Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

M90a3. The tree grew out of a snake. 17.23.27.29.

A

plant grows from a killed snake or part of a snake's body.

Marathi, Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks (Lesbos), Georgians, Swans, Armenians, Kurds.

South Asia. Marathi [the girl's and boy's mother died, their father took another one; the girl is ill and wants to drink at night; the stepmother asks her stepson to water her sister himself; the brother puts the water vessel without covering it a lid, a snake crawled into the water, the sister swallowed it; began to wither away; brother and sister were expelled from home; one day a young man sees a snake crawling out of his sleeping sister's mouth; he killed a snake; the next day on this A tree grew in the place, with beautiful flowers; the sister made a garland out of them, threw them around her brother's neck, who turned into a snake; the prince saw his sister; brought snake charmers, who began to call snakes; When the transformed brother finally appeared, his sister tore off his garland, he became human again; the prince married a girl, then became a raja, his wife's brother became a minister]: Knight 1913:112-124.

The Balkans. Albanians [a poor man saves a snake from the fire; she tells him to plant a wonderful fern in the yard, the poor man has become rich; a rich neighbor promises to give half of his work if he guesses what it is plant; didn't guess, had to give it back; his wife told the wife of a poor ex-man that her husband was going to leave her; husband denies everything; next time his wife demands that her 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 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; the snake - why it can't crawl away; the water in the pond - why it is not flowing; the princess - why she is not married; the mother of the Sun promises that her son will rise tomorrow from the west; let the princess sweep the yard before sunrise; a man must drown in the pond; the snake must grab someone; the weight must be dug from under the pear; the person gives advice (to the pond and the snake goes a distance), digs gold from under the pear; in the morning he leads the rich man to the snake, which grabs him, drags him into the pond; the poor former man comes to the princess, becomes her husband; his former wife and wife He sent the rich man to the pond, they drowned in running water]: Lambertz 1952:138-144; Bulgarians [the poor man's bones grow a tree that brings gold instead of ordinary fruits; the owner of the inn (merchant, moneylender, king of Turks) learns the secret of the tree from the poor man's unfaithful wife, makes a bet, gives the right answer to the question of what the tree grew from, gets all the property of the loser; the man goes to the Sun, to ask how he can recover what he lost; on the way, an apple or pear tree is asked to know why it is barren or no one eats its fruits; a muddy or bloody river - why no one drinks its water; a girl - why no one marries her; the Sun promises a man to rise from the west; let him bet on this with the one who deceived him and return everything; a treasure must be dug from under an apple tree or pear tree; someone in the river if she must drown, then the water will be clean; the girl must get up early, wash herself, comb her hair and not take the garbage towards the sun; the person digs up and takes gold, wins the bet about places of sunrise]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, â„– 461A: 162-164; Greeks (Lesbos) [parents sent their son overseas to study music; when he returned, he fell in love with a girl who is not a mother liked it, and she sent her son away again; the serpent asks him to play and dances himself; then brought him to the treasure cave; the young man can take whatever he wants, provided that he invites the snake to the wedding and he will call him brother; if this does not happen, he, the snake, will die; then his bones must be buried, a cypress will grow; drink coffee with his wife under him, and leave the third cup for the cypress: he will bend down and drink; it is necessary invite visitors to guess three times what kind of tree it is (snake cypress, Snake-Cypress), let them bet their fortunes; the mother forbade calling the snake to the wedding, he died; because of the third cup the wife is jealous of coffee, her husband told her everything; the servant overheard, asked for calculation, appeared in the guise of a merchant, called the tree; the cypress immediately collapsed; the husband decided that his wife had betrayed him, told her to go to the merchant; the old woman advises her husband to ask the merchant to answer whether the sun will rise from the east or from the west; makes it rise in the west; the husband returned everything, lived well with his wife]: Rouse 1896, No. 1:151-154.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Georgians: Dirr 1920, No. 67 (Imereti) [Solomon asks the employee if he wants money or good advice; he chooses advice; 1) don't trust secrets to anyone; 2) don't offer anything yourself, if you didn't ask; 3) here's a road; wrap it in snakeskin, which you'll find on the way, and stick it in the ground in your yard; a tree with golden fruits grew out of the staff; the man hid it in a chest, became rich, got married; once, when my husband was away, three Armenians came and asked him to spend the night; when they saw a golden tree, they decided to steal it; they promised their wife money if they found out from her husband where he got it a tree; he did not reveal the secret for a long time, but in the end he told it and his wife told the Armenians; they demanded a tree from him, he agreed to give it back if they told me where it came from (otherwise they would pay for it themselves him), lost the bet; went to Solomon again; he ordered him to make a new bet with the Armenians: from which side the sun would rise; they replied that it was from the east, but this time the sun came from the west (if they said that from the west, S. would have picked it up from the east); the man returned his tree; continued to visit S.; the king called S. to his place twice through the vizier, had to go, the servant was with him; at lunch the king needed a knife, servant C . offered his own; the king said that his knife, the man was imprisoned, S. was forbidden to see him; S. hit the cat, he meowed, S. began to bake it in a loud voice so that the servant behind the wall could hear; let him say that He took the knife out of the body of his murdered father, and since the king's knife, the king is the murderer; the king did not know what to answer and let the man go]: 254-256; Chikovani 1954, No. 63 [the employee agrees to take from the merchant instead of paying not 20 rubles, but two lucky nickels; the merchant promises to take them to the employee's wife himself, who stays for another year; the merchant bought a cat for nickels; in another place where rats did not live, he sold it for pearls and precious stones, took them to the worker's wife; in the second year, the same (the merchant bought a mirror on his nickels, sold them to the king, who never saw mirrors); after the third year, the merchant gives advice to the farmhand: whatever you will find it on the road, lift it up and bury it at the doorstep; whoever asks, do not say you know where it comes from; do not open your heart to anyone; the poor man found a snake's tail on the road, buried it at the doorstep; found out how generously the merchant with He paid him, but did not talk to anyone about it; in one night a poplar grew at the doorstep with jewelry on the branches; the prince envied man's happiness; held a feast, ordered not a single knife on the table; the man was also invited, offered his knife; the prince said that the knife was stolen from his father; they decided that if the prince found out what the poplar grew out of, the dagger and everything he would put his hand on was him; the prince sent him as a sorceress to the man's wife, she persuaded her husband to share a secret; the merchant found out about the trouble, came; the prince forbade them to live together, so he turns to the cat so that the person can hear in the next room; say about the knife, that he was found in the body of the father of the man who was killed by the robbers; when the prince climbs the ladder, cut off three steps, let him take it; the prince returned the dagger and ran away with shame]: 311-315; swans [the man was hired to serve Solomon; when releasing him, he advised 1) finding a rarity on the road, pick him up, take him home; 2) not to reveal secrets to his wife; 3) not to give anything to anyone without a request; man picked up and brought snake skin into the yard; in the morning there is a tree with jewelry on the branches; he did not tell his wife about the skin; merchants want to buy wood; man sets the condition: to guess what it came from in 3 days; they did not know, he took their property, including a precious knife; a merchant persuaded the man's wife to find out what the tree had grown from; he said, his wife shouted loudly about it, and in the morning the merchant took the tree ; Solomon took the man to the king next door; he did not have a knife, the man offered his own, the owner said it was his decorated knife, the man was thrown into prison; but Solomon taught him what to answer in court; allegedly he is the son of a merchant, his father was stabbed to death, a knife was in his throat; if the owner of the knife is a king, then he is a murderer; the case was dismissed]: Virsaladze 1973, No. 187:252-254; Armenians [the snake orders to cut off her head, leave in the hut; there is a pomegranate tree that bears fruit with jewelry; the poor man gets rich, becomes king; others have found out about this, took the tree; he goes to God with a complaint; on the way two women they ask to know why they suffer from headaches, three horses - why scabies harass them; old god: women must marry, horses must serve people; they must be taken; the person who took grenades will come again bet; we must bet that the sun will rise from the west; this is what happened; the man regained his kingdom, but left his wife and children to the enemy]: Khachatryants 1933:246-252 (=Karapetyan 1967:154-158); Kurds: Jalil et al. 1989, No. 23 [Avci Ahmad hunts, the white snake asks him to protect him from the black snake, he shoots but accidentally shoots the white tail; the white snake returns to his father, the Snake Shah; he sends a cobra to sting AA, but they hear his story addressed to agha, tell Khan that AA is innocent; the Shah summons AA, tells him to point to the guilty serpent; AA indicates he is being killed; the Shah's daughter the serpent tells us 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 her severed tail to be buried at home; a tree with unprecedented fruits has grown; 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 dispute, got his house and wife; the white snake tells me to sleep at the mazar; the saint buried there tells me to argue with a caravan gives a jug of gold to the fact that the sun will rise in the west, sets in the east; the sun has risen in the west, AA has returned its home; more about how AA understands animal words, it falls in trouble, he avoids misfortunes; finally dies]: 238-247; Rudenko 1970, No. 45 [Ahmad came to Aleppo to look for work, worked for a rich man for 7 years, bought 7 tips from his owner with the money he earned: 1) you need to do everything patience; 2) the most beautiful is the one who falls in love with 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 someone who is not at the opposite end; 6) on the way home, grab everything softer than a stone; 7) do not get up from where you sat down; A. hired a caravan; he asks to go down to the well to get water; when A. sent buckets of water upstairs, the door opened in the wall, the young man dragged him into the room, 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 take 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 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.