.: what are you doing? old woman: it does not concern you; she continued to take out the lice for a year and one day; they go into the forge to shove a horse; I. tells Peter to bring the horse's leg, he brings it, I. got along with a horseshoe, Peter attached his leg to the horse back; the blacksmith has a 90-year-old mother; I.: I can forge her for a 20-year-old; Jean, who lived with a blacksmith, decided to rejuvenate his mother, but he and the blacksmith only burned her; I. and Peter stayed at the inn; hostess asked for 20 francs, I. gave them a hundred times more; when the guests left, the owner, with a gun in his hand, blocked the road for them and demanded money; I.: I will give it back if you put a piece of wood lying on the ground in your mouth; he put and became a donkey; St. Peter rode it; a year later they returned to the same inn owner; when she removed the donkey's bridle, he became her husband again; we came to see an old woman, who talks about how she had been taking out lice for a year; I. blew and lice disappeared]: 349-351; the British (Middle English source) [a blacksmith lived in Egypt, boasting of his skills; Jesus decided to teach him a lesson; asked him to forge a steel bar that would served as a guide to the blind; blacksmith: this is impossible; I.: I could make it, and I could also forge the old into the young; the blacksmith asked his old mother-in-law to be rejuvenated; I. put her in the horn, beat her with a hammer, she was born as a 30-year-old; the blacksmith asked him to teach him too, offered money, but I. replied that it was impossible to learn; but when I. left, the blacksmith put his blind wife in the horn, took her charred, hit her with a hammer arms and legs fell off; the blacksmith ran after I., who did not immediately agree to revive the woman, she became beautiful; I. told the blacksmith not to try to burn people anymore]: Dähnhardt 1909:156-157; Scots : Uther 2004 (1), No. 753:407-408; Irish [arrogant blacksmith; rejuvenation; savvy horse]: Jackson 1936:289; Germans (Pomerania) [St. Peter meets a young blacksmith and they travel together; they see a forge that says that the best blacksmith works here; St. Peter grabs the blacksmith's grandmother, throws him into the fire, tells the young assistant to inflate the bellows and hits him with a hammer; takes her out of the crucible and hits again until the old woman is replaced by a healthy young girl; when St. Peter went on, and the blacksmith decided to reforge his wife himself; when he heard a scream, St. Peter came back; but it was too late; the young girl was replaced by a monkey who ran into the forest (monkey origins)]: Jahn 1891, No. 48:255-256; Germans [Schwank von Hans Folz; Peter and Jesus they wander; P. asks I. to rejuvenate the old beggar; I. puts him in a blacksmith's furnace, a young man comes out; the blacksmith decides to rejuvenate his old father-in-law, who burned down; seeing this, the blacksmith's wife and her relative were so horrified that they gave birth to monkeys (the origin of monkeys)]: Dähnhardt 1909:162 (other German texts are mentioned in Widter et al. 1866:29-30); Germans [Peter and Jesus are wandering; P. asks I. rejuvenate the old beggar; I. puts him in the blacksmith's furnace, a young man comes out; the blacksmith decides to rejuvenate his mother-in-law; she screams terribly, he takes her out of the fire; seeing her distorted face, wife and daughter-in-law that night gave birth to children with a similar face (the origin of monkeys)]: Grimm, Grimm 2002, No. 147:462-463; the Flemish [when he learned that the blacksmith's mother had died, Jesus put her in the horn and revived the young one; when his wife died, the blacksmith tried to do the same thing, but the body burned down; I. tried to revive the woman, but it turned out to be only a monkey]: Dähnhardt 1909:166; wallons, friezes: Uther 2004 (1), No. 753:407- 408.

The Balkans. Romanians (Transylvania) [Jesus was hired as an apprentice to a gypsy blacksmith; he sent him to the forest to burn coal; the gypsy woman watched I. tear the fir into logs with one blow; said to her husband, a gypsy replied that it was not a miracle; a man drove up to shove a horse; I. cut off her legs, nailed her horseshoes, put her legs back; gypsy: he learned this from me; next time he cut off the horse's legs himself and was forced pay for it; and I. left]: Dähnhardt 1909:170; Bulgarians [hell brags to a jeweler (mason) that he can rejuvenate people; puts an old man in the horn and takes it out younger; a jeweler with a devil of steel work for a couple and got rich; when the hell was gone, the tsar (courtier) asked him to rejuvenate; the jeweler did it alone, but it didn't work out and he was hanged]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 753:264; Greeks, Slovenes: Uther 2004 (1), No. 753:407-408.

Central Europe. Russians (Novgorod, Karelia, Tula, Tambov, Voronezh), Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Podolia, Yekaterinoslavskaya), Belarusians [Wonderful rejuvenation (reforging): Christ (damn angel) forges an old man (old woman), making him young; the blacksmith tries to imitate him, but fails (he goes to prison for murder)]: SUS 1979, No. 753:188-189; Russians ( Voronezhskaya, s. Bolshaya Vereyka, 1936) [The poor blacksmith is not working, the devil advises to put another icon. The blacksmith hires the trait, the job becomes impossible, the blacksmith spits on the image, and the hell wipes it off. The devil shows the blacksmith how he turns an old man into a young man: first he orders the blacksmith to blow at the old man - he gets hot like fire, he is given water and the devil "hardens" him, the old man is getting younger. The hell fights with the owner and leaves. The master finds out that the blacksmith can rejuvenate, he sends his master to the horn, kindles bones, hits him with a hammer (?) , they fall apart. The blacksmith is sent to hard labor. (Damn mockery of the blacksmith)]: Baryshnikova 2007, No. 64:220-221; Russians (Tambov, Kirsanovsky U., 1890) [The blacksmith is an "unfamiliar worker", together they open a forge and offer" remake people." The master asks to make him young, he is dragged by the hair, put in the oven, hammered on an anvil, dipped in milk and rejuvenated, the master is happy and pays more than prescribed. The blacksmith and the worker argue about how to divide the money, the employee leaves. The blacksmith tries to repeat the forging process himself, and he is sent into exile for murder. It turns out that the worker was a trait and forged the line]: Smirnov 1917, No. 244:663-664; Ukrainians [a man in the forest hung bread on a knot, the wolf ate it; St. Yuri asks the wolves who did what; when he found out that the wolf offended the poor man, told him to serve the man for 3 years; the wolf became a boy, began to work for the man, forge, he became rich; the boy forged the old one the dog was young, the man's mother was young, he forged so many old people; leaving three years later, he told the man not to try it himself; he agreed to forge Mr.'s father, the old man burned down; the man was hanged, the wolf replaced it with a bag of straw, forged it for a living one; the same thing again (replaced it with a deck); ordered him to throw what was at hand in the face, then they would not stick around anymore; the man was no longer touched]: Petnikov 1956: 232-235; Czechs [St. Peter and Jesus went to the forge to ask for alms, but the blacksmith drove them away; P.: You will regret sending the Lord away; blacksmith: if it is one of you, let him rejuvenate my elderly father; I. put him in the horn and took it out as a young man; the blacksmith's wife: it would be better if he rejuvenated me; the blacksmith put her in the horn, she screamed terribly, he took her out and threw her into the water; when he saw the burnt woman, two neighbors gave birth monkeys (monkey ancestry)]: Dähnhardt 1909:163.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Georgians (Racha) [every time they remembered the devil, the king spit; the devils decided to take revenge; in the form of two young men and a boy they came to the blacksmith, the blacksmith took the boy for three years; Two years later, two old men came and asked them to be forged into young men; the boy volunteered to do it, put the old men in the oven, began to beat them with a hammer, and they turned into young men; when they found out, the king ordered him reforge; the boy threw it into the fire, it burned down]: Lominadze 1892, No. 2:27-28.

Baltoscandia. Norwegians [the blacksmith has signed a 7-year contract with the devil; for this period he will be better than all craftsmen; hangs a sign "Master of Craftsmen" on the door; the Lord and St. Peter; the Lord separates one leg after another from the horse, puts it in the horn, shoves it, puts his legs back; puts the blacksmith's mother in the oven, forges her into a young girl; when the blacksmith the next day they ask to shove a horse, he tries to repeat the trick, has to pay for the dead horse; puts an old beggar in the oven, she burns; the blacksmith tells the Lord that the devil has not fulfilled the contract; the Lord promises fulfill three requests from the blacksmith; he asks that without his permission no one can 1) get off the pear, 2) get off his chair, 3) get out of his purse; Peter says that the kingdom should have been asked heavenly; when the devil comes for the blacksmith's soul, he invites him to pick pears first; the devil promises not to come again for another 4 years; the same with the chair for another 4 years; offers the line to climb into the purse, puts it in the oven, hits him with a hammer; the devil promises never to come; when old, the blacksmith goes to hell, the hell does not tell him to let him in, locks the bolts; the blacksmith crawls into heaven when the door is opened slightly to let the tailor in, whom he met on the way]: Dasent 1970:105-113; Danes [the blacksmith boasted that he was a master of craftsmen; Jesus forged an old woman for a young one; the blacksmith decided to do the same to his mother, who burned down; St. Peter asked I. for help, but he turned the woman into an ermine (born ermine); Var.: an owl]: Dähnhardt 1909:167; Finns [in winter Jesus and St. Peter went into the forge to shove a horse; I. cut off its two legs, nailed its horseshoes and put her legs back; the old woman standing next to her was forged into a young one; the blacksmith tried to do the same; the horse died, him the mother burned down; he ran to ask I. for help; he revived the horse and attached her legs, but the blacksmith's mother turned into a monkey]: Dähnhardt 1909:168; Estonians [an apprentice blacksmith met in the forest an old man; he gave him a hammer with which he can forge anything; while no one is gone, he hits the wagon that was brought for repair with a hammer, and it looks like a new one; an old woman comes in and finds fault; the apprentice hits her with a hammer, threw it at the forge, and three years later he hit again and she became a girl; the master decided to try to do the same with his grandmother, but to no avail; he called the apprentice; he hit, it turned out old monkey]: Hurt in Dähnhardt 1909:167; Estonians []: Mälk et al 196:366-371; Lutsi [the blacksmith has the faces of saints on one wall, he prays to them; on the other, hell, he is threatened fist; hell decided to take revenge; in the form of a young guy he undertook to work for a blacksmith and convert the old ones into young ones; burns, puts them in one bucket, then into another, from there he gets the young one; tried with a dog and an old woman; then with the landowner's father; everything worked out; the blacksmith decided that he could do everything himself now; the king brought him an old mother-in-law, but instead of a beautiful woman he received a burnt corpse; the blacksmith was imprisoned, to shoot him; the devil brought him out of there, but told him to go forward to treat him with respect]: Annom et al. 2018:33-35; Latvians [Forging people. I. A blacksmith's assistant (devil) knows how to forge old people into young people. When an assistant leaves after earning a lot of money, the blacksmith tries to forge himself, but he fails. II. The blacksmith makes a line and makes a mockery of the statue. The devil is hired by a blacksmith as a farmhand and forges old people into young ones. The blacksmith tries to do the same but fails. The devil helps the blacksmith, but forbids him to mock the line]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 753:318; the Swedes [the saint takes off the horse's legs, shoves, then puts it back; forges the old woman in the horn to a young one; the blacksmith tries to repeat the same thing in vain]: Liungman 1961, No. 753:212; Lithuanians [the blacksmith takes an assistant - trait, angel, St. Petra; he rejuvenates or revives a person; the blacksmith believes he can do the same himself, fires an assistant, but the result is terrible; a returning assistant corrects everything]: Balys 1936, No. 753:75; Lithuanians [father taught his son blacksmithing; when he died, he ordered him to light a candle and a devil a poker; the son drew a jerk on the door and beat him between his eyes, but he is still poor; Vyalnyas hired him in apprentices; forged the poor man into a young man; did not take money, but told everyone to tell; knocked down the people, the blacksmith became rich; the apprentice left, the blacksmith decided to try it himself, baked him in the pan's furnace to death; in He is not in prison: if you don't hit me anymore, you'll go home; the blacksmith woke up in the swamp: no money, no happiness]: Velus 1989:82-86.

Volga - Perm. Marie [a devil is drawn in the forge; every time a blacksmith prays to God, he shows a fist line; the devil decides to teach him a lesson; as a young man he was hired as a student, surpassed his teacher in a month; offered to hang an ad that the old ones are forged here for the young; the master arrives; the student puts him in the fire, then puts the bones in the water bath, the master becomes young and healthy; arrives old woman; the blacksmith decides to do everything as the assistant did, the old woman burned down; the blacksmith was imprisoned; the student came and said that the ad referred only to men, and the old woman herself guilty and her due date of death came; the blacksmith was released; he no longer showed the fist line]: Beke 1938, No. 12:41-44.