K35a7. Graceful feather. .16.28.29.32.

The character finds a feather, the touch of which brings health and beauty.

French, Ukrainians (Kharkiv), Russians (Voronezh), Chechens, Chuvash, Kazan Tatars.

Western Europe. French (no place given, but not Upper Brittany) [a father of many children cannot find a godson for a newborn; the Lord meets him, offers to be his godson, and takes the boy away in 7 years; takes him away in 7 years; turns into a mule (the transformation is not described; but there is no more talk about the godson, and the boy rides on a mule, which helps him with advice); tells him not to pick up a feather - it will cause much trouble; but the boy picked it up; when he came to the king and waved the feather, the bad stable became good, the king's bad hair - beautiful ; he is in favor with the king, the courtiers are envious; they say that the boy promised to get the bird whose feather he found; mule: it will be the first bird we find on the border; the boy brought it to the king; soon the bird died; courtiers: he undertook to revive it; mule: cut off my head, there will be living water; bring the bird to life, and then me; new task: get the Golden-Haired Beauty; mule: beat the drum, the first girl to stand up will be her; on the way back across the sea, the Golden-Haired Girl threw her ring and key into the sea; she agrees to marry the king only if he brings her parents; the king demands this from the young man; the same episode with the drum; the Golden-Haired Girl demands her ring and key, the king sends the young man; mule: they will be in the belly of the first fisherman who catches the fish; the Golden-Haired Girl: first let the young man be hanged, then I will marry the king; mule: at the scaffold, ask the king for tobacco, throw it on those around, everyone ends up dead; only the Golden-Haired Girl remains alive, the young man marries her]: Cosquin 1887, no. 73: 290-294.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Kharkov) [Three daughters volunteer in turn to serve in their father's place, the eldest ride out into the field where everything rumbles, and return. The youngest does not return, but ends up in a forest where a snake and frost are fighting, she responds to the latter's request for help, together they cut off three snake heads, and put the ashes in their pockets. Frost asks the hero's name, picks some "burkunets" grass, and calls him Roman. Roman goes on alone. He finds a feather from the Firebird on the road, the horse warns him not to take the feather, but Roman does not listen. The grooms notice the beauty of the horse (cleaned with a feather) and report it to the king. The grooms order the iconostasis to be taken from the sea. Roman grieves, asks Frost for help, he freezes the sea and takes out the iconostasis "on the dry days of the sea." While the horse was getting the iconostasis – scattering the necklace, the grooms demand to get it, the frost helps Roman again, freezes the sea. The grooms demand to get 9 mares and the tenth stallion from the sea. The horse asks to wrap him in four skins and coat him with resin, he himself goes to the sea. After the sea water turns red, then blue, the horse comes out of the sea, where he defeated the stallion, whose skin is beaten, the horse was protected by resin and skins, brings out the mares “the earth trembles”. The grooms order to milk them, while the horse neighs, they stand rooted to the spot, Roman milks them. The grooms order Roman to boil in milk, the horse blows on him, and he comes out of the vat a beauty, the commander repeats the same, boiled]: Ivanov 1894, No. 1: 139-141; Ukrainians (Kharkiv, Bumeri Lebedinsky district, ca. 1878) [Parents with their son come to plow a field, the boy is carried away by an eagle to its nest. Three brothers living in the forest find the child, name him Three-son-Boris. The boy grows up, asks for a small horse and sets off on a journey. In the forest he finds a shiny feather of a firebird, the horse asks to leave it, but the boy takes it. In a foreign kingdom he is hired as a groom by the tsar, he is put to watch over the common horses, he combs them with a feather and the horses are put in the tsar's carriage . The grooms question him and spy on him, report to the Tsar that TB boasts that he can catch the Firebird, the Tsar orders this to be done. The horse asks to dig a hole, pour vodka and peas into it, the bird flies in, drinks and eats, lies down, turns over with its feet up - they grab it and bring it to the Tsar. He rewards Boris. The grooms report to the Tsar that TB boasts that he can catch a beautiful maiden in the sea, the Tsar orders this to be done. The horse asks for nets, mirrors and dresses. Nastasya comes out of the sea, tries on all the outfits, she is caught in the nets and brought to the Tsar. She demands that they get for her 12 necklaces, which she tore and threw into the sea. Beef is laid out by the sea, crayfish crawl up, the boy takes a white crayfish and demands that they bring him the whole necklace, after which he promises to let the crayfish go. The crayfish find the pike in which the necklace was kept and release the white crayfish. The princess asks why the sun is red in the morning when it rises and then white. Boris gallops on a horse towards the sun. The watchmen in the garden ask to find out why the garden used to feed the whole world but now it cannot feed the watchmen. The soldiers ask how long they will have to stand chained. The husband and wife on the oak tree ask how long they will have to catch pigeons. The innkeeper asks how long she will have to pour water from one well to another. The whale fish asks how long people will have to travel along it. TB goes into the hut of the old mother of the sun and asks questions. She hides him and in the morning she retells his questions to the sun, each time as if she were telling him her dream. The sun asks that the garden will bear fruit when the robbers' money is dug up in it. The soldiers will be freed when this money is given to the poor. People will catch pigeons as long as the sun shines because they killed their children in their youth. a woman will pour water while the sun shines - in her youth she would sometimes over-pour, sometimes under-pour; a whale-fish will be free when it spits out a swallowed ship. The sun turned red - it was embarrassed when its girl came out of the sea, now she is gone - the sun is white, it rises and sets late. Boris returns, passes on the answers along the way. The Tsar gives him half the kingdom, treats him like a brother]: Chubinsky 1878, No. 76: 285-290; Russian (Voronezh) [An old man kills a bird with 21 eggs while hunting. The old woman orders him to hatch them. After 21 weeks, 20 sons hatch, a week later the last son, Ivan the Chatterbox, appears. The old man grows rich, notices that someone is stealing from the stacks, sends his sons to guard at night, the older brothers fall asleep and do not see the thief, on the last night it is Ivan's turn. He prepares a hammer and an iron bit. Ivan does not sleep and catches a mare and 21 of her foals (hits them between the ears with the hammer). The father praises Ivan, takes the mare, the brothers sort out the foals, Ivan gets the weakest. The father and his sons go hunting. Four times Ivan lets the foal out into the field to gain strength (it bends first under his hand, then under his foot, under a sitting rider). Ivan catches up with his brothers, on the third day he sees fire, finds a golden feather, despite the horse's warnings, takes it with him. The father orders all the horses to be cleaned, Ivan waves his feather - his horse becomes golden . Father praises Ivan, shames the other brothers. The brothers are jealous and tell their father that Ivan boasts of catching a playful cat, a dancing goose and a cymbal fox, the father sends his youngest son to get the animals. With the help of the horse, he does everything. The brothers tell their father that Ivan can get a self-playing gusli. Ivan ends up with Baba Yaga, she gives him a ball of yarn, he leads her to Yaga's middle sister, the mother of the Serpent Gorynych, who keeps the gusli. The mother feeds her son, sits him down to play cards with Ivan, the players agree that the winner will eat the loser. Ivan wins in two days, asks to give him the gusli, the Serpent gives it to him, rejoices that he remains alive, not eaten. The father, again on the slander of the older sons, orders Ivan to get Marya the princess. He arrives on a ship, lures the princess to him by playing the gusli (never heard of her), and brings her to his father. The father then gives all the orders to his son at the request of the bride, demands that he bring her casket. Ivan distracts the palace guards by releasing his golden horse, gets the casket and brings it. He gets 12 mares at his father's command: he wraps his horse in a string and pours resin on it - it drives the horses out of the sea, its protection is torn by the horses' teeth. At his father's command, he milks the mares, boils their milk and jumps into it after the horse's signal. Ivan becomes a handsome man. Marya demands that her father also bathe, but he dies in the boiling milk. Ivan marries Marya]: Baryshnikova 2007, No. 17: 97-105.

The Caucasus - Asia Minor. Chechens [the father has gone blind, the eldest son reaches a place where the snow is red, brings medicine from there, the streak is dissatisfied; the middle one - where the grass is white, the same; the father tells the youngest not to pick up anything along the way, he picks up a golden feather, a ball of thread; 1) seeing the feather, the prince demands to get a bird; the horse teaches to tell the bird that Timar (the youth's father) has gone blind, to pour some beer into the river, to scatter millet; the bird got drunk, came to peck, the youth brought it; 2) seeing the ball, the prince wants the girl who wound it; the horse teaches that the ball will lead to the girl; you need to tell her that Timar has gone blind; the horse prances, the youth picks up the girl; 3) she promises to marry the prince if he bathes in the milk of a sea mare; the horse tells him to wrap himself in cloth; in a battle with a horse that came out of the sea, he gnaws at its flesh, and the horse only tears off the fabric; a sea horse agrees to drive mares with foals out of the sea; a young man is the first to bathe in hot milk, the horse cools the milk; he kills a prince with his hot breath; with a bird's feather, a son returns his father's sight and youth , and marries a girl to him]: Malsagov 1983, No. 15: 95-100.

Volga - Perm. Chuvash [someone tramples wheat, the father tells his sons to guard it; the eldest and middle sons fall asleep, the youngest Ivan catches a horse; sells it to the tsar for 3 cartloads of gold; picks up a golden feather; is hired by the tsar as a groom; cleans the horse with a golden feather, it becomes more beautiful ; another groom tells the tsar: Ivan boasts of getting the golden bird itself; the horse advises to put some wheat and a barrel of wine under the bird, it gets drunk, Ivan brings it; the groom: Ivan boasts of getting the daughter of a water sprite; the horse orders to make a ship that can move on water and on land; the water sprite's daughter boards the ship, he carries her away; the water sprite's daughter refuses to leave without a dowry; Ivan returns to the water sprite, he turns into a bull, Ivan defeats him, brings him, and his entire herd follows him; the water-spirit's daughter tells him to bathe in boiling milk; I. takes 3 hairs from the horse's tail, is unharmed; the tsar was boiled; I. became tsar, married the water-spirit's daughter]: Chuvash Tales 1937: 280-283; Kazan Tatars [the stepmother pampers her own son, the stupid and lazy Tuktar, and hates her stepson Timur; the horse bequeathed by his mother warns him that the stepmother has put poison in the pie, Timur gave the pie to a dog, which died; the horse saves Timur from several attempts by the stepmother to kill her; she pretended to be ill, demanded the horse's heart; the horse tells Timur to ask his father for permission to take a ride one last time; neighs three times, T. manages to run from the madrasah, they gallop away; despite the horse's warning, T. picks up the golden wing ; They arrive in the White Kingdom, T. is hired as a groom by the padishah, if you touch the horse with his wing, it immediately gets fat ; the vizier spied, the padishah demands the bird to which the wing belongs; the horse teaches him to cover himself with a white cloth, grab a fiery eagle by the legs, which will descend; seeing that T. does not let him go, the eagle released a golden bird from under its wing, T. brought it to the padishah; the padishah demands a mermaid; the horse teaches him to leave a jug of wine on the shore; the maiden came out and got drunk, T. grabbed her; the maiden sets a condition for marriage: to bring a herd of her sea horses; the horse teaches him to lasso and tame a mare, the herd follows her; the maiden orders to milk the horses: the horse: each one must be hit with a whip, they will milk themselves; the maiden orders to get her ring from a cauldron of boiling milk; horse: rub yourself with dewy grass under a birch tree; T. got the ring, the padishah also dived and got boiled, T. married the maiden]: Yarmukhametov 1957: 3-9.