J62b1. The mistress of the island turns men into animals.

.15.-.17.27.

A sorceress living on the island turns men into animals.

Latins, Bretons, Arabic literary tradition, Ancient Greece.

Southern Europe. Latins ["Myths" attributed to Gaius Julius Hyginus, who lived at the turn of the eras, but most likely dating from the 1st-2nd centuries: Ulysses sailed "to the island of Enaria to Circe, the daughter of the Sun, who gave people a drink that turned them into wild animals. Ulysses sent Eurylochus to her with twenty-two companions, whom she deprived of human form. Eurylochus himself was afraid and did not enter, but fled from there and told Ulysses, who went alone to her. On the way, Mercury gave him a potion and showed him how to deceive Circe. When he came to Circe and took the cup from her, then, on Mercury's advice, he threw the potion in and drew his sword, threatening to kill her if she did not return his companions. Then Circe realized that this had not happened without the will of the gods and, promising never to do anything like that again, she returned his companions to their former appearance, and she herself lay with him and bore him two sons, Nausithous and Telegonus” (translated by D.O. Torshilova)]: Hyg. Fab. 125.

Western Europe. Bretons [a young man, Houarn, and a maiden, Bellah, wish to marry; both are poor, and H. goes out to get money to buy a cow and a pig; B. has the bell of Saint Ké, the knife of Saint Corentin, and the staff of Saint Jaoua de Brasparts; gives H. the bell and the knife; she will hear the sound of the bell if H. is in trouble; the knife dispels any spell; he keeps the staff: it will carry it wherever H. is; sailors: on the island of Loch there is a lake, in which lives a fairy whose wealth is incalculable; many have gone there, but none have returned; H. was given an old boat, sailed to the island; saw a boat in the shape of a swan; H. entered it, the boat became a swan, dived, and he found himself in a palace; a beauty met him; she offered not a pig and a cow, but marriage, and H. accepted; The fairy called: the prosecutor, the miller, the tailor, the singer! 4 fish swam up, she threw them into the frying pan, went for wine; H. touched the fish with a knife, they turned into people; they said that the same fate awaited H.; H. remembered B.; the fairy came in, threw a steel thread around H.'s neck, H. turned into a frog, the bell rang, B. heard; her staff turned into a horse, then into a bird, she quickly reached the island; dwarf: the fairy told me to hatch 7 stone eggs; only B. can save everyone; gives luxurious men's clothing; the fairy believes that another young man has come to her; allows her to catch a fish with her steel thread; B. threw the thread on the fairy, she became a deadly poisonous panther fly agaric; B. touched H. and the other transformed ones with her knife, all acquired human form; from the 7 eggs the 7 winds contained in them flew out; having collected treasures, B. and H. returned home, got married]: Brekilien 1999: 305-314.

Western Asia. Arabic written tradition (late 13th – early 14th century) [the king of Khorasan has a hundred concubines but no children; a man brings a new one: he bought her at sea from the king of Qumr; she is silent for a year, and then says that she is pregnant; she is the sea maiden Julanara (J); quarreled with her brother and went ashore; she could have returned, but she liked the king; summoned her parents, sisters and brother by magic; J.'s mother wants her daughter to return, tongues of flame spew from her eyes and mouth; but J. calmed her down; gave birth to a son named Badr; her brother Salih and her parents often carry him out to sea; the king is afraid, Salih promises not to do this anymore; B. grew up and the king passed the throne to him; Salih says that there is no one more beautiful than Jawhara, but her father Samandal is a stupid tyrant; B. hears; goes off to search; Salih gave him a ring that allowed him to live under water and went with him; Samandal refused; Salih routed his army and put him in chains, but Jauhara escaped and turned B. into a bird with red legs and a beak; she ordered a slave to nail the bird to some island; but she released it on another, where there was a lot of fruit; he was caught in a hunter's snare; he sold the bird to a courtier, and the courtier sold it to the king; the dove eats meat and drinks wine; the queen realized that it was B. whom Jauhara had bewitched; she disenchanted him; he sailed home on a ship, the ship sank, B. swam to the island; an old man took him in; he explained that Queen Lab ruled the island; she takes a man for 40 days and turns him into an animal, there are many such; Lab promised the old man that she would not do this to B.; the old man teaches how to break Lab's spell and turn her into an animal; B. turned her into a mule and rode on her to another city; they forced him to sell the mule, the old woman gave him a lot of money; they turned into clay mugs; the old woman was Lab's mother and disenchanted her; she turned B. into an ugly bird; the slave girl flew to J., told him everything; Ld. and Salih came with an army, disenchanted B., killed Lab, her mother and all their people; B. marries that slave girl, and then the princess Djauhar]: Osmanov, Yusupov 1962: 197-223.

The Balkans. Ancient Greece [Odysseus landed on the island of Aee on his only remaining ship; Circe, the daughter of Helios and Perse and sister of Aeetes, lived there; Odysseus divided his companions by casting lots: he himself was to remain on the ship; Eurylochus and the remaining 22 companions went to Circe; she gave them a magic potion to drink, touched each of them with her staff and turned them into wolves, pigs, donkeys, lions; Eurylochus hurried to O. and told her what had happened; O. went to Circe, taking with him the magic moth root he had received from Hermes; he threw it into Circe's potion and it had no effect; he wanted to hack Circe to death, but she returned his companions to their former appearance and O. shared her bed; from this union was born the son of Odysseus, Telegonus]: Apollod., E, VII, 14-16 (Apollodorus 1972: 94-96).