M39E. Under which tree? ATU 1543D*.

.11.12.14.17.22.23.26.-.34.

When reviewing the dispute, the judge asks about the secondary circumstances of the case. The offender is exposed by showing that he knows (or, on the contrary, does not know) about them.

Swahili, Benga, Hausa, Tunisian Arabs, Germans, Old Testament, Syrian Arabs, Saudi Arabs, Viets, Tulu, Himachal Pakhari, Kumaoni, (Telugu), Chinese (Guangdong), Bulgarians, Belarusians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Persians, Tajiks, Lithuanians, Latvians, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Kyrgyz, Buryats (Upper Angara), Mongols (Khalkha?) , the Mongols of Ordos.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Swahili [When going on business, the merchant puts gold coins in the pot, fills everything with oil, and leaves the pot to his friend; two years later, he decides to use oil, finds the coins, takes them away, and fills the pot with oil again; three years later, the merchant returns, complains to the Sultan, who rejects the complaint; then the merchant explains that the oil changes color over time; it turns out that the oil in the pot fresh, buddy is forced to return the money]: Klipple 1992, â„– J1176. 3:383; benga [when a person goes on a journey, leaves a sitanye keg (butter?) ; one day the neighbor's wife wanted a sitanye, the husband opened it, and then the money; he took it and filled the keg with sitanye; when he returned, the owner complains to the elders, they decide not in his favor; but the children continue discuss the case and the victim's son says sitanye should go bad in 10 years; the neighbor returns the money]: Klipple 1992, No. J1176.3:384.

West Africa. Hausa [when he left, Ali put the money in a jar, filled it with honey and put it in storage to Tanko; two years later, T. saw that the honey had deteriorated, took out the money and poured fresh honey into the pot; when T. returned, He did not find any money; the emir asked the judge and advisers how long the honey could stay fresh; they replied that it was a year; the emir asked T. to explain why the honey in the jar was fresh; he had to return the money]: Laptukhin 1964:89-90.

North Africa. Tunisian Arabs [when he went to Mecca, the man left the money to his neighbor; when he returned, he said that he did not know anything about the money; the judge asked if there were any witnesses; plaintiff: no, we agreed together under an olive tree; judge: olive is a sacred tree, bring its leaf, he will tell the truth; when the plaintiff has left, the judge asks the defendant: what does he think the plaintiff has reached the place; defendant: halfway through passed; judge: how do you know where the tree is; the defendant confessed everything]: Ayadi 2008, No. 92:198-199.

Western Asia. Old Testament [two elders, who were judges, were waiting for Susanna bathing in the garden; she rejected them, they told her husband Joachim that they saw S. with a young man; S. was sentenced to death; Daniel asks separately, each of the elders, under which tree he saw adulterers; the elders name different trees, they are executed]: Dan., 14; Syrian Arabs [Iben Atil borrowed 1,000 lire from Iben Kanawat and then said that did not take anything; the judge ordered the IC to bring the stone from the place on the road where he borrowed money for the IA; when the IC left, the judge pretended to be tired of waiting and finally asked the IA if the IC had already reached stone; IA: of course he did; the judge ordered him to return the money immediately and, when IC brought the stone, handed it to him]: Abu Risha 2015, No. 1:12-13; Saudia [people felt like husband and wife were stealing, but They could not be caught; the calf was stolen, the meat was hidden, the skin and bones were buried; the owner accused these husband and wife; the judge imprisoned both the defendant and the plaintiff; told the defendant's wife that her husband allegedly confessed, but claims that the calf was thin and the owner was fat; woman: her husband knows better, he didn't even earn money on his skin; her husband had to confess]: Juhaiman 1999:19-20.

Burma - Indochina. Vieta [the moneylender came to the poor for a debt; only a boy at home; says that the father went to cut heads alive, plant headless ones, the mother bought sticks and sell the wind; moneylender: tell me which means I will forgive the debt, the termite will be a witness; boy: father plants rice seedlings and mother sells fans; they go to court; boy: the moneylender himself pointed to the termite that crawled on the pole; moneylender : on a chopstick! Judge: So there was a witness, the boy was right]: Nikulin 1976:60-62.

South Asia. Tulu [the silk merchant hired camels with a driver; fell ill on the way, told the driver to go ahead and wait for him to recover and catch up with him; after waiting several months, the driver sold camels and silk, went into another business; the merchant recovered and eventually found a driver, but he said he did not know him and had never been a camel driver; after hearing both sides, the judge ordered the plaintiff and the defendant to leave because they had no evidence; shouted to catch up: "Driver, come back for a minute"; he returned; the judge realized that the defendant was really a camel driver and told him make amends to the merchant]: Ramaswami Ayyar 1932:929-930; himachali plowmen [a man buried gold under a tree in the forest and one day saw that someone had dug it; the king found out that the tree had healing properties; learned that people whose illness is treated with the leaves of this tree have recently suddenly become rich; the thief confessed and returned gold]: Seethalakshmi 1960, No. 17:61; Kumaoni [two brothers they found a bag containing gold and two rubies on the road; they shared what they had found, the youngest went home, and the elder decided to travel again, telling the youngest to give his ruby to his wife; when he returned, nothing about a ruby did not know, but her brother said he gave it to her; brought two witnesses to the judge; the judge told everyone to shape a piece of wax into a ruby; the brothers sculpted it the same way, the witnesses differently, and the wife did not know what to sculpt ; the judge sentenced the witnesses to death, but they were guilty and he forgave them; ordered his younger brother to be beaten, who returned the ruby]: Minaev 1966, No. 47:110-112.

China - Korea. The Chinese (Guangdong) [a man planted garlic, spent the night at a hatch {something to lie on, conditionally a couch} near the garden; once decided that since the thief still hadn't come, he could not to be afraid, lay down in the house, and in the morning saw that the garlic had been stolen; the judge found that the only witness to the crime was hatch, summoned her for questioning; the couch was silent, she was beaten, the audience laughed; the judge accused them of contempt of court, fined everyone a head of garlic; people went to buy garlic; when it was brought, the plaintiff easily identified which heads were from his garden; found a shopkeeper, he said he bought garlic from a peasant; he was convicted of stealing, sentenced; the garlic he brought was given to the plaintiff]: Fielde 1893:123-128.

The Balkans. Bulgarians [the rich man denies borrowing money from the poor man; the cunning Peter Judge sends the poor man to bring the tree branch under which he gave the money; the poor man does not return for a long time; the rich man exposes himself by saying that the tree was close]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 1543D*: 501.

Central Europe. Belarusians [A fraudulent merchant, a resourceful judge and a witness stone; the huckster sues the buyer and claims that he did not pay the money for the goods; the judge announces that he sent defendant for a stone witness; the huckster ironizes this ("20 horses will not bring that stone here") and thus exposes himself; the lawsuit is dismissed]: SUS 1979, No. 1546A**: 324.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Armenians: Harutyunyan 1986 [the shepherd found the treasure, told the village chief; he sent another worker to kill the shepherd and pick up the treasure; before his death, the shepherd asked the worker to give 3 gems to his pregnant wife; if a boy is born, let him name Dad-Bedad, and if a girl, let him call him whatever he wants; the chief and the worker shared the treasures; DB has grown up, asks the mother what he did father; mother: was a blacksmith; DB asks to take him as a student to a blacksmith; after a day he returned: scary and unpleasant; the same with a tailor, with a carpenter; mother admitted that his father was a shepherd; DB began to herd at the head calves, earned quite a lot over the summer; asks the mother where the money his father earned in 30 years; mother: he was crazy, spent everything; but gave one of the three stones that her husband's murderer gave her; the jeweler gave her for him a bag of gold; they moved closer to the king; with the money they received for the second stone, they built a palace like a king's; for the third DB they bought a royal dress and crown; in the afternoon, the boy herds his calves, in the evening at home he sits on the throne; advisers come to him, he solves difficult cases; once the king and vizier also came under the guise of dervishes; the adviser talks about a case that the king could not resolve; one merchant left the money to his wife for 8 years, but was away for 12 years; on the way home he met another; gave him 3 gems to give to his wife, and left again for 12 years; the second merchant stole stones; the first returned; wife : I didn't get anything; second: she spent everything; brought false witnesses; DB tells me to bring merchants and witnesses; DB asks witnesses separately, each answers differently about the size of the stones (DB gave each had clay pellets of different sizes and everyone replied that the stone was exactly this size) and about the time of year when it happened (spring, autumn, winter); witnesses confess that they lied; the next the day the boy went to herd his calves; the king orders him to be brought to him; DB asks for royal power for two hours; DB again called witnesses, merchants and his mother; the killer worker confessed everything; the king allowed the DB to cut off the head; {the text does not explain what Dad Bedad means; apparently, the name is significant}]: 146-157; Bogoyavlensky 1892b, No. 2 [one person sent gems with his other wife; that He took them away and brought three witnesses; the king judged in favor of the thief; returning to the village, the litigants saw that the shepherds had chosen a king for fun; he was wise and just; the shepherd king asked witnesses should bring ordinary stones of the same size as the precious ones; each brought different ones, the thief had to more than return the stolen goods; the shepherd king asks the king to blind him in order to be completely impartial; to test the shepherd king, Jesus looked like an old man, drove past an old woman chasing calves; one of the calves followed him; the old man said that the calf gave birth to his mule (boat); the shepherd king: not I can resolve the dispute today, fish came out of the sea and ate my wheat; - Fish don't eat wheat; - But mules don't give birth to calves either]: 78-82; Azerbaijanis: Bagriy, Zeynally 1935:576-585 [=Akhundov 1955:272-279 ; one merchant Saleh, the other Valeh; they came to another city; V. earned little, and S. went home a lot; V. wanted to send sweets to his children, but gave them to the boy, and he gave him a ruby; this ruby V. gave S. for his wife, but he hid it; the master gave V. a lot of rubies for his loyalty; V. became rich and returned home; asked his wife, who was begging, but she did not recognize him; ordered him to complain to the Shah on S.; he hired false witnesses; the bald man proclaimed himself king for a while, solved the case, calling Shah Abbas as well; each false witness described the ruby in different ways; the Shah ordered the witnesses and S. to be cut off the head, and give his property to his wife V.; V. opened to his wife]: 272-279; Tahmasib 1964 [elder brother Valekh, younger brother Saleh; after the death of father V. took everything for himself; S. went to work; met V.; with his earnings he bought a diamond, asked V. to give it to his wife; when he returned, he found out that V. had not given anything to his wife; in court, V. bribed four witnesses, the shah confirmed the verdict in his favor; the bald man asks the Shah come as a vizier, arranges a new trial; asks witnesses separately; one agrees that V. gave S. a diamond, the other that it was gold, the third that silver, the fourth that it was silver, and the fourth that paper money; verdict: V. will give Saleh a diamond and the price of five diamonds, each of the witnesses will punish the judge as a bribe taker, the shah must apologize to S. and his wife; the vizier indignant, Shah agrees]: 47-61; 1984 [someone came to Molla Nasreddin and asked to be a false witness, to say that the other owes him a hundred pounds of wheat; MN asked for 20 coins, but he gave only 15; at the trial, MN said he saw for himself how that man lent a hundred pounds of barley; the judge found him in contradiction; MN: he should have paid more]: 64-67; Kurds [when he met on the road, one peasant bought from another sheep, promising to pay in the city; then said that he knew nothing; Kazi asks where the agreement was reached; by the cliff; lead her as a witness; the victim went to the rock, and the deceiver laughed: he will not be able move such a rock; kazi: so you know what kind of rock; you had to pay]: Jalil et al. 1989, No. 269:531.

Iran - Central Asia. The Persians [after leaving, the young man gave the money to the old man; when he returned, the old man said he knew nothing; Judge: Where were you when you negotiated? young man: under the tree; judge: go bring the tree as a witness; when the young man has left, the judge asks the old man if he has already reached the tree; old man: now he has reached; the young man has returned, the judge said that the tree has come and testified; if there was no contract, how did the old man know where the tree was; the old man returned the money]: Ashrafi et al. 1963, No. 105:50-52; Tajiks [the man found a bag of gold; a friend advised me to give it back for storage; then said he knew nothing; they came to Efendi and a man told him about their conversation under a tree; Efendi sent him to witness the tree; after a while he asked the defendant, whether, in his opinion, his friend had already reached the tree; he replied that it was unlikely that it was an hour's drive to the tree near the farsang; when the man returned, Efendi stated that the tree had come and testified about a friend's cunning; he had to return the gold]: Gordlevsky 1957, No. 408:238-239; Amonov, Ulug-zade 1957 [{apparently the same text in another paraphrase}]: 408.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [a rich peasant borrowed money from the poor for 15 years; the poor says that the stone they are sitting on will be a witness; at the trial, the rich says he knows nothing about the debt; the judge: let the defendant bring a stone as a witness; rich: yes, this stone and three horses will not drag; judge: so you know what the stone was; tells you to repay the debt to the poor man]: Lobite 1965:355-356; Latvians [Witness stone. The owner doesn't want to pay the poor man under the contract. When the contract was signed, the owner said: "Let the stone be the witness!" The judge orders that the stone be brought to court. Host: "Oh, the rock is so heavy (so far)"]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 1543D*: 358.

Volga - Perm. The Bashkirs [the old man lent money to the huntsman; he refused to give it back - he knows nothing; the old man brought him to court to Erense; replied that it was under a poplar by the road; E. sent him to the poplar - let will testify in your favor; asks the huntsman if the old man has already reached the poplar? eget: not yet, poplar is quite far away; the old man is back: the poplar is silent; E.: he was already here and testified in your favor; eget returned the money]: Barag 1992, No. 63 (79): 161.

Turkestan. Kazakhs: Mazhuga 1962a [younger brother gave the elder money to save; when he asked for it back, the elder said he did not know anything; the younger said that the conversation took place under the old karagach; biy told him to go to the elder and bring him as a witness; when his younger brother has left, Biy asks the elder twice if he has reached the elder; it is clear from the answers that the elder brother knows where is that tree; older brother had to return the money]: 79-81; Sidelnikov 1962 [the man gave money to a neighbor; he denies everything; the judge asks the plaintiff where the case was; he says that under the tree; the judge: it means that there is a witness; gave the plaintiff a seal and sent him to the tree - let him appear for questioning; asks the defendant if the plaintiff has reached the tree; he says that he has not yet had time; a little later: now he has reached; when the plaintiff returned, the judge said that he had already questioned the tree; the defendant returned a hundred gold and paid a fine]: 351-352; Karakalpaks [money was stolen from the merchant at the inn; leave no one had time, so Omirbek promised to find the thief; marked the rooster under the inverted cauldron and told everyone to touch the cauldron: when the thief touched, the rooster would scream; then told everyone to raise their hands and show fingers; everyone was soot, and one was clean; he was a thief, since he was afraid to touch the cauldron]: Privalov 1970:79-81; Kyrgyz [dzhigit gave a hundred gold to an old neighbor for preservation; when returned, the neighbor replied that he did not take anything; the judge asked the horseman where the case was; under the poplar; the judge gave the horseman a seal, ordered her to be shown to the poplar and bring him as a witness; when the dzhigit left, the judge three times asked the old man if the horseman had reached the poplar; he first replied that he had not yet reached it, then that the horseman was returning; when he returned, the judge said that the poplar had already come and testified in his favor (the old man would not know where the poplar was if he hadn't taken the money)]: Brudny, Eshmambetov 1968:185-187.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Buryats (Kudinsky, Upper Angara) [Tsar An-Bogdor dreamed that his daughter had given birth to a son who became king; locked his daughter in an underground dungeon; young B found the magic stone Erdem, met a friend named Sun, asked him to give Erdem to his relatives, but Sun took him for himself; brought false witnesses to the king, who decided in his favor; seven sons of a rich man grazed calves on the hill; a son with them the poor man herded one calf; they played and whoever wins the run is the king and judges the others; once the children of a rich man beat the poor man's son; he walked and cried; met B, he also cried; told how his friend San appropriated him erdem, but the king did not protect him; the king called the boy named Taba Yarya to judge who owned Erdeni; Tya ordered both applicants and three witnesses brought by the deceiver to blind a ball of clay in the shape of a stone; the witnesses failed, the stone was awarded to the rightful owner; the king made TYA an adviser; he approved the king's decision to lock his daughter, but he began to go to her; she is pregnant, king He put the guards out, Tya gave the guards a drink, took the twins, left them in the forest; one lived with the cubs, the other somewhere else; he crept up and caught the one with the cubs, they lived together; the king sent an army the wolves warned the brothers, ran over the horses; so three times; the wolves ordered the magic stone to be removed from the body of a dead child who would swim along the river; with him, the brothers came to AB; TYA dug two thrones out of the ground , wooden soldiers around; they did not allow only two brothers to sit on thrones; Olot, who was found in the forest, sat on gold, Sholgu's wolf son on silver; TYA ordered the king to give his clothes to Olot, his own gave Sholga; Olot became Mongolian (Chinese) tsar, Sholgu became Russian]: Potanin 1883, No. 59:279-283; Mongols (Khalkha?) [the poor man has found a gem; the lama suggests taking it to the poor man's parents, and let him pray to the Burkhans for a month; a month later, the lama says that he found the gem himself; the khan says that since there are no witnesses, nothing can be done; the badarchi (wandering llama) promises to judge; gave the poor man, the llama, and the llama's witnesses a piece of clay for each to make a copy of the stone; the llama and the poor man have the same copies, and each his lama's witnesses; the khan returned the stone to the poor man, expelled the lama and false witnesses]: Khoza 1954:20-21; the Mongols of Ordos [near the city where King Arji Borji lived, children played: who would run up the hill, he became king that day; a man named Zu went to distant lands, found the Molor Erdeni jewel, met fellow countryman Lee and asked him to hand Erdeni over to his wife; he agreed with two nobles divide the Erdeni if they support him in court; meanwhile, Zu found the Chindamani-erdeni jewel and returned; Lee replied that he handed it over to his wife in front of two witnesses; A. recognized Lee as right; Zu walked and cried; the child king invited him to judge; the boy called Lee and the nobleman witnesses and told everyone to make a molor-erdeni shape out of clay; one false witness made it like a sheep's head, the other - in the genus of pork, only Zu and Lee's uniforms looked like the original; the boy told A. everything and offered to cede the throne to him; the next time one man left home, leaving his wife and boy; without him his wife had another boy, both similar; when he returned, the father does not know who his son is; King A.: a real son must remember 9 ancestors; the poor man's son could not know this, and the son who took the form of a son Chitkur (hell) them called it; A. handed the chitkura to his father, and the real son went and cried; the king boy offered to judge him; the real son would fit into the bottle; the chikur got in, the child king corked it and sent it to A. - once he decides wrong, let him cede the throne to him; A. took the soldier, dug up the hill on which the children played, exposed the throne on wooden soldiers; A. wanted to sit down, but one soldier stopped him: sit down if you feel as wise as the one who sat on this throne; and spoke about King Bairmagaste; his elder wife Checek-Bucyukchi has a child, the youngest is childless; at night the king went to heaven and repaired it there court or service; maliciously burned the human shell; {G.P.: originally drafted to marry Sholmo?} B. told C. and her son to flee to the kingdom of Li-Hagan, because his own would now take 500 sholmos; one of her seven dear girls became pregnant and put the child in a wolf hole; L. took the widow and gave her a home; merchants saw the child at the wolf hole; he called the cubs brothers, and the wolf and the wolf and the she-wolf parents; the head of the merchants took the boy, named Shal; the merchants spent the night by the river; Amagasadekchi, the son of Queen C., hunted there; merchants hear a wolf howl; Shal explains: at night a dead body will float along the river, molor-erdeni in it; A. overheard, caught the body, carved out the erdeni; at the next night, the wolves report that the river will split and will flood the place; people moved half of the goods to a high place, went for the rest; A. put his father's seals on the abandoned goods, went to L. and said that the merchants had robbed his father's house; the king planted them to prison, but A. asked to be released and took only S.; they came to the former kingdom of B.; there people cry: sholmo eat 500 people a day; A. ordered to prepare 500 lonha of wine and put them in his father's palace; 500 got drunk, A. killed them]: Potanin 1893, No. 3:136-138.