K2a3. The hero is left on the mountain. .16.27.-.29.31.34.

The hero's companions leave him on the mountain, having destroyed the rope (chain) by which he climbed there or which he lowered down.

Scots, Serbs, Greeks, Russians (Pinega, Zaonezhye), Ossetians, Laks, Georgians, Finns, Khakassians.

Western Europe. Scots[Campbell, II,, i, 9; a monster came out of the sea and stole the three daughters of a knight of Greenock; the soldier has three sons, the youngest is Iain; at his insistence they go to play on the knight's lawn; he is indignant; I.: better give us a ship and we will return the girls; the brothers sailed to where three giants are going to marry three kidnapped girls; they live on a rock, the way up a crevice; the eldest climbed, a raven attacked him, he barely got down; the same with the middle one; I. to the raven: do not attack me, but help me up; the raven helped, asked for tobacco, I.: there is nothing to give for yet; came to the eldest kidnapped sister; to call the giant, you need to jingle a chain; they fight, I. knocked down the giant, the raven orders to take a knife from under his wing, cut off the giant's head; the same with two other giants who kidnapped two other sisters; for each help I. pays the raven with tobacco; after the eldest, the raven warns that she will ask him to come down at once, but let I. free her sisters too; orders him to first lower the girls from the cliff, and then get down himself; I. did not obey; the girls with the jewels came down and forgot about I.; there is a mare that gallops on the sea as on land; she is behind a stone door that continually opens and closes; a raven flew in, the door chipped off part of his wing feathers; then I., his buttocks were cut off, he lost consciousness; the raven carried him out and cured him with herbs {from what follows it follows that the mare was obtained}; three sleeping heroes lie with spears on their chests; I. took the spears, they jumped up; they cast a spell so that I. would go with them to the southern end of the island; One entered a cave, there was an old woman; her tooth served her as a knitting needle, a staff, a poker; her fingernails curled to the elbows, her hair got tangled in her legs; turned the one who entered into stone, hitting her with a club; the same with the other two; a raven: to remove the spell from them, you need to bring living water from the island of the Big Women of Jura; there by sea on a mare; 16 young men will offer to take care of her - do not allow them; the mare orders not to eat or sleep in the house of the Six Big Women; and the women fell asleep; but he fell asleep and he fell asleep to the sounds of sweet music; the mare woke him: now I do not know how it will be; I. grabbed the Sword of Light lying in the corner, cut off the heads of 16 grooms; I. collected living water, they returned; I. revived three heroes and killed the old woman; raven: two girls for your brothers; leave the younger girl's cap with me; when asked where you are coming from and where you are going, answer, from behind you and forward; the mare brought I. to Greenock; orders her head to be cut off, for there is a girl inside her; and the raven is a youth, my bridegroom; I. stopped at a goldsmith's; he was ordered to make a cap for the younger girl by morning, but he knew not how; I. orders him to lock him up for the night, called a raven, who brought a cap decorated with gold and diamonds; orders his head to be cut off, became a youth; the goldsmith said that he had made the cap, but the girl called him a liar and ordered him to bring the one who gave the cap; she told I. that he was as strong as I., the soldier's son from Albainn; I.: I am I.; wedding]: Montgomerie, Montgomerie 2023: 214-223.

The Balkans. The Serbs [a king has three sons and a daughter; he keeps her in his upper room; the daughter grows up, begs permission to go for a walk with her brothers, a whirlwind immediately carries her away; the brothers gallop off in search; they see a tower between the earth and the sky; the elders refuse to slaughter their horses; the youngest slaughters them, makes a belt out of the skin, ties it to an arrow, shoots the arrow, it sticks into the tower; the elders refuse to climb, the youngest climbs in; the sister is in the room, with a snake's head on her lap; the brother hits her on the head twice with a club, the snake says that someone is biting him; the sister shows that she should hit her on the scrotum; the brother hits and kills the snake; the sister shows three rooms; in the first is a black horse, silver harness, in the second is a white horse, gold harness, in the third is a bay horse, harness made of precious stones; three more rooms; in the first, a girl embroiders with gold thread on a gold frame; in the second, she spins gold thread; in the third, she strings pearls; in front of her, a golden hen with her chicks pecks the pearls; after the young man has let the girls down, the brothers cut the belt, dress the shepherd in the clothes of the younger brother and give him to their father in marriage; when the eldest brother marries, the younger one flies down on a black horse and beats him; when the middle one - on a white one; when the shepherd - on a dun horse, kills the shepherd, reveals himself; the king drove out the eldest sons, handed the throne to the youngest, married him to the princess who strung pearls]: Karadzic 1987: 367-369 (=Dmitriev, Volkonsky 1956: 15-18, =Eschker 1992, No. 11: 65-68); Greeks(Epirus) [a king has three sons and a daughter; the daughter never goes into the garden; one day her younger brother takes her away, and a dragon comes and carries her off; the brother goes in search; he cannot climb the mountain; he sees a black snake about to defeat and kill the white one; he kills the black one; in return the white one takes him up the mountain; he hires himself out to a shepherd who tends the dragon's sheep; he tells his sister to ask the dragon what his life is; the dragon: I have three golden hairs on my head; they must be used to open the room where the three doves are; if they are killed, he will die; the sister cuts off the hair, kills the doves; immediately the dungeons collapsed, the prisoners were released; among them are three princesses; on the dragon's hair he lowered the first for the eldest brother, then the second for the middle one; then the youngest for himself; the brothers liked her more than the others and they cut the hair rope; the youth returned to the palace; On the carpets there is a hound chasing a hare; a golden jug pouring water into a golden basin; a golden hen with chickens; he opened the door into another hall, there are three horses with golden, red and green wings; for freeing them, they let him down the mountain, gave him a hair to call them; the brothers brought the princesses; each one demands that he get her one of those objects that the younger brother saw in the dragon's palace; he pulled a verija over his head, as if he had a scab, hired himself out to a jeweler; he consistently promises to get such objects, and one of the horses brings them; each time in his true form he appears at the festival; leaving, he scatters money behind him, the pursuers pick it up, and the youth, and the youth hides and again pretends to be a scab; the king's brother laid claim to the youngest princess; the youth galloped up and killed him; The king ordered the execution of the elder sons, and married the younger one to the younger princess]: Pio 2017: 77-81.

Central Europe. Russians (Arkhangelsk: Pinega) [Tsar Dalmat has not allowed his wife to go out for fun for 30 years; three sons, Fyodor, Vasily, and Ivan the Blockhead, persuaded her to allow it; Vikhor Vikhorevich carried her off; F. and V. went looking for her, but disappeared; the Tsar let I. go; he could not find the horse: if he put his hand on its back, it would go knee-deep into the ground; he twice answered the backwoods grandmother rudely; the third time he listened to the advice: D. has a 30-year-old horse in the cellar on chains; he still needs to find a craftsman to make a 300-fathom chain weighing 30 poods and throw it over the Vikhorev Mountains; the horse orders that he be let go first for three dawns to spray his nostrils; I. rode on, found his brothers, and began to throw the chain over the mountains; I. got up, and came to the hut on the chicken leg; "Turn your balls to the goblin, and your gates to me." He prayed for her and began to beat himself up. Now a maiden came out to him, the most beautiful in the world, Elena the Beautiful. She led him into the warmth of the bedroom to a kitten-shaped crib - on it a feather bed, a silk pillow, a black sable blanket. ... She agreed, fell on the bed. However, he grabbed her by the sarafan. And wanted to fuck her. .. (she asks to wait) Go to Vikhor Vikhorevich first. As soon as you return, I'm all yours. He is all his, he does not calm down. She grabbed him in her arms, pressed him to her obesity, to her white breast. Ivan Tsarevich immediately fell asleep, snored, wheezed like a cart; EP does not know about the kidnapped queen, in the morning he sends to Marfa the Beautiful; she is even more beautiful (same episode), he sends to Alexandra the Beautiful, she is even more beautiful (same); in the morning he gives a kotka-bayunka, he leads to Vihorev's house; there are 9 pegs, eight of them with a human head; the mother shows where the sword-kladenets is, he hides I. in a chest; he looks for Vikhr's head; when he fell asleep, I. cut off his head and put it on the ninth peg; they took the gold, burned the house; on the way back, each of the three beauties rolled up her hut into an egg, gives it to I., goes with him; I. lowers his mother and the beauties down the mountain; Alexandra: if you stay, then hide in the hollow of an oak tree; Vihorev's sister will fly in on a flying carpet, will start crying, and then fall asleep; you need to "get tangled up with the carpet"; when she comes down from the mountains, cut off her head; the brothers pulled off the chain; they fight over the women; they tell their mother to tell her that they are the saviors; I.'s horse ran away; I. went down, as advised, killed Vikhoreva's sister, the horse brought him to the house; he ran into the reeds, and I. stayed with the old man and the old woman; she says that F. wants to get married, but the bride demands a special ring, shoes and dress; I. sends the old man to say that he will undertake to do everything; I. went out as if to urinate, clicked an egg against an egg - the desired ring became; the same dress and shoes; at the wedding Alexandra recognized I.; "and made the brothers princes"]: Ozarovskaya 1931, No. 26: 218-238; Russian(Zaonezhie) [after the birth of the third son, an evil spirit began to haunt the queen; the tsar left, ordered the eldest son to take care of his mother; she asks her son to take her for a ride through the green meadows; a whirlwind carried her away; the tsar returned, the eldest son went to look for his mother; {nothing is said about the middle one}; three years later the youngest, Ivan Tsarevich, came; the backwoods grandmother orders three iron hats, three pairs of iron shoes and three iron crutches to be forged, gives a tablecloth; teaches to walk along the right path to the left; Baba Yaga sits with a bone leg, a clay muzzle, plugging the stove with her chest; I. unfolded the tablecloth, Baba Yaga recognized his sister's tablecloth, gave her a spoon, he came to the second Baba Yaga {and the third of the sisters}; she recognized the tablecloth and spoon, gave a mug and a ball of yarn; the iron staff, the shoes wore out; I. reached the mountain for the ball, put nails on his hands and feet, climbed up; there is a small kingdom; he gave the lions a drink from the mug, they let him pass; Whirlwind flew in and flew away; while he was there, the maiden hid the prince in a chest; then the silver kingdom (the same, guarded by tigers); the golden one, that's where the mother was; she gave strong water and Whirlwind's club, ordered not to hit twice; I. killed Whirlwind; the mother and both princesses rolled their kingdoms into eggs; I. lowered the women onto a towel; the brothers cut the towel and are preparing weddings with two princesses; the silver princess demands a dress without material and measure; I. threw the club, two appeared, carried them to their hometown; the princess found out, a silver palace arose, from it a golden bridge, on the pillars a dove with a dove: do you remember what saved you? I remember - I.; wedding]: Karnaukhova 2009, No. 14: 75-79; Russian(Zaonezhie) [the widow became pregnant, gave birth to a son, Okati-Goroshok; rumors of his mischief reached the tsar, OG asked the tsar not to execute him, he would find his three missing daughters; the tsar agreed; OG meets and takes the heroes Roznigor as his companions, then Usynya; they came to the house, R. and U. could not loosen the gate, OG opened the gate; R. cooked dinner, but Sam-with-a-nail, with a beard as long as an elbow, came and ate everything; the next day the same thing happened to U.; on the third day OG carried Sam-with-a-nail out into the yard, pinched his beard; the heroes went to the mountain to drop the anchor {i.e. the dwarf did not hide in the hole, but climbed the mountain}, R. and U. did not throw the anchor far enough, OG climbed the chain and came to the copper kingdom; the eldest princess hid it, her husband arrived, smelled the Russian spirit, the princess began to caress him, he fell asleep, OG cut off his head and went for the second princess (the same, a silver palace); the third in gold; each collected her palace in a box; the princesses went down, the heroes pulled the chain together and OG was left alone at the top; he came to a house by the lake; there an old man asks to graze his cattle, but on the road, not on the grass; OG disobeyed and the snakes began to sting the cattle; OG killed them with a sword; on the third day a 12-headed snake, the mother of the dead, flew in, tried to eat OG, he cut off 6 of her heads, she brought living and dead water for leaving the other 6; he smeared the old man's eyes with them, he regained his sight; the grateful old man sent OG to his homeland, putting him on an eagle; there was not enough meat, he had to cut off his own calves; The shoemaker said that the first princess would marry R., the second would marry U., and the third would marry the one who would make her shoes like those in the golden kingdom; OG opened the box containing the golden palace and took out the golden boots, sent the shoemaker with the shoes to the princess, who understood everything and asked for the same dress; then the entire palace; in the morning the shoemaker was asked who the builder of the palace was, and he pointed to OG; OG married the princess, R. and U. married two other princesses]: Karnaukhova 2009, No. 41: 119-123.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Ossetians [the people persuaded the khan to marry; he placed his wife in underground rooms, and she gave birth to three sons there; at a feast, the people demanded that his wife be brought; as soon as she came out, an eagle carried her off; the sons grew up, smashed their neighbor's buckets with arrows; neighbor: it would have been better if they had saved their mother instead of smashing the buckets; the khan had to tell his sons everything; the brothers came to the castle, a woman was sitting there, one breast down to her leg, the other thrown over her back; they kissed her breast and called the woman mother; she sent them to her younger sister, giving her a kerchief; seeing it, the sister realized who had sent the youths; she gave them a golden thread with a key at the end; whoever of the three throws the hook up the mountain, let him climb up, the rest don't even have to try; the youngest threw it; on the mountain he came across a skull; he says that he had eagle's wings; his own brother, out of jealousy, killed him while he was sleeping, took his wings for himself, and stole the khan's wife; the young man realized that they were talking about his mother; the skull teaches: his brother is sleeping, having removed the eagle's shell; one must take a whip from under his headboard and hit him, he will turn to dust; and let him bring the shell to him, the skull, and hit him with the whip; the skull turned into a young eagle; when the mother descended on a golden thread, the young man's brothers set fire to the thread, telling their mother to say that it was they who saved her; the young man cannot descend, but the former skull, having become an eagle, brought him to his father; he forgave his brothers and mother]: Dzagurov 1973, No. 66: 315-321; laki [women disappear in the state, Pachakh hides his wife, the youngest son steals the key, opens the room where his mother is sitting, a cloud carries her away; the two elder sons leave to search, followed by the younger one; he meets seven devas, they are delighted with his strength, point out a mountain on which there are three-, four-, five-, seven-headed azhdaha; the young man orders a retractable ladder from a blacksmith, climbs the mountain, kills all the azhdaha, frees the three kidnapped princesses and their mother, lowers them and their treasures down, the princesses give the young man a golden apple each; the brothers remove the ladder, bring the princesses and mother to their father, and say that they got them themselves; the young man finds a box, in it a dwarf who carries out orders; he takes the young man to his hometown; he hires himself out to a blacksmith, the dwarf does any work; the princesses order golden apples, the blacksmith's imaginary assistant gives them the ones they gave him; gathers the people, tells his story, kills his brothers with a bow, marries the best princess, receives the throne]: Ganieva 2011b, No. 10: 142-149; Georgians[after eating an apple, a woman gives birth to Ivan the Evening in the evening, Ivan the Midnight at midnight, Ivan the Dawn at dawn; they all fly away to heaven; the king's three daughters are kidnapped; the brothers promise to find them; the iron man helps to forge a chain, IZ throws it up the mountain; the brothers are afraid to climb, IZ climbs up; kills the seven-, nine-, and twelve-headed devas; brings down the girls; the iron man breaks the chain; IZ descends on the deva's horse; hires himself out to a blacksmith, shows the ring of his elder sister; during the wedding he flies on a horse, beats the brothers, kills the iron man, gets married]: Chikovani 1985, no. 1: 11-15.

Baltoscandia. Finns [three brothers and three sisters; the sisters were carried away by a whirlwind; the eldest brother went in search; after three years - the middle one; the mother does not want to let the youngest go, but he insists; asks the blacksmith to make iron shoes, a club and a chain; he reached a mountain, where his brothers are; one's hair grew to the ground, the other's lichen grew on his head; the youngest threw the chain up the mountain and climbed it; further on a heather plain, on it a brass house revolves; he told him to stop; in the house there is a youngest sister; let the brother walk around the house three times against the sun, then he will see the keyhole; the husband came; they agreed to come to each other's aid; each will know if there is blood on the handkerchief; the same in the silver house of the middle sister; in the golden house of the eldest; the youth came to the heroine's wife; she was sleeping, he grabbed her; he let her go when she agreed that he would be neither her father nor her brother, but her husband; went to war; the blacksmith makes 300 warriors per night and if the girl does not destroy them in a day, things will go badly; she forbids the young man to enter one of the rooms; he entered: all sorts of animals are hanging there, some by the legs, some by the horns, asking to be freed; he freed one, and the rest each other; they tore the young man into pieces and threw them into the river; blood appeared on the shawls of the sworn brothers; they turned into a snake, a mouse and a fish; the one who became a fish found the young man; the girl poured an elixir on the remains, everything grew together, the young man came to life, becoming stronger than before; he persuaded the girl to take him with her to fight the forged warriors; he went to the blacksmith, said that he knew his craft and would forge him a new head; he smashed his head with a hammer, new warriors no longer appeared; they went to the young man's homeland; the sworn brothers took their sisters; but when the young man brought the bride down from the mountain, his brothers cut the chain and took the girl; the young man spent several years on the mountain, grew overgrown with hair, dressed in a deerskin; then he saw a blind old man with a huge beard below; asked for help; he held out his beard, the young man jumped on it as if it were a soft blanket; touched the old man's eyes, he regained his sight; the old man: hurry, your brother is preparing a wedding with your bride; having reached the house, the young man climbed up half the shelves in the bathhouse; the maid: the devil take it! the bride understood, brought clothes, cut and washed her hair; wedding]: Löwis of Menar 1927, no. 31: 90-96.

Southern Siberia – Mongolia. Khakass [Kara Kan’s daughter becomes pregnant; her father orders her to be blinded in the forest, soldiers leave the girl, bring the father dog’s eyes; the girl gives birth to three boys in a hut during the night, each of them runs away immediately, returns three days later as a hero, their names are Ulug Irgek ( irgek – “finger”), Kichik Irgek, Ivan Sarchyk; seven-, nine-, twelve-headed snakes carried the king’s three daughters to a golden mountain; the guard whistles, the older brothers fall, IS is not afraid; on the mountain, in a copper house, a girl switches the barrel; the snake drinks, his strength decreases, IS’s strength grows, the snake is killed; the same in the silver and gold houses; the sisters take them home with them, wrapped in scarves; the IS brothers and the guard take the three princesses for themselves, throw away the ladder, IS remains on the cliff; the blind witch promises to let him down if he returns her eyes; they are under the waterfall; the horse asks to free him from the baggage, tells them not to listen to the witch, to chain her to the floor, supposedly to heal her, to pour cast iron into her eyes; the horse lets down IS; under the guise of a bald IS comes to the wedding of the false IS with the younger sister; she recognizes her scarf given to the real IS; the guard's head is cut off, the brothers marry the three princesses]: Katanov 1907, No. 384: 396-409.