D1a4. Conversation of two fires. .28.31.34.35.
Two fires from different dwellings meet and converse.
Ukrainians (Galicia, Volyn), Belarusians, Lithuanians, Livs, Lutsi, Setos, Estonians, Finns, Dagurs, Mansi.
Central Europe. Ukrainians (Galicia, Sambor district) [one housewife went to ask another for a light and brought her one; but she had a light; a local asks if the guest is living well; he replies that he is not: he doesn’t clean, he doesn’t put the pot of cold water out after heating; the local says that his housewife treats him well; the guest promises to arrange something for his Easter – you’ll see; when they went to church to bless Easter cakes, the house of the housewife who didn’t respect fire burned down]: Dragomanov 1876: 387 (=Levchenko 1928, no. 18a: 7); Ukrainians (Galicia, Sambor district) [two fires are talking, one praises its housewife, the other scolds her; he burned down her house]: Gnatyuk 1902, No. 231: 22; Ukrainians (Podolia, Litinsky district) [one fire tells another how badly the mistress treats him; after this, her household was destroyed by fire]: Chubinsky 1872: 45; Ukrainians (Volyn, Ostrozhsky district) [a peasant overheard a conversation between two fires; the first asks how the mistress treats him; the second answers that she treats him badly; the first says that he is pleased with the mistress; after the fire, she puts a pot of cold water for him, cleans well; the second: and they clean me with a lousy broom, in two weeks I will go out for a walk; the first: there in the barn (in the barn) is my master's forged wagon - so don't touch it; two weeks later the barn of the owner whose wife had been bad with fire burned down, but the cart remained intact]: Malinka 1902, no. 28: 304-305; Belarusians (Dvorchany village {Vitebsk or Grodno}) [one housewife brought a fire from her neighbor, not knowing that her own had not yet gone out; cooked supper, poured water on large embers and went to bed; hears two fires talking; the brought one praises his housewife, she takes care of him, and this one splashed water and went to bed; I'll show her! the housewife was successful and fell asleep, and woke up when the beams above her head were already catching fire; barely managed to jump out of the hut; from then on she took care of the fire]: Federowsky 1897, no. 1151: 239-240.
Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [fire is a feminine being; one fire complains that it is not being laid or covered, it will go for a walk; the second says that it will not go anywhere – it is laid and covered; the first asks not to touch its owner’s things; a house burns down, but the fire does not touch the harrow, cart, and collar belonging to the neighbor, which were located near the wall of the house]: Kerbelyte 2001: 252 (briefly in Balys 1936, no. 3905: 253); Finns [one fire spirit complains to another: dirty water was poured on my face (slop was poured on the coals of the hearth); the spirit takes revenge and burns down the house; a sieve borrowed from a neighbor remains unharmed at the request of the neighbor’s fire spirit]: Jauhiainen 1998, no. G1101: 235; Livs [four fires are talking; some are praising their mistress, others are scolding her: she does not make the sign of the cross when she puts the cauldron on the fire or takes it off; they are going to jump onto the mistress's roof; another fire advises her not to do this; they agreed that the fire of the bad mistress would blow cold under her cauldron, and the good fire would blow warmth under her fire; the mistresses had a fight and the bad one moved to another farm; the new one made the sign of the cross]: Loorits 1998(1): 70-71; Setos , Estonians , Lutsi [fires from two farms meet and talk; one praises the master, who blesses him with the sign of the cross in the morning and evening; the second complains about the bad treatment and promises to burn the house down; (after a fire, only the sieve that the second owner borrowed from the other and about which the first fire specifically warned the second remains unharmed; in some cases, having learned of the threat, the bad housewife in the past begins to take care of the fire; in Estonia in the 1939s, 18 variants were recorded, mainly {i.e. not all!} among the Setos; Paloprrit Voolaine heard a similar story near Lutsi in a mixed language environment]: Annom et al. 2020, No. Ee 205A*: 768.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Dagur [a poor man takes care of the fire in the hearth, keeps the hearth clean, gives it offerings; a nobleman (Landherr) does not take care of it, throws dirt and garbage into the hearth; a relative spends the night in the poor man's house; overhears a conversation between two hearths; the nobleman's fire promises to burn down his house; the poor man's fire asks not to touch the saddle that its owner lent to the nobleman; the nobleman's fire promises not to touch it; in the morning the wind blew, the nobleman's house caught fire, and in the ashes he found only the borrowed saddle; the relative explains what happened; says how to treat father fire; from then on the nobleman treated fire with respect]: Bäcker 1988, no. 20: 142-146.
Western Siberia. Mansi : Kumaeva 2015, no. 7 (Berezovsky district) [as in Rombandeyeva]: 95-97; Rombandeyeva 2005, no. 21 [two women live nearby, one is neat, the other has cracks and holes in her stove; Tyaka-Akv (fire woman) of the sloppy woman complains to Tyaka-Akv of the neat one, threatens to burn down the house; Tyaka-Akv asks the neat one not to touch the tool of her mistress, which she lent to her neighbor; the house of the sloppy one burned down, and the borrowed tool was only slightly scorched]: 215-217.