K14D. Imaginary Crime, (ATU 910A).

.13.-.15.17.21.-.23.27.-.29.31.-.33.

Testing his wife (household member, acquaintance), a person pretends to have committed a crime or he commits incomprehensible actions that can be interpreted as a crime. Usually, his wife (friend) gives him away, and he presents evidence of his innocence.

Amhara, Malgashi, Dinka, Arabs of Sudan, Somalis, Arabs of Egypt, Jews of Tunisia, Berbers of Morocco, Spaniards, Maltese, Italians (Lombardy or Veneto), Sicilians, Mehri, Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Mustang, Tibetans, Vietnamese, Khmers, northern India (Hindi), Bulgarians, Russians (Bryansk), Circassians, Abkhazians, Karachais or Balkars, Avars, Tats, Georgians (Guria), Estonians, Kazan Tatars, Bashkirs, Udmurts, Kazakhs.

{The available texts of Catalans, French, Turks and Georgians do not contain the K14D motif in our formulation, although in ATU they are included in the 910A type}.

Sudan - East Africa. Amhara [cf. Kazakh; a wise man tells his son to marry a virgin, and if he does not marry a virgin, let him wear black; the son put on black, his father ordered a divorce; this happened twice; the third time, friends advised him to hide everything from his father and wear white; the father was happy, showed his daughter-in-law the hidden gold, told her not to sow chickpeas by the road and died; the wife told her husband only about the chickpeas, hid the gold; the husband found the gold and left his wife; to find out what would happen, he sowed chickpeas by the road; the boy interrupted him; the husband told his wife that he had drowned the boy and hid him in a monastery; the wife informed the judge, the husband was almost executed, but he produced the boy; on the way he met a rich man; he suggested that they carry each other; he called the city a village and vice versa; the rich man's daughter explained: he suggested telling stories; a village is a city if it has both a judge and a headman; a rich man wants to give his daughter in marriage; he demands that she sow and process cotton and sew clothes in a day; girl: let her grow chickpeas in a day and make oil from them; he left a note with "7" and "100" in it; girl: will arrive in the seventh month with a hundred relatives; after the wedding, the husband was carrying gold, robbers attacked; they are ready to kill him; he advises her to go to his wife and say: there are 7 jugs of wine, put 6 for them, and leave 1 with jagged edges; the wife called people; six robbers were hanged; the toothless man was ordered to show where the body of her murdered husband was]: Gankin 1979, No. 116: 159-163; Dinka [a man divided the hair on his head into 4 parts and told his wife what each quarter meant; 1) wife is a stranger; 2) half-brother, stepmother's son is a stranger; 3) dog is a loyal friend; 4) mother's brother is a loyal friend; let everyone bring a calf and the one who guesses the answer will take all the calves; they cannot guess for many days; the chief decided to hang the man as soon as someone guesses; the stepmother's son asked the man's wife for the answer and she told him everything; the chief promises to hang the man the next day; the dogs attack the guards who came for the man, killing two; the wife refuses to even give milk to her husband: he will die anyway; the stepmother's son asks to give him his clothes: he will perish anyway; the brother's youngest son tells the guards to go with him to the chief, otherwise one of them themselves will be killed; asks the chief to hang him instead of his uncle, since the uncle has no brothers, and he has 5; the chief hesitates and begins to question the captive; understands everything and frees both the prisoner and his nephew]: Deng 1984: 137-13; Amhara[a wise man tells his son to marry a virgin, and if he marries someone other than a virgin, let him wear black; the son wears black, his father tells him to get a divorce; this happens twice; the third time, his friends advise him to hide everything from his father and wear white; the father is happy, shows his daughter-in-law the hidden gold, tells her not to sow chickpeas by the roadside, and dies; the wife tells her husband only about the chickpeas, but hid the gold; the husband finds the gold and leaves his wife; to find out what will happen, he sows chickpeas by the roadside; the boy interrupts him; the husband tells his wife that he drowned the boy and hid him in a monastery; the wife tells the judge, the husband was almost executed, but he produces the boy; on the way he meets a rich man; suggests that they carry each other off; he calls a city a village and vice versa; the rich man's daughter explains: he suggests telling stories; a village is a city if it has both a judge and a headman; a rich man wants to give his daughter in marriage; he demands that she sow, process cotton and sew clothes in a day; the girl: let her grow chickpeas in a day and make oil from them; he left a note with "7" and "100" in it; the girl: will arrive in the seventh month with a hundred relatives; after the wedding, the husband was carrying gold, robbers attacked; they are ready to kill him; he advises her to go to his wife and say: there are 7 jugs of wine, put 6 for them, and leave 1 with jagged edges; the wife called people; six robbers were hanged; the toothless man was ordered to show where the body of the murdered husband is]: Gankin 1979, No. 116: 159-163; Arabs of the Sudan (jaaaliyin) [when the Sultan's favorite deer began to nibble leaves in a man's garden, he locked it in a barn, left it some food, slaughtered a ram, and put the meat in a sack; in order to test his wife, he made her promise to keep silent: he slaughtered the Sultan's deer; in the morning, an old woman passing by smelled the meat, came in, asked for a piece, and the wife told her everything; she brought the Sultan's meat and told him who had killed the deer; the vizier came to the man and began to beat him; he was taken into custody and must pay 20 camels; at one time, a man's father ordered him not to give his sisters in marriage to someone who had recently become rich; the man gave one in marriage to a rich noble man, and the other to someone who had recently become rich; the man immediately divorced his wife, and the rich noble man volunteered to pay 20 camels - or even a hundred, if necessary; people from his entourage gave camels - some one, some two; a man brought camels and a deer to the sultan; the sultan appointed the man to the place of the vizier, dismissing him, and took the man's divorced sister as his wife]: Hurreiz 1977, no. 15: 93-95; Somalis : El-Shamy 2004, no. 911*: 579-580.

North Africa. Jews of Tunisia , Berbers of Morocco : El-Shamy 2004, no. 911*: 579-580; Arabs of Egypt (fellahin of Upper Egypt) [the king has a storyteller, the storyteller has a son and two daughters - still girls; when dying, the storyteller orders that they be given in marriage to a noble poor man, and not to a wicked rich man; the son gave one in marriage to a poor man, giving him money, and the other to a rich man; the father also ordered to be a friend of dogs, and not of people; the youth made friends with the king's fierce dog; hid the king's favorite gazelle; one man reported where the gazelle was hidden; the king ordered his dog to tear the youth to pieces, but it began to fawn on him; the king forgave him; the youth hid the gazelle again; the son-in-law who was previously poor agrees to be executed instead of the youth, but the rich son-in-law says that the youth deserves to be executed; the king gives the youth the last word; he explains that his father left him three pieces of advice: to be friends with dogs, not with people, to marry his sisters to a noble poor man, not to marry them to a vicious rich man; now I have checked and found that each piece of advice was correct; the king gave the youth an important position at court]: Blackman 1968: 277-280.

Southern Europe. The Spaniards [a dying father tells his son to stay away from red-haired people, not to plant pine trees in the meadow, not to trust a woman with his secrets; the son plants a pine tree, hires a red-haired servant; to test his wife, he asks a beggar to sit in the cellar for a day, tells his wife that he killed a man while hunting; the wife tells her friend; word reaches the judge, the man is led to the gallows; the executioner cannot be found; the red-haired servant suggests hanging the master from the pine tree he planted; the man orders the beggar to be brought, tells everything; he cuts down the pine tree, drives away the servant, beats his wife]: Malinovskaya 2002: 214-217; the Maltese [a dying father advises his son 1) not to adopt anyone, 2) not to take a policeman as a godson, 3) not to trust his wife with his secrets; the young man marries a widow who has a son; kills a man or pretends to have killed him and tells his wife about it; after a quarrel with her husband, she informs on her husband to her godson, a policeman; the man is sentenced to hang and only the adopted son is ready to be the executioner; (the man escapes)]: Mifsud-Chircop 1978, No. 911*: 342-343; Italians (Lombardy or Veneto) [the plot is in Francesco Straparola]: Wardrop 1894: 173-174; Sicilians [the husband decided to test the feelings of his wife and friend (he is a policeman); he threw something down a well and told his wife that he had killed a man, cut off his head and threw it away so that the body could not be identified; but he must not tell anyone; the policeman noticed something strange in the man's behavior, asked his wife and she told him everything; the policeman informed the judge, who sent the gendarmes; a man was dragged to a well and ordered to get the head; he said that there was fur and horns on the head; the gendarmes went down one by one to make sure of this; the man laughed: he had thrown a ram's head into the well; he explained why]: Pitré 2009, no. 252: 727-729.

Western Asia. Arabs of Syria [in his old age a rich merchant fears that with friends like his son's, he will soon squander all his money; offers to show that his friends are worthless; let him buy a sheep and call his friends; the merchant shows the bloody walls of the room and says that his son killed a man who came to him; will his friends help him get rid of the body? they refused and each reported to the pasha; at this time the merchant ordered the servant to prepare the sheep and wrap it up as if it were a dead body; the pasha brought guards, the merchant was led away to execution; on the way his acquaintance offers a quarter of his fortune as ransom, but the pasha is adamant; another friend of the merchant offers half - the same; a third, a greengrocer, said that he was the murderer, let him be executed, and the property given to the family of the murdered man; the pasha agreed; when the merchant was released, he ordered the shroud to be unrolled and explained everything; The pasha punished the imaginary friends of the merchant's son, and rewarded the merchant himself for his wisdom]: Bushnaq 1987: 300-302; Arabs of Iraq [Ali's dying father tells him: do not confide secrets to your wife, do not make friends with the prince's servant, do not take a wife from among those who are richer than you; Ali did as he wished; gave his sister in marriage to a rich cattle owner; became a fraternizer with the vizier; but decided to test his father's advice; stole the sultan's tame gazelle, slaughtered and cooked the lamb, and told his wife that he had slaughtered the gazelle; one day he quarreled with her, she reported him, and the vizier came for him and said that he had never fraternized with him; the sultan demanded 50 camels from Ali, or he would execute him in three days; the sister's husband refused to give the camels; but the poor boom of the elder sister gave the cry and each of his relatives brought a camel; Ali brought the sultan both fifty camels and a gazelle and told him everything; the sultan returned the camels laden with gold to Ali; Ali appreciated his father's wisdom]: Bushnaq 1987: 289-291; mehri [a father advises his son: marry a girl from your tribe, even if she is poor; the son married a girl from another tribe and gave his sister in marriage to a man from his own; came to live in the place where the sultan lived; hid the sultan's goat and told his mother not to tell about it, otherwise the goat would be stolen; told his mother that he allegedly killed the sultan's goat, told her not to tell anyone; the sultan wants goat meat; his mother-in-law came to the youth's mother; she said that her son had killed the sultan's goat; the sultan to the youth: if you do not bring my goat, I will execute you; the wife's relative did not help, but the sister's husband helped, giving 30 cows in exchange for the goat; the young man brought the sultan both the goat and the cows; the sultan praised him]: Hein, Müller 1909, No. 32: 80-84; Emirates[a dying father tells his son not to marry his three sisters to strangers and not to trust either a woman or an illegitimate child; but the son gave two sisters to relatives, and the third to a stranger, and also adopted a boy found on the road; wanting to test whether his father was right, the man stole and hid the sheikh's sheep, bought meat and told his wife that it was the meat of the stolen sheep; the old woman promised the sheikh to find out everything; she cut her finger and went from house to house asking for fat to smear the wound; the man's wife gave her the fat and told her where it came from; the adopted son volunteered to bring his adoptive father to the sheikh, and he sentenced the man to a fine of 10 camels; the man went to his in-laws to ask for camels; the stranger gave him one sick one, and two others gave him the rest; after this the man brought the sheep and told the sheikh everything; [The man returned the camels to two of his brothers-in-law with a load of flour and dates, and to the third, with a wish to take better care of the cattle]: Taibah, MacDonald 2016: 58-69; Saudi [Muhammad admonishes his son Said; stay away from the Sultan; do not trust a woman with secrets; marry a girl from a noble family; S. decided to find out if this was true; went into the service of the Sultan and married a random girl of low origin; stole the Sultan's favorite ostrich, ate it with his friends, and took the fat and skin to his mother, telling her to keep quiet; on the instructions of the Sultan, the old woman goes around the houses, trying to identify the thief; her daughter is supposedly dying - they need ostrich fat; S.'s mother gave it; the Sultan sentenced Said to life imprisonment or a ransom of a hundred camels; the father's relatives gave as many camels as they could, but the wife's relatives refused S.; mother gave a bag of gold: father bequeathed to give it if real trouble happens]: Juhayman 1999: 144-147; Bahrain , Qatar , Yemen : El-Shamy 2004, no. 911*: 579-580.

Tibet - Northeast India. Tibetans [a father, dying, gives his son two pieces of advice: never tell his wife secrets until she has borne you 10 children; never keep company with a light-eyed man; the son marries and makes friends with different eyes - blue, yellow, brown, black; intends to tell his wife all his secrets after the birth of his first child, but decides to test her first; brings a slaughtered pig in a sack made of his trousers and tells his wife he has killed a man; one day they quarrel and his wife informs on him; five friends come to visit him in prison; four say it is his own fault, but the fifth, whose eyes are the colour the man's father considers best, gives the man's weight in silver and he is released; he tells everything; the ruler makes the man one of his chief officials]: Shelton 1925, no. 28: 114-116; Mustang [a father dies when his son is 11 years old; leaves the gold and bequeaths not to trust either his friend or his wife; the boy leaves the gold to his friend until he himself comes of age; when he comes to take the gold, the man says that it has turned to rags; the young man does not object, but asks to send him two of his friend's children to help him make a fence; he locked them up, caught two monkeys and taught them to respond to the names of his friend's children; when he came, they rushed to him; the lama advised him to return the gold, then the children would return; the friend did so; in order to test his father's words regarding his wife, the young man stole a peacock, which the king considered the receptacle of his soul, and pretended to slaughter it, but in fact gave him dog meat; the wife swore not to tell anyone; the king promised to marry the woman who would tell where the peacock was; the young man's wife went and said that her husband had killed him; Having learned what the matter was, the king elevated the young man and banished his wife]: Kretschmar 1985, no. 58: 316-318.

Burma - Indochina. Viet [after the death of their father, the elder brother Kim took possession of almost the entire inheritance, leaving nothing to the younger De; however, Kim is generous with his friends and acquaintances; his wife thinks this is wrong; when her big dog died, she pretended to have accidentally killed a beggar; now he must be buried secretly; Kim went to his acquaintances to ask for help, but they all refused; when he came to his brother, he did not ask anything and they buried the bag with the body; the next morning they were summoned to the mandarin; they dug up the grave and found a dog inside; Kim's wife explained everything; the mandarin ordered that the informers be punished; Kim became a loving brother to De]: Sun 1967: 106-110; Khmer [the guru said that one should marry a girl or a widow, but not an old maid or a divorcee; the disciple married all four and decided to test the wives; stole the king's favorite peacock, hid it with a friend, and served his wives chicken under the guise of the peacock's meat; the divorced woman and the old maid blabbed about it, the king ordered the thief's head to be cut off; having learned what was going on, the king released the man, and he kicked out his two wives]: Marunova 1972: 154-156.

South Asia. North India ( Hindi ) [the ruler of Delhi offered the ruler of Turkey to explain the riddle: "The false of the unfalse and the unfalse of the false, a dog at the door and a donkey in the palace"; the sage promised to explain everything for 500 rupees; he began to visit the palace regularly, giving the guard some money; he brought home a melon wrapped in a sack and told his wife that he had killed a man, and this was his head, and that his wife should keep her mouth shut; the wife told everything; the ruler ordered the Turk to be detained, and only a prostitute living nearby protested and did not allow the man to be beaten; the man explained to the ruler: the wife acted contrary to her husband's instructions, and the prostitute acted nobly; the guards were dogs that could be easily bribed, and the ruler himself was a donkey condemning a man without understanding the situation; the ruler was pleased and reported this to the ruler of Turkey]: Beck et al. 1987, no. 72: 233-235.

Balkans. Bulgarians [a dying father tells his son not to make a rich man (a Turk, a judge) his friend, not to confide secrets to his wife, not to take an adopted child into the house; the son makes friends with a rich man; he leaves his son (a bird) in his care and if something happens to him (her), he will kill him; a man lends money (saves someone from the gallows; takes a stranger into foster care; then hides the boy (bird) entrusted to him and tells his wife that he killed him; she gives him up, the rich man (Turk, judge) is going to hang the man; the one to whom he lent the money (or the foster child) volunteers to personally put the noose around the man's neck; the man explains that he only tried to check whether his father was right, shows the unharmed boy (bird)]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 911*: 324-325.

Central Europe. Russians (Bryansk) [a peasant wants to test the loyalty of his wife and stepson; pretends to have killed a falcon given to him by the master for safekeeping; the wife immediately tells him about it; the peasant asks the master to allow him to see his family; leaves the gold to his wife, stepson, and a third to the one who will chop off his head; stepson: give me this one, and I will chop it off; the peasant brings the falcon to the master, kicks out his wife and her son, and leaves the master]: Glebov 2016, No. 170: 269-279.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Adyghe [dying father tells his son not to trust his pshi, his wife, and not to take in a foster child; but the latter took in his uncle’s orphaned son; lent the pshi a lot of money, but the latter refused to pay it back; then the man stole the pshi’s newborn son, gave him up to be raised, giving him money; let it slip to his wife, and she blabbed; the pshi hung the man by his feet, offered money to anyone who would shoot him; only the man’s foster child volunteered; the man laughed, the pshi began to demand an explanation; the latter told everything; the pshi gave him all the money, the man returned his son to him, and drove his wife away]: Sokolov, Broydo 1936: 498-501; Abkhazians [a young man named Baguaza; dying, his father tells him not to reveal the secret to his wife, not to rely on an adopted child, not to borrow money from a poor man who has recently become rich; B. decided to break all the prohibitions; brought a sack with a dead roe deer into the house and said that he had killed a man; had a fight with his wife at night, she told everyone that her husband was a murderer; he fled into the forest; his adopted son caught up with him and captured him; on the way to the prince, a poor man who had recently become rich, from whom B. had borrowed money, demands the debt; B. told the prince everything, he opened the room and found the roe deer; B. was released]: Shakryl 1975, No. 75: 343-345; Karachays or Balkars [a father bequeaths to his son not to lend money, not to trust his wife, not to help a weak relative; the wife insisted on lending money to the bey; he did not return it, saying that everything on his land was his; a man kidnapped a prince's son and hid him with a friend; he told his wife that he had killed the bey's son; the bey asked a witch to set the man and his wife at odds; this was easily accomplished, the wife reported her husband; only that relative volunteered to execute him; the young man is asked why he laughs before his death; the young man tells the whole story; the biy returned the money, and the man returned his son to him; he drove away the relative and his wife]: Malkonduyev 2017: 938-940; Avars [the rich brother despises the poor younger one; the wife suggests that they see for themselves who their true friends are; slaughter a goat, say that the sack contains the body of a murdered man, ask the brother and friends to help hide the supposed murder; the friends refuse to help; the younger brother picked up the sack and was about to carry it away, but the elder brother explained everything; they ate the goat together]: Atayev 1972, No. 43: 66-67; Taty: Aliyeva 2013, #77 [Shah Abbas's younger brother throws ashes three times: on the head of someone who 1) confides a secret to his wife, 2) takes money from someone who has recently become rich, 3) has served the same sovereign for a long time; the vizier decides to check; he stole the shah's favorite ram, told his wife about it, borrowed money from the recently rich; he deliberately quarreled with his wife, she ran to the shah, who ordered the vizier to be hanged; when the noose was thrown around the vizier's neck, the lender began to ask him to first repay the debt; the vizier laughed and told everything; what was most offensive was that the shah, whom he had served for so long, immediately ordered his execution; Shah Abbas cancelled the execution]: 344-345; Miller 2013 [Bahlul is sitting on the sand; The vizier buys three pieces of advice from him: do not tell secrets to a woman, do not trust wealth, do not rely on the royal service; B. threw away the money; the vizier stole the khan's goitered gazelle, told his wife, and bought the kid in secret from her; slaughtered it, told his wife that it was the goitered gazelle; the wife quarreled with him, reported it to the king; the vizier returned the goitered gazelle and left the royal service]: 689-691; Georgians (Guria) [an adviser to an Arab king decided to test his wife, friends, and the king himself; stole his favorite goat; in the presence of his wife, he ordered the cook to slaughter it and cook it, but secretly ordered a lamb to be slaughtered; the king promised to marry the woman who would name the thief; the wife betrayed the adviser, the king married her, and prepared the adviser for death; his friends ransomed him, replacing him with another criminal; later the king laments the loss of such a wise assistant; the advisor's friends confessed that he was alive; everything became clear; the king to the advisor: our wives are the greatest misfortune]: Wardrop 1894, no. 13: 173-174.

Baltoscandia. Estonians (Jõhvi) [a dying father gives his son some advice: 1) not to be friends with the lords; 2) not to tell his wife everything; 3) not to take in an adopted child; the son made friends with the lord, took in a poor boy, since he had no children of his own; in order to test his wife, he stole a bird from the lord, which he kept in a cage, hid it at his place, shot another in the forest and told his wife to cook it, saying that it was the stolen one; the wife invited a neighbor and told everything; the lord promises money to anyone who will point out the thief; the neighbor informs; the lord goes to court, the judge orders the thief to be hanged; the man divides the money into three parts: his wife, his adopted son, and the one who will put the noose around his neck; the adopted child: let me put it on myself; the man brings the bird to the judge, tells everything; [he fell out with the landowner, kicked out his adopted son, and no longer trusted his wife with secrets]: Mälk et al. 1967, no. 121: 396-398.

Volga - Perm. Kazan Tatars [a dying father advises his son not to share secrets with his wife without testing her; not to be friends with a flatterer; when leaving a previous companion, test a new one; a son put a dead sheep in a sack and told his wife that he had killed a man; she became angry with him and reported him; the guards took it and began to beat him and his new companion; when they untied the sack, the sheep, the wife, and the companion did not stand the test]: Zamaletdinov 2010, No. 12: 57-58; Bashkirs [a dying father tells his son not to trust his wife with secrets; not to trust anyone who swears friendship; not to borrow from someone who has recently become rich; a man decided to test the validity of the advice; borrowed money from someone who has recently become rich; slaughtered a sheep and put the sack of meat in a cage; told his wife that he had killed a man, the wife promised to keep quiet; the man pretended to be angry and hit his wife; she ran out into the street and started screaming that her husband was a murderer; the creditor came running and ordered him to pay the debt, otherwise the man would be executed and the money would be lost; the man's peer, who had sworn the most friendship, offered to bring him to trial, but refused to let him escape; the man suggests that he be executed in the same way he killed the other man; but there was mutton in the sack; the man explained everything and was let go]: Barag 1990, no. 117: 302-303; Chuvash [the eldest rich brother has no children, the younger has seven, he is poor; the eldest decided to test his friends; he and his wife brewed a barrel of mead, lowered it into the basement; at night he came to his friend, said that there was a corpse in the basement, would he help get rid of it; the friend refused; the same with the rest; Only the younger brother helped to pull out the barrel; it contained mead, not a corpse; the brothers sat down to feast, and the imaginary friends under the window were surprised; from then on, the rich brother considered the poor brother to be his closest person, and he had become unacquainted with his imaginary friends]: Sidorova 1979: 198-199; Udmurts [a rich man lives surrounded by poor people; he communicates only with other rich people, although they live far from him; one day one of them tells him that you can’t survive without communicating with your neighbors; one day a man called those with whom he was accustomed to feasting and said that he had a corpse hidden in a barrel; they got scared and quickly dispersed; then he called his poor neighbors; they decided that they needed to help and took it upon themselves to carry away and hide the barrel; the man explained everything to them]: Wichmann 1901, no. 12: 82-83.

Turkestan. Kazakhs [a poor man gave his son three pieces of advice: don't befriend a fool, don't borrow money, don't let his wife in on your secrets; the son decided to test it; made friends with a fool; borrowed money from a man who had recently become rich; after slaughtering a ram, he told his wife to wash the blood off his clothes - supposedly, he had killed a man; he quarreled with his wife, she reported it to the khan; the fool knew that a ram had been killed, but refused to be a witness; the man told the khan everything; he was afraid that such wise people could remove him from power, ordered that the father and son be thrown into a pit; the khan had a bone stuck in his throat, he was dying; the poor man at first refused to help, agreed for a promise to give him the throne and wealth; said that the khan's son needed to be slaughtered; they covered the son with a felt mat, pretended to slaughter him; The khan burst into tears, the bone jumped out; the khan kept his word and yielded the throne to the poor man]: Sidelnikov 1958: 304-306.