K33a1a. The Heroine in the Whale's Womb. .15.-.17.22.27.-.30.

A woman thrown into the water ends up in the belly of a fish (whale), but is later rescued.

Italians (South Tyrol, Lombardy), Sicilians, Irish, Mehri, Zyarai, Sre, Albanians, Russians (Arkhangelsk: Pinega), Rumei, Kabardians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Turks, Bukharan Arabs.

Southern Europe. Italians (South Tyrol) [after the death of his father, there remained a son Tilio and a daughter; grains of wheat fell from her hair, and wherever she stepped, there was gold; but she was bewitched: if a ray of the sun fell on her, she would immediately find herself in the belly of a whale; T. served the king and told about his sister; he ordered her to be brought to him; when T. was driving his sister in a closed carriage, a witch and her daughter met him; they asked them for a ride; the witch imperceptibly made holes in the roof of the carriage, a ray of the sun fell on the girl and she disappeared, finding herself in the belly of a whale; seeing the bride, the king sent T. to tend the geese; they lead him to the seashore; T. asks the whale to show him his sister; she rubs her hair with her hands, the geese peck the wheat; on their return they tell about this; so every day; the king heard, but did not understand, but the witches understood; [they told the king that T. could fill the garden with wonderful flowers and vegetables overnight; the king gave him three days; the sister told him not to worry; in the morning the garden was full of flowers; let there be beautiful bridges and footbridges in the garden (ditto); ponds with fish; sister: the last fish will be a whale; I will jump out of it, grab me; and so it happened; the king married T.'s sister; the witches were burned at the stake]: Schneller 1861, no. 22: 51-55; Italians (Lombardy: Mantua) [the king loved the daughter, and the queen the son; the king began to go blind; doctors: it is necessary to wash his eyes with the daughter's blood; the brother and sister ran away; the brother is still south, he is thirsty; bends over the spring, hears a voice: do not drink, you will become a donkey; next time: a piglet; then: a calf; drank the water and became; they came to the royal palace; the king took the girl in, and then married her; went on business; the old woman pushed the queen into the sea, she was swallowed by a shark; the old woman replaced the queen with her daughter, who pretended to be ill; returning, the king suspected something was wrong; the false queen: the calf's heart will cure her; the servant hears: little sister, little sister, they are already sharpening the knives, the cauldron is already boiling, help me; a voice from the water: I can't help, I am in the shark's belly; told the king; the deceiver was given a false heart; the shark was caught, there was a living queen in it; the calf became a man again; the brother and sister's father died, the young man became king, and his sister remained queen; the old woman and her daughter were hanged]: Vissentini 1879, No. 16: 89-95; Sicilians(Agrigento) [the wife died; the husband took another, who had a one-eyed daughter; the stepmother hates the stepson and stepdaughter; when they went to take food to their father in the field, she sent them in the wrong direction; they got lost; the sister asks about the springs; one answers that whoever drinks from them will become a donkey, another a wolf, a third a calf; the brother was so thirsty that he drank from the third spring, and became a calf with golden horns; a prince saw the sister, married her; one day the girl's father came to the house; they agreed that the stepmother and her daughter should also move in with the stepdaughter; the stepmother pushed the stepdaughter into the sea, replaced her with her daughter, dressing her in the clothes of the prince's wife; let her, when the prince appears, say that it was the calf that gouged out her eye with its horn, and ask him to slaughter it; the calf runs up to the window, calls his sister: they are sharpening a knife, boiling water in a cauldron, they want to slaughter me; sister: all in vain, I am in the belly of a whale; the butcher heard, called the prince; he ordered to catch the whale, the wife was taken out alive; the stepmother and her daughter were put in prison, and the fairy returned her brother to human form]: Calvino 1980, No. 178: 641-645.

Western Europe. Irish [King Aedh Cúrucha lived in Tir Conal, his daughters were Fair, Brown and Trembling; F. and B. went to church in beautiful dresses, and T. worked in the kitchen; the henwife gave her a magnificent dress and shoes, a white mare with a golden saddle and a golden bridle; a honey-bird sits on T.'s right shoulder, a honey-finger on her left; she must be at the door of the church, but not go inside, must leave before the end of the service; this happens three times, each time new clothes and a horse; the sisters tell of a beautiful and rich stranger; the third time the son of the king of Omanya (Emania in Ulster) managed to pull the slipper off her foot; he found T., the slipper was the only one that fit her; she appears in all the clothes she was wearing in church; the other princes challenge the prince of Omania to single combat, he wins, they recognize his right to T.; T. gives birth to a boy; F. leads her to the sea, pushes her into the water, a whale swallows her, she comes to her husband under the guise of T.; he suspects deception, puts a sword between them at night, if it becomes warm, then his wife is in bed; the sword remained cold; the shepherd saw everything; the next day the whale burped T.; she asks the shepherd to tell her husband what happened; she herself cannot walk; the whale will burp her three times, and will not come again; the whale must be killed with a silver bullet, hitting the red spot on its chest; on the first day F. gave the shepherd a drink of oblivion; on the second T. tells him not to drink what F. gives; on the third day the husband came, killed the whale, hitting the spot, T. came to her senses; the prince entrusted F.'s execution to his father; he ordered F. to be thrown into the sea in a barrel; T. gave birth to a daughter; the shepherdess was given an education; he and T.'s daughter grew up, got married; T. was happy with her husband and gave birth to 14 children]: Curtin 1975: 37-48.

Western Asia. Mehri : Jahn 1902, no. 28 [the king has a wife, a son, Hamed, and a daughter, Fatima; there are no rams to slaughter for the holiday; the qadi permits that the king slaughter H., and his wife, F.; H. hears, speaks to his sister, they run away; the father: let there be gold in their path; they pick it up, run on; let the evil camel; H.: your father and I have already ridden you; the camel lets you pass; let the stream; F.: your mother and I have already played with you; the stream lets you pass; the father stops chasing; F.: I forgot my hairpin; H. returns, the wild goats will return the hairpin if H. drinks water with them; he drinks, turns into a kid; F. led him on a rope; a servant sees them at the well, tells the sultan, he takes F. as his wife; the first wife pushes her into a well, she is swallowed by a shark ; the wife pretends to be ill (and apparently pretends to be F.), wants goat meat; they sharpen knives, make a fire, put on a cauldron; the sultan sees from the window how the goat runs to the well, tells of the danger, F. answers that she is carrying the sultan's son, that they are in the belly of a shark; the shark is pulled out, F. and the child are taken out of her belly , the first wife is killed]: 124-127; Müller 1909, no. 39 [poor parents have children Hamed and Fatmeh; H. hears that the parents are plotting to kill them; tells his sister, they run away from home, F. takes a comb and a pin with her; the parents pursue; the mother: let pearls be in the children's way; they start to pick them up, run away again; father: let the ornaments on the chest (amulets); they pick up again, run again; father: let the evil male camel; son: my father and I rode on you, the camel lets the children pass; mother: let the stream; daughter: my mother and I washed our hair with your water; the stream hears; the father and mother stop pursuing; the sister forgot the pin and comb; H. offers to go after them; sister: wild goats can turn you into a kid; H. goes, returns, having become a kid, the pin and comb are his horns; F. and the kid come to the spring, F. climbs a tree; a slave sees them, tells the sultan, who takes F. as his wife, she warns that the kid is her transformed brother; when F. is pregnant, and her husband is away, the other wife and her mother pushed her into the well in which the shark of Iblis ; the other wife took the form of F.; told her husband that she wanted goat meat; the husband ordered to light a fire to cook the meat; the goat ran to the well; F. tells him from there that she gave birth to a son; the sultan follows, hears; F. tells him that his mother-in-law pushed her into the well; the shark was pulled out and cut open, F. and her son were taken out ; the sultan killed his mother-in-law and first wife, remained with F. and her brother {his transformation into a man again is not mentioned}]: 99-105

Burma - Indochina. Ziaray : Dournes 1977: 108-109 [a woman, the Mother of the Forest (Mère Brousse), digs wild yams in the forest; a Boa constrictor from a tree makes it rain by forcing a woman to climb up the tree to him; in the morning she returns home, asks her granddaughter H'Bia (B.) to marry the Boa constrictor, she refuses, her younger sister H'Lui? (L.) agrees; on the river the Boa constrictor sheds its snake skin, turns out to be a handsome man; in the water L. runs into a branch, her husband revives her; the older sisters B. and H'Kruah (K., she is the eldest) also want such a husband; L.'s husband finds another Boa constrictor, it swallows B. and everyone in the house; L.'s husband finds him, rips open his belly, revives B.; going to the coast to the Vietnamese, he tells his wife not to go out if she is called on a strange business; B. calls her to swing, she comes out, B. throws her into the water, she is swallowed by a crocodile, in his womb she gives birth to a boy ; when the crocodile comes ashore, the boy rips open his belly with a knife, comes out with his mother; in a word he creates a house, his rooster crows, the husband returns, L. tells him what happened], 109-110 [a woman digs wild yams in the forest, it begins to rain, she comes to a banana plantation, promises a granddaughter to the owner, a boa constrictor comes down from a tree, takes H'Lui? (L.) as his wife, turns out to be a handsome man; going on business to Champa, the husband tells L. not to leave the house if she is called; her elder sister H'Bia (B.) wants to take her place, calls, pushes her into the water, L. is swallowed by a crocodile, in his womb she gives birth to a boy ; when the crocodile comes ashore, the boy rips open its belly with a knife, comes out with his mother; L. had an egg with her, a rooster comes out of it, crows, the husband returns, following the rooster's voice, recognizes L., kills B.]; sre [in the forest, a hunter sets a snares, a Boa constrictor blocks his path, demands a girl; he offers one of his sisters - Ngi, Nga, Nai Tölui? (she is the youngest, married to a Cham); the Snake demands only NT, otherwise he will swallow the whole village; NT comes to him, he becomes a handsome man, they come to live with the Cham; leaving, the husband orders NT not to leave the house; envious, Nga cuts NT's throat, pushes her into the water; she has an orange, a knife, an egg with her; the crocodile swallows her; she gives birth to a son; the crocodile comes ashore, the son cuts him open from the inside ; a tree grows out of the orange, a rooster appears from the egg; NT ascends to heaven; husband returns, finds son, his ancestor Sun helped him to identify the boy; Nga pretends to be NT, NT's son beats her; NT descends from heaven; Nga wants a Snake for herself, finds one, grows a boa constrictor, it grows big, swallows her, starting from the feet, she at first takes it for a game; NT's husband takes the form of a snake, finds the one who swallowed him, drags him to the shore, extracts Nga, she is covered in worms, NT's husband makes her whole, forbids her to go out into the sun; she comes out, melts, turns into a termite mound]: Dournes 1977: 113-114.

Balkans. Albanians [a widow had a daughter, a goat came to the door, the daughter asked to buy it; she leads it to the royal vineyard to graze; the king follows the goat's tracks, knocks on the door and asks for the girl to be given to him as a wife; he will take the goat too; the mother gave it to her; the servant took the young queen to the well to see who was prettier; the queen was prettier; she asked to be allowed to put on her dress, pushed her into the well; there a fish swallowed her; the goat ran to the well; the queen cried out from under the water: Little goat, little goat, I am in the belly of a fish, a spindle on my belt, my son with a star on his forehead; the goat answered: Girl, girl, they are boiling the cauldron, sharpening the knife, they are going to slaughter me; the king heard this, ordered the well to be bled, the fish to be gutted, the wife and son are alive; the maid was executed]: Meyer 1884, no. 1: 93-95.

Central Europe. Russian (Arkhangelsk: Pinega) [a silver ewe lamb has three children: Vasilyoshko, Ivanushko, and Marfushka; when leaving for the field, the ewe tells Yagibova to answer that her mother went to the right; but she herself goes to the left; Ya. did not find the ewe lamb; the next day - vice versa (same thing); then Ya. told the blacksmith to make her tongue sharper; V. believed that the mother had come; M. and I. do not tell him to open the door; V. opened it, Ya. ate it, but M. and I. did not find it; waited for the ewe lamb and ate that too; and I. and M. went wandering; I. wants to drink from a cow's hoof; M.: you will become a calf; from a horse's: a foal; he drank from the sheep's, became a lamb; M. married the peasant's son Ivan, the lamb is with her; When I. left, Yagibova came, pushed M. into the sea, replaced him with her Marshukha; I. returned; the false wife tells him to slaughter a ram, for she is pregnant; the lamb asks I. to let him run to the blue sea to rinse his hooves; he calls his sisters: the knives are sharpened, the cauldrons are hung, they want to slaughter him; Marfa: I am in the belly of a whale-fish behind 9 locks, let I. catch the whale; the next day the servants overheard, told Ivan; he threw a net, caught a whale, ripped open its belly at home, there was Marfa alive; I. ordered to dig a hole, put some resin in it, make a fire, put a board on top; the false wife was told to jump, she fell into the fire, the pit was covered with an iron board; Marshukha Yagabovina from the pit: the oak passed, the peredub passed, I cannot pass the iron board; burned down; everything was fine% there and the beer flowed, ran over the lips, did not get into the mouth, ran into the forest under the stump, under the coconut, and I don’t know under which]: Simina 1975, No. 34: .

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Rumei [the prince's dogs find a shoe in a stream; the prince promises to marry the one who fits the shoe; marries Cinderella, they have a boy; her sister is hired as a nanny, unrecognized; pushes his wife into the sea, puts on her clothes, makes himself breasts out of rags, gives them to the child; the child cries; another time the husband comes to the shore, hears his wife singing, Catch a whale, I'm here ; the whale is caught, cut up, the woman comes out, starts feeding the child; the husband suggests that the imaginary wife tie her to 40 horse tails; she agrees, says she will swing]: Ivanova 2004: 494-495; Kabardians [the mother died, leaving a girl, Gulez, and a boy, Inal; the witch stepmother decided to eat them; they ran away, the witch pursues, the children threw down a comb (forest), scissors (7 iron walls), a mirror (sea); the witch asks to show a ford, the children show a deep place, the waves carried away the witch; I. wants to drink; G. does not allow to drink from the trace of a camel's hoof, an ox's; he drinks from a sheep's, became a lamb; the prince saw G., took her to himself, married her; the witch's daughter pushed G. into the sea, put on her clothes, took her place; asks the prince to slaughter a lamb; the lamb by the sea calls his sister, says that they sharpen knives, heat water to boil its meat; G.: I can't help, I'm in the stomach of a whale; the people told the prince, they caught the whale, G. returned, the lamb became a man, the witch's daughter was kicked out]: Kardanov 1961: 63-68; Armenians: Ghanalanyan 1965 [the stepmother roasts the seed grain; tells her husband that the field will turn green if he sacrifices his stepdaughter and stepson; the father leaves the children in the field; the sister does not tell her brother to drink from the puddles, so that he does not turn into a cow, a camel, a horse; he drinks, turns into a lamb; the sister climbs a tree, the king's servants ask her to come down, the king gets married, she tells him about the lamb; the old woman pushes her into the sea, puts her clothes on her daughter; the imaginary wife orders the lamb to be slaughtered; the sister is swallowed by a fish, screams from her belly not to kill the lamb; the fisherman reports this to the king; he orders the fish to be caught, a girl is found in the belly; the lamb turns into a man; the old woman and her daughter are tied to the tail of a mule]: 45-48; Seklemian 1898 (Erzurum) [a stepmother tells her husband to leave his stepdaughter and stepson in the mountains; a sister forbids her brother to drink water from a horse, ox, buffalo, bear, boar, wolf's track, otherwise he will become a foal, etc.; he drinks from a goat's track, turns into a kid; the stepdaughter returns home with the kid; the stepmother is going to slaughter the kid, the stepdaughter takes it and goes back to the mountains; drops a spindle, it rolls into a cave; leaving the kid to graze, the girl goes for the spindle; in the cave is a thousand-year-old witch (dev); she brings snakes and dragons; the girl tells her story; she puts the hook in the fire, goes to bed; if something even appears, do not wake her up, but if something rainbow-colored, you need to wake her up by putting a red-hot hook to her feet; the girl does everything, her hair and clothes turn golden; she returned to her stepmother again, hid the golden clothes, but the stepmother noticed her golden hair, sends her own daughter; the old woman turned her into a garden scarecrow; the stepmother and her daughter go to the wedding, the stepdaughter puts on her golden dress; returns before them; loses a slipper, it floats down the stream; seeing the slipper, the royal horses refuse to drink; the girls are ordered to try on the slipper; the rooster crows about the owner's whereabouts; wedding; the stepmother and her daughter come to the young queen, offer to swim, push her into the sea; the fish swallowed her, the stepmother replaced her with her daughter; while in the belly of the fish, the queen hears the voice of the bell-ringer; asks him to cross himself seven times, to ask the king not to slaughter the kid; the king comes to the sea with a bell-ringer, hears his wife's voice, jumps into the water, rips open the fish's belly, takes out his wife; he tied the stepmother and her daughter to the tails of horses; three apples fell from the sky]: 1-8 (=Cox 1893, No. 8: 4-5); Azerbaijanis[the fisherman has a grown-up daughter Fatmazhykh and a little son Kiyavyzhykh; the mother died, the fisherman took the fanged Bash-khanum; she gave birth to a bald boy and girl; ordered to take the previous children into the forest; the father tied a board to a tree so that it would knock, and the children would think that he was chopping wood; left; K. is tormented by thirst, F. does not allow him to drink from the spring - you will become a horse; then - a dog; K. drank from the third, became a bull; said that now he will feed his sister with honey and butter, which are in his horns; took his sister; although the father and stepmother moved, the bull found them; F. said that her brother was crushed by a bear, and she arrived on a bull; she was sent to comb wool, the bull fed her; the wind carried away the tow; F. ran after him, ran into the hut; there is Baba Yaga, in her hair there are snakes and centipedes; F. asked for her tow, the old woman asked how she liked the hut; F. praised the cleanliness; the old woman blessed her; ordered to wake her up when white, red and black water runs; washed with three waters, F. became white-bodied, eyebrows and eyelashes black, cheeks and lips red; gave her tow; the stepmother sent her own daughter; she called the old woman ugly; from the three waters her body turned black, eyebrows and eyelashes white, a red spot appeared on her forehead; then the stepmother pretended to be ill, asked for bull meat; he tells his sister to collect his bones and throw them into the well, a beautiful outfit will appear there; the stepmother and her daughter went to a meeting with the shah, and F. ordered to separate the millet from the ashes and fill the cup with tears; the rooster was separated from the hens, the rooster advised to prepare salt water; putting on the dress that was in the well, F. came to the palace, showered everyone with flowers, and her stepmother with ashes; when she ran back, she lost her shoe; Prince Mamed ordered to look for the owner; the rooster crows that F. is in a pit, tied hand and foot; M. married F.; the stepmother's daughter pushed her into the sea, put on her dress; in the morning the rooster crows: my sister was drowned in the sea, a catfish swallowed her , she is carried under the shah's heart and asks heaven for salvation; the fishermen caught the catfish, took out F.; M. asks the deceiver whether she wants a golden knife or a seven-year-old mare; she did not understand, she wanted the mare; she was put in one bag, and the puppy and the saucepan in another; frightened by the roar, the horse rushed, the body was scattered across the valleys; M. stayed with F.]: Bagriy, Zeynalli 1935: 3-19; Turks [the stepmother wants to throw the children into the oven; the boy and his sister go to their mother's grave; a voice tells them to take a comb, a brush, and soap; the stepmother sends soldiers in pursuit; the abandoned comb becomes a thicket of thorns, the brush becomes snakes covering the ground, and the soap becomes the sea; the children walk across the steppe, the boy is thirsty; the sister does not allow them to drink from a deer's hoof, but he drinks and turns into a deer; the girl climbs a poplar, the shahzade sees her reflection; he orders it to be cut down; the clearing becomes overgrown overnight; the old woman begins to bake bread, placing the baking tray upside down; the girl goes down to help her, the shahzade takes her and the deer and marries her; while bathing, the blackamoor pushes her into a deep place, puts on her clothes, and says that she has turned black, waiting for her husband to return; she asks to slaughter the deer; a deer brother tells his sister how they are sharpening knives to slaughter him; the sister replies that she is in the belly of a fish, her son is at her breast; people hear, the shahzade eavesdrops, the sultana and her child are taken out, the blackamoor is tied to the tails of 40 mules]: Stebleva 1986, No. 33: 131-134; the Turks [after the death of the padishah, his son and daughter went bankrupt, went wandering; the sister in vain warns her brother not to drink dirty water, he drinks, turns into a fawn; the sister climbed a tree above a spring, the padishah's horses see her reflection, get scared; then the servants see it too; she refuses to get down, the padishah orders the tree to be cut down; when the servants went to rest, the fawn licked the clearing, the tree became whole; the same the next evening; then they called the old woman; She pretended to be blind, turned the cauldron upside down, poured water in the wrong place; the next time she cooked ashes instead of meat; on the third day she began to slaughter a sheep, stabbing it with a knife from behind, instead of cutting its throat; the girl went down, the padishah grabbed her, she agreed to marry him if he would take her brother, the fawn; the black servant pushed the padishah's wife into the spring, the fish swallowed her; the servant took her place, saying that she had darkened in the sun; pretended to be ill: the fawn's meat would cure her; he said to his sister: the knife is being sharpened, the water is boiling, hurry, sister; the sister answered: I am inside the fish, a golden saucer on my hand, a silver sandal on my foot, a little padishah at my chest; the padishah heard, the spring was drained, the fish's belly was ripped open, the wife and son were there; the fawn licked the fish's blood, became a youth again; [the king to his maidservant: 4 swords or 4 horses? maidservant: let the swords be against my enemies, I choose the horses; she was tied to the horses' tails, torn to pieces]: Kúnos 1901: 1-11.

Iran - Central Asia. Bukharan Arabs : Vinnikov 1969, No. 9 [a father wants to give his daughter in marriage to his son; she runs away into the reeds; the father orders the reeds to open; the girl: you were a father, now you are a father-in-law; the same goes for mother (mother-in-law), brother (husband); she goes out to her younger sister; both leave, the younger one drinks, turns into a gazelle; a servant sees a reflection of a girl who has climbed a tree in a pond, takes it for her own; the emir marries the girl, promises to feed the gazelle from a golden feeding trough; the emir's senior wife pushes the new one into the pond, a fish swallows her; while in the belly of the fish, she gives birth to Hasan and Hussein; the senior wife pretends to be ill, orders the gazelle to be slaughtered; the emir watches the gazelle as it talks to the swallowed one by the pond; he takes his wife and children out of the fish, executes the senior wife; [they have achieved the object of their desires and goals], 60 [the father promises his son to give him a wife; he wants his own sister as a wife; before the wedding feast the daughter ran away into the reeds; the mother asks to come out; daughter: you used to be my mother, now you are my mother-in-law; the same goes for father (father-in-law), brother (stranger); the fish swallowed her, inside the fish she gave birth to twins; {further the informant clearly missed a large passage}; the people gathered to slaughter {apparently the younger} brother; he calls his sister; the sister: I can’t come out, let the butcher go blind, his knife will be dull; so it is with all butchers; the king asks his wife’s {younger} brother where his sister is; in the belly of the fish; they caught the fish, took the woman and her children out of the belly; all is well]: 69-71, 330-331.