M56B. Bring tears and skins. 11.-.13. (.47.52.58.)

A weak character is tasked with bringing the skin (paw, tears, etc.) of animals that are stronger than him or are difficult to catch. He cunningly performs the task. Usually a rabbit or hare completes the task, but does not receive the reward he expected. {In the New World, the motive is from African Americans}.

Congo, Devoin, Fulbe, Bambara, Guro, Biafada, Mosi, Bulsa, Kasena, Wolof, Tupuri, Mukulu, Zaghawa, Kanuri, (Natchez, Chitimacha, Hichiti, Seminoles, Totonaki, Chuh, Kanhobal, Akateki, chol, mom, mopan, pokomam, kekchi, tseltal, tsotsil, toholabal, tsutukhil, chorti, yukatek, warrau).

Bantu-speaking Africa. Congo [The Gazelle and the Leopard marry; the girl's father demands that the groom bring a living animal; the leopard brings the dead; the Gazelle pretends to cut down a huge tree; every animal stops, speaks; the Gazelle offers to get into the basket, ties it up, brings it to the place where the Leopard; he takes and kills the prey every time; the Gazelle brings the Wild Cat to his father-in-law, gets a wife; hides it in a cave, asks the Mole to tell the Leopard that he will give him the woman; takes the form of a woman, the Leopard gives the Mole his property for her; the imaginary woman asks the Leopard to pull out his claws and teeth before lying down with her; he pulls out, dies; the Mole and the Gazelle share the Leopard's property]: Struyf 1936:47-53.

West Africa. Devin [the hare came to ask God to give him intelligence; he told the hare to bring 1) two bloody leopard teeth; a hare to the leopard: what beautiful teeth you have! the leopard opened his mouth wider, the hare knocked out two teeth with a club, brought them to God; 2) the most poisonous snake; taking a stick with notches, the hare came to the snake and said that God had told him to find the longest creature; the snake stretched out and allowed itself to be tied to a stick, the hare brought it to God; 3) all the little birds; the hare made a cage, told the birds that the snake promised to eat them, and he prepared a solid house for them; the birds crammed into a cage, the hare brought them to God; God to the hare: you already have so much intelligence to want]: Pinney 1973:107-108; fulbe [Hyena and Bunny come to the marab (sage, witch doctor), ask them to be trained; he He tells him first to bring him an elephant tusk, little birds, a lioness's milk; the bunny made a slippery spot on the elephant path, one elephant slipped, fell, broke its fang, the Bunny took it; said to the Birds, that they probably won't be able to get into his calebass; they climb in, he closes the hole; climbed into the lions with a calebasa, picked up milk; told Hyena how he got it; Hyena made a slippery spot, asks The elephant to fall, break its fang; barely escaped from it; tells the birds to climb into the calebass, they peck it in the head, fly away; ask for milk from the Lioness, hardly runs away; the marabou tells the Hare that if his cunning will grow further, it will become dangerous for the world; it is useless to teach Hyena; drives both away]: Labouret 1952, No. 5:121; bambara [the god Mangalla promises the hare to make him king if he brings calebas with flies, mosquitoes, a snake wrapped around a stick, wild buffalo milk, a saddled hyena; old Domma: M. will not keep his promise; refuses to help; the hare makes a small hole in the calebass, says to the flies, that M. allegedly said that there are not enough flies in the world to fill this calebass; flies climb into the calabass to show that there are enough of them, the hare closes the hole; the same with mosquitoes; tells the snake that M. does not believe that it is so long to wrap a stick; the snake wraps around the stick, the hare ties it to it by the tail and head; says to wild buffaloes as if M. does not believe they have udders eat milk; they allow themselves to milk to assure M. of the opposite; the hare tells the hyena that he is being made king, he will be able to slaughter cattle without restrictions, he will take only his heads; for promising to give it to her carcasses, hyena allows himself to ride; comes to heaven to M.; he tells him to come on a road that does not have Friday and Monday; the hare goes to D., he says that he warned the hare - M. will deceive him, such there is no road; at this time, the hyena escaped from the harness, returned to the ground, barely pulled out its ass, so the hyena behind it is lower than in front; in the evening, the mosquito made a hole in the calebass, the mosquitoes flew out and Since then, they have been active in the evenings, and the flies have escaped during the day]: Frobenius 1922b, No. 82:151-153; guro [the young man asked his maternal uncle for part of his fetishes that could revive the dead; the uncle demanded bring the boa constrictor, the beard of the main spirit and the elephant's tusks; the young man came with a bag to the hollow, began to say the boa constrictor as if he did not believe that he would be able to get into the bag; the boa constrictor got in, the young man brought the bag to his uncle; came to Spirit, he put him on his knees, the wife of the spirit cooked fried bananas and served butter; the young man smeared his hands up to the elbow and wiped them on the spirit's beard; suggests cutting it off: he will wash it and return it, and it will grow; the spirit agreed, the young man brought his beard to his uncle; taking the gecko as an assistant, came to the elephants, spilled the sap like wine; the gecko leaned down, the young man pretended to scold him - this is wine for an elephant! the elephant rushed, broke the tusks against the stone; the young man promised to glue them back and took them away; the uncle gave him a fetiche; the young man called everyone to work in the field, told his wife to bring food in the evening; killed his wife with a hoe, and then in front of everyone revived; the hyena decided to repeat everything, did an imaginary fetist; the wife did not come to life; the young man revived her; the hyena ran into the forest and stayed there]: Tououi Bi 2014:171-175; biafada [The hare asks God Hyden to give him horns, otherwise he is weaker; he orders Boa to be brought; the Hare says Udava that it is shorter than a stick; The boa constrictor wrapped around the stick, allowed himself to be tied to measure; G. gave the Hare horns; he decided to become king of animals; upon learning about this, G. turned bunny horns into ears]: Nikolnikov 1976:41-44; mosi: Frobenius 1986 [Nyaka (little antelope) promises a daughter to whoever brings buffalo milk, a skin leopard, elephant tusk; The hare gives Buffalo sweet porridge, says it's baobab juice, Buffalo pierces its horns into the baobab, gets stuck, the Hare milks it; invites the Leopard to swim, leaving the skins on the shore; sprinkles pepper into the leopard's skin, says that his bag also burns, invites both to rinse, takes them away; pretends to see something beautiful in the sky; tells elephants that their eyesight is poor because theirs the eyes are small in relation to the body; he offers to climb on each other's back so that the upper one sees and gets what he sees, the Hare; the elephants form a tower, the Hare puts a smut under his lower leg, he moves, the tower falls, the upper one broke off the tusk when it fell, the Hare took it away; the bird began to scream about it, the Hare explained to the elephants that it was scolding them; the elephants ran to catch it, the Hare brought N.'s tusk; he replied that the descendant of two creatures as clever as he and the Hare will become smarter than God; therefore, he does not give the Hare a daughter; (cf. Turks)]: 47-50 (=192:110-114); Sissao 2010, No. 7 [the leader promises a daughter to someone who brings brains of spirit, buffalo milk, turtle tendon; The hare tells the buffalo to hit the tree trunk with its horns with a take-off run - fruits will fall down; horns get stuck in the trunk, the Hare milks the buffalo; offers to teach the spirit jumping on a rock, turning over his head; flipping, a spirit wants to try, breaks his head against a stone, a hare collects brains; tells animals that the sky demands back an egg, animals must return it; if they can't, let them climb into heaven and apologize; to do this, let them stand on top of each other, the turtle is below; they get up, the Hare cuts the tendon out of the turtle's leg; brings everything required by the chief, gets a wife]: 15-17; Tauxier 1917, No. 1 [the hare came to the supreme god of heaven Wende and asked him to teach him tricks; he demands that the hare first bring him buffalo milk, snake tears and an elephant tusk; a hare persuades the elephant to show that it is larger than a tree; the elephant stands on its hind legs, falls on a tree, it broke, the elephant fell, broke the tusk; the hare killed the snakes, hid; the snake- the mother came back and began to cry; the hare went out and comforted her, got tears; mixed salt with flour, gave it to buffalo; said that he hit the baobab and then a lump of salty flour fell from its crown; buffalo hit the baobab from the take-off, the horns got stuck in the tree; the hare: you have to grease them with milk, then it's easier to pull them out; took milk, ran away; W. did not teach the hare tricks: he is already more cunning than anyone else]: 414-415; bulsa [the chief promises a daughter to the one who brings the elephant's tusk; the hare says the drought has been going on for too long, so we must get to the sky and turn to God (Naawen); let the turtle be below ( it is flat), and everyone else will climb one another; the elephant, as the biggest one to talk to the deity, must be the last to climb; when the elephant climbed, the hare poked a straw in the turtle's ass, that jerked, everyone fell, the elephant broke the tusk, the hare brought it to the chief, got a wife]: Schott 1996:201-203; casena [the chief keeps his daughter under lock and key, but she gets pregnant; he promises it to whoever brings it lion skin, elephant tusks and will name her; the hare tells Leo, then the Elephant that there will be a hurricane, he goes to tie his mother-in-law; they ask to tie them; the hare ties them, kills them; in the dark he turns to his daughter the leader of "Pebuko" (i.e. "the leader's daughter"); she responds, thinks it's the father; when everyone is gathered, the Hare shows trophies and gives a name; gets a wife]: Anpetkova-Sharova 2010:28-31; wolof [hare asks God for a higher position; God tells him to bring sparrows to the calebas; the hare, in the presence of sparrows, begins to discuss aloud whether all sparrows will climb into one calebass; sparrows have shown that they will; the hare closed the calebas and brought it to God; he drove him away: if you are given power, you will turn the world upside down]: Basset 1903, No. 74:184; baule [The leopard told Spider that there is a tree in his field where the woodman lives; If you catch a leopard and kill it by a tree, the woodworker will produce a plentiful harvest of yams; the spider put a piece of wood in his mouth, asked Leopard to tie it and hit the back of the head; spit out gold; the leopard wanted him to tied; but gold did not appear; The spider dragged the Leopard to the tree, cut off his head]: Himmelheber 1951b: 70-72 (translated into Himmelheber 1960:78-80); hausa [The spider asks the malama ("teacher") to give him the remedy to become wiser; he tells her to get buffalo's milk, the Spider waits for her in the place where it falls, milks it; bring the elephant's teeth; the Spider rubs the stone with rice and honey, the Elephant begins to gnaw at it, breaks its teeth; bring the liver of a jackal, a leopard, a lion, a snail; the Spider calls them to a feast, the animals quarrel, fight, kill each other; Malam says that since the Spider managed to do everything, he is smart enough]: Olderogge 1959:222- 223; mukulu [God has a daughter; only a lover knows her name; God will give a daughter to someone who collects more grass and leaves, and the land beneath them will open; an earthen squirrel has dug a cave, the vault has collapsed, the earth has collapsed seems to open up; God demands to guess the daughter's name; the earth squirrel calls him {it's not clear how she found it}; God demands to bring the dog is a panther; the earth squirrel pretends to be seriously ill; the panther allows her paws to be tied; the squirrel leads the panther to God; he requires a special bull - a lion; the squirrel tells the lion that they want to eat it, the lion allows itself to bind; God: make it rain and filled the vessels; the rain poured in; God slapped the squirrel so much that the squirrel became deaf]: Jungraithmayr 1981, No. 5:20-25.

Sudan - East Africa. Tupuri [the chief will give his daughter for someone who makes drums out of lion and leopard skins; Squirrel (i.e. earth squirrel, Xerus) invites a caterpillar to go camping (agrees to go if there is no chicken) chicken (I agree that there will be no cat); then consistently a dog, a hyena, a leopard, a lion; everyone comes later than the other and eats it; the lion and the leopard fight, the Squirrel asks not to trample only that his mother-in-law's cultivated field; they fell into a hole dug by the Squirrel, he killed them, let the Monkey carry their skins, he brought them to the chief, got his daughter, the leader drove the Squirrel away; the Monkey's wife does not get pregnant; The squirrel pretended to be a healer, ordered him to bring beer, drowned the Monkey in it, entered his grave, said in the voice of the Monkey that the widow should marry Squirrel; having received his wife, he pretended to be sick; persuaded the healer, he said that Belka would die if she did not seduce her mother-in-law; after spending three days with her mother-in-law, the imaginary patient recovered]: Ruelland, Caprille 1993:45-65; (cf. tupuri [a man has a wife Daughter of God, Daughter of the Spirit of the Waters, Daughter of the Sun; 1) during the dry season, the leader tells the man to bring peanuts and beans; God brings his father from the land; 2) the leader orders to bring crocodile, hippopotamus; The daughter of the Spirit of the Waters brings goats, her father's horses; 3) tells her to know the name of her main wife; The daughter of the Sun comes to the leader disguised as an old woman, finds out the name; the man turns to the leader's wife by name; chief killed, man became chief]: Ruelland, Caprile 1993:67-77); zagawa [jackal invents and performs a trick on how to get elephant skin]: Bondarev 1996:134; Kanuri: Koelle 1854 , No. 3 [caress's wife gave birth, asked her husband to bring elephant skin; guinea fowl advises caress to call a worm, guinea fowl, cat, dog, hyena, leopard, lion and elephant to weed the field; they come in this sequences, each newcomer eats another; when an elephant comes, it starts fighting a lion, falls into a prepared trap pit; the caress takes off the elephant's skin, brings it to his wife]: 158-161; Bondarev 1996 [the squirrel seeks advice from a guinea fowl, she tells me how to get elephant skin, the squirrel does the trick]: 134.

(Wed. Southeast USA. Usually the chief promises to grant the Rabbit's request if he brings him Crocodile skin; the Rabbit summons the Crocodile from the water, hits him, the Crocodile runs into the water; denying that it was him, the Rabbit summons the crocodile again; kills with a blow across the hips. Natchez [the animal leader gave everyone their food: acorns to the Squirrel, the Raccoon, the Possum, the Fox persimmons, grapes, etc.; the rabbit waited under the sycamore, but when he fell, the fruits broke; he asked the chief other food; the chief promised to give him if the Rabbit gave him what he needed; the Rabbit tells the Crocodile that the chief calls him, hit him on the way, the Crocodile ran away; the Rabbit killed the deer, put on his skin, called A crocodile on behalf of the Deer; on the way, the Crocodile says that if he were hit on the back, he would die; the Rabbit kills the Crocodile, brings the leader's skin; the chief tells the Rabbit to steal beans, sends his dogs drive]: Swanton 1929, No. 31:255-256 (=1913, No. 4:197-198); chitimacha [The rabbit asked God for more strength; he promises to do so if the Rabbit brings 1) Crocodile's fang; Rabbit tied the wings of the Crocodile sleeping on the shore to the tree, set fire to the grass, the Crocodile rushed, the fang escaped, the Rabbit brought it to God; 2) the Elephant's tusk; the Rabbit began to mow the hay, promised the Elephant a part if he took the hay home; tied a rope by the tusk, supposedly to lead the Elephant to the house, tied the other end to a tree, set fire to the grass, the Elephant rushed, the fang broke, the Elephant allowed the Rabbit to pick him up; 3) a rattlesnake; the Rabbit asked It brought the Rattlesnake to measure it and allow it to be tied to a stick to God; he replied that the Rabbit was already smart enough, he did not need more strength]: Swanton 1917:475-476; hichiti [y The crocodile is also vulnerable to the back of the head]: Swanton 1929, No. 26:104-105; Seminoles [people agree to give Rabbit a wife if he kills the Crocodile; The rabbit is friends with the Crocodile, walks with him, hits him on the back with a stick, The crocodile runs away; the rabbit turns into a Squirrel; the crocodile says that his head and ass are vulnerable; the imaginary Squirrel hits him with a stick on these places, kills him; people ask to kill a rattlesnake; the Rabbit kills her at her holes with a stick; people ask to cut down a thick tree; Rabbit sees the Woodpecker hammering the trunk on all sides; when the trunk becomes thin, the Rabbit knocks down the tree with a single blow; gets a wife; he is advised comb her hair parting, hitting her right with an ax, there will be two wives; Rabbit misses, girl dies; Rabbit runs away into the forest]: Greenlee 1945:144.

(Wed. Mesoamerica Choo [like in the Southeast U.S.; God promises to make Rabbit king of animals; Rabbit plays ball by the river; Crocodile goes out to play with him; Rabbit hits him with a stick; Crocodile says a blow to the tail would be fatal; The rabbit lures another crocodile, kills with a blow to the tail; God did not keep his promises]: Kunst 1915, No. 1:353; acateques [The rabbit lent his "hat" (horns) to the Deer, he did not give it; The king promises the Rabbit that he will get horns if he brings the skins of certain animals; the Rabbit distracts animals by playing guitar, then kills them; when he brings skins to the King, he does not give them horns, but stretches out Rabbit's ears]: Peñalosa 1996, No. 6:31; canhobal [The deer asked the Rabbit to lend him horns, he did not give it back; he complained to the king; the king promised to make the Rabbit tall so that the horns they were better suited for him; to do this, he must bear 15 burdens of skins; the Rabbit began to play guitar for the Snakes; asks the Snake where its sensitive place is so as not to hurt; she replies that it is at the end of the tail; The Rabbit kills the Serpent, brings it to the king; the same is true with the Crocodile; Monkeys and Coati offers to get into the bags to weigh who is heavier; he kills everyone, on the Battleship he brings skins to the king; he says that if the Rabbit will be big, it will become completely dangerous; stretches his ears]: Peñalosa 1995b: 99-105; acateki [The rabbit lent his "hat" (horns) to the Deer, he did not give it back; the King promises the Rabbit that he would receive horns if he brings the skins of certain animals; The rabbit distracts the animals by playing the guitar, then kills them; when he brings skins to the King, he does not give the horns, but stretches the Rabbit's ears]: Peñ alosa 1996, No. 6:31; chooh [The deer asks the Rabbit to let him vilify his horns; no longer returns]: Kunst 1915:357; chol, choo, mom, mopan, pokomam, kekchi, tseltal, tsotsil, toholabal, tsutuhil, yukatek [God or king promises the Rabbit to make him big if he brings animal skins; Rabbit is deceived kills animals, brings skins, but only his ears are stretched out]: Peñalosa 1996, No. 74E: 53-54; chorti [The rabbit asked the Creator to make it big; he ordered to bring deer, snake and water skins iguanas; by the river Rabbit began to play with pieces of paper; Iguana went out to play with him, he hit her on the head with a stick, she jumped back into the water; the next day, the Rabbit spoke to Iguana (pretending to be him - not the same as yesterday?) , found out that a blow to the tail was fatal for her; the Iguana began to play, the Rabbit killed her with a stick on the tail, brought her skin to the Creator, but he only made his ears big]: Anónimo s.a.)

(Wed. Guiana. Varrau [The rabbit asks God to make him big; he demands to bring him a jaguar's paw and a crocodile tooth; the rabbit tells the Crocodile his name is elders; at night he hides by the path, hits The crocodile is on the back with a stick; in the morning The crocodile reports that if that tree fell in front of his eyes, he would die; next time the Rabbit kills the Crocodile; tells Jaguar that a storm is coming; he asks tie him so as not to be carried away; God refuses to comply with Rabbit's request, only stretches out his ears because he is too big a deceiver]: Wilbert 1970, No. 182:408-410).