M39e1. Iron eaten and boy kidnapped, ATU 1592, 1592A. .12.-.15.17.21.-.24.27.-.33.
A person appropriates property. The owner or his assistant puts the kidnapper in such a position that he is forced to return everything (usually the victim kidnaps the child of the deceiver). {Apparently, all references in Ting 1978 do not refer to Chinese, but to Tibetans; Uther 2004 refers to the Dagestan text in Levin 1978, No. 52, but it is not clear which group we are talking about; there is also a deaf reference to the "Code of Japanese fairy tales - Tsukan", it needs to be checked}.
Hausa, Kordofan, Sudanese Arabs, Moroccan Berbers, Kabilas, Arabs of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Italians (region not specified, conditionally south), Spaniards, Syrian Arabs, Arameans, Tibetans, Mustang, Khmers, Ancient India, Kashmiris, Punjab, Kumaoni (or Himachali Pahari), Gujarati, Sinhales, Nias (Macedonians, Bulgarians), Greeks (?) , Russian written tradition, Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Ivano-Frankivsk region), (Adygs), Avars, Lezgins, Georgians, Turks, Kurds, Persians, Turkmens, Latvians, Lithuanians, Kazan Tatars, Uighurs (Lobnor), (Japanese?). {The Bulgarian text mentioned in Uther 2004 does not meet the definition of a motive; Macedonian that is not available to me probably resembles Bulgarian; Greek may supposedly be similar to Turkish}
West Africa. House [when leaving, the man put the money in the bottom of the pot, filled it with oil and gave it to a friend for storage; the oil went bad, a friend laid it out, took the money, replaced it with pebbles; 10 years later the owner came back and did not find money; a friend ordered to make a scarecrow similar to that friend and catch a baby monkey; he was taught to hug a scarecrow; ordered him to go with a friend's son to the market, lock him up, and Tell a friend that the child became a monkey - she threw herself around his father's neck; an acquaintance returned the money, and the stolen one returned the boy]: Laptukhin 1964:72-74.
Sudan - East Africa. Kordofan (ethnicity not specified) [the robber was repeatedly captured and served his sentence; decided to do something else; became a captain; once carried jugs of butter; at night, the crew fell asleep on the shore , but the captain did not sleep; another robber and his men took some of the goods to him; the captain followed quietly; when the robber and his wife left to move the jugs to the pantry, the captain stole the baby; the robber's friend forced him to tell him how it was and assumed that the captain had taken the baby away; the robber came to this and they peacefully agreed: the robber would return the oil and then the captain would give it back he had a baby; the oil thief confessed that he was a robber, and the captain admitted that he used to be the main robber; the oil thief did not dare to steal anymore]: Frobenius 1923, No. 22:251-254; Sudanese Arabs : Jahn 1970 in El-Shamy 2004, No. 1592:870-871
North Africa. Berbers of Morocco (Western 1949) [when going on Hajj, the man filled the vessel with coins, poured oil on top, and gave it to a Jewish friend for storage; when he returned, the vessel seemed too light to him; a friend advised him to poke a ramrod; it turned out that there was only oil to the very bottom; cadia advises training two baby monkeys until they obey orders; Hajji does so and continues to follow the advice of the kadia; persuaded a Jew to give him his little sons to study; hid the children and showed monkeys in the evening; probably for some bad deeds, God turned your children into monkeys; the Jew sold many of property, filled the vessel with coins and brought Haji; he returned his children to him]: Leguil 1988, No. 19:103-111; Kabila: Dermenghem 1945, No. 17 [the man went to Hajj, leaving his neighbor to save his daughter and a pot of salt; there was salt on top, gold below; once it rained for a long time, the neighbors did not leave the house, began to use the salt given for preservation, found gold, took it away; (the girl was hidden - this is clear from context); when the merchant returned, the neighbor showed him his daughter's grave and gave him salt; the judge sent the merchant - he has no evidence; the grief-stricken merchant met boys playing; among them Sultan's son Harun Al-Rashid and his cousin are the son of a vizier; HR says that a neighbor took gold and a log in the grave; sent people, it turned out; called experts: one determined that there was salt in the upper part of the pot, the other was that there was gold in the bottom; the neighbor was beaten on the heels; he returned the gold and the girl; the sultan wanted to immediately hand over power to his son, but he replied that he was still young; then they decided that one would rule first and the other in the afternoon]: 115-118; Rivière 1882, No. 5 [when going on Hajj, the man entrusted a pot of oil to the Jew, putting gold on the bottom, and when he returned, he found that there was no gold; friend gives advice... (p. 30 not available in pdf)]: 29-30; Arabs of Morocco [a Jew buys iron and says it was eaten by mice; the bribed kadiy agrees with him; the sultan appoints man as the chief of mice; the houses of the kadia and A Jew died]: Nowak 1969, No. 388:327; Tunisian Arabs [when going to Mecca, a man put gold coins in two pots, filled it with bacon and gave it to a Jew for storage (Jews do not eat bacon); a Jew's wife accidentally broke one pot; a Jew took the gold, bought two similar pots, filled them with bacon; when the man returned, the Jew gave the lard; when asked where the gold was, he replied that it had turned into lard; Abu- Nuvas promised to help; ordered a portrait of a Jew, buy a monkey and beat her, and leave her alone when she hid behind the portrait; the monkey got used to hiding behind a Jew; the NA ordered to replace the little one the son of a Jew is a monkey: they say, the boy ate bacon, but Jews cannot, so he became a monkey; AN suggested: if a monkey runs to a Jew, then it is his son; when he swung a stick, the monkey threw himself around his neck a Jew; Garn Arrashid told a Jew to pick up his monkey son and leave; on his way home, the man promised a Jew would torture his son if he did not get gold; the Jew returned the gold and got his son back]: Stumme 1893, No. 10: 116-121.
Southern Europe. Italians (no region specified, conditionally south): Cerise, Serafini 1975, No. 1592:349; Spaniards: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1592:325-326.
Western Asia. Aramei [while leaving on business, the merchant left a load of iron for storage by a friend; he sold it, and told the merchant that the iron had been gnawed by mice; the merchant pretended to believe; when he came to visit a friend, he took him away He hid his little son with him; said that the boy was taken away by a falcon; if mice can eat iron, this is not surprising; an acquaintance promised to give the money he received for iron if the merchant returned him son]: Belov, Wilsker 1960:328-329 (=1972:309-310); Syrian Arabs: El-Shamy 2004, No. 1592:870-871.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Tibetans: Komissarov 1997 [two friends found a gold vessel; one promised to check if it was gold and then said it was not tin; the other pretended to believe; when he came to visit, asked send his master's two sons to him; on the way home he caught two monkeys, the children played with them, each gave one his own name; told his father that his children suddenly turned into monkeys; he understood everything and returned the vessel to share the gold equally]: 43-45; O'Connor 1906 [almost identical text in Sakya, Griffith 1980:92-94; a passerine chick fell out of the nest, broke its paw; poor Cham-ba bandaged it, put the chick back in the nest; it grew up, flew in, threw the seed, ordered it to be planted, an ear grew, where instead of grain, the poor man sold them, raised money; the rich TSE-ring found out, took it out of the nest threw the chick so that it broke its paw, bandaged it, put it in the nest; the sparrow gave a seed, the creditor grew up from the previous incarnation, took all the property, made the man a slave; C. left, giving Ts. a bag of gold to preserve; he wasted everything, returned the sandbag, said that gold had turned into sand; C. set up a free school, C. sent his son there, left for a while; C. taught the monkey say, "Father, this is what I became"; I had to return gold to get a son]: 20-25; Mustang [father dies when his son is 11 years old; leaves gold and bequeaths not to trust either his friend nor to his wife; the boy leaves gold to a friend until he becomes an adult; when he comes to pick up the gold, he says that it has turned into rags; the young man does not return it, but asks for it he had two friend's children to help make a fence; he locked them, caught two monkeys and taught them to respond to the names of a friend's children; when he came, they rushed to him; the llama advised him to return the gold, then the children will return; the friend did so; to check his father's words about his wife, the young man stole a peacock, which the king considered to be the receptacle of his soul, and pretended to stab him, but in fact He gave a dog; the wife swore not to tell anyone; the king promised to marry a woman who would tell me where the peacock was; the young man's wife went and said that her husband had killed him; when he found out what was going on, the king exalted the young man and banished his wife]: Kretschmar 1985, No. 58:316-318.
Burma - Indochina. Khmer [one sathay (rich man, landowner) left another purse of gold for storage; he replaced it with copper; the king, while investigating the case, advised the victim to invite the son of the person to whom he was entrusted the gold and then give it back the monkey; king: stay friends, but let copper become gold again and the monkey become a boy]: Gorgoniev 1973:269-271.
South Asia. Ancient India [the story of mice that ate iron is in all versions of Panchatantra and Jataka No. 18 of the Cambridge Edition]: Tawney, Penzer 1926a: 64; Kashmiris: Jason 1989, No. 1592A [ The transformed golden pump]: 52; Knowles 1885 [When leaving home, the owner of the iron entrusted it to a merchant he knew; when he returned a few years later, the merchant who sold the iron said that its they ate rats; the man did not argue, but kidnapped and hid the merchant's son; seeing the parent's grief, the man said that he had seen the boy carried away by a hawk; How can a hawk carry a child? - Just like rats eat iron; one returned iron and the other brought back the boy; the text seems to have been translated from a Persian source, but is well known in Kashmir]: 199-200; Punjab: Jason 1989, No. 1592:52; kumaoni (or himachali plowmen, or rather garvali) [the man left a load of iron to a friend for storage; a few months later he asked for it back, a friend said that insects spoiled the iron; the man stole and hid his friend's little child; he complained to the king; the man said that just as the insects ate the iron, the eagle took the child away; the king ordered one to return the boy and the other to return the iron]: Upreti 1894:403; Gujarati [Adanji Mullah is a merchant from Kambay; Bania came to him and asked him to sell Kankodi powder bags, boxes of soap and a load of iron when the price was right and take it for yourself commission; he did so, but since B. did not come for a long time, AM decided to take all the money for himself; the worms ate the powder, the soap deteriorated, and the iron was gnawed by the mice; B. did not argue, but lured him AM's little daughter, locked in a room with toys and sweets; told AM that he saw the girl be carried away by a hawk; told the judge that it was as likely as the story about iron and soap; the judge demanded AM's books, found out the fraud, forced B. to return the money, and he returned the girl]: Jethabhai 1903, No. 10:30-36; Sinhalese [the person gave away a golden pumpkin and received a brass pumpkin; man kidnapped the child of the person who deceived him and said he turned into a monkey]: Tawney, Penzer 1926a: 64.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Nias [the man went on a trip, left a load of iron for storage to a friend; when he returned, he heard from a friend that the iron had been eaten by rats; the man did not argue and after a while stole it this friend's child; he came to him; the man assured him that he saw the child grab an eagle; both friends went to the chief; told him what had happened to everyone; the chief told them to pray for each other friend]: Sundermann 1905, No. 5a: 64-65.
The Balkans. (Wed. Bulgarians [a man entrusted Nastradin Hoja with a load of iron; he said that the iron was eaten by mice; or Chorbadzhi (an Ottoman officer) says, other Chorbadzhi support him; a poor man passing by notices that his mice ate flour; Ciorbadzhi says this is incredible]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 1592:524; Macedonians: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1592:325-326); Greeks [maybe the motive is]: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1592:325-326.
Central Europe. Russian written tradition [the Bulgarian-Russian version of the Greek Stefanite and Ikhnilat, which is a revision of Kalila and Dimna (Synodal List of 1478): a merchant, going to bargain, for A hundred pieces of silver pledged iron to one person; when he returned from the auction, he asked for the iron back; the man replied: "I buried your iron in the house in one corner, and the mice ate it. Don't regret it, because you're back in good health. Come to us today, we will have lunch and rejoice at your profit and income"; the merchant listened, ate lunch and went home; met that man's son, took him to his place and hid him in the hallway; when he returned, he saw that a man asked everyone about his son and said to him: "If you are looking for your son, I saw an eagle carry him through the air"; the man cried out, "Have you seen an eagle take people into the air?" ; the merchant replied: "Sure! where mice eat iron, eagles carry people up"; the person realized what happened, returned all the iron and took his son]: Likhachev et al. 2003:236-237; Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Ivano-Frankivsk region) ) [Iron eating mouse: A worker claims that the mouse ate the scales entrusted to him; the owner takes the worker's son and says he was taken away by a hawk]: SUS 1979, No. 1592:334.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. (Cf. Adygs [when dying, the father advises his son to hang himself in a certain place if he squanders property; the son squanders the inheritance with friends, who then turn away from him; they do not even believe him that the dog can carry the meat; he goes to hang himself in the specified place, the beam is broken, gold hidden by his father is pouring out of the roof; the young man calls unfaithful friends for a treat, tells a fairy tale - supposedly mice they ate his plow (or something else iron); they pretend to believe; the young man drives away unfaithful friends]: Tkhamokova 2014, No. 910D: 183); the Avars [when leaving, the merchant left a load of iron to his neighbor; when returned, the neighbor said that the iron had been gnawed by the mice; the merchant pretended to believe, and quietly took the neighbor's little son; when he came to ask about him, he replied that he saw the boy take away eagle; if mice eat iron, an eagle can even carry an elephant; a neighbor returned the money for the iron sold, and the merchant gave him a son]: Saidov, Dalgat 1965:98-99; Dargins [the poor man found a jug of gold and gave the cadia for safekeeping; when he asked for it back, there was honey in the jug; the mutalim, who had two sons of Kadia, asked the poor man to bring him two cubs; hiding the boys, told Kadia that his sons turned into bear cubs; when kadiy came in, the cubs ran to him in front of everyone; kadiy returned the gold, and mutalim returned his sons]: Khalilov, Osmanov 1989:213-214; Georgians: Uther 2004 (2 ), No. 1592:325-326; the Turks [the carpenter and jeweler earned money, the carpenter gave his share to the jeweler; when he asked for it back, he said that the gold was gone; the carpenter made the figure of a jeweler, taught two cubs to jump in front of her and lick her, kidnapped the jeweler's two children; said that his children became cubs; returned the children when the jeweler returned the money; var.: one merchant gives to another iron for storage; he says it was eaten by mice; the first will believe how the second's children were taken away by a bird]: Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 293:337; the Kurds [Alo gave the gold to the Caliph for storage, and when he returned , he said that his money was eaten by mice; Balul-Zana promised to help; asked the Caliph to let his children go for a walk with him; locked the Caliph's children and said that they were eaten by hares; the caliph had to return the money]: Rudenko 1970, No. 36:87-88.
Iran - Central Asia. Persians [before performing the Hajj, the merchant turned all his property into precious stones, put it in his purse, and put the cadia in storage; when he returned, the purse was in its original place, but in it there was a hole, there were no jewels inside; the kadiy said the mice were to blame; the jester Harun al-Rashida Bohlul asked him to appoint him chief over the mice; ordered him to dig around the kadia's house to punish mice that stole treasures; Kadia had to return everything and pay the workers]: Osmanov 1958:301-304; Turkmens [the man hid the gold in a jug, gave it to ishan for storage, went on Hajj; when I came for a jug, it contained watermelon molasses; an intelligent man promised to help; hired to teach Ishan's son and daughter; caught two bunnies, planted them in front of a portrait of ishan, they got used to it; said to ishan, that his children had turned into bunnies; asked Khan to plant ishan among other people and let the bunnies go to them; they rushed to ishan, recognizing him from his portrait; ishan returned the gold and got the children back]: Stebleva 1969, No. 58:325-327 (=Lebedev 1954, No. 10:134-136).
Baltoscandia. Latvians [The owner complains that the mice ate three pounds of iron, which was given to him for storage. The blacksmith takes his master's son and says he was taken away by a hawk]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 1592:362; Lithuanians: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1592:326.
Volga - Perm. Kazan Tatars (1 entry) [the merchant left the hardware in his friend's house; when he returned, he said that the iron had been gnawed by mice; the merchant kidnapped his friend's young son, said that he was taken away by a hawk; the deceiver was guilty, the merchant returned the child]: Zamaletdinov 2009, No. 26:94.
Turkestan. The Uighurs (Lobnor) [the merchant left a thousand iron genies to keep with a friend; returned two years later; a friend said that the iron was eaten by a mouse; the merchant lured and hid his six-year-old child man; the father looked for the boy; the merchant said he saw a hawk take him away; that man gave iron and got a son]: Malov 1956, No. 12:79-80.