K56a4e. The stepmother's daughter burned. .12.16.28.31.32.

After meeting a supernatural character, a good person receives valuables, and a greedy person receives fire that burns him or his house.

Dark, Germans (Lower Austria), Russians (Arkhangelsk {Pinega}, Zaozerye, Novgorod, Tula), Belarusians, Ukrainians (Galicia), Swedes, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Estonians, Latvians, Komi.

West Africa. Temne [stepdaughter gets rice stick dirty, stepmother sends her to wash in Devil's River; on the way Devil throws first a hoe, then a strange-looking man; girl is always polite; at home asks her to look for lice on his bald head; he has many eyes, they watch the girl, but she does everything correctly; Devil washed her stick, gave her to choose 4 eggs, to break on the way home; she chose small ones, from eggs come cattle, people, riches; stepmother sends her own daughter, she is rude to Devil, chooses large eggs, from them come bees (bite), snakes (bite), people (lash with whips), fire (burns her and her mother); stepdaughter revives her own mother]: Cronise, Ward 1903, no. 10: 265-274.

Western Europe. Germans (Lower Austria) [a woman has two daughters; the elder is as wicked as her mother, but the younger is kind; her mother sent her away: earn money yourself; on the way, she repaired a stove that was almost in ruins; watered a half-dead pear tree and poured fresh earth on its exposed roots; the same with an apple tree; she began to work for an old woman, although the latter fed her half-starved, and she also shared her food with a dog and a cat; the old woman left and did not return for more than a year; the girl was already wanting to return to her mother, but the dog and the cat showed that this should not be done; when the old woman returned, she was pleased with the order in the house; the girl chose an old box instead of a new one as a reward; leaving, she opened the vessels that the old woman had ordered from the very beginning not to touch; poor souls flew out from there, thanking the girl; Noticing this, the old woman rushed in pursuit, but in front of her there was first a deep ravine, and then dense thickets and she returned; when the girl wanted to drink from the stream, there was wine in it; the wind blew and threw her the best apples; in the stove there were baked meat and bread for her; she put all this in a box; when she opened it at home, the apples and everything else turned into gold and silver; the dog became a prince, and the cat - his sister; they all went to the capital, where the girl married the prince, and her sister already had a groom; the woman sent her eldest daughter; she passed by the stove and the apple tree, did not feed the dog and the cat, did not clean up the old woman's house, chose a new box; the stream turned out to be dirty water, the apples and pears turned out to be hard, inedible; At home, little devils jumped out of the box, the dog and the cat also turned into devils, and they threw the girl into the oven]: Vernaleken 1980, No. 27: 121-126.

Central Europe. Russians (Arkhangelsk)[the stepmother sent her stepdaughter to rinse a skein of yarn; she dropped it in the ice-hole and climbed down herself; cows, horses, goats, sheep ask her to plow and rake under them, she does everything; she comes to a hut on chicken legs with one window; asks about her ball of yarn, the grandmother tells her to take it; asks to melt a jar, carry water in a sieve and wash the children; the bird: cover the sieve with clay; the children are mice, moles, rats; after the bath they tell the grandmother that she has never washed them so well; she gave the girl a basket of gold; the girl again fulfills the requests of the cows, etc.; the stepmother sends her own daughter Masha; she does not fulfill the requests of the cows, etc.; scolds the bird; washes the children, tearing off their arms and legs; the grandmother gives a basket of hot coals; Masha brought it, the house burned down and she and her stepmother too]: Ozarovskaya 2009, no. 38: 324-326 (=1931, no. 38: 333-337; =Lutovinova 1993, no. 86: 185-187); Russians (Zaonezhie) [the stepmother tells Masha to spin by the ice-hole; the spindle fell into the hole; Masha asks the pike to bring it, it offers to go along the path itself; Masha came to the old woman's hut; she tells her to heat the bathhouse, gives her a sieve to carry water; the bird cries: cover the holes with clay! Masha washes the old woman's children: frogs and worms; they are happy; and she washed the old woman; the old woman gives a golden spindle and a box, tells them to open it at home on the straw; there is gold and diamonds in it; the stepmother sends her own daughter; she does not listen to the bird, she threw snow on the stove, the old woman's children were burned; when she opened the box at home, a flame burst out of it, the stepmother and her daughter burned; and I was at the wake, drank honey, but none of it got into my mouth]: Onegina 1986, No. 21: 85-87; Russian (Novgorod) [a grandmother lives with two grandsons and two granddaughters; the children went to pick berries, got lost, there is a hut on chicken legs; turn your back to the forest, and your front to us; Baba Yaga has a bone leg, tits on matches, legs in different corners; she tells them to heat up the bathhouse and wash her children; she gave sieves instead of buckets; little bird: cover the sieves with clay; the children washed the frogs, snakes, and mice; Baba Yaga gave everyone a chest, they had to open it at home, there was good stuff in there; one guy got jealous and came to Baba Yaga; her children complain: someone's leg was torn off, someone's tail; he opened the chest at home, a flame flared up and burned it]: Vlasova, Zhekulina 2001, No. 50: 91-92; Russian(Tula) [the stepmother loves her own daughter; scolds the stepdaughter, sends her to be a worker; the birch tree asks to tie a scarf around her; the shepherds sweep and scrape sheep, pigs, and cows; the stepdaughter has done everything; she reached the hut, asks her to turn her front to her, and her back to the forest; Baba Yaga took her as a worker; she orders her to carry water in a sieve, to wash her children in the bathhouse; the magpie teaches her to grease the sieve with clay; the children are frogs, cockroaches, and vipers; she has washed them all, and they praise her to Baba Yaga; Baba Yaga has filled a chest with money; the golden broom, lamb, pig, and cow given by the birch tree and the shepherds run after the stepdaughter; the stepmother sends her own daughter; she does not respond to requests like that; She smeared a sieve with clay and hit a magpie with it, killing it; Baba Yaga washed the big children, strangled the little ones; Baba Yaga poured heat into a chest; when the girl opened his house, the house burned down]: Erlenwein 1882: 73-76; Belarusians [a poor man's fire went out on a holiday; no one gives him money; he went to the church; on the way he sees a fire in the grove; there an old man gave him some hot coals by the fire; everything in the house turned into gold and silver, and there was still a spark left to light the fire; the rich man also went to the old man; when he learned of this, he opened his bag at home, the fire burned down his house]: Dobrovolsky 1891, No. 2: 635-637; Ukrainians (Galicia, Buchatsky povit) [a poor man went to beg, no one gives him money; he went into the forest; there they see 12 months; they ask him to say who he likes best; he answers that they all are needed; they give him ashes, which at home turn into ducats; the poor man asks the rich man for a measure to measure money; the rich man also goes into the forest; he scolds the current month – it has frozen completely; they poured ashes for him; he began to pour them out at home, the house caught fire and burned to the ground]: Gnatyuk 1902, No. 229: 17-19.

Baltoscandia. Swedes [a stepdaughter is spinning at a well, her stepmother and her own daughter push her down; an apple tree allows her to eat her apples, but not to take them with her; the same with a cow: not to take milk with her; a girl comes to an old woman's house, hires herself out; must fetch water in a sieve, but lizards and snakes have blocked the holes, the girl brings water; the old woman offers to choose a blue or red chest as a reward, the cat prompts to take the blue one; at home, the stepmother settles her in a pigsty; she tidies it up, opens the chest, there are treasures in it; the stepmother pushes her own daughter down, she takes apples and milk with her, chooses the red chest, although the cat offered to take the blue one; [a bird with a fiery tail flew out of the house, the stepmother and her own daughter burned down, the pigsty became a castle, the stepdaughter began to live in it]: Stier 1971, no. 14: 68-71; Finns [the mother of a beautiful and kind girl died, the man married again, the stepmother also gave birth to a daughter, she is rude and ugly; the stepmother sat them both down to spin at the edge of an ice hole, gave the natural daughter a little yarn, the stepdaughter a lot; if the spindle falls into the hole, let her get it; the stepdaughter's spindle fell, she dived into the water, found herself on the road, came to a big house; the old woman orders the barn to be cleaned; the cows praise the mistress's servant; she asks her to wash the lizards, they also answer that they have never been washed so well; the old woman gives the girl two boxes, she returns home; the dog barks: the girl brought boxes with gold and silver; the stepmother makes her own daughter spin by the ice-hole, she also drops the spindle, the mother pushes her into the water; she cleans the barn poorly, beats the cows, they complain to the mistress; the lizards complain that the maid tore off their tails, treated them roughly; the dog barks: the girl carries boxes with fire and resin; when she and her mother open them, the fire blazed in their faces, both burned; the girl stayed with her father]: Goldberg 1953: 91-100 (=Klein 1946: 79-83); Karelians (Ukhta, 1947) [=Onegina 2010, No. 29: 283-285; one sister is a Lazy Woman, the other is a Needlewoman; R. was rinsing the laundry, dropped the roller into the ice hole, jumped after it, came to the old woman's hut; she asks her to look after the cows (R. washed them), to bathe her children (they are lizards and frogs, R. gently washed them in the bathhouse), they are happy, the old woman gives two chests, one contains gold, the other silk; L. deliberately throws the roller, pours cold water on the cows, breaks a horn, tears off an udder; the same with the lizards and frogs (torn off a leg, gouged out an eye), they complain; she opens the chests she received in the barn, there is fire in one, resin in the other, the barn caught fire, L. turned black from the smoke, and remained like that]: Konkka 1959, No. 8: 47-50; Vepsians[the mother died, the stepmother tyrannizes the stepdaughter; sent her to the well to spin, she dropped the spindle; the stepmother ordered to get it; below, a house is spinning on one leg; the girl: house, house, stop, the sun is in front, the moon is behind; the house stopped, the girl went inside; on the stove the old man: pah, pah, the Russian spirit; the girl: have you seen the spindle? grandfather: heat the bathhouse with bath brooms; but she heated it with firewood; bring water in a sieve; she brought water in buckets; drag me into the bathhouse by my hair; she put me on a sleigh; wash with the end of a broom (where the branches are); she washed with a washcloth; the grandfather ordered to take the chest, open the house; there were various goods in the chest, the stepmother and her daughter are envious, the stepmother sent her own daughter; she does everything literally, as the grandfather says; he tells her to take a red chest; a fire burst out of it at home, the stepmother and her daughter burned to death; the stepdaughter and her father were left to live well; the end is good – everything is good]: Ariste 1964, No. 3: 13-14; Estonians (Pühalepa) [the stepdaughter went into the forest, came across a bathhouse; a half-naked, bloody old man was lying at the door; the girl wanted to carry him into the bathhouse, asked how? the old man: take him by the leg and throw him; the same further; in the end she put her own shirt on him, and not the rags that were lying in the corner, as he suggested; the old man gave him a box and told him to open it in his room; the stepdaughter did not have a room, she opened it in the pigsty; gold poured out of there, stuck to her clothes and the walls of the pigsty; the stepmother sent her own daughter into the forest; she did everything literally as the old man asked; she received the box; at home a fire burst out of her, burning her and the whole house; only the pigsty remained; the prince took his stepdaughter as his wife]: Järv 2020: 213-215; Latvians (Livonia) [in order to get rid of her stepdaughter, the stepmother pushed her into a well; having arrived in the other world, the girl fulfills the wishes of the animals and objects she meets: she waters the horses, milks the cows, shears the sheep, bakes bread; the old man asks to heat the bathhouse, to wash him and the others; these are snakes; they tell the girl not to be afraid, she splashes warm water on them; the old man gives a box and a stick, tells him to open it when the girl returns home; a lock pops out of the box, a church appears from the blow of the stick; the stepmother pushes her own daughter into the well; she does not fulfill the wishes of those she meets, pours hot water on the snakes, beats them with a club; When she opened the box given to her by the old man at home, a fire burst out of it and burned everyone who had gathered]: Brivzemniaks 1887, No. 128: 264-267.

Volga - Perm. Komi [a stepmother throws her stepdaughter into a well; she meets the horses, cleans them, they say that she should take a red basket from Yoma's hut; Y. asks to wash and steam her children - lizards, frogs, beetles, the girl did everything; she chose the red basket, her father lifted her out of the well, in the basket there are dresses, money; the stepmother throws her own daughter, she beats the horses, they advise her to take a blue basket; she beats, but does not wash Y.'s children, takes the blue basket; when the mother and daughter opened it, a fire flared up, burned them]: Doronin 2004: 41-43; Komi - Permyaks (northern dialect) [a stepmother sends her stepdaughter to wash yarn; she dropped the skein, went down the river; came to the witch's house; She orders to wash her and her children in a bathhouse, chopping wood with a felt axe and hauling water with a sieve; the bird teaches: wet and then freeze the axe; seal the holes in the sieve with clay; the witch's children are worms, toads, lizards, etc.; the girl washes them and the witch well; she gives a chest, orders to open it only at home; inside there is silk, expensive clothes and jewelry; the witch sends her own daughter; she does not listen to the bird's advice; she whips the witch and her children with a dry broom; she receives a box; there are hot coals in it, the house burns down together with the witch and her daughter]: Rédei 1978, no. 186: 417-421.