M3A. Count the inhabitants of the waters. 11.24.-.26.33.36.-.39.
The character invites aquatic creatures to count them, and to do this, form a chain; crosses it to the other side or climbs to land. See M3 motif.
Bantu-speaking Africa. Lingala [The monkey is a good hunter; the animals go to live elsewhere; the monkey asks the Crocodile to transport him across the river; in the middle of the river, the Crocodile says his wife will heal his heart Monkeys; he replies that he left his heart under the tree; runs away, but returns home without prey; the Monkey's wife takes the children, goes to their parents; the Monkey asks the Eagle to move him to the island; pulls him out he has feathers; the Eagle agrees with the Crocodile to leave the Monkey on the island; he tells the Crocodile that there are many monkeys on the island; suggests counting the relatives of the Crocodile, for this purpose he tells them to line up in a chain, runs ashore over their backs]: Vinogradov 1984, No. L7:293-295; Zulu [The rabbit is on a river island, around a crocodile; the crocodile offers to transport him, show his own relatives; Rabbit asks the Crocodile to bring his relatives first so that he, the Rabbit, can bring as many of his own; to make it convenient to count, build them in a chain across the river; ran over them back; laughed so much that his lip burst]: Canonici 1995, No. 12:27.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Mentawai [monkey deceives crocodiles]: Loeb 1929, No. 14.9:124; bataki [hare deceives crocodiles]: Voorhoeve in Bødjer 1957, No. 357:45; sunda, lampung [ dwarf deer deceives crocodiles]: Dixon 1916:332, note 10 (text in De Vries 1925, No. 3:146-159); Bengkulu [Princess Kemang deceives crocodiles]: Bunanta 2003:50-52; aceh [ dwarf deer (? or someone else?) deceives crocodiles]: Adriani 1898:348; dusun [dwarf deer deceives crocodiles]: Evans 1913:476; toraja [tarsier deceives crocodiles]: Adriani 1898:344, 347]; sangihe , galela [monkey deceives crocodiles]: Adriani 1898:345; minahasa [bird (?) deceives crocodiles]: Adriani 1898:345; Javanese [dwarf deer deceives crocodiles]: Braginsky 1972:25-29; Ostrovsky 1958:73-77 (same in Dixon 1916:190 by Brandes 1894:39).
Taiwan - Philippines. Apayao [Dam-ot wanted to marry a girl across the river; invited crocodiles to lie in a row from one bank to the other to count them; whoever is twentieth will eat him; ran to the other side to the girl]: Wilson 1947b: 111-112.
China - Korea. Chinese (Liaoning) [In ancient times, a hare's tail was not short, one day a hare had to cross a wide river, saw a group of turtles and decided to deceive them to get over with their help to the other side. He went to the biggest turtle and said, "Sister, are these all your descendants?" "Yes, that's right." Then he began to argue that there were more of his descendants, and, supposedly to count all her children, invited them to stand in a row one after the other to the other side. They did so, the hare started running over their backs, and when he almost reached the other side, he could not help himself and shouted: "Old turtle, you've been deceived!" But she did not sleep and grabbed the rabbit by the tail. His tail came off, he ran away, and the hare's tail has been short ever since]: Zhou Yang et al. 1994:377-378; Chinese (Jiangsu) [the hare wanted to go to the other side of the river, but there was no bridge or crossing. He saw a couple of crabs near the shore and said to them: You have so many children and grandchildren, your luck is great! I asked them to gather all their descendants to count them themselves. The next day, the crabs came together, stretching from one bank to the other. The hare began to cross them to the other side. At the last moment, he could not restrain himself and shouted: fools! The crab grabbed the hare's tail with its claws, since then it's short]: Zhou Yang et al. 1998a, No. 480:531; Chinese (no recording location) [the hares had long fluffy tails; to get to the grass on another On the riverbank, hares invite the turtle to count its relatives; turtles line up in a chain, hares run along it; at the shore they shout about deception; turtles manage to cut off their tails]: Riftin 1957:14-15 (=1993:39-40; =2007:43-44).
Turkestan. Kazakhs (Western? Seals and the sea exist only in the Caspian Sea; or is this even a mistake?) [The fox jumps to the Seagulls from the shore to catch fish, the log turns over, the Fox holds on to it, takes her to sea; she explains to the Seal that she wanted to know if there were still any inhabitants in the sea; Fox wants to count them, runs over their backs to the shore]: Makeyev 1952:147-149.
Eastern Siberia. Dolgans [fox deceives burbot]: Popov 1937:35-36 (=Efremov 2000, No. 8:195-197); Ergis 1967b, No. 14:154; Western Evenks (pos. Polygus, Baikit District, Podkamennaya Tunguska) [fox deceives burbot]: Duvakin 2013; Far Eastern Evenks (Ayan) [fox deceives bears, seals, seals]: Levin, Vasilevich 1936, No. 2:221-224; Evens [fox deceives seal]: Voskoboynikov, Menovshchikov 1951:286-300; Kamchatka Evens [fox deceives seal]: Kasten, Avak 2014:55-59.
Amur - Sakhalin. Nivkhi: Pevnov 2010, No. 7 [the fox was crossing the ice, the ice floe came off, the fox asked the seal to call all the seals, she would count them; ran over the seals, was the last to squeeze out her eyes; the seals shouted to her that she would fall into a trap; she was trapped by a man, says she sings, the man put her on sledges carrying fat; she pretended to be sick, ate all the fat, ran away; she was trapped again, the person killed her]: 126-130; Sanghi 1974 [Lisa asks Nerpa to teach her to count in order to know how many seal friends she has; to do this, seals must be taken out of the water so that the Fox jumps from one to the other and I thought; this is how Lisa thinks until nine, then jumps on the ice floe, asks the seal to sail; eats the seal; she crosses the seals back; the Nerpa is happy that she quickly taught Lisa to count]: 17-19; Nanai : Aurora 1986, No. 14 [The fox pretends to be the Devil, tells the Flying Squirrel to throw off the cub; then more; the Heron explains that it is the Fox; the Fox disguises itself as a fish, grabs the Heron by the tail, it takes off, tells the Fox shout, Heavenly people are fun, the Fox falls on the island; tells the Worm that her people are on every island; the Worm puts his own, the Fox runs ashore on the worms, thinks One, Two, Sirbidok, three, four, sirbidok; says he will count properly on the way back; trapped by old man Ka, he carried a fox, it caused rain, snow, came to life (not clear); feasts with Heron in the house while the drunks are sleeping; both run away]: 68-69; Sam, Sem 2020, No. 33 [the fox pretended to be a monster, tells the flying squirrel to throw off its chicks; she throws a bump twice; heron: chase the fox, it's toothless, tell me to answer this way taught; the fox grabbed the heron by the tail, and it lifted it high into the air; the fox cried out in fear, fell into the swamp; the worm does not believe that the fox does not cry; if it has more relatives, then he is right; the fox tells them to line up across the swamp, runs across a living bridge and thinks the latter has scratched his eyes; other foxes offer her to steal yukola from the Ka-map hunter; the fox has fallen into a trap, K. took off his skin left to dry, the skin broke in the rain, K. threw it into the fire]: 137-141; Hodger 2011 [The fox threatens to cut down a tree with a "spider ax", Flying to her three cubs one by one; the Heron announces that the Fox is not an evil spirit, will not be able to cut down a tree; the Fox grabs the Heron by the tail, which carries it over the sea, the Heron says it gnaws on carrion and feces, defecates, the Fox falls on an island, finds no food; that her head will turn into a sea bump, her eyes into sea cream, her skin into seaweed, her wool into seaweed, her bones into sea fins, her tail into a panicle; responds to earthen to a worm that does not cry, but sings like parents used to sing; suggests that the worm call its relatives, then calls her to see who is bigger; jumps on a chain of worms, counting them, turns out on the other side; worms promise that she falls into the trap of old Ka; she fell, Ka took off her skin, threw the carcass away, the Fox caused snow, hail, rain, a new skin grew, the Fox came to life; the Heron offers together go to old man Ka's party; the house offers to shout louder, the hosts woke up, Lisa ran through the chimney, turned black, the Heron flew out through the hole in the roof]: 85-91; Orochi: Aurora, Lebedeva 1966 No. 1 [The fox tells the Flying Squirrel to eat her cub, threatens to cut it with an ax, roast it on a spit; the flying squirrel gives three cubs one by one; the Heron explains to the Flying Dog that the Fox has neither an ax nor skewers; the flying squirrel no longer gives the Fox its cubs, she rushes at the Heron, grabs the tail; the Heron carries it above the ground, the Fox falls on the island; says Nerpe that he counts the animal breeds; to count The seal asks them to appear; Seals fill the strait, the Fox runs across their bodies to the mainland; defecates on the last Seal; dies in a hunter's trap]: 127-128; Berezinsky 1999, No. 9 [The fox pretended to be a hunter dead, the hunter picked her up, put her on the sledges; she threw away all the fish and ran away; hides with the old people; the hunter dances ridiculously, the Fox laughs; the hunter grabs her, takes her to the island; she tells the Nerpam that wants to count them; runs away from the island over their heads], 10 [The fox tells Belka to throw her cub to eat her, threatens to knock down a tree; the squirrel gives two cubs one by one; the owl explains to Belka that Lisa doesn't have an ax; takes Lisa to the island; Lisa asks Nerpa if she has many relatives, says she has stars in the sky; Seals stick out their heads to count stars, Lisa runs over their heads to the mainland; falls asleep, the old woman kills her, makes a hat out of her skin; The fox comes, promises the old woman to feed her dogs if she gives her a hat for a while; takes her hat away; her child is sick; Tit says she the shaman, promises to cure the child, asks for a hat; takes it to the elder]: 147, 147-148; the Udege people [Lisa remains on the island at high tide; tells Nerpe that the landlady ordered her to count animals; seals line up in a chain, Lisa jumps over the heads, thinks, having reached the shore, runs away]: Podmaskin, Kireeva 2010:178-179; Negidals: Khasanova, Pevnov 2003, No. 60 [Fox scares The flying squirrel, imitating the Owl, makes her cubs throw away one by one; Grandfather Owl promises to punish the Fox; grabs, throws them into the sea; Lisa asks the Seal to show how many of them there are; jumps over their heads on shore], 61 [The fox knocks on the tree with its tail, the bird throws its chicks; the grandfather owl tells her not to be afraid of the Fox, takes the Fox, throws it into the sea; the fox points the Nerpa to the talniki on the shore, says it's hers relatives; says Nerp, jumping over their heads; insults when he jumps ashore; Nerpa promises that Lisa will die on what the old woman dries bird cherry on; The fox eats bird cherry, the old woman kills her with a chock, makes a hat ; another Fox offers to go get water, asks for a hat so that her ear does not freeze, runs away; The crow cannot return the hat; The bird flies to the Foxes to camla, puts a hat on it, she brings it to the old woman]: 117- 118, 122; Cincius 1982, No. 24 [the fox tells the flying squirrel to eat the cub, threatens to hurt it; the flying squirrel gives four cubs one by one; the owl grandfather explains to the flying squirrel that the Fox's horns are herbal; the flying squirrel no longer gives the cubs, the fox rushes at the owl grandfather, who carries it above the ground, throws it into the sea; the fox tells the seal that he sings the songs that her parents sang when her parents matchmaking, that her people as numerous as stars; asks how many relatives the seal has; counts seals leaning out of the water, runs across their bodies to the mainland; meets burbot; fox runs along the shore, burbot swims; his fox calls out; he first responds through one bend {i.e. ahead}, then two; the fox came to the place where the old woman left the bird cherry to dry; the fox ate the bird cherry, fell asleep; the old woman came and killed the fox with a knife, took off her skin, made a hat; the wolf offered to guard the hat while the old woman feeds the puppies, takes the hat away; the crow offers to return it, the old woman asks how she will talk to the wolf; carr carr, old woman does not like it; bird: chwick-chwick, old woman agrees; the bird flew into the winter road, there are hares, foxes, wolves, crows, ferrets and an old man and an old woman; cross mother camlaet; bird: chwick; old man: this is good shaman, let her wear our hat; the bird put it on and flew away, brought it to the old woman; she gave her a handmade knife for her nose, a needle in her paws]: 132-135 (quail in Sanghi 1989:274-277); wilta [fox collected shells near the shore; the heron took her to a distant island; the sea lion asks why she is crying; the fox: I'm not crying, but singing; suggests counting who has more comrades; while the sea lion was collecting sea lions, the fox ran along the shore, leaving many traces; when the sea lions lined up, the fox ran ashore along them - supposedly counting; she took the shell again; she offered to race: if the fox wins, then can eat it; the shell clung to the fox's tail, the fox believed that it had lost; the old man checked the traps, fell asleep; the fox thought he was dead, but from what? If he is hungry, he has a jukola, if it is cold, he has insoles in his shoes; squirrels, foxes, sables, deer and other animals took the old man and brought him into his house; the old woman closed all the holes in the house and they Many animals were killed by an old man]: Ikegami 2007, No. 12:46-50.
Japan. Kojiki 1994 [also paraphrased in Chamberlain 1887:25-26; eighty gods go to marry Yagami-hime; Oo-namuji-no kami is loaded with luggage; grooms see a ragged Hare, advise he takes a bath in salt water, lie on a mountain; the hare gets worse; he tells O., as suggested to Vani (Sea Crocodile - ver., monster or Shark; cf. Nihon Shoki 1996:421, note 158) count relatives; Vani laid down a chain from island to cape, the Hare ran down their backs, supposedly counting; jumping to the ground, shouted, I deceived you; Vani manages to rip off his clothes; O. advises him to wash himself in fresh water, lie in cane pollen; the hare recovers, promises O. that he will marry Y.; after marriage, 80 gods try to kill O.; he comes to life, runs away from them], ch. 16:61-63.
SV Asia. Reindeer Koryaks [fox deceives seals, walruses, whales]: Jochelson 1908, No. 36:184-185.