M90. The snake guesses the material, ATU 857.

.13.-.17.23.24.27.-.37.44.

Someone asks a riddle about the material from which a particular item is made or originated. It is almost impossible to guess, but the character learns the secret, forcing the hero or heroine to fulfill the conditions set. (Usually requires a girl to marry him).

Nubians, Arabs of Morocco, Egypt, Kabiles, Portuguese, Spanish, Italians (Campania), Basques, Catalans, French, Flemish, Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, Grimms, Austria), Arabs Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Socotra, Mustang, Marathi, Ho, Bali, Moldovans, Romanians, Gagauz people, Albanians, Hungarians, Slovenes, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Greeks, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians (Terek coast, Arkhangelsk coast ), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Ivano-Frankivsk), Abazins, Ossetians, Georgians, Turks, Kurds, Persians, Finns, Estonians, Seto, Livs, Latvians, Lithuanians, Western Sami (Swedes, Norwegians, Faroese; in Uther 2004 references to Hodne 1984 and Liungman 1961, but not in these indexes No. 857), Mari, Kazan Tatars, Kazakhs (Turgay), Kyrgyz, Uighurs (Khotan), Buryats, Northern Mansi, Eastern Khanty, Okhotsk Evenks, ulchi, western marsh crees.

Sudan - East Africa. The Nubians [the princess will be given to whoever guesses whose skin it is; the ghoul, the sorcerer, guesses what the princess gets, she runs away from him]: Kronenberg, No. 17:83-89 in El-Shamy 2004, No. 621:352-353.

North Africa. The Arabs of Algeria (Medea) [the king has 7 daughters and a peach tree; ghuli got into the habit of stealing peaches at night; the king sent his eldest daughter to guard; she wore a military outfit but fell asleep; the same with the other five; the youngest consistently cuts off the head of the ghulas who approach the tree; but from the seventh she only cut off the scalp, the ghoul ran away; as a reward, the king is going to marry her first; to the one who He guesses what kind of object is hanging on the window; this is the skin of a huge lice, which the king fed and then stabbed; that ghoul took the image of a handsome man; when she saw him, the princess showed with signs that there was a louse on the window; having received a wife, The ghoul sent the royal retinue halfway, only the maid remained; the ghoul gave the keys to 7 rooms, forbiding him to unlock the seventh; the princess unlocked: there a terrible ghoul devours a donkey; the princess lost consciousness; when she came to her senses, a ghoul in her husband's guise asks what is on his crown; there is a scar, but the princess replies that it's okay; then the ghoul tied her to a tree and went to buy firewood to burn her; the maid freed her and carried them on her back; the lion met them, invited them to his place, fed them; the ghoul demanded his wife, but was forced to leave; by the merchants from the girl's father's kingdom; she told them everything, asked them to send sheep and camels as a gift to the lion; the king sent; his men took the princess; the lion gave her a lion cub: if the ghoul came again, the lion cub would kill him; the ghoul came in the form of a beggar, the princess lowered the lion on her, the lion ate gulya; but it was the one who ate the donkey in the seventh room; when the princess remarried, her ghoul husband appeared; bribed the maid to add sleepy powder to everyone but the princess's dishes; took the princess; she convinced him that she would not run away again, and offered to take his father's treasures; found a lion, let him go for a walk, he ate it; called the people and doctors, who revived those who had fallen asleep; the soothsayer said that The princess was betrayed by her maid; she cut off her head]: Desparmet 1910:407-422; the Arabs of Egypt [Princess Dalal combed her louse, put it in a jug of butter; when she grew up, the louse also became huge , broke the vessel; the king ordered her to be removed from her skin, hung it on the door; whoever guesses whose skin it was would marry the princess; the cannibal took the image of a man, said that it was a lice skin, received D.; going home, refused to take his servants and even his wife's mother with him; settled D. in the palace, became an ogre again, brought her the head of a man; but she refused to eat, he brought her a ram; took the form of her mother, offered to run, but she refused; the cannibal is happy; the same is her maternal aunt; but when she took the form of a paternal aunt, D. burst into tears and said that her husband was an ogre; he became himself again; D. persuaded him to let her go to the bathhouse , and only then eat it; changed clothes with the old woman and left quietly; came to another king, the prince fell in love with her, married her; the queen mother is afraid that his wife is a werewolf; the cannibal came, D. asked for time off In need, she asked the saint for help; she gave a sliver to throw a sliver into the mouth of the ogre, he would lose consciousness, he would be killed; but for this D. must give her first child; she gave birth to a daughter, gave it back; the queen mother says that she ate the baby; she was sent to peel the onion; ten years later, the fairy returned her daughter to her; the king solemnly returned his wife; later the Sultan of Spirits needed a bowl of water from the emerald sea, he can only bring it earthly girl; D. was asked again by her daughter; brought to the sea, she collected water, but her hand turned green; the sea weigher found out that there was less water; went to sell jewelry to meet the one who had green hand; found a girl; first her perfume beat her, then the Sultan married her]: Spitta-bey 1883, No. 5:61-79; kabila, Arabs (?) Morocco (Marrakech) [the princess will be given to whoever guesses whose skin it is; ghoul, the sorcerer, guesses that the princess gets the lice, she runs away from him]: El-Shamy 2004, No. 621:352-353.

Southern Europe. The Portuguese [the king fed the louse to the size of a calf; the princess made a dress out of her skin; promises to marry someone who can guess what material the dress is made of; old man (boy, beggar) guesses (or overhears the princess telling her lover about it); she threatens to make the guesser unhappy, he refuses his intention to marry her]: Cardigos 2006, No. 857:206; Spaniards [princess rejects grooms; chases an ugly old man, he throws a spider at her, you can't shake it off; finally, the spider was shot, the princess ordered to make a tambourine out of his skin; who guesses for that will marry; she sees a beautiful young man, shouts to him what a tambourine is made of; a humpback beggar hears it, takes the princess; tells him to be carried across the river; she threw him into the water, but his hump grew to her; repeated her words after her; the princess was hired as a maid for the prince she fell in love with at the time; the prince is preparing to marry, the maid makes pies, gives her a hump, offers to jump into her apron if he wants more, threw it into the oven; became beautiful, prince married her]: Shishlova 1971:93-99; Italians (Campaign: Naples) [retelling in Aarne 1930:13; orc (cannibal) guesses whose skin it is ( fleas); gets Princess Porciella, takes her to the forest; brings meat to people and wild boars; P. does not want to eat it, complains to the old woman; she promises that her 7 sons will help; the first hears everything; the second, if she spits, there will be a soap lake; the third, if a piece of iron throws, there will be a field covered with sharp knives; the fourth will throw a splint, a forest will appear; the fifth splashes water, there will be a river; the sixth will throw a stone, a tower will appear; the seventh is a sharpshooter; the brothers run away with P., each creating obstacles; when the runners hide in the tower, the cannibal returns to bring the stairs, but the seventh brother hits him with an arrow, to him they cut off the head with a knife; P. runs to his father, who rewards his brothers and their mother]: Basile 2018:86-93.

Western Europe. French, Flemish, Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, Grimms, Austria): Uther 2004 (1), No. 857:484-485

Western Asia. Palestinians, Arabs of Iraq, Yemen [the princess will be given to whoever guesses whose skin it is; ghoul, the sorcerer, guesses that the princess gets the lice, she runs away from him]: El-Shamy 2004, No. 621:352-353; Socotra [The father tells his son to cut off and bury his finger after his death; it will grow into a tree that will bring wealth. And that's what happened. The young man asked those who came to guess what kind of tree it was. Whoever did not guess gave away the property. The young man got married even though the bride loved someone else. She promised her former lover to find out the secret of the tree. She told her husband to tell her a secret if he loved her. He swore her not to tell anyone. That man came in, sat all night, and at dawn said that the tree was from the owner's father's finger. The owner had to hand over all his property. He went to wadi and met a radiant woman there. She said she was the Sun her wife swore to. Let the tree owner argue about whether the sun will rise in the west or east. If one loses, one will return the property and the other will lose his life. The sun rose from the west, the man received back his property and the opponent's property, and the woman became covered with purulent ulcers due to a violation of the oath]: Kogan, Naumkin MS, No. 4; resume in Naumkin et al. 2014, No. 4:2.

South Asia. Marathi (Mumbai) [When a black woman combed her princess and caught a louse, the princess told her to put the louse in a vessel and fatten her; when the princess is 12 years old and wants to be married, she promises marry only someone who understands what kind of animal she has; the guest princes could not guess; the maid quit, told her son about the louse, he guessed it; the princess was going to marry a black man; after The black man refused to be accompanied to the ceremony, carried the bride in the chest; left out of need; at this time the prince came up and opened the chest; when he found out what was going on, he took the girl, putting two cubs in the chest; bringing the chest home, the black man told the guests to have fun and ignore the screams from the bedroom; the tigers tore it; the next day they broke the door and saw them eat up the remains; the princess's father handed it to the prince throne]: D'Penha 1891, No. 7:111-113; [oh [7 Raja daughters bathe in a pond, hide dirt from their skin in a hole in the ground; a tree grows there; the elder princess promises to marry whoever guesses from how the tree grew; the poor sick shepherd watched the sisters, got a wife; at night he sheds her skin, becomes handsome, goes to dance at the Raja's court; the maid sees this, tells the mistress, she throws his skin into the fire; the husband remains handsome, but continues to go out only at night, because his body emits a dazzling light; the Raja went to see, lost consciousness, but his son-in-law revived him after that stopped shining like this; moved with his wife to the palace, became an heir]: Bompas 1909:474-475.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Bali [Raja Daha's daughter is engaged as a child to her cousin, Prince of Coripan; the prince is away for a long time; the princess grows up to feed her louse; Raja promises a daughter to someone who finds out whose skin is stretched on the drum; the maid advises the princess to write to the prince that it is lice skin; the dove carries a letter, is kidnapped in the woods by a cannibal unicorn; the Raja dresses the maid as a princess, but a unicorn solves the riddle, takes the princess dressed as a swineherd; while the unicorn sharpens the horn to stab the princess, the monkey raises her to the tree; trying to knock him down, the unicorn breaks the horn, dies; the monkey steals rice for the princess from the giant's house, he catches her; she explains that she must feed the princess for him, makes a doll out of poisoned dough, the giant eats her, dies; they live in his palace, there they are Prince Coripan finds; the Raja wants to make the monkey a heavenly maiden; she gets under jets of water, changes her appearance; despite the ban, she turns into a monkey again]: Leuven Bomkamp 1983, No. 48:227-238.

The Balkans. Romanians (Banat) [the emperor's daughter was born at the same time as the foal; she grows up and cares for him, feeds him with fire and drinks wine; when she is 15 years old, her father decided to marry her; ordered her to make a drum with lice skin over it; whoever guesses whose skin is will get a princess; the magician dragon sent his son, also a magician, he guessed it; the princess's horse told her everything; the king also terrified; the horse tells me to ask her father to give her men's clothes and everything she needs, takes the princess away; tells her to look back; princess: the dragon catches up; the horse: how to fly - like the wind or as a thought? princess: like the wind; flew into the city; the horse tells you to go to the king, call yourself a prince, ask for service; the king will agree, for he is a friend of your father's youth; the king has fallen in love with the imaginary prince, and his associates became jealous and suspected that she was a girl; advised to send the prince to the bazaar, where there are various gold items; if he chooses a weapon, then a man, and if a spindle, etc., then a woman; the horse appeared and spoke about an insidious plan; the prince chose a weapon; the minister proposes a second test: send the prince to pick grapes; if he eats them unwashed from the vine, then a woman, and if she washes them and puts them on a plate, then a man; then the prince was offered to get a sorceress, the daughter of a neighboring king; her father keeps her in a glass palace on a glass mountain; the horse tells the king to ask the king for more jewelry and ornaments; when he sees them , first the princess's maid, then her mother, and finally herself, were amazed and the king gave his daughter to the imaginary prince; the lie brought her to the king, but she did not want a bearded man; the king shaved; the prince admitted to the bride that he himself is a girl; and he told everything to the king and the courtiers; the king married the princess to his son; he went to war, and his wife gave birth to two golden sons; the magician dragon took the form of the owner of the inn , replaced the letter: she gave birth to two puppies; replaced the prince's answer with the command to execute the witch wife, drown the puppies; the woman was raised to the fire, but her horse rode, devoured the fire, took the hostess and her children away; said he would die: let the giblets place the giblets in the four corners of the wide field and the heart in the middle; the children herself and the children climb inside his carcass for the night; in the morning she is in the palace, and in front of the entrance there are two lions; they they guard the palace and bring edible roots and herbs; the prince returned, grieves; once he saw the palace while hunting; the hostess told the lions to let him in; he recognized his wife and children; everyone is happy; on the magician dragon sent an army, he was destroyed; after his father-in-law's death, his son reigned]: Schott, Schott 1845, No. 16:111-126; Albanians: Lambertz 1952:29-36 [Kjoftlárgu (devil) fed the louse, it became the size of the ram, brought the king, suggested that the one who guessed what kind of beast it was should marry the royal daughter; only K. himself guessed, took the girl to the lower world, imprisoned her in the far corner of his palace; from The eldest hears the king's three sons, the middle sees what is underground, the youngest goes down a rope into the well; in front of horses, bones in front of dogs, grass, the young man shifts grass; horses and dogs promise to help , they give the young man an eagle ("doodle bird"), he must be fed meat; they do not give the young man to K. who comes, he leaves again; the brother puts his sister on a doodle, he flies to the ground, she feeds him meat, no meat enough, she cuts off a piece of her leg from the calf, returns home; her brother stayed downstairs; a crying girl comes, she is the daughter of the richest citizen, given to be eaten by K., who closed the water sources, gives out water for the girls; the young man shot K. with a gun; blood flowed immediately from the sources, and clean water two days later; the young man married a girl, they were helped to return to earth], 138-144 [the poor man saves a snake from fire; she tells me to plant a wonderful fern in the yard, the poor man has become rich; the rich neighbor promises to give half of his business if he guesses what these plants are; if he did not guess, he had to give it back; his wife told the wife of the former poor man that her husband was going to leave her; the husband denies everything; next time the wife demands that the husband swear, he swears "snake grass"; the wife brags to the rich man's wife, she tells her husband; the snake advises to bet: if the sun rises from the west, the rich man will have to give up all his property and leave; the snake sends the former poor man to the mother of the Sun; on the way, the pear asks to know why it does not bear fruit; snake - why can't she crawl away; water in the pond - why it's not running; princess - why she isn't getting married; Mother of the Sun promises that her son will rise tomorrow from the west; let the princess sweep the yard before sunrise; a person must drown in the pond; a snake must grab someone; a weight must be dug from under the pear; a person gives advice (to the pond and the snake after going a distance), digs gold from under the pear ; in the morning he leads the rich man to the snake, she grabs him, drags him into the pond; a poor former man comes to the princess, becomes her husband; sent his old wife and wife of a rich man to the pond, they drowned in running water]; Albanians [king ask his daughter to look for lice; she found a louse in her beard; the king ordered her to be put in a box (and fed); soon the louse became huge; the king orders to remove the skin from the lice and promises to give her away daughter for someone who says whose skin it is; only the devil immediately said it was the skin of lice; the king realized that the guesser was not human; re-tested; the devil appeared in different clothes and asked show the princess; grabbed her and carried her underground; that night the king forbade lighting the fire; one old woman did not pay attention; they came to her; she explained that her 7 sons were returning after the attack darkness and would not be able to find a home; the king called his sons; one hears a man speaking at any distance; the other tells the earth to open; the third can quietly steal anything; the fourth will give up shoe to the edge of the world; the fifth will call the tour in one word; the sixth will knock down anything at any height; the seventh will catch everything that falls; the king sent them after the princess; the first heard a conversation underground, the second discovered the ground, the third took the princess without waking up the devil, the fourth threw his shoe to the end of the world; the devil took time to get his shoe; after catching up with the brothers, the devil asked permission to look at the princess through a small hole and flew with her high into the sky; the sixth brother shot him and the seventh picked up the fallen princess; her king asks who to marry her; princess: who took her into his arms; he is the youngest; the princess's husband received the throne, and the rest of the brothers received titles and positions]: Dozon 1881, No. 4:27-33 (=Meyer 1884, No. 8; 118-113); Gagauz [king tore off skin with lice; whoever guesses whose skin will get the princess; Cinderella guessed, got the princess, turned into a snake at night; the girl sent a letter with a dove; there was a man who stole from the snake unnoticed girl; the serpent catches up, the man hit his fist, a cast-iron fortress appeared; the tsar got his daughter back]: Moshkov 1904, No. 77:140.

Central Europe. Russians (Teresky Bereg) [the tsar found a louse in his daughter's hair, raised it, took off his skin and put it on the wall; whoever finds out whose skin I will give it back; the daughter asked the old man to tell the handsome guy that it was a louse, and the old man himself announced and picked up the princess; when he took him in a boat across the river, she shoved him into the water, and he kind of moved into her and repeated all her words; she had to be silent; she got a job with to another king as a cook; he says: how delicious! sitting in it repeats; princess: delicious, so go out; she pushed him into the soup, he cooked; Ivan Tsarevich divorced his young wife and took the princess worker]: Balashov 1970, No. 132:370-171; Russians ( Arkhangelskaya), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Ivano-Frankivsk region) [Lice skin (fleas): the princess makes a riddle (who owns the skin); the young man solves; must become the princess's husband; a more noble groom disputes his rights; the husband should be the one to whom the princess turns to at night (it turns out to be poor)]: SUS 1979, No. 621:167-168; Russians (Arkhangelskaya) [found in the princess a louse was put on a sheep, it was the size of a sheep, a ram was the size of a sheep; the skin was made, the shoes were sewn; the king promises to give his daughter for someone who guesses what they are made of; the devil found out; the king left key in the princess's clothes, she was sent to {?} goat; Damn it, the goat replies that the princess is at home; The devil overturns the key, rushes in pursuit; the princess tells the goat to fall to the ground, listen; throws a comb (forest; cut through the road), flint (mountain, Damn made his way), flint (river of fire); Damn asks for a towel, pull it; the princess let go in the middle, the devil drowned; the princess married in another kingdom]: Onchukov 1906, No. 56:147-148; (cf. Russians [Flea meat: food is prepared from it; whoever guesses what it is made of gets the hand of a princely daughter; he overhears the answer; the princess escapes from it by throwing wonderful items; link to one entry from Lithuanian Russians]: SUS 1979, No. 621A: 168).

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Abazins [the sister of seven brothers rejects the grooms; she raises a louse that does not fit in the chest; the girl stabbed her, salted her meat, promised to marry whoever says whose it is; after many attempts guesses the one from whose head this louse fell; sparrows tell the mother that her daughter is in the dungeon; each of the brothers says what gift he has (shoots accurately, leads an army underground, catches everything shot down without letting it fall to the ground, etc.); using these properties, the brothers penetrate the underground dragon, quietly carry their sister, kill the dragon that grabbed her and carried her to the sky, pick her up falling, returning home with his sister]: Tugov 1985, No. 57:172-174; Georgians [the poor man hired Solomon, received three tips as a reward; 1) finding a rarity on the road, take her home; 2) do not open it secrets to his wife; 3) do not give anything to anyone without asking; the man found the skin of a snake, brought it into the yard, a tree of sparkling colorful stones grew out of it; the man began to negotiate with rich people: if they will guess what the tree grew from, they will get it, and if not, they will give all the goods to the man; the man won and became rich; the young merchant asked the man's wife to help; she found out the secret, deliberately loudly said what the tree grew out of, the hiding priest heard, took the tree; the man came to S., who reproached him for not listening to advice; took it with him to one king; the man offered his win from merchants cut meat; tsar: the knife was stolen from me; S. taught the man at the trial to answer that his father and, if the knife was royal, then the tsar and the murderer; the judges released him]: Bogoyavlensky 1894c, No. 4: 148-151; Turks [(summary of the text from the collection of Ign. Kunosha); the king hangs the skin of a lice that has reached the size of a cat at the palace, promising to pass off his only daughter as someone who will determine the name of the then unknown parasite; dev guesses and demands a reward; the king's stallion hides the princess in a pavilion in the middle of the sea; driving by, the prince meets her and marries her; then goes to war; the king sends his son the news of the birth of two children; dev replaces her at night the messengers have letters; the mother, mad with fear for the babies, runs; the devil rushes after her; the stallion saves her again; she lives in his cat; the deva's slander is exposed, the prince goes in search of his wife; finds her home; children learned by their mother ask: "Can a woman give birth to two kittens?" ; the prince is reunited with his wife, they return to the king; the maiden is given a choice: forty horses or the same number of cuffs; hoping for pardon, he asks for horses; he is tied to his tails animals]: Gordlevsky 1961, No. 18:183; Kurds: Jalil et al. 1989, No. 23 [Avci Ahmad hunts, a white snake asks him to protect him from a black snake, he shoots but accidentally shoots a white tail; white returns to her father, the shah of the serpent; he sends the cobras to sting AA, but they hear his story addressed to agha, tell the khan that AA is innocent; the shah summons AA, tells him to point out the culprit snake; AA indicates that he is being killed; the daughter of the Shah of Serpents orders to ask for poison from her father's mouth as a reward; AA has begun to understand the language of stones, plants, animals; the Shah's daughter tells the house to bury her severed tail; a tree has grown with unprecedented fruits; AA asks everyone what kind of tree it is; the caravan persuaded AA's wife to find out the secret, AA answered correctly, so he won the argument, got his house and wife; the white snake tells him to sleep at the mazar; The saint buried there tells the caravan to argue with the caravan that the sun will rise in the west, set in the east, gives a jug of gold for the mortgage; the sun has risen in the west, AA has returned its home; more about how AA understands animal words, then gets into trouble and then avoids misfortune; finally dies]: 238-247; Rudenko 1970, No. 45 [Ahmad came to Aleppo to look for work, worked for a rich man for 7 years with the money he earned I bought 7 tips from the owner: 1) everything requires patience; 2) the most beautiful is the one who loves your heart; 3) do not give anything until you are asked; 4) do not reveal the truth to your wife; 5) if you are sitting in a place of honor, do not talk to the person on the opposite end; 6) grab everything softer than a stone on the way home; 7) don't get up from where you sat down; A. hired a caravan; he asks to go down to the well collect water; when A. sent buckets of water upstairs, the door opened in the wall, the young man dragged him into the room, where there is a beauty and a frog, the young man asks who is more beautiful; A.: who did his heart love; the young man gave A. seven grants; the caravan gave A. gold; A. asked to bring gold and grenades to his wife Seyran; seven-year-old son S. Ismail opened one grenade, and jewelry fell from there; S. bought ordinary pomegranates for her son, bought a palace and a garden for jewelry, got servants; when A. went to the house, A. noticed a dead snake on the road and, remembering the council picked her up, covered the house with earth by the porch; when he saw a young man next to his wife, he grabbed a dagger, but realized that it was his son; where the snake was buried, a tree grew; if anyone said it was a pear, on a tree apples appeared if the apple tree was covered with peaches, etc.; the guessing A. promises to give all the property, and not the guessing player would give him his own; everyone lost, A. became immensely rich; the huckster persuaded the old woman gain confidence, convince S. that A. should tell her a secret, leave a chest in the bedroom; he hid himself in the chest and found out about the snake tree; agreed with A. that he would give him three things if he he will answer correctly; when he called the snake tree, it broke out and disappeared; A. asked for three days, came to his first owner, who took him to a feast with the padishah, told him to sit next to him; but A. everyone the one who entered gave way and was on the very edge; the padishah is looking for a knife to cut a watermelon, A. offers his own, the padishah liked it; the vizier said that this knife was stolen from the royal treasury; the owner asks to let go A. promises not to say anything to him for the night; tying his donkey, beats him and talks to him as if about the advice that A. had broken; tells him to say that his father was attacked by robbers, he pulled the knife out of his chest, let the padishah will now pay for blood; padishah: this is what the vizier said; the vizier was executed; the owner Ahmed: the three things that the huckster wants are A.'s life, wife and property; orders to put a high staircase near the house and get to the balcony with his wife; the huckster will take three steps - these are three things he touched, let him take the stairs; everything is fine]: 116-126.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians (Khorasan) [the king fed the louse to the size of a cow; he will give his daughter to the one who guessed who the skin was removed; through the wife of the vizier, the divas learns the secret, gets the princess]: Marzolph 1984, No. 621:127.

Baltoscandia. Estonians: Dähnhardt 1910 [the daughter found a louse in the king's hair, who fattened her for three years, ordered her to be slaughtered, made of leather shoes for her daughter; whoever guesses what they are made of will receive princess; a snake crawled, gave the right answer, the princess had to go with her; there was a bridge across the sea in front, water behind them, they came to the palace; at night the husband was a man, in the day of snakes; a year later the wife gave birth to a son, wanted to show her father; her husband took her ashore, explained how to call him (Kiilu, kaalu, come out, your wife, etc.); the woman's brothers began to demand that she tell me how to call her husband, she eventually let it slip; the elder brother began to call, the husband thinks that it is not his wife's voice; the same middle voice; when the younger brother called, the husband believed that his wife was calling; the brothers cut off the snake's head; the wife called in vain ; became a birch tree (Maserbirke) and her son became a drake]: 473-474; Hurt in Peebo, Peegel 1989, No. 133 (Kodavere) [the ploughman was bitten by a louse, he put it in a snuffbox, then in the cellar, she kept growing; said to kill her can only the master, having pierced his heart, let him cover the roof with his skin, which of the three princes will guess whether his daughter will take; the third answered correctly, brought his wife to the forest castle, ordered not to open the last room; the wife opened it, the horned monster came out, the castle was gone, the wife stayed with the maid, went to her husband's brothers, they drove them away; the women unfolded the tablecloth, food on it; saw gray and brown bears fighting, the brown won, became the woman's husband; said that if she hadn't opened that door, he would have won more easily; the old bast shoes that were thrown at the women of her husband's brother became the same castle; the spouses are good live]: 172-174; setu [the king made his daughter shoes on one leg out of lice skin, fleas on the other; promised to give his daughter to the one who guessed what the shoes were made of; guessed the snakes who crawled out from under the edge of the well; girl She sailed with him overseas; came with her three daughters to visit her parents; her brothers began to ask their daughters, only the youngest said that her mother was calling the snake with a song on the shore, he came to pick her up with the ship; the brothers summoned themselves, killed the snake with swords; the wife called - a bloody ship sailed; turned into a birch tree; her green bark was the eldest daughter, the white bark was the middle daughter, the stripes on the bark were the youngest]: Normann, Tammpere 1989:71-72; Western Sami [the king fed the flea, hung his skin on the wall, promised his daughter to the one who guessed which animal it was removed from; the wolf answered correctly, got the princess; the king dressed up the cowshed, the wolf took her like a bride, began to ask her questions in the forest, realized from the answers that the girl knew everything about the barn, returned it; the cook was the same; the king had to give her daughter, she did not know the answers, the wolf realized what it was really a princess; at home, the wolf became prince charming; allowing his wife to see her family, he forbade her to tell her that her husband was human; his wife broke her promise, the prince remained a wolf]: Pollan 2005, No. 24:97-98; Latvians [the princess has lice leather shoes; whoever guesses what material they are made of will get the princess as his wife; guesses the toad (s) and takes the girl away; "further like 425A" (this number is a lot various episodes)]: Aris, Medne 1977, No. 425B: 284; Danes [the king asks his daughter to see what is in his hair; she takes off a big louse; they put it in oil, it grows; when the barrels are too small, the louse was stabbed, the skin was removed; the king is dissatisfied that the princess rejects all suitors; promises to pass her off as saying which animal the skin was removed from; the wolf sniffs and tells the king what it is the skin of a lice tells you to give her to the princess; brings her to a luxurious castle, forbids her to light a fire; at night the wolf turns into a man, but the princess does not see him; when she gave birth to a son, the wolf immediately took him away; allows you to return to your parents for three days with the condition that you do not take anything with him from their home; but the mother gives the knife to be put on the bed; the husband will be scratched; if he screams, he is a troll, and if he moans, man; he groaned; forgave his wife, but since then he had been limping on his right back leg; when the wife gave birth to a daughter, the wolf also took her away immediately; the wife visited her parents again; the mother gave a box of matches and a candle; the wife lit a candle; her husband said that a witch bewitched him for 7 years because he refused to marry her daughter; became a wolf and ran away; she came to Sister Wolf's castle, where her son was; the second sister had a daughter with wet nurse; the wife went to the glass mountain, saw the Wolf climb her; she was also sliding; the old man gave iron shoes to climb the mountain and ointment, heal the cuts; on the mountain in the castle, a woman hired a kitchen; a local young mistress will soon marry the Wolf; a witch orders her daughter's white flannel and black white to be washed (the old man performs); tells him to bring jewelry from his sister for the bride; a young man gives a ball to follow; stick a rod in a door that claps all the time; give a bag of grain to geese; tongs to give to two people who move their air with their bare hands; ladles are given to girls who interfere with cauldron with bare hands; give two loaves of bread to guard dogs; a pot of fat to grease the door hinges; the witch's sister can't eat anything, not look back on the way back; the witch's sister gave her leg a calf, the woman threw her under the bench, she answers from there; the second time she hid it under her clothes, the witch's sister believed that the woman ate her leg; when the woman runs back, the witch's sister tells the guards hold her, but everyone refuses because she treated them well; the witch's sister warned not to open the box on the way, but the woman opened it, the bird flew out and disappeared; the young man asked for that the calf leg, which remained under the woman's clothes, sent her to bring her jewelry again, her leg ran and brought it; having received the box, the witch allowed the woman to be present at her marriage daughters; gave the woman two torches; she cannot move, she can burn; the prince grabs them and gives them to the witch and her daughter; they burned down along with the castle; a meadow on the site of a glass mountain; spouses took the children, returned to the woman's parents]: Grundtvig 1878:251-276 (=Mulley 1878:225-236).

Volga - Perm. Marie [Lice skin: the king makes a riddle (who owns the skin); whoever guesses will get the hand of the king's daughter; the devil overhears the answer; the princess is saved with the help of a horse and transformations , marries a prince]: Sabitov 1989, No. 621:38.

Turkestan. Kazakhs: Ethnographic Materials 1898, No. 5 (Turgay) [a rich old man will pass off Ganifa's daughter as someone who can guess what material the glove is made of; two wolves heard G. complaining to a friend (this is hers daughter-in-law), which will remain an old maiden - she sewed a glove from aphid skin; in the morning a horseman comes accompanied by an old man - yesterday's wolves; the dzhigit guessed right, G. is glad, spent the night with him; tells his daughter-in-law, that at night the groom scratched her chest and knocked his teeth; the groom asks not to accompany him when his wife is taken home; G. sees how the groom became a wolf; friend: he is the one who has been taught werewolf; at night both became wolves they howled others into the yurt; when the wolves fall asleep, the pacer G. tells them to ride away, throwing small expensive things behind him at his instructions; each time the wolf picks up an item (ring, brooch) and carries back to the yurt; the foreigner tells him to slaughter him, eat his meat and blood, sprinkle blood around him, throw away his entrails, lie in his belly with his right front leg; in the morning, the horse's belly became a yurt , leg to a young husband, drops of blood to the people who elected G. Khan]: 29-33; Tursunov 1983 [childless bai refuses to give Khan a roan horse, because he protects cattle from wolves and robbers; Khan calls for a feast only those who have children; buy and his wife still come, no one has met them; dreams that a roan should be slaughtered; he stabbed, his wife is pregnant; the girl speaks from the womb, is born without the help of a midwife after her father promises that she will have power over herself; calls himself Dudar, no one should know her name; she will be married by whoever guesses him; no one guesses; once a slave called her by name; the groom came, called it by name; a two-year-old Saur explains that it is a werewolf, he dug the corpse from the grave and ate it, heard the name; you must take a slave on a black camel, a bow and an arrow with you; The savras turns into a six-year-old horse; the werewolf went forward, returned as a wolf, swallowed a camel with a slave; the horse tells not to allow the werewolf's elder wife (she is also a she-wolf) to take him as an excuse; takes D., flying away by air; D. in men's clothes, took a young man named Er Tostik as a sister; knocks a coin off the top of the poplar, gets the khan's daughter, gives it to ET, opens it to him herself, now he has two wives; he went on a campaign in Savras, ordered his son to be named Altinkhan; when he was born, one-legged Kuayak-Kempir invited a messenger to her place, changed letters, supposedly, ET ordered his wife and child to be burned; savras rushed, although he was in fetters, Kuayak-Kempir is chasing; D. throws a comb (forest), a mirror (lake); but Savras himself was in the water; killed KK by kicking it, but she ripped open his belly; on the shore he tells him to throw his legs herds of horses in four directions; the brisket is a yurt; A. hunts, sees a lame man, carries his skullcap; D. says it's an ET skullcap; ET tells how he walked without a horse; recovered; they returned to ET village, A. became a hero]: 43-50; Kyrgyz [Khan Kuluke's daughter Madylgen cut and sewed a fur coat from her father's intestines; khan could not determine what it was made of; when the daughter explained, the khan could not determine what it was made of; when the daughter explained, Khan announced that he would give his daughter to someone who could figure out what the fur coat was made of; the red-eyed old man said that the intestines were lice; the khan had to give his daughter; the horse told M. to take it with her, white a camel and a slave Kuyta, a sable hat from clothes, a damask knife from utensils, and to dress in men's clothes; when they left, the old man said: "Go where I pull along, spend the night where I pull across," went forward; horse: this is the old sorcerer Jelmoguz; the horse ordered not to turn around - the old man will attack Kuita with a black-striped tiger; so it happened; then the old man appeared and asked: "Are you going, beautiful Madylgen? Go where I pull along, spend the night where I pull across", drove forward again; it happened again with the white camel; now the horse warned that the old man would attack M., told me to sit tight; he would ride below the cloudy sky, above the cranked grass, so that M. closes her eyes more tightly, and when she hears "open your eyes", let her open it; she will see how thin (like a dorsal) yurt winds from a small (like a heart) brain) smoke, this is the old man's house; in the old man's house, a three-year-old warned M. that when the old man comes home, his eyes will come out; you need to cut them out with a damask knife, let him do the rest; horse flew over mountains and deserts, descended near the city, M. settled on its outskirts; the city's khan named Akimkan had forty wives, but not a single child; he went hunting, his hunting eagle sat on a grass hut, the horseman sent for the eagle saw M., fell unconscious; when he returned, he told the khan that he had seen an angel in the flesh: boy, but the voice is gentle, his face is beautiful, girl, but dressed like a man; the next day everything repeated, the khan went to the third, fell in love, but could not determine whether the man or the woman was in front of him; asked for advice from 40 wives, one advised to give the stranger 40 twigs of meadowsweet and instruct them to cut them for spindles, the man cuts smoothly, the woman is uneven; the horse: put the rods in the left nostril, pull them out of the right nostril, they will become smooth; another wife advised to arrange jumps; the man has sleeves and floors they flutter at random, and the girl will ride shyly, picking them up and pulling them up; the horse taught M. to dissolve the floors and sleeves when jumping; the younger wife advised to invite a stranger to drink vodka and poison guest, and Khan's vodka and honey; when the guest gets drunk, it will be easy to determine his gender; horse: at every sip, say to yourself: "Sweetness to me, and hops to a gray three-year-old"; in the afternoon, one elder went into the yurt and exclaimed: "It is cruel to allow the horse to experience such torment, let the owner cut it himself"; when she heard him, M. shuddered, her sable hat fell from her head and everyone saw her beautiful hair; horse:" Blame only yourself" and disappeared; A. married M. in a separate yurt; when it was time for her to give birth, A. went hunting; 40 wives sent a slave, paid a witch, who replaced the boy who was born and the girl was puppies, the children were thrown into the river; they were caught by a gray three-year-old who rushed; Akimkan left M. with her puppies on a deserted island; a few years later, a three-year-old brought her children to M. on the island, ordered cross to the other side; "Before the crossing, an eyeless old magician will appear, ask him to be transported too, led to fill both of his boots with sand; seat the children in front and the old man in the back; when we enter the water, hit me with a damask knife; when the old man falls into the water, stab my belly with a knife, when I die, don't cry, cook my meat and eat it, name my son Aitomush, and my daughter Kyuntomush; stick my 40 ribs in the ground they will turn into an iron yurt with 40 bars, live in it"; as it happened, M. and her children settled in a yurt, Aytomush grew up as a hero; met Akimkan, who hunted; he told his wives that he met a young man named Aitomush; soon the khan was attacked by enemies, he sent a messenger to Aitomush with the news that if he defeated his enemies, he would marry two girls, Apal and Yupel; M. drove the messenger away; his khan again sent - the same; Aitomush woke up from the noise, drove and defeated enemies; Khan with horsemen came to him, saw M., found out and fell unconscious; took her and her children; an old witch at the crossroads of 9 roads put on a stake, 40 wives were hanged; Khan put his son on the throne, married his daughter and healed happily]: Kebekova, Tokombaeva 2007:27-34; Uighurs (Khotan dialect) [tsar goes hunting, daughter puts two fleas in his stocking; driving past the cemetery, he declares that the deceased was his brother, he must cook a shroud for him; leaves fleas in the shroud; one flea ate the other, became a kid; the king tells the vizier to make a tambourine out of her skin, promises her daughter to someone who guesses which skin a tambourine is from; only the divas guessed, the princess laughed; three years later, the divas takes his wife to show her parents; the horse tells the princess that her husband is a diva, tells her father to ask her father for a certain horse and camel, not to say why, otherwise the princess sucks blood; the horse delivers the princess from the country of the diva to her father (camel, apparently, it prevents the wonder from seeing the fugitives); Andreev 1929, fairy tale 621]: Malov 1961, No. 7:16-19.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. The Buryats [beautiful Tebek-Nogon-Abaha tells the maids to comb a louse out of her head, it is the size of a man's head; T. fattens her, she grows up from a bull; promises to marry someone who is the first to know about this louse; the 58-headed mangathai makes the maid reveal the secret; T. pretends to agree, runs across the sea; tells mangathaya that she crossed with stones tied to the hem; he drowns she sends a stone hail that breaks through all his heads]: Eliasov 1973, No. 10:92-94.

Western Siberia. Northern Mansi (Berezovsky District): Kupriyanova 1960:63-65 [the daughter finds a louse in her father's head, which turns into a horse; the father promises to give his daughter to someone who guessed where the louse came from; guesses Hot lagup hatup wirs (someone with six legs and six arms); father and daughter wrap birch bark around the horse's legs and tail, run away; every time H. catches up with them, birch bark falls, he is in it gets confused; the girl's mother tells me to tie the horse to a small tree; the girl's younger brother leans over the ice-hole, from there the beast orders to tie it to the big one; the horse pulls out the tree, pulls it along; woman on a horse (mother or daughter?) petrified; H. burst, died], 65-68 [daughter finds nits in the eyelashes of the Bald King; presses, she turns into a louse; the girl presses the louse, she turns into a flea; the flea into a horse; as in the first version; a girl gets married, tells her husband to tie a horse to a small tree; her husband's younger brother leans over an ice-hole; an animal from an ice-hole: Your brother's wife told me to tie the horse to a big tree; the horse drags the larch to the owner, she sits down, runs away on it; the horse is tired, tells her to slaughter it, hide in her stomach; the horse is petrified, her ears become nails; the beast ran into them, died; the wife returned home, scolded her husband]; Eastern Khanty (b. Pym) [the old man tells his daughter to look in his head; there is a golden louse, he turns her into a golden winged horse; whoever guesses what the horse came from will pass off his daughter as him; the cannibal overheard, turned into a young man , got a girl; she gives birth to a son, her husband eats him; the wife calls the golden horse, he takes her away, she marries a merchant; he leaves, she gives him a note to tie the horse to a thin tree; someone replaces - tie to a fat man; wrote a note that a son was born, the moon was on one cheek, the sun was on the other; the other was replaced by a freak with a snake tail instead of legs; the merchant writes to wait for his return; substitution: Throw the mother and son in a barrel into the sea; the horse pulls out a century-old larch to which it is attached, takes the mother and son to the island, tells him to be killed, to climb into his belly; they find themselves in a rich iron house; The cannibal comes to the roof, asks to let him in; rolls on the roof, attacks nails, dies]: Kulemzin, Lukina 1978, No. 103:99-97.

Eastern Siberia. Evenks (Okhotsk village, Okhotsk village) Tugur) [the girl rejects the grooms, promises to marry the one who guessed her name; the hare comes last, guesses that her name is Indymilenko; brings branches, grass, sand, mouse from hunting; the wife goes to To a bear, he brings her fish, goose, elk; she is happy]: Voskoboynikov 1960a, No. 7:50-51.

Amur - Sakhalin. Ulchi [the old man tells his daughter to look in his head; makes a tambourine out of lice skin; promises to give his daughter to someone who guesses what the tambourine is made of; two giants threaten the maids to reveal secret; the girl is forced to go with the giants; asks them to wait outside for her to clean their stone house; there is a lot of resin - this is their food; the girl cuts out a horse from paper, rides it away; after when this one gets tired, he carves three more horses one by one; throws a bar (became a rock), an awl (became an iron net); another block (a stone pole); she climbs a pole, the giants try to knock him down ; with the blood of the last horse, she creates an image of a house, a barn, wraps herself in his skin; wakes up in the house; the young man she wanted to marry came to her; she shot her father's boat giants, she's gone; a woman lives well with her husband and son]: Sunik 1985, No. 5:131-133.

The Midwest. Western Swamp Cree (northern Manitoba) [Wastasekoot has a daughter, he promises to give her to someone who guesses her secret name (For-Ever-and-Ever); her fiance knows the name; Wesukechak asks Spider to know the name; he flies on the web, eavesdrops; does not have time to return to the day of choosing the groom, asks Laska to run, give the name V.; Laska comes to guess himself, gets the girl; The spider finally comes to V.; having found out about the deception, he tells the girl's father everything; the girl is given for a real groom; affection still runs away from V., sometimes stops and listens]: Clay 1978:68-76.