J69. Murders in jest and in earnest. .15.16.27.28.31.50.52.

A man is killed (by cold arms, dead water) and then revived. Another asks to have the same done to him, but is not revived.

Italians (Piedmont), Bretons, Germans (Westphalia, Pomerania), Serbs, Czechs, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Zuni, Quiche.

Southern Europe. Italians (Piedmont: Montferrat) [the owner of an island kidnapped a girl with golden hair; the poor man's son went to find her; gave the old woman white bread, keeping the black for himself; she told him to go to the King of Portugal, who had a mad horse; gave him three bouquets; by smelling these flowers, the horse would be tamed; the king is grateful, but the other servants, out of envy, say that the young man boasted of returning the kidnapped golden-haired girl; the horse promised to help; the young man fed the lark and the dove, they also promised to help; the fish are on the beach, the young man releases them into the water, they are grateful; the kidnapped girl did not want to return, threw a diamond ring into the sea; demanded that all the grain from her bins be carried to the king (the birds, at the lark's request, carried it); now she needs water for washing from hell and heaven (one dove brought it from hell, although it was burnt, and the other from heaven); ring (got the fish); woman: let the one who stole her be cut into pieces and revived; horse: do not be afraid; the youth was revived by the water of paradise, and he became handsome; now the woman fell in love with him; the king also wanted to become handsome, but the woman wet him with hellish water, and he became ugly; out of anger he broke his head, and the youth married the golden-haired one]: Comparetti 1875, No. 16: 66-70.

Western Europe. Bretons [a young man named Tag has 12 mares; 11 gave birth to normal foals, and the last one was blue; he asks his owner to slaughter the others so that he can suck the milk of the 12 mares; becomes a heroic horse; asks to sell his property and buy a silver currycomb; when the owner began to scrape the horse with it, the blue wool came off, the horse turned white; orders to sell the rest and buy luxurious harness; go to the King of Brittany; T. is exalted; the horse heals 12 royal stallions and as a result becomes even stronger himself; a spy of the King of France persuades T. to send to get the Horse of Peace (Cheval du Monde); the horse orders to shoe him well and ask the king for 90 skins; T. arrives where the Horse of Peace is, puts the 90 skins on his horse; The horses are fighting: the Horse of Peace is tearing off skins, and the horse T. is gnawing pieces of flesh from his rival; the Horse of Peace has given up, T. has brought him to the king; the spy says that T. boasted of getting a golden-haired princess from a silver castle; on the advice of the horse, T. feeds the hungry wild geese; throws into the water the fish that found themselves on dry land; the queen of the geese and the fish promise to help; a silver castle on an island in the middle of a stormy lake; the geese harness themselves to a boat and carry T. to the island; the princess (even her maids are beautiful) asks permission to enter the boat; T. tells the geese to take the boat away; the princess promises to marry the king only if he brings her her castle, chest, clothes and jewelry; but the castle is under lock and key she dropped in the lake; the spy orders to send T.; the fish sends others to look for the key; The last to arrive was the bleak; it was late because its head was stuck in the ring of the key; T. brought everything; the princess: the king is too old; to rejuvenate him, dead and living water are needed; let T. bring it; the horse tells T. to kill him, climb into his belly and catch one of the two ravens that will fly in; give the second one two bottles and send him for living and dead water; a female raven is caught; but the raven returned: both springs are guarded by 7-headed snakes, they spit fire; then T. told the raven to change places with the female raven; she brought water; T. revived the horse, and he turned into a prince - the princess's brother; both returned on foot; the princess killed and revived the dog, it became young; the king wants the same, they did not revive him; T. is killed and revived by a handsome man; became the new king]: Brekilien 1999: 191-208; Germans(Westphalia, Paderborn dialect) [the father cannot find a godfather other than a beggar for his son; he names the boy Faithful Ferdinand (FF); gives him a key; when FF reaches 14, he must find a lock and open it with them; there is only a horse in the lock, FF took it; there is a feather on the way, he tells him to pick it up; a fish asks to be put into the water, gives him a flute to call it; Unfaithful Ferdinand has forced himself on as a companion; both have hired themselves out to the king, FF as a postilion so as not to part with the horse; NF suggests that the king send FF to get a bride; the horse tells him to take ships with meat and bread to feed the giants and birds; the birds did not tear him to pieces, the giants did not tear him to pieces and carried the princess and her bed onto the ship; the princess refuses to live with the king until her papers are delivered to her; NF suggests sending FF; VF is carrying the papers back, but drops the pen in the water {what is it for?}; the fish got it; the princess does not want to live with the king, because he has no nose; says that she can cut off a man's head and put it back on; NF: cut off VF; she cut it off and put it back on; the king also wants it; she cut it off and did not put it back on; married VF; the horse tells her to ride him around the field, he himself became the prince]: Grimm, Grimm 2002, No. 126: 411-414 (=Grimm, Grimm 1987: 324-328); Germans(Pomerania) [a farm laborer has 23 sons; when another one is born, he cannot find a godfather; the farm laborer goes looking; soon he meets a girl; she says that she is God and is ready to be a godmother; the farm laborer refuses: God is unfair; he meets the devil - the same thing; then an old man; this is Death; the farm laborer is glad; the son is named Hans; the godfather gave the pastor a key and told him to give it to G. when he grows up; G., having received the key, went wandering; there is a castle in the forest; the key fits the gate; there is much light in the palace; the godfather comes out - an old man - Death; the light from the lamps, each burns as long as a person lives; G. sees that his father has a couple of days left to live; he asks to light a new lamp for him; G.'s own lamp should burn for a long time; G. went on; again the house, the key fits again, a white horse is behind the door; the horse: if you opened the door, then are you Death? G. asked him to feed him; horse: here is food and wine, and then let's run, this is a den of robbers; G. mounted the horse, it rose to the clouds and flew away; G. sees a bird with shining plumage; the horse advises not to touch it; but G. turned the key into a gun, fired, the bullet hit the bird and G., contrary to the horse's advice, picked up a feather; near the city, the horse orders that the bridle be taken off him: if you shake it, he will appear; and let G. hire himself out as a groom; the king has forbidden lighting a fire at night; G. lives in a stable; at night he took out a feather and the stable was illuminated; servants came running, found the feather, brought G. to the king; he demands that the bird itself be obtained in three days; horse: ask the ship for three ships with provisions to sail to the princess, on whose table the bird is; Six months later they swam to the shore and G. released three carps that had found themselves on the sand into the sea; they promised to help; in another place three giants were fighting; a storm had destroyed all their property, only an ox remained; the one who killed the other two would eat the ox, and then die himself; G. gave the giants cattle and grain seeds, etc., which he had brought with him; the giants promised to help; on another island there was a storks' nest in a pine tree; a black cloud with hail was approaching; G. covered the storks with branches; adult storks arrived, the chicks told them everything; for the first time they would be able to raise the chicks; the storks promised to help G.; they swam to the castle, the key unlocked the door; the princess was sleeping in the bedroom; there was a golden and an iron cage on the table; as the horse had taught, G. put the golden bird in an iron cage and carried it away; he brought it to the king; having learned how everything had happened, he ordered to get the princess; The horse teaches how to swim to the princess, taking a hundred trumpets; at 50, blow under the window of the castle; if she wants to hear another 50, let her go up on the ship; when she got up, G. took her away; she threw all the keys to the rooms of her palace into the sea; tells the king that she will not marry him until she has a palace better than her previous one; The horse: the giants will help you; the giants gave you an iron ring, it created a palace; The princess: let them bring my keys from the sea; The horse: ask for carp; carp are the kings of the sea, they called all the fish; the last to arrive was an old pike; she found the golden keys, decided to deliver them; but since they are heavy, she was delayed; The princess demands the water of life, the water of beauty and the water of death; The horse: ask the storks; G.swam to them; these are blue storks; they say that the water of life and the water of beauty are with them, and the water of death must be asked from the white storks; they flew to them, defeated them, brought a vessel with the water of death; G. gave all three vessels to the princess; she pierced him with a dagger, sprinkled him with the water of beauty and revived him with the water of life; the king wanted the same, but she sprinkled him with the water of death; G. became king and married the princess; the horse orders to slaughter him, and then wash him with the water of beauty and the water of life; the horse became a princess; G.: I already have a wife, but become the wife of one of my brothers; she chose the youngest; from among the remaining 22, 11 began to serve G., and the others - the brother who married the princess; and if G. did not die, then he is still alive]: Jahn 1891, No. 9: 48-61.

Balkans. Serbs [a golden-fleeced ram kills a hunter; a grown-up son asks his mother for his father's gun, kills the ram, refuses to sell the skin to the king; the youth's uncle was the king's adviser; advises the king to order the youth to 1) plant a vine, in a week make wine (a girl met outside the village does it), 2) build an ivory castle (the girl teaches how to pour wine into a pond, the elephants get drunk, the castle is built), 3) get the princess (the girl teaches how to buy an eagle, a carp, a dove on the way; pluck a feather, scales, and release it; lure the princess onto the ship; she will release the bird to tell about herself, the eagle will catch it; throw a pebble to stop the ship, the carp will swallow the pebble; the ship will turn to stone between two mountains, the queen will ask for living water, the dove will bring it; at home the king orders the youth's head to be cut off in order to take the princess, she revives the youth with living water; the king orders his own head to be cut off, the princess does not revive him, the youth ascends to the throne]: Karadzic 1854, No. 12: 96-106 (=Karadzic 1987: 390-394, =Dmitriev, Volkonsky 1956: 88-94, =Schütz 1960, no. 10: 73-80).

Central Europe. Czechs [a hunter shot an unusual bird; a woman in the forest explains that whoever eats the bird's head will become king, and whoever eats the heart will find money under his pillow in the morning; the hunter tells his wife to cook the bird; she leaves her sons Fortunatus and Alex to watch over it; the head and heart fall out, F. eats the heart, A. the head; the mother is furious, the brothers run away; in the house where they spend the night, the owners find gold coins in the morning; the same in the landowner's house; he decides to keep the children with him, sends them to the city to study; sends a servant to pick up the gold, intending to return it to the brothers when they grow up; the brothers do not return to the landowner, but go to another city; A. becomes a favorite of the old king; F. wanders; in one of the places where he unknowingly left the gold, the landlady goes to a fortune teller, she explains that F. ate the heart of the bird of happiness; gives the mistress the heart of an ordinary bird to eat, she believes that gold will now be under her pillow, drives F. away; in the forest F. eats a wild apple, turns into a donkey; having eaten an apple from another tree, he returns to human form; in a dream, a woman explains his secret to him; an unrecognized F. gives an apple to an evil mistress, she turns into a donkey, jumps over a fence, and crashes; F. saves a big fish that ended up on the shore; becomes a favorite of the king; an envious courtier says that F. promised to get a beauty living in the sea; the fish brings F. to the palace of the sea king, orders him to kidnap his daughter and take her casket; F. brings the princess to the king; she does not want to marry the old man, but says that the ointment in her casket revives the dead, making them young and beautiful; F. offers to cut off his head; the ointment makes him whole again; the king agrees to have his head cut off too; he is not revived, F. receives the throne and a wife; he arrives in the city where he left A., who there marries the king's daughter, and also receives the throne; the brothers visit the kind landowner and their parents; everyone is happy]: Nĕmcová 1970: 12-28; Belarusians(Mogilevskaya, zap. 1888-1891, Vysokovskaya vol., Orsha uyezd, from the territory of Yakov Ignatov, 76 years old, illiterate) [An old man and an old woman have no children, the old man sends her to town to buy 12 eggs to hatch, they hatch 12 sons, baptize them on the 11th, forget about the 12th, return, the priest baptizes him Kashevar and a good fellow; the sons grow up quickly, help in the field, the older ones mow, Kashevar cooks; while the older brothers sleep after dinner, Kashevar mows more than all of them, the brothers think that God is helping; the same thing is repeated when they rake the haystacks and put up stacks; every night someone steals a stack, the two older brothers can do nothing, Kashevar volunteers; They forge a mace weighing 12 poods for him, the first mace breaks against Kashevar's hand, the second passes the test, Kashevar goes off at night to guard the haystacks; at midnight a mare with 12 foals comes running, takes the haystack and leaves, Kashevar falls from the haystack; the next night the mare with foals comes again, Kashevar jumps on her from the haystack, the mare carries him through the air to the thirtieth kingdom, Kashevar hits her with a mace, the mare returns him to his father's yard, he instructs his brothers to build a stable with 12 stalls; Kashevar flies on the mare again until she gets tired and agrees to fulfill his will - she brings 12 foals to the yard; Kashevar gives the mare to their father, the foals to the brothers; the brothers leave to choose brides for themselves; The cook gets the weakest horse, he lets it graze in the field, then saddles it and overtakes the others through the air; The cook flies up to the hut on a chicken leg, there are 12 hitching posts with rings near the hut, he ties the horse, goes into the hut, the grandmother says that her sister has 12 daughters; The cook leaves and rides to the next hut on a chicken leg - history repeats itself; The cook rides to the third hut on a chicken leg, there lies the grandmother ("legs in the garden bed, tits under the table") the mother of 12 daughters, they sit down to talk, the brothers arrive; The cook goes out into the yard, meets Nastasya Privokrasya, she tells how to recognize her among the 12 doves and 12 maidens; Grandmother calls into the upper room, 12 doves appear, Kashevar recognizes them, then they all turn into 12 identical girls, he recognizes them again (Nastasya gives a sign each time), they get married; Nastasya gives her husband a handkerchief to call her when things get tough; after the feast, the newlyweds go to the barn, Kashevar's horse warns that Grandmother has already sent for the executioners to chop off their heads; on the horse's advice, they change clothes, Nastasya goes out into the garden, Kashevar's horse carries him away (and his brothers with him), Grandmother sets off in a mortar in pursuit; on the Fire River, with the help of Nastasya's handkerchief, Kashevar builds the Kalinov Bridge, crosses, destroys the bridge with a wave of the handkerchief, Grandmother cannot cross the river, they agree that Kashevar will stop by again for a visit; the brothers release their horses into the meadow, the horses kill each other, the brothers start arguing about it, kill each other, Kashevar takes their bodies to the river, cries and rides away on his horse; on the way Kashevar finds a shining feather, the horse dissuades him from taking it , because in the feather there is “an axe and a chopping block, a death shirt”, Kashevar takes the feather for himself for beauty; the landowner exchanges the shining feather with Kashevar, offering his daughter in marriage, but Kashevar goes for Nastasya and brings her to the landowner’s house; on the way back, the grandmother in a mortar tries to catch up with them, cannot cross the fiery river, they again agree that Kashevar will come to visit again; the landowner falls in love with Nastasya, wants to get married, sends Kashevar to the grandmother (the witch) for a wedding dress (of the witch herself) for Nastasya; Kashevar flies in on a horse, turns into a black cat, steals the keys from the witch, takes the dress, the story with the chase is repeated; Nastasya demands a wedding ring (the story with turning into a cat, stealing the ring from the witch and the subsequent chase is repeated) and wedding candles from the church, Kashevar flies to the witch, changes clothes with the shepherd, his horse turns into a lamb with gold and silver wool, distracts attention, Kashevar steals the wedding candles from the church, the story with the chase is repeated; for the 4th time Kashevar is sent (Nastasya demands) for a self-dancing gusli (the story with turning into a cat, theft, and chase is repeated); Nastasya demands horses, Kashevar, on the advice of his horse, lures a mare (who returned from his father to the witch) and the other horses, revived by the mare, during the chase at the Fire River Kashevar promises not to come to visit anymore; The cook goes to the kitchen to rest, he is chopped into pieces, boiled and fed to the dogs , the cook's horse cries, asks Nastasya to collect the bones, the little finger is found on the second try, the horse breathes 3 times: the cook becomes whole, moves and rises, becomes more beautiful than before; the master decides to become more beautiful in the same way, but the dogs simply eat him ; the cook remains on the estate]: Romanov 1901, No. 39: 360-370.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [the king tells Juozapelis that he will take him hunting when the horse saddles itself; an inconspicuous little horse saddles itself; does not order to pick up a feather, J. picks it up; the king orders to bring 1) a bird, 2) its nest, 3) the sea princess; each time the horse brings J. to them, orders to lure the princess out by laying out expensive cloth on the shore; the princess promises to marry the king if J. 4) brings her ring from the sea (the horse orders to catch a young crayfish, give it to the crayfish for the ring), 5) a necklace (the horse orders to kill it, climb into its belly, ravens will come, catch the young crow, in exchange the raven will bring a necklace; the horse comes to life); 6) chop up J. (the horse promises to revive him); the princess suggests to the king that he too be chopped up and revived, the king agrees; he is not revived, Yu marries the sea princess]: Lyobite 1965: 187-190.

Greater Southwest. Zuñi : Parsons 1930, no. 10 [girl hunts rabbits, comes to cave; Atoshle (cannibal, bugaboo mask ) arrives; asks for first the rabbits, then all her clothing; swallows them one by one; wants to eat her; Ayyuta's brothers kill him, the younger marries the girl; she gives birth to twins; they take a turquoise rabbit-hunting stick from their father's quiver, cut each other in half with it; other boys ask to be cut in half too, and are actually killed]: 42-44; Stevenson 1904 [ U'yuevi and Matsaylema live with their grandmother; play ball; use a turquoise rabbit-hunting stick to cut each other in half, and then bring each other back to life; other boys begin to play too, ask to be cut in half too; but they are actually killed; the brothers throw lightning bolts at the burning crystal carried by their father the Sun; the world goes up in flames; the corn girls and many animals die]: 57-58.

Mesoamerica. Quiche [the lords of Xibalba order the brothers Hunahpu and Xbalanque to jump into an underground furnace; they are burned; their bones are ground and thrown into the water; at the bottom the youths are reborn from the powder, first in the form of fish; the lords of Xibalba try in vain to catch them; the next day the brothers themselves come to the lords in the guise of poor old men, cut each other to pieces and resurrect them; the lords ask them to be sacrificed as a joke; the brothers kill them but do not resurrect them]: Popol Vuh 1959: 74-77; (cf. the Aztecs [certain sorcerers from the north arrived at the court of Moteuxoma Xocoyotzin to entertain the ruler with tricks; among other things, they cut off their arms and legs, from which real blood flowed, and then reattached them to their original places; M., wanting to make sure that the miracles demonstrated to him were not an optical illusion, ordered the limbs of the sorcerers to be boiled in boiling water to see if they would take root in this case; after this, the indignant sorcerers predicted to the ruler that this cruel joke would cost M. his power, because certain foreigners would take revenge for their mutilation, so that the water in Lake Texcoco would turn into blood; M. laughed at this, but the very next morning the whole of Lake Texcoco really turned red with blood and many severed heads, arms and legs were floating in the water]: Herrera y Tordesillas 1730 (2): 57-58).

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