K80B. Mother killed, father ate, ATU 720.

.14.-.17.23.26.-.32.38.

The mother or stepmother kills the boy (rarely the girl), usually feeding her husband, i.e. the father of the child, with his flesh. The boy is reborn – usually (at first) in the form of a bird, which tells of what happened. Cf. motif K80A. Traditions in which the boy is killed by his own mother are highlighted in bold.

Egyptians, Kabyles , Berbers of Morocco, Egypt, Basques , Spaniards, Catalans, Aragonese , Portuguese , Italians (Switzerland, Piedmont, Lombardy, Abruzzo), Sicilians, ( Ladins ), Scots , Irish, English, Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, Pomerania, Switzerland, Baden-Württemberg, Swabia, Austria), Dutch, Frisians, Flemings, French ( Picardy , Poitou, Gascony, Dauphiné ), Walloons , Arameans, Palestinians, Arabs of Jordan, Iraq, Punjabis, Rajasthanis, Marathas, Hungarians , Romanians, Slovenes, Bulgarians, Greeks, Poles, Sorbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians (Arkhangelsk), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Hungarian Rus, Yekaterinoslav, Cherkasy, Poltava , Kharkov, Chernigov), Belarusians, Ingush, Udins , Armenians, Turks, Persians, Uzbeks, Yazgulyams, Lithuanians, Latvians, Livs , Estonians, Setos , Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Faroese, Danes, Chuvash, Mordvins, Mari, Komi, Japanese.

North Africa. Arabs of Egypt [a man is famous for his hospitality, he has a small son and daughter; his wife died, he took another; one day he was expecting guests, the wife began to cook lamb and quietly ate all the meat herself; sent a girl to call her brother; she loudly shouted "Go home!", quietly adding "Don't go!"; but the boy kicked the ball, ran after it to the house, the stepmother volunteered to look in his head, cut off the head, cut up the meat and put it to boil; told the stepdaughter to keep the fire going while she went to fetch water; she opened the cauldron, saw her brother's finger; told the stepmother that her eyes were watering from the smoke; the father and the guests ate, the daughter did not, collected the bones, buried them near the chicken coop; in the evening the father began to ask where his son was; a large green bird appeared and began to sing: the stepmother killed, the father ate, the loving sister buried the bones, hiding them from those sinners; the father did not understand the words, but became interested; the bird flew to the market and sang the same thing there; it sang to the seller because he gave it sweets; it sang to the blacksmith, he gave it nails; the bird poured sweets into the mouth of the sister and nails into the mouths of the sleeping father and stepmother, they died; after that all the bones gathered together and the boy was reborn; the brother and sister lived happily in their house]: Bushnaq 1987: 150-152; Berbers of Morocco : El-Shamy 2004, no. 720: 396-398; Kabyles [the husband is expecting guests, bought meat, the wife cooked couscous, but ate it all herself; then she killed and cooked her little son; the daughter returned, understood everything, but said nothing; the wife told her husband that her parents had taken the boy to their place; everyone was eating except the sister; she saved some of the bones, hid them in the bed, and watered them with her tears; they grew together, turned into a bird, and the bird began to sing: the mother killed him, the father ate him, and the sister collected the bones; the father heard the bird and wanted to kill his wife, but the bird asked him not to do so, so that his sister would not be left an orphan; the bird flew away]: Taos-Amrush 1974: 131-133.

Southern Europe. Basques : Barandiaran 1962a, no. 17 [the mother told Catalina and Bernardo that there would be a cup of milk in the cupboard for the first one to return from school; B. arrived first, opened the cupboard, no milk; the mother told them to stick their head deeper, cut off the head, cut the body into pieces, boiled it; when Catalina arrived, she told her that B. had not returned yet; K. saw her brother's finger in the boiling cauldron; the mother told them to take the food (i.e. the boiled son) to their father; an old woman they met taught them to ask their father to give them all the bones for the game, to bury them in the garden, to tell their mother that they were planting garlic; in the morning the father saw a tree that had grown in the garden, and B. was sitting on it, an orange in one hand, a sword in the other; he promised his father to give him the orange if he jumped over the sword three times; the father jumped, B. cut off his neck; the same with the mother; [the mother told her son Pepito to return from school at 9 am, and her daughter Pepita at 11; when Pepito returned, the mother locked him in a room with a table and knives; told him to take off his clothes one by one, or else she threatened to kill him; told him to go to sleep, killed him, butchered him; told her daughter not to look under the bed when she returned; she looked, and there were pieces of her brother's body there; her mother sent her to take her brother's meat to her father for dinner; the Holy Virgin met her, told her to take her brother's bones from her father and bury them in the garden under the pear trees; Pepita told her father that she wanted to give the bones to the dog; in the morning Pepito was alive among the pears; his mother asked him for a pear, he replied that his mother killed him, his father ate him, and his sister saved him; Pepito gave half-rotten pears to his mother and father, but good ones to his sister]: 77-80, 80-82; Portuguese [mother sends her son and daughter on errands, promises a reward to the one who returns first; it is either a brother or a sister; mother kills and cooks the one who returns, tells the other child to take the food to the father or to eat it himself; the brother (sister) meets an old woman who tells him (her) to collect all the seeds, bury them under an orange tree, put them under a pillow or somewhere else; where the bones were buried, there is a child with three oranges in his (her) hands; the mother and father ask for an orange each; the child does not give them, because his (her) mother killed him (her), the father ate him (her); the sister (brother) gets all three, because she (he) saved him (her)]: Cardigos 2006, no. 720: 165-166; Catalans [stepmother kills stepson, cooks his meat, feeds to boy's father; boy's sister collects bones, gives to old woman; she turns them into a bird singing: mother killed me, father ate me, sister grieved for me; bird gives father money, sister a dress, kills stepmother with millstone]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, no. 720: 142-143; Aragon[the mother sent her son and daughter (el Periquitico y la Perequitica – the parrots?) to fetch firewood; whoever returns (first) will receive bread and honey; the girl: wait, my alpargata (a kind of bast shoe) fell off; but he ran away and returned first; the mother suggested that the boy put his head on a block of wood to look for insects; cut off his head, stuck it under the bed; told the daughter that her brother was probably at their grandmother's; told her not to look under the bed; the girl looked; answers her mother that she is not crying; she tried to roast meat, took it to her mother, but human flesh does not roast; so the father buried him under a fig tree; the mother asks for a fig, the son {in the form of whom?} does not give it: Mother killed me, grandmother roasted me, father buried me, and my sister mourned; the same with father; with grandmother; and he gave his sister a fig]: Larrea Palacín 2000: 40-42; the Spaniards [Juanito and Ursuleta's mother died, their father took another wife; she sends the children for firewood, promises a pie to the one who returns first; the boy ran first, the stepmother killed him, buried him under the cherry tree; berries appeared on it, the stepmother rolled them into a pie, told U. to take it to the baker; X.'s voice is heard from the oven; the stepmother tells U. to take the pie to his father; the old woman to Ursuleta: don't eat the pie yourself, bring me all the cherry pits; U. brought them, the old woman turned the pits into a bird, it sings: my stepmother killed me, my father did not recognize me; the same to the masons, asks for a millstone for the song; the coin minters, asks for a bag of coins; the women - a piece of linen; she carries everything away herself; throws a sheet of linen to his sister, money to his father, and a millstone to his stepmother; it ends up on her neck, she flies up, then falls into the forest, and is still trying to throw off the millstone; the old woman turns the bird into Juanito]: Shishlova 1971: 115-124; (cf. Ladins [the mother decided to get rid of the children; she sent for brushwood: whoever brings it first will be given an apple; the girl’s rope came untied; while she was making a bundle again, the boy ran to his mother; she offered him an apple from the chest, slammed the lid shut, cutting off his head; the same with the daughter; she wanted to bury the bodies; but two little birds appeared; first they began to peck the woman in the hands, and then they pecked out her eyes]: Decurtins, Brunold-Bigler 2002, no. 34: 100-104); Italians (Switzerland) [the dragon ate children, but only boys; only his own son, four years old, remained; the dragon went into the forest for firewood; answers his wife that he has not eaten children for two years; the wife asks whether to kill their own son; the husband asks to kill and cook him, let the daughter bring him; in the morning the wife cut off the boy's head, chopped it into pieces, cooked it, told her daughter to take it; she cried, but having received a slap in the face, carried a basket of meat to her father; an old Madonna woman comes towards him; tells him to leave the basket and bring the calf; she put the pieces together, revived the boy, sent him to good people, told him to remember his kind sister; the daughter took the calf's meat to her father, he did not notice the substitution; since then the dragon and his wife heard a song at night:my mother killed me, my sister brought me, my father ate me, cuckoo, I'm still alive ]: Wildhaber, Uffer 1971, no. 62: 232-234; Italians (Piedmont, Lombardy, Abruzzo), Sicilians : Cirese, Serafini 1975, no. 720: 160.

Western Europe. Germans (Pomerania): Grimm, Grimm 2002, #47 (Pomerania dialect) [a rich man's childless wife, standing in her yard under a juniper, peeled an apple, cut her finger, and the blood dripped onto the snow; she wished for a child just as white and rosy; she immediately felt a change; nine months later she gave birth to a boy and died; her husband buried her under a juniper; the husband has a daughter, Marlene, by his new wife; the stepmother hates her stepson; gives the daughter an apple, who asks her to give an apple to her brother too; the mother says that he will get it when he returns from school; when the boy returns, the stepmother tells him to take an apple from the chest, slams the lid shut, cutting off the boy's head; puts it back, tying the body with a handkerchief, sits the dead man in a chair in front of the door and puts an apple in his hand; tells her daughter to slap her brother if he does not respond to her words; M. hit her brother, his head fell off; the stepmother tells her to be quiet, cooked her stepson's meat, fed her husband, said that his son had gone to relatives; M. collected the bones in a handkerchief, put it under the juniper; a bird flew out of the juniper, and the handkerchief disappeared; the bird sings on the roof of the jeweler's house: my stepmother killed me, my father ate me, my sister wrapped the bones in a handkerchief, put it under the juniper, what a sweet bird I am; the jeweler asked her to sing again, the bird sang after he gave her a gold chain; the same at the shoemaker's house, he gave her a pair of shoes; at the miller's house, he gave her a millstone; having flown home, the bird sings the same song; threw the chain around her father's neck, the shoes on her sister, killed her stepmother with a millstone; the bird became a boy again], 253 (an updated version of the same text?) [the stepmother sent her daughter into the forest, told her stepson to get something out of the chest, pressed the lid on it, cut it up, cooked it; ate it with her husband, and the daughter was worried about where her brother had gone, and did not eat it; buried the bones in the garden, a pear tree grew, a bird on it began to sing: the stepmother cooked me, my father ate me, and my sister collected and buried the bones, and now I am singing; a silk glove fell from the tree, the stepmother told her daughter to go away, (she went up to her herself), a millstone fell on her and killed her]: 158-166, 678; Germans (Baden-Württemberg – Swabia) [=Meier 1852, no. 2: 10-11; the wife always takes the woodcutter's lunch into the forest; once she killed and cooked their son, brought him to her husband, and he ate him; he hears a bird singing on a branch, "I am a sweet little bird, my mother cooked me, my father ate me"; at home the wife said that the child was still sleeping, but she did not believe about the bird; in the morning the husband hears the bird again in the forest, brings his wife to listen; this time, as soon as the bird finished singing, the tree on which it was sitting fell and crushed the woman]: Hubrich-Messow 1988, no. 48: 86-87; Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, Switzerland, Austria): Uther 2004(1), no. 720: 389-390; French(Poitou) [a stepmother has a stepson and a stepdaughter; stepmother: whoever brings a bundle of brushwood first will get cookies; the boy brings it, the stepmother tells him to look in the chest of drawers - there are cookies; she lowers the lid on his neck; boiled the dead man; tells the stepdaughter to take dinner to their father; the Virgin meets him: bury all the bones under the hawthorn, repeat: bloom, bloom, my little brother; a dove appeared from the bones; sings at the royal castle: my stepmother killed me, my father ate me, my little sister Margaret collected the bones, put them on the hawthorn, sang; they ask him to sing again; I will sing if you give me a purse of money; the same at the baker's house (give me a baking sheet with bread); at the miller's house (millstone); flew to his sister, threw her money; [he threw bread to his father, a millstone on his stepmother's head, she died]: Pineau 1891, no. 9: 75-79; French (Gascony) [a widower has a small son, a widow has a daughter; the widower and widow get married; the wife hates her stepson; every day she sends her daughter to take her husband's dinner; he asked for meat; the wife killed her stepson, made a rash; on the way to her father, the girl met a man: tell her father to bury the bones and pieces of meat; but the girl did it herself; a white dove flew out of the hole; it began to sing, landing on the master's house: my stepmother killed me, my father threw out my bones, my little sister put them in a bowl, and I'm still alive! The owners: sing, little bird, sing! We will give you a sack of louis d'or; the dove began to sing at the castle where the ladies lived (they also gave her a beautiful dress); at the miller's house (gave a millstone); the dove threw money to the father, a dress to the sister, a millstone on the head of the stepmother; became a boy again]: Dardy 1891, No. 40: 131 135; French (Dauphiné): Joisten 1991, No. 59.1 [a woman sent her son and daughter for brushwood, promised to give sweets to the first one to return; a boy returned; she killed him, cooked him, gave a pot of meat to the daughter to take to her father; the latter met the woman, she ordered all the bones to be brought to her, turned them into a bird, ordered not to open the basket, otherwise the bird would fly away; the girl opened it, the bird flew out, began to sing: I am a little bird, my mother cooked me, my father ate me, the lady created me; the shoemaker asked to repeat, gave shoes in return; the tailor gave clothes; the miller gave a millstone; the bird killed the mother with a millstone, gave the clothes and shoes to the sister, flew away], 59.1 [the mother sent her seven daughters for brushwood; Adele was the first to return, Baptiste was the last; the mother killed B., cooked it, sent A. to take dinner to the father; a woman came towards her, asking him to bring her some bones; the bird appeared and sang: mother killed me, sister brought me, father ate me; the father and his six older daughters began to look for B., found traces of blood at home; the father killed his wife], 59.3 [the father went into the forest, the mother told Jean to make the bed, Marguerite to do the washing (va laver); J. returned first, mother told him to get an apple from the chest, closed the lid, killed him, cooked it, M. saw her brother in the pot; mother tells him to get an apple - like with J.; father finds the remains of the children in the pot, beats his wife], 59.4 [a woman tells her daughter and stepdaughter that she will give a candy to the one who returns from school first; the stepdaughter returned first, the stepmother killed her, began to fry her in oil, sent the daughter for water; then told her to take lunch to her father; along the way a bird tells him to bring her all the bones, makes another bird; this bird sings: mother killed me, father ate me; the stepmother was tried], 59.5 [a mother sends three children for brushwood, promises an apple to the one who returns first; this is the youngest daughter, her mother killed her, cooked her, sent her son to take lunch to his father; he threw the bones by the tree, the bones sing: cock-a-doodle-doo, my mother killed me, my brother brought me, my father ate me; the husband beat his wife with a stick], 59.6 [the woodcutter's wife sends her children for brushwood, promising a candy to the one who returns first; the older boy arrives first, his mother kills him, cooks him; the girl lifts the lid, sees her brother, says she is crying because of the fire; her mother tells her to take the dinner to her father; she herself refuses to eat, collects the bones; they sing: cock-a-doodle-doo, my mother killed me, my father ate me, my sister mourned me], 59.7-15 [(7 more texts)]: 330-331, 331-332, 332-333, 333, 333-334, 334, (334-337); Walloons [a mother sends her son and daughter into the forest to fetch firewood and promises a red necklace to the first one to return; the son comes; she pretends to search his head, cuts off the head, cooks the boy's flesh, tells her daughter to take it to her father, not to look at what she is carrying; she looks; the father eats it, suspecting nothing; when he returns, a lark tells him how it all happened; throws new clothes for him and his sister, drops a millstone on the mother, she is killed], 720B [a mother has nothing to feed her two children with; she sends her daughter to fetch firewood, kills her son, cooks the flesh for her husband; while the father eats, the daughter picks up the bones, puts them in a pot; meets the Golden Virgin (la Vierge d'or); she touches the bones with a stick and the boy comes back to life; the father is happy to see both children]: Laport 1932, no. 720: 71, 71-72; French(Picardy) [a mother is going to bake bread; she sends her son, aged 12, and her daughter, aged 10, to fetch brushwood; the girl gathered a bundle, and the boy ate berries and chased birds; then he took the bundle from the girl and told the mother that it was his sister who had not gathered anything, but was eating berries; but when the sister arrived, the truth was revealed; the mother sent the girl away, stabbed the boy, made dinner from him for her husband; he ate him; the sister gathered up the bones; one of them sang: My mother killed me, my father ate me; the girl ran to tell the local sorcerer everything; he gave her a handkerchief to collect the bones in and put it under the stove; at night the father woke up, hearing the same song, and saw his son surrounded by angels; one of them placed a golden crown on the father's shoulder, and then they all disappeared; the next night the sister received the crown; on the third night the mother woke up, found herself in a stream of fire and was burned; the father stayed to live with the daughter]: Carnoy 1883, No. 4: 229-236; Scots [the husband told his wife to cook a hare; while she was cooking, she ate the hare; then she called their little son to comb her hair; she killed it and cooked it instead of a hare; the husband found a leg in the cauldron, then a hand; the wife assured him that they were the hare's feet; their daughter collected her brother's bones, put them under a stone by the door; a dove appeared from the bones, flew to where the women were washing clothes, and began to sing: my mother killed me, my father ate me, my sister collected the bones {all in rhyme}; the washerwomen asked her to sing again and gave the dove all the clothes; then he sang to the man who was counting the silver (the same, he gave the silver); to the miller (he received a millstone); the dove threw the linen to the sister, the silver to the father, the millstone on the mother's head, killing her; the dove flew away, and the father and daughter lived happily ever after]: Montgomerie, Montgomerie 2023: 42-45; Scots [Applie and Orangie are two girls; the stepmother sent A. for milk, giving her a golden jug; promised to kill her if A. broke it; the jug broke, the stepmother killed and boiled the girl, the other sister buried the bones, from which a bird emerged and began to sing: my mother killed me, my father ate me, my sister buried me under two marble stones, I am a good bird; because the bird sang again, the shop owner gave her a doll; the same at another shop, at a third; the bird received a watch and an axe; it happened around Christmas; the bird threw a doll to the sister, a gold watch to the father, an axe to the stepmother, and he chopped off her head; (in other versions the bird becomes a girl again)]: Dorson 1975: 37-40; Irish , English , Dutch , Frisians , Flemings : Uther 2004(2), no. 720: 389-390.

Western Asia. Arameans (Maaloula) [wife dies leaving son and daughter; stepmother tells stepdaughter to call brother from school to kill him; she calls: or don't go; boy comes, stepmother puts him in cauldron, supposedly to wash his head, kills, cooks; when father eats, finds penis, but stepmother says it's just meat; sister collects bones, sprinkles them with saffron, they turn into a bird; she sits on father's head, starts singing: stepmother killed, father ate, kind sister collects bones; father shoots wife and throws body into sea]: Bergsträsser 1915, no. 31: 101; Palestinians [neighbor persuades orphans to advise their father to marry her; while preparing food for her husband, she eats it all herself without noticing, tells her stepdaughter to call her brother, kills him, cooks him instead of an animal; the sister buries the bones; when she opens them, there is a marble vessel, a bird flies out of it; the bird screams to the people that his stepmother killed him, his father ate him; throws nails into the mouths of both of them, they die; the bird turns back into a boy]: Muhawi, Kanaana 1989, no. 9: 98-102; Arabs of Jordan , Iraq : El-Shamy 2004, no. 720: 396-398.

China – Korea. Koreans : Uther 2004(2), No. 720: 389-390.

South Asia. Punjabis , Rajasthanis , Marathas [My mother slew me, my father ate me; the juniper tree]: Jason 1989: 33.

Balkans. Hungarians [while the father was ploughing, the mother sent her daughter away, killed and boiled the little son; the sister understood, collected the bones, wrapped them in a rag, put them in a hollow in the forest; in the spring a crow pecked the bones, the boy was reborn, sat on the edge of the hollow, began to sing about what had happened (the mother killed, the father ate, the sister collected the bones); the first passer-by, listening to the song, gives a piece of cloth, the second - a staff, the third (this is the miller) - a millstone; the boy in the guise of a young crow flew to his native house, began to sing; threw the cloth to the sister, the staff to the father, killed the mother by throwing the millstone on her]: Jones, Kropf 1989: 298-301; Romanians [after the death of his wife, the husband took a new one; while he was in church, the stepson accidentally knocked over the pot in which the stepmother was boiling a chicken; The stepdaughter told her stepmother that the cat was to blame; but the stepmother killed the boy and told her husband that she had boiled a chicken foot, a duck leg and turkey giblets; the sister buried her brother's bones in the garden, poured milk and broth over them; from them a red bird appeared; she sang about what had happened to the boot sellers, who gave the bird a pair; the same with the sellers of black clothes and with the sellers of millstones; the bird called her father and sister out of the house with her song, threw them boots and a black dress; called the stepmother, killed her with the thrown millstone]: Bîrlea 1966: 456-457; Slovenes , Bulgarians (Kocheva 2002), Greeks : Uther 2004(2), no. 720: 389-390.

Central Europe. Poles [after long barrenness, a woman sees an apple hanging on a birch tree in winter; she picks it, wants to peel it, cuts herself, a drop of blood falls on the snow; she asks for a child as white as snow, as ripe as an apple, as ruddy as blood; the birch tree says that her wish will come true; she gives birth to a son and dies; the husband marries again, the second wife has a daughter; the stepmother offers the boy to take apples from the chest, slams the lid, cutting off the boy's head; sits him on the couch, tying his head with a scarf; the daughter says that her brother does not answer her; the woman orders him to pull it, the head falls off; the woman orders her daughter to take the body to the garden to take it to the wolves in the forest in the morning; the girl leaves him under the birch tree, the grave opens, accepting the body, and closes again; a bird flies out of the grave flowers, sings that his stepmother killed him, his sister buried him; several people like it, they ask to sing again, the bird each time demands a small decoration with Catholic symbols as payment; takes a lit candle wick from a monk; throws these gifts to his father, sets fire to his stepmother's hair with the wick, she dies]: Dombrowski 1992: 127-135; Slovaks [a stepmother tyrannizes her stepson and stepdaughter; one day the woodcutter father returned home and there was no food; the stepmother cut off the boy's head and boiled it; the father did not notice anything and ate it, the sister buried the bones under a rosehip bush by the road; in the morning a bird sits on the rosehip bush and sings that his mother stabbed him to death, the father ate it, the sister buried the bones; the sister ran up and a silk scarf fell on her; the father - a new hat; the stepmother - a stone on her head, she died; [the little bird flew away to the edge of the world]: Dobšinský 1970, no. 9: 47-49; Lusatians , Czechs : Uther 2004(2), no. 720: 389-390; Russians (Arkhangelskaya, Pinega, village of Kholm) [Fairy tale: A thief flew out into the street, sat down on a tyninka, rich guests are coming, Sing a song, thief, but my father slaughtered me, my stepmother ordered me to, my sister didn’t eat meat, she walked around the suburbs, collected bones, put them on the kosotsko, and watered them with unleavened milk]: Karnaukhova 1934, no. 127: 242-243; Russians (Arkhangelsk), Ukrainians (Eastern Slovakia, Hungarian Rus, Yekaterinoslav, Kharkov), Belarusians [ "Mother killed me, father ate me" : a stepmother kills her stepson, cooks his flesh and gives it to her father to eat; the boy's remains, buried by his stepsister, turn into a bird that sings about the stepmother's atrocities, brings gifts to his father and sister and a millstone, with which it kills the stepmother; the bird takes the form of a boy]: SUS 1979, No. 720: 181; Ukrainians(Blagoveshchenka, Aleksandrovsky u. Yekaterinoslavskaya) [There was a husband and wife and they had one son and a girl. The boy's biological mother died, the father took another wife. She hated the boy so much that she fell ill because of him, and was about to die. The husband asks her what she wishes for and what could save her. She says that if he killed the boy and cooked his meat, she would get better after eating. The husband goes out into the yard and makes a club. The boy asks what he is doing and why. The father replies that this club is to kill him. He hits the boy on the forehead, brings him into the house, cuts him up, cooks him and gives him to his wife. She ate and got better, and the boy's sister collected his bones, wrapped them in a towel and buried them under the threshold. At midnight, a dove flew out of those bones, sat on the windowsill and began to sing about what had happened. Soon people learned about everything from this song, took both of them out into an open field, shot them and scattered the ashes to the wind]: Manzhura 1890: 57; Ukrainians(in Poltava on Kobyshchany) [A grandfather and grandmother have two children - a son and a daughter. They love their daughter, but not their son. Famine has set in, they don't have a crumb of bread, not a speck of flour. They decide to slaughter their son, he's a lazybones anyway. They cut him up, put the meat in the pantry so the daughter can't see. The son and daughter loved each other very much and were always together. The daughter asks her father where her little brother is. He replies that he went off to play somewhere. She waits and waits - he's not there, she asks her mother where her little brother is, why he's been gone for so long. The mother tells her to let go. The daughter understands that something is wrong, she becomes beside herself. When the grandfather and grandmother go off somewhere in the evening, she starts looking. She searches and searches, she's rummaged through every corner. She looks into the pantry, finds the remains of her little brother, and cries. The next day, the grandmother cooks food, bakes meat. They sit down to dinner and call their daughter. She doesn’t come, saying she’s not hungry. They try to persuade her to eat at least a little meat. She says she doesn’t want to. After dinner, she washes the spoons, collects the bones, buries them under the table and pours water over them. And she waters them every morning and evening. After a while, a beautiful dove flies out of those bones. The old woman asks where they got such a dove, probably a stray, lost from the flock. The daughter says that it was probably hiding from a hawk. When they sit down to dinner, the dove flies up to its perch and cries: Father is cutting, my soul! Mother is baking, my soul! My sister, the cleaner, has tidied up my bones, buried them under the table, watered them morning and evening, burkuku, burkuku (an interjection conveying the cooing of a dove)! They hear, are stunned, and cannot utter a word. After dinner, the old man asks the old woman what to do next. She suggests slaughtering the pigeon. The daughter overhears when they go to bed and lets the pigeon out. The old woman wakes up, wants to slaughter the pigeon, and asks her daughter where it is. She tells her mother that she doesn’t know: it was in a cage among the hens. The old woman decides that the children stole it. As soon as they sit down to dinner, the pigeon beats against the window, lands above the window and cries out its song. The old man and the old woman get scared, try to catch the pigeon in a snare, but it doesn’t work. As soon as they drive it away from the house, it lands again, and when it’s time for dinner, it flies to the window and sings. People also began to notice that the pigeon was sitting on the house all the time. The old man throws clods of earth and a stick at it, but it doesn’t work to drive the pigeon away. One day, they are threshing on the neighbor’s threshing floor. At lunchtime they hear a song, the threshers discover a pigeon, break into the grandfather's hut, the grandfather confesses. They tie him to the tail of a horse, and the woman to another horse, the horses carry them into the field. The daughter marries well and lives in abundance]: Rudchenko 1870, No. 14: 35-38; Ukrainians(Yagubets village, Khristinovsky district, Cherkasy region) [The wife dies. The husband is left with two children. She takes the children's stepmother, she dislikes the boy, and sets her husband against him. After some time, they chop the boy up, boil him and eat him. The little sister-"popratnichka" (hider) collects the bones and buries them under a sycamore tree. A dove grows out of those bones. It sits on the sycamore tree and sees the chumaks. It begs some chumaks for a brick, others for a pebble, and others for a zhupan. It flies, lands on the hut, and begins to sing beautifully. The father comes out to see who is singing so beautifully. The dove throws a brick and kills it. Then the stepmother comes out to see who is singing so beautifully. The dove throws a pebble at her. Then he says: “A-bru-ku-ku-ku, my little sister, come out here, I’ll give you something, I’ll give you something – a green zhupan.” The little sister comes out, he throws the zhupan at her, flies down into the yard and turns into a boy. The sister and brother begin to live together [Zinchuk 2009, No. 24: 33]; (cf. Ukrainians (written down by Panteleimon Kulish's brother-in-law, Vasily Bilozersky near Borzna in Chernigov region) [A husband and wife lived, and they had two sons. They drove a pig into the garden to graze. The pig dug and dug and went far. The elder told the younger to go and turn back, but he replied that he did not want to. The elder brother killed the younger in a place dug up by pigs and buried him under the hut. A year or two later, an ash tree grows. Potters and merchants are traveling. The potters offer to cut the ash tree and make a pipe. The pipe says: little by little, little merchant, play, don't break my heart completely! My brother killed me, drove me out of this world for that pig that was digging in the garden! The potters ask to play, the pipe sings to them the same thing. The father and mother heard, they ask too play. The pipe says the same thing to the father, mother. The brother stands pale, afraid that they will find out. They let him play: little by little, little brother, play, don’t break my heart completely! You killed me, drove me out of this world for that piglet that was digging in the garden! Then everyone will find out, but the grandmother also asks. The pipe sings to her. Then everyone believes. They hold a memorial dinner for the younger brother, and they tie the older one to a horse’s tail and tear him into pieces]: Kulish 1847: 76-77).

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Ingush [a stepmother tells her husband that she will be cured if she eats her stepson’s lungs and liver; the sister hears, but the brother doesn’t believe her; the stepmother cut off the boy’s head, ate the liver and lungs, and told her stepdaughter to throw away the bones; she didn’t throw them away, but put them in a linen purse, and they became a golden and silver bird; she sings: the father killed him, the stepmother ate him, and the little sister hung up the bones; people give a log, a stone, and honey for a song; the bird killed her father with a log, her stepmother with a stone, gave her sister honey, and became a boy again]: Tankieva 2003: 345-346; Udins [a wife fell ill and told her husband that she wanted the meat of their son Arsuman; they slaughtered him; when the daughter arrived, the mother said that there was soup in a niche in the wall; the girl saw her brother’s finger there; she brought it to church, it turned into a bird; it flew to a merchant, asked what he would give for a song; he promised a piece of silk; the bird: I am a little bird, my father killed me, my mother ate me, my sister was kind to me; then to a pin seller, sang also, got a box of pins; to a shoemaker – a pair of shoes; to a seller of other pins – more pins; threw pins in the faces of her father and mother, blinding them; gave her sister shoes and silk, flew away forever]: Dirr 1922, no. 16: 86-87 (=1920, no. 16: 85-87); Armenians : Harutyunyan 2007 [the stepmother hated her stepson, told her husband to cut off his finger so that she could eat it and get better; the boy died; the stepmother was going to eat the finger, it turned into a swallow, began to sing that it was a little finger, cut off by the father, eaten by the stepmother, now became a swallow]: 43; Gullakyan 1990, No. 720 [the stepmother killed her stepson, cooked dinner, gave it to the father to eat; the sister did not eat, mourned her brother; the boy's bones turned into a bird; the boy-bird put needles in the eyes of the stepmother and father, the stepmother and father died, rewarded the sister; turned into a boy again, he and the sister lived happily]: 36.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians : Lorimer, Lorimer 1919, No. 14 (Kerman) [after the death of the wife, a small son and daughter are left; the father took another wife; she proposes to the husband and stepson to an agreement: whoever cuts more thorns in a day will cut off the other's head; the boy cuts more than his father; he sent him out to drink, moved some thorny bushes for himself; now his burden is heavier, he cuts off his son's head; orders to make soup from it; the sister recognizes her brother's head by its hair; tells the teacher-mullah; he orders not to eat the soup, collect the bones, wash them with rose water, bury them in the corner of the garden; every Friday, while reading the Koran, pour rose water over this place; the girl does so; on the seventh Thursday she hears the song of a nightingale singing about the fate of her brother; it is the brother who became a nightingale]: 89-93; Osmanov 1958 [father killed son, mother boiled him]: 147-151; Rosenfeld 1958 [mother died, leaving a girl and a boy, he is a year older than his sister; stepmother tells her husband to kill the boy; let the one who collects more firewood in the forest cut off the other's head; the father sent his son away, took some of his firewood for himself and cut off his head; the stepmother boiled the head, the sister found it, told the teacher; she tells her to bury the bones under a rose bush, water them with rose water; a nightingale flew out and began to sing: father killed, stepmother ruined, sister washed me with rose water and now I am a nightingale; I sang this song to the needleman, the confectioner, they gave nails, needles, sweets; I sang near the house; I poured nails down my father's throat, needles down my stepmother's throat, sugar down my sister's throat]: 17-21; Uzbeks : Uther 2004(2), #720: 389-390; Yazgulyams [a man has two wives, an unbeliever and a Muslim; the unbeliever's children have died, her son and daughter (younger than her brother) are alive, but their mother has died; the unbeliever tells her husband that she has fallen ill and her stepson's meat will cure her; the boy tells his sister to collect his bones; the father killed his son, the stepmother ate him, the sister collected the bones, they became a dove, he sings: the father killed, the mother (i.e. the stepmother) ate, the sister collected the bones; people ask him to sing some more, he sings for gold; for sugar; he asks the father and his wife to open their mouths, throws the gold to the stepmother, she chokes and dies; the father is given sugar, he remains alive]: Grunberg, Steblin-Kamensky 1976, #41: 358-361.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians : Kerbelyte 2014, #55 [a witch-stepmother tells her father to slaughter a boy; she ate him; her sister collected the bones and put them under the roof; a cuckoo laid eggs, the cuckoo chick grew up and began to sing: the father slaughtered, the stepmother ate, the sister collected the bones and the cuckoo hatched them; the father called the stepmother to listen; the cuckoo chick grabbed a millstone, threw it and killed the stepmother], 56 [a laume-stepmother demands that her husband slaughter her stepson; first he slaughtered a hare, but a raven cries out about it; then the boy (variation: the stepmother asks her stepson to take an apple from the chest and kills it, slamming the lid); the sister put her brother's bones in a bullfinch's nest; he hatched them, the boy was reborn, sings: the father slaughtered, the mother ate, the sister collected the bones, the bullfinch hatched (sometimes laume forces the husband to also eat the flesh of his son); one merchant gives fabrics for the song, another - a millstone; the boy throws the fabrics to his sister, the millstone - on the head of the stepmother], 57 [approximately as in Löbite]: 125-126, 126-128, 128-130; Löbite 1965 [the mother died, leaving a daughter Elenite and a son Jurgjukas; the stepmother-Lauma wants to eat him, tells her husband to slaughter him; he first tries to give her the meat of a pig, a cow, a hare, and finally slaughters his son; E. puts her brother's bones in a falcon's nest, from them a dove emerges; he sings about what happened, the merchants always give him money, goods, the millers give him millstones; the dove calls her father, Elenite, to the porch, throws them goods; calls L., throws a millstone on her, she dies, the dove turns into a living Yu.]: 108-110; Latvians : Antselane 1962 (Brukne Bauska u.) [A man's wife dies, leaving him with two children, a brother and a sister. The man takes another wife, she does not like the children. When the father harrows the field, the stepmother kills the children, boils them and brings them to the husband for dinner. The husband eats, scatters the bones over the field. A magpie flies in, collects the bones, carries them to the nest under the eaves, hatches two lapwings from the bones. Lapwings fly to the field where their father is harrowing, chirping: “The stepmother killed us, chivik, chivik! The stepmother cooked us, chivik! chivik! She took us to the field, chivik! chivik! The father ate the children, chivik! chivik! He scattered the bones, chivik! chivik! The magpie collected them, chivik! chivik! She brought us out under the eaves, chivik! chivik!..”]: 86; Arijs, Medne 1977, No. 720 [ The stepmother kills her brother. The stepmother hates her stepson and stepdaughter. When the little brother bends over the chest to pick an apple, she cuts off his head with the lid and then ties it to his body with a kerchief. The sister touches the little brother, and his head falls off. The stepmother boils the little brother and gives him to the father to eat. The sister collects the bones, ties them in a silk scarf and puts them in a nest in a hollow. A bird appears there and sings: "The stepmother killed me, the father ate me, the sister collected my bones, put them in a nest, the lapwing hatched me." For her beautiful singing, the shoemaker gives the bird shoes, the goldsmith a watch, and the miller a millstone. The bird throws the shoes to the sister, the watch to the father, drops the millstone on the stepmother and kills her. The bird turns into a man]: 314-315; Brivzemniaks 1887, No. 129 (Livland) [wife died, husband took another, stepmother wants to get rid of stepson and stepdaughter; sent stepdaughter to fetch water in a sieve; killed and boiled stepson, told stepdaughter to take dinner to father; he ate everything, sister put her brother's bones in a titmouse's nest; titmouse hatched them, hatched bird flew to town, began to sing: stepmother killed me, father ate me, sister collected bones; gentlemen ask to sing some more, bird orders to give her a golden wreath and marten hat for this; began to sing at the mill, received a millstone; flew home, gave sister golden wreath, father - marten hat, threw millstone on sword and killed her]: 267-269; Livs [a married couple has two daughters and a son; during a famine, the mother boiled the younger girl and sent the meat to her husband who was working in the fields; while he was eating, the older daughter picked up the bones; the brothers told him, he dug a grave, the sister buried the bones, from which a cuckoo immediately appeared and sang: my mother licked up my blood, my father ate the meat, my sister collected the bones, my brother buried them; everyone hears this; the mother felt ashamed and did not kill the other children]: Loorits 2000(5): 5-6; Setu [a husband and wife have a son about 12 years old and a daughter older than him; the husband went to work, tells his wife to send meat; she cooked a chicken, but it was not enough for him; she wanted to kill a sheep, but regretted it; she decided to kill her son; she told her to bend over a chest containing sweet apples, slammed the lid shut, cutting off the boy's head, and boiled the meat; the husband came and ate it; the sister realized that it was her brother, collected the bones in a handkerchief; the boy's soul flew to the city like a sparrow, began to sing on the roof of a jeweler; the jeweler's daughter heard, the jeweler gave the bird a silver ornament; the same on the roof of a spinning wheel master, he gave a spinning wheel; to the blacksmith, he gave a hammer; the bird began to sing near her father's house; the father went out, the bird killed him with a hammer, became a boy again; the boy gave his sister an ornament and a spinning wheel]: Sandra 2004: 232-233; Seto [approximately the same, but the stepmother kills]: Säärits 2022: 413-415; Estonians[the stepmother gives her daughter a pot, the stepdaughter a sieve to bring water; the stepdaughter covered the holes with mud, brought it; the stepmother gave her daughter bread and butter, and the stepdaughter said that her share was in the chest; she looked into the chest, the stepmother slammed the lid, chopping off the girl's head; she cooked soup, took it to the workers in the hayfield; the elder sister saw her little sister's fingers, did not eat, collected the bones, put them in an empty stump, flowers on top; the bones grew fleshy, became a cuckoo; she began to sing: I will give my father a grey foal, my mother a golden necklace, she threw a millstone on her stepmother's neck, flew away into the forest, and has been cuckooing ever since]: Järv 2016: 57-58 (very similar text in Mälk et al. 1967, no. 196: 350-351, Viljandimaa); Estonians [a stepmother has two children of her own; she stabbed her younger stepson to death and gave him to her husband to eat; his sister buried the bones under a willow; a harp grew on the willow and began to play and sing about what had happened (mother killed, father ate, sister buried the bones); father heard, they dug up the bones, the murderer was punished]: Löwis of Menar 1927, no. 55: 185-187; Norwegians [stepmother killed the boy by slamming the lid of a chest when he looked inside; cooked the meat; sister collected the bones, put them under a linden (or juniper); brother became a bird and sings about what happened; for his song he receives shoes, a gold chain and a millstone; gives the shoes and chain to his sister and father, drops the millstone on the stepmother; as soon as she died, the bird became a boy again]: Hodne 1984, no. 720: 156; Finns , Swedes , Faroese , Danes : Uther 2004(2), no. 720: 389-390.

Volga - Perm. Chuvashi : Uther 2004(2), #720:389-390; Mordvins (Erzya) [the wife died; the boy and the girl persuaded the father to take the stepmother; she orders the children to be killed; he locked them in the stable; they give water and moldy bread; the girl goes to Baba Yaga's pantry at night, but she doesn't have any bird's milk; the brother tags along, Baba Yaga grabs them, starts fattening them up, but doesn't give any bird's milk; he feels the finger, the girl holds out a kochedyk; but the boy sticks his finger in; Baba Yaga is going to put the children in the oven; the girl pretends she can't sit on a shovel; Baba Yaga shows, the girl puts her in the oven; they took the silver and copper jugs, but forgot to take the window ring; the boy returns; The girl told him not to lick the fat of Baba Yaga that had flowed out of the stove, but he licked it and became a lamb; they returned home; The stepmother pushed the girl into the well and told her husband to slaughter the lamb; He goes to the well: they sharpen the axe and knives and go to slaughter; The sister: I can’t get out, the stone is pulling, the snake is sucking my heart; On the fourth day he pulled her out of the well; The stepmother slaughtered him; The bones became a dove and it sings: The father slaughtered it, the stepmother boiled it; The peddler, hearing the song, gave him a spoon; Another – a handful of needles; The third – hooks; The dove gave the sister a spoonful of honey, the stepmother – needles in her mouth, the father – hooks; They died; The fortune teller told the sister: Smear the windowsill with glue and grab the dove; he will become a snake, a frog, and when he becomes a spindle, break it; and that is what she did, the boy came to life]: Maskaev 1967, No. 11: 98-102; Mordvins: Yevsevyev 1964, No. 22 (Erzya) [mother died, brother and sister remained, stepmother sent them for berries, they got lost, Baba Yaga began to fatten them up, they offered to show her how to sit on a shovel, pushed them into the oven; brother returns for the ring and belt left by sister, tried the lard that Baba Yaga had, became a lamb; stepmother orders her husband to slaughter him; girl does not eat her brother's meat, puts the bones in a pigeon's nest, two pigeons fly out; sister asks the merchant to sell her a knife, in return the pigeons will sing to him; pigeons: father slaughtered me, stepmother cooked me, sister collected me; sister fed stepmother with needles, she died]: 178-179; Shakhmatov 1910 (Sukhoi Karbulak, Saratovsky district) [An old man and an old woman have a son and a daughter. The old woman falls ill and dies, she is buried. The daughter and son ask their father to take the stepmother. He agrees if they like her. The children tell him that the stepmother will sew a new shirt. The old man takes the stepmother. The stepmother says that she will stay with him if he kills his son, otherwise she will not live with him. The old man kills his son, the old woman boils him, makes cabbage soup. The old man and the old woman sit down to eat, they chase the daughter out to the sleeping platform. They gulp down the cabbage soup, throw the bones toward the girl; she collects them, ties them in a white kerchief, and places them on a beam. The bones turn into a dove and begin to sing: “Guldir-guv-guv-guv, daddy killed me; guldir-guv-guv-guv, my stepmother cooked me; guldir-guv-guv-guv, they ate me without pie (without bread); guldir-guv-guv-guv, they threw me onto my sister; guldir-guv-guv-guv, my sister gathered me up; guldir-guv-guv-guv, she tied me in a white scarf; guldir-guv-guv-guv, she put me on a beam; guldir-guv-guv-guv, I became a dove. The old woman hears singing, tells the old man to look who is singing. The old man climbs onto the stove, the dove jumps off the beam, flies out the stove window. He flies, looks - an awl merchant is coming towards him. He asks him for a handful of awls, promises to sing a song. The merchant gives a handful of awls. The dove sits on the awl merchant's bow, sings its song, and flies away. A needle merchant comes towards him. He asks him for a handful of needles and promises to sing a song. The needle merchant gives a handful of needles. The dove sits on the needle merchant's bow, sings its song, and flies away. A honey merchant comes towards him. The dove asks him for a spoonful of honey and promises to sing a song. The honey merchant gives a spoonful of honey. The dove sits on the honey merchant's bow, sings its song, and flies away. It flies home, flies into the entryway, sits above the door, and begins to sing its song. The father hears, comes out into the entryway, looks up, his mouth open. The dove throws a handful of awls into his mouth. The old man chokes and dies. The dove sings again. The stepmother hears, comes out into the hallway, looks up, her mouth open. The dove throws a handful of needles, the stepmother chokes, dies. The dove sings again. The little sister hears, comes out into the hallway, looks up, her mouth open. The dove throws a spoonful of honey into her sister's mouth]: 337-340; Mari : Chetkarev 1948 [ My father stabbed me, my stepmother ate me: a stepmother and father kill their son, boil his flesh and eat him; the boy's remains, buried by his sister in a hollow oak tree, turn into a bird that sings about the atrocities of the stepmother and father, sending two baby diapers to the father and needles to the stepmother, and kills them; the bird takes the form of a boy]: 11-15 (retold in Sabitov 1989, no. 720: 42); (cf. Mari [archive, TMO: 39); the first wife died, leaving a son; the new one refuses to live with the boy - she stabbed him, boiled him, fed him to a pig; the cauldron is boiling, the rooster crows at night: "Father caught him, mother slaughtered him"; while the rooster crowed, the boy, who was being boiled in the cauldron, sang three times like a cuckoo; they open the door – a cuckoo flies out, “Cuckoo, cuckoo, father caught me, mother stabbed me! Now catch me, I’ll fly away to the big forest, deep ravine!” And now the cuckoo sings the same way]: Yuzieva 2016: 125).

Japan. Japanese (everywhere, but not in Ryukyu) [father promises to bring gifts; children (number varies: one in 23 versions, two in 31, three in 17, four in 1; all versions are distributed haphazardly) ask for a mirror, a sewing box, a comb, a hair ornament, toys; stepmother tells children to fill a cauldron, carrying water in a sieve; heat water, using stones or wet straw as fuel; chop twigs with a spoon (or nails); Buddhist priest puts his sleeve in a sieve of his robe; oil seller pours oil on stones; when the water is hot, stepmother places twigs around the fire, tells children to step over, they fall into the cauldron, are boiled, they are buried around the house; bamboo grows from the remains; wandering monk asks bamboo to make a flute; the stepmother does not allow to play it facing the east, where the children's father has gone; he disobeys the ban, the flute plays "I don't want any more gifts", "I miss my father", "I can't carry water in a sieve"; the father hurries home, finds the children's bodies under the bamboo, sometimes he goes blind from tears; the stepmother is expelled; executed; her husband kills her; she turns into a mole; falls into the river and drowns; she is cut, fleas and lice appear from her body; she is dragged through the reeds, so the roots of the reed are red; when the father's tears fall to the ground, the children are reborn, or the children rise to the sky, become the moon and the star; the flute turns into a child again; when the flute is played, addressing the dead child, you hear "father of the house", the child comes to life; or the children were revived by their dead mother; father digs up bodies, children are alive]: Ikeda 1971, no. 720: 166-167.