K156B. Dog helps girl remain unrecognized.

.16.27.29.-.31.

People suspect that the young man is a girl in disguise. She manages to avoid detection thanks to a dog (rarely: a cat), who learns about ways to determine the true gender of its owner and tells her about it.

Germans (East Prussia), Romanians, Bulgarians, Lezgins, Tabasarans, Persians, Uzbeks, Setos.

Western Europe. Germans (East Prussia) [an innkeeper's two daughters are wicked and ugly, but the youngest is kind and beautiful; three suitors come, but they all want only the youngest; two leave, one stays to wait; the youngest goes to fetch water; in one bucket there is a little dog, and in the other a snake; the snake coils itself around the girl's neck, the little dog runs after it; having no peace, the girl goes into the forest, from tree to tree; under an oak tree the snake slid off and a prince appears; the girl disenchanted him; he will marry her, but not now; he said that if he breaks faith, any ribbon on him will break; that the little dog is his bewitched brother, but how to free him from the spell is unknown; the prince sets off for his kingdom, but the little dog remains; a few years later, carts with goods pass by: the prince is getting married and the wedding is being prepared; The girl dressed up as a hunter, took her dog and went with these people to the prince; they suspected the girl; they scattered peas on the stairs, prepared sweet coffee with cakes and alcohol for breakfast; if he stumbled on the steps or chose the cakes, then the girl; the dog overheard and warned the mistress; she ran down and drank the alcohol, and then lit a cigarette; the people apologized to the hunter; the prince had a fiancée, he arranged a hunt; the fake hunter got the most; all the ribbons and belts of the prince suddenly began to break; he remembered everything; before the wedding he addressed the assembled people: I lost the key to the chest, ordered a new one, and now I have found it - which one should I use? everyone said the old one; he introduced the real bride and married her; and the new one left with a heavy heart]: Lemke 1887, No. 26: 139-143.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Lezgins [an angel tells a poor man in a dream that he must send one of his three daughters to heaven as a shepherd; only the youngest agrees; she dresses up in men's clothing, the wind lifts her and her dog from the top of a mountain to heaven; the father and son have sheep in heaven; the father says she is a boy, the son suspects she is a girl; she withstands all the tests (she hits the mark, the dog changes the violets placed under her mistress at night - the violets will wither under a woman, but not under a man); after seven years she is released; from heaven, a young man sees that she is a girl after all; on a holiday, everyone was swinging on a swing, the dog would not let the girl in, but she sat on it, the swing lifted her back to heaven; she had to get married; her mother-in-law would not give her the keys; she fell asleep, the girl took the keys and began to open the rooms; in one of them were jugs containing the moon, sun, rain and wind; She took off the lid, saw the ground where her mother and father were, jumped into the jug; she flew and turned into sunbeams; the guy jumped into the jug of snow out of grief and turned into snowflakes]: Ganieva 2011b, no. 20: 235-237 (=Khalidova 2012, no. 10: 37-39); Tabasarans [the father confesses to his daughter that Galigambar (“formidable giant”, but the name Kambar goes back to the name of Ali’s servant in the Shiite tradition, p. 225) calls him to heaven to herd sheep for 7 days; the daughter goes in his place, wearing men’s clothing and taking a talking dog; 7 days in heaven equals 7 months; during this time the girl pretended to be a man; the dog helped her remain unrecognized by eavesdropping on what the celestials were talking about and telling the girl about their plans; A girl enters a house; the owner shows her all the rooms except one; she steals the keys, unlocks the room; there are vessels, in one there is rain falling to the ground, in another there is snow, in the third there is the sun; in the seventh she sees her parents harvesting in the field; she calls out to them, but they warn her not to go down; she begins to go down the chain (or rope), but the chain breaks, the girl turns into snow crystals; when the snow sparkles in the sun, these are particles of the body of the girl who fell from the sky]: Khalidova 2012, No. 9: 35.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians (Shiraz) [the king has 7 sons, his poor brother has 7 daughters; the king addresses him as "my miserable brother"; the eldest daughter asks her father to offer to send her and the king's sons to trade - let's see who will have a greater profit; puts on men's clothes and takes a cat with her; meets one prince, he brings her, suspects that she is a girl; his mother thinks not, suggests a test; the cat eavesdrops on everything, tells the mistress and corrects; to taste boiled pomegranate juice - it means a girl; the cat teaches to ask for a piece for the cat; flowers on the bed at night - fresh in the morning, because the cat changed them 10 times; go to the bathhouse; the cat teaches to put on an armyak with many buttons; arrive on a horse; she will frighten him, the servant will shout - the horse has galloped away! it will be possible to run after the horse and not return to the bathhouse; The girl wrote a letter to the prince confessing who she was and where to look for her; the cat brought her gems; she met her uncle's sons, they had become poor, she gave them money, but in return they allowed her to brand them; she laid siege to the city and demanded that her seven slaves be returned to her; the brands were found on her uncle's sons; she revealed herself; her wedding with the prince]: Romaskevich 1934a, no. 33: 154-160; Uzbeks [an old man has three daughters, no son, he has fallen ill, a decoction of a pear branch is needed; the eldest daughter dressed up as a man, saw a lion in the desert, turned back; the middle one saw a dragon - the same; the youngest took a dog with her, killed a lion and a dragon, came to the city of Zim-Zim; local youths suspected that there was a girl in front of them; they suggested swimming; the dog eavesdrops, tells its mistress everything; when it was time to undress, the dog barked, everything plunged into darkness, the girl bathed and dressed; chose a saddle, not a doll; everyone puts a rose under themselves in bed, the woman's rose must wither; the dog brought a fresh rose; the daughter returned to her father with a decoction of a pear branch]: Sheverdin 1980: 14-17.

Baltoscandia. Setu [there lived Michal Michalawitz, he had three daughters; he had to go to war; the eldest daughter asked to give her the oldest horse and the oldest dog, to go in his place; MM turned into a bear, went out to meet them; the daughter got scared, came back; the middle daughter asked for the middle horse and dog; the same; the youngest takes the young dog and horse, shot the bear, not knowing that it was her father, came to the young king; his mother - after all, she senses that it is not MM, but his daughter; she needs to leave a bird for the night, if she feeds it, then it is MM, and if not, then the daughter; the dog overheard and told the mistress, the daughter fed the bird; the same with the gun: if it is cleaned by the morning, then MM; let him go to the bathhouse; dog: put on a shirt with buttons and unbutton it until the others come out of the bathhouse; witch: you have to ride past a well on a hot day, if you stop to drink, then your daughter; you ride past a copper well, the dog won't let you drink; past a silver one - the same; at the gold one she drank water and immediately fell asleep; the king married her]: Säärits 2022: 107-109.

Balkans. Romanians [a widow's daughter is tending sheep, she has a little dog; a witch's son is also tending sheep; a girl dressed as a young man; the imaginary young man became friends with the witch's son, and visits him at home; the witch's son suspects that she is a girl; his mother does not believe him, but suggests tests; 1) put a flower under the pillow at night (if it is a girl, it will wither); the little dog tells him to put the flower on the pillow and hide it under the pillow only in the morning, the flower is fresher than it was; 2) go swimming together; the little dog disturbs the sheep, the imaginary young man runs to the flock without bathing; after this the girl went to the sea, parted the waters with her shepherd's crook, crossed to the other bank, closed the waters before the witch's son had time to follow her; A witch built a ship with goods for her son, her son began to sell them on the other side, the girl came to the ship, it sailed away; then she threw a ring into the sea and said that she would keep silent until the ring was found; the witch decides to get rid of her daughter-in-law, sends to her sister for a sword {apparently, a weaver's sword} and threads; the husband teaches her to put the first piece of food under her tongue; the witch's sister is surprised that the newcomer is not mute; she slaughtered a rooster for her, she ate it, putting the piece under her tongue; the witch's sister says that she does not have a sword and threads, sends to another sister (ditto, she slaughtered a lamb); the third sister gives her a human hand to eat; the girl throws it under the hearth, the witch calls out to the hand, it answers from under the hearth; the next time the girl hides her hand under her clothes, it answers that it is under the girl's heart; the witch gives the sword and threads, demands the hand back, the girl gives it; the second and first witches demand back the lamb, the rooster; the girl regurgitates them alive, because she put a piece under her tongue; the fishermen caught a fish that swallowed the ring; the husband, holding the ring in his hand, touches his wife with his hand stained with fish blood; she turns into a swallow with a red breast and a red spot under her beak; the husband tried to grab her by the tail, pulled out the feathers, that is why the swallow has a forked tail]: Gaster 1915, No. 87: 267-272; Bulgarians [a man must send his son to war, but he has only daughters; the youngest of the three dresses as a man and goes in her son's place; wins the battle; a prince from the opposing camp guesses that the girl is in front of him; offers her various tests (including a bath), but doves or a dog give advice on how to remain undiscovered; When leaving, the girl lets down her hair and shows the prince her breasts from afar so that he knows who he has lost; the prince follows her and sends matchmakers; after marrying the prince, she remains silent until he brings a second wife]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 884B: 313-314.