L19b3. Twelve-headed monster. .16.27.-.32.34.59.

A creature with 12 heads is mentioned - either singly or as part of a series of creatures with fewer heads.

Germans (Brandenburg, East Prussia), Romanians, Hungarians, Transylvanian Saxons, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Russians (Arkhangelsk, Karelian Pomerania, Olonetsk, Vologda, Pskov, Moscow, Tula, Bryansk, Voronezh), Belarusians, Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Volyn, Cherkasy, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav), Mingrelians, Georgians, Dardy (Shina), Lithuanians, Latvians, Setos, Estonians, Karelians, Komi, Mari, Mordvins, Chuvashes, Kazan Tatars, Bashkirs, Ordos Mongols, Oirats (Olets), Mansi, Lokono.

Western Europe. Germans (Brandenburg {in dialect, but the general meaning is clear}) [the elder brother inherited a farm, and the younger Hans got 5 sheep; in the forest a hunter gave a gun and a violin for them, to which everyone danced; Hans began to play, and the Jew danced until he gave the money; Hans came to an old woman; she is the mother of robbers; only he who drinks strong water can lift a sword; robbers came, Hans played until they fell, drank the water, took off his sword, cut off their heads and left; along the way he did not kill, but took a hare, a fox, a wolf, and a bear as helpers; {something happened, but everyone was revived; the animals helped}; there is mourning in the city: a 12-headed dragon demands the princess; Hans went out with the sword, which he took from the robbers; the dragon spews flames from its mouth; Hans chopped off all the heads, cut out the tongues; the coachman cut off Hans's head and took credit for the feat; the animals put the head back on - first backwards; then the right way, fused everything together and revived it with living water; Hans came to the coachman's wedding with the princess, stuck out his tongues; married the princess; the coachman was torn apart by four oxen]: Engelien, Lahn 1868, no. 14: 155-162; Germans (East Prussia) [a hunter lives with his mother; sees three swans fly to a lake, take off their bird clothes, become girls and bathe; he hid the clothes of one; they have two children; one day the hunter's mother opened the chest and saw swan wings; called her daughter-in-law; she put on the wings and flew away; flying over her husband, told him to look for her on a glass mountain; The hunter comes successively to the eldest, middle, youngest hermit brothers, each sends to the next; from the youngest the glass mountain is visible; on the way the hunter divides the carcass of an ox between a lion, a greyhound, an eagle (or a falcon) and an ant; each endows him with the ability to transform into a creature of his kind; he climbs the glass mountain as an ant; then through the rooms of the two elder princesses to the room of the youngest; she hides him; at the meal the king tells his daughters that they will all be disenchanted when the 12-headed dragon is killed; only a lion can kill it, a hare will jump out of the head, the greyhound must catch the hare; a dove will fly out of the hare's head, the falcon must seize it; in the head of the dove there is a pebble, it must be thrown from the mountain so that it splits into small pieces; the hunter, taking the forms of different animals, does all this; the spell was dispelled, the king gave the throne to his son-in-law, the hunter]: Lemke 1887, No. 40: 204-212; Germans(East Prussia) [the king's sheep keep disappearing; a young man hires himself out as a shepherd - and suddenly a hundred sheep are missing; a little black man comes up to him, tells him to go away and then come back; a giant comes, the young man kills him; the little man takes the young man to the giant's cave, where all the missing sheep are; the young man returns them; in the same cave are three horses: like the stars, like the moon and like the sun; and three swords; the little man dips the young man in a spring, his hair turns golden; the hand with which he tried the water turns golden too; returning, the young man bandages his head and hand, saying that they are ill; gives the youngest princess a diamond he took from that cave; the king laughs: this fool thinks that he is giving a simple glass bead; a 12-headed dragon attacks the kingdom; orders that the three best pigs and the eldest daughter be given back; there are black flags in the city; The king scolds the shepherd for playing cheerful melodies on the flute; the little man tells the young man to mount a horse like the stars, take a sword like the stars, take off the bandages from his head and hands and ride to battle the dragon; the young man cut off 4 heads, the dragon crawled back; the young man cut off the tongues and put them in a bundle; he rode away; the coachman told the princess to call him her savior; the king asks why the shepherd is sad when everyone is having fun; he answers that it is personal; the dragon demands the second princess (ditto; horse like the moon; sword like the moon); the third; horse like the sun; the last 4 heads are cut off; horse like the sun; sword like the sun; the coachman asks for the youngest princess as a wife; she begged her father to postpone the wedding for a year; a year later the shepherd pretends to be ill; the princess comes, tears off the bandage, sees golden hair; asks her father to allow the shepherd to also come to the wedding; when he appeared before the king, the princess tore off the bandage again; the hero orders the coachman to show the dragon's tongues; he shows them himself; the coachman was torn to pieces by four oxen]: Lemke 1887, no. 55: 255-264.

The Balkans. Romanians (Banat) [after leaving the service, the soldier Petru immediately lost all his money; in the forest he met someone shaking trees and playing with stones; they began to live in a hut, they cook in turns; every time a dwarf with a huge beard appears riding a hare; he eats everything, beats the cook; when P. is left, he grabs the dwarf by the beard, chases him to a crevice in which he hid; P. orders to lower him on a rope; he cuts the dwarf into pieces, but cannot get up, because his companions removed the rope: they were afraid that the dwarf would crawl out; there is a light in the distance, P. came out onto the ground; a house, in it a blind old woman is eating mamalyga with milk; P. began to eat too, the old woman sensed it; if a girl, you will be a daughter, if a boy, then a son; she asked P. to tend her sheep, but not to go to the land of dragons who stole her eyes; P. went and began to play the flute; the dragons listened with rapt attention, asked him to teach them; P., playing, led them to an oak tree, split it, told them to stick their paws into the crack, knocked out a wedge; told them to tell them how to restore the old woman's sight; the dragons: there is a milk pond next to us, let him wash his eye sockets there three times; P. chopped off the dragons' heads, the old woman washed her eyes, began to see; P. left the old woman, a fox came towards him: don't shoot, I'll give you a fox cub; then the same with the wolf and the bear; P. came to the city, there was mourning; the 12-headed dragon demands girls, it is the turn of the king's only daughter; the princess was left by the swamp; P. fell asleep, putting his head on the princess's lap; he woke up from a tear that dripped down; the princess took one of P.'s arrows; with his arrows he shot down 11 heads, and the 12th with the princess's pin; cut out tongues; the gypsy cut off the sleeping P.'s head, and brought the dragon's heads to the king; a snake crawls, grass in its mouth; fox: what is it for? snake: to reattach cut off heads, my son's was cut off; the fox took the grass, they reattached the head, but P. is still dead; the wolf met a woman: what are you talking about? woman: living water; the wolf took the water, P. came to life; came to the palace, showed his tongues; the gypsy was put in a barrel with nails, lowered from the mountain; wedding; after the death of the king P. reigned, his animals always remained in honor]: Schott, Schott 1975, No. 10: 65-75; Romanians[Prince Theodore shot an arrow and went to look for it; pulled out the arrow stuck in the ground, in the hole was a bull, a sword and a note: the bull will revive its owner if you give him wine to drink, but the sword will turn anyone into stone; stopped at an old woman's; she gave him wine, but no water; the 12-headed monster gives out water only in exchange for girls; it's the princess's turn; whoever saves her will marry her; the young man fell asleep on the princess's lap, woke up from her tears; by evening the monster had only one head left, and the young man had only one arrow; he tied a broken bow with a lock of the girl's hair and finished off the monster; the gypsy chopped T. into pieces, brought the king the heads and tongues of the monster; the princess left a ring and a scarf next to T.'s remains; the bull asked the old woman to take him to the spring; ordered to put the chopped pieces of the body together; licked them and breathed – T. came to life; at the wedding feast of the gypsy T. threw a ring and a handkerchief into the pie that the old woman gave to the bride; the gypsy was torn apart by two horses; a palace was built for T. and his wife]: Mawr 1881: 32-37; Hungarians[dying, the poor man tells his three sons that, according to the sorcerer, the stolen sun and moon will be returned by one of them, but he does not know who exactly; the king found out about this and called the brothers to him; he promises to make the one of them who copes with this task the heir, and to make his assistant viceroy; the youngest brother is Kiss Miklos (KM), the elders laugh at him; the king orders to choose horses and weapons; the elders take the best horses and swords, KM - a shabby and dirty horse, a rusty sword; the horse turned out to be a six-legged racer conceived by the wind, which eats hot coals, the sword - self-cutting; the brothers come to the country beyond 49 kingdoms, beyond the sea of ​​Operentsia, behind the glass mountain to the silver bridge; KM orders to hide under the bridge and wait for the 12-headed dragon, who has the moon tied to the saddle; the dragon's horse stumbled for the first time, the dragon understands that he will fight with KM; KM ordered the sword to cut off his heads, it cut them off; KM gave the horse with the moon to the middle brother; the same at the golden bridge, the 24-headed dragon; KM ordered the muche to cut off the dragon's heads, but they grew back; KM began to fight himself, but cannot defeat him; the dragon: I will become a blue flame, and the dragon - red; when the red soared higher than the blue, the KM brothers threw a piece of sulfur at it, as KM asked them beforehand, the red flame went out; having sent the brothers home with the moon and the sun, KM took the form of a gray kitten and climbed into the house where the mother and wives of the dragons were, eavesdropping on their conversation; the younger dragon's wife: I will turn into a spring, if the brothers swallow the water, they will die; the eldest's wife: will turn into a pear with poisoned fruits; the mother of dragons asks to prop up her eyelids with an iron beam weighing 1200 pounds so that she can see; promises to turn into such a mouth that the upper jaw is in the sky and the lower jaw is on the ground;: swallowed KM and his brothers; the kitten rushed out, the dragoness threw the beam at him and immediately went blind, because the eyelids covered her eyes again; KM got to the brothers on his horse in two jumps and they all went to the house; along the way, KM chops a spring and a pear with a sword, blood flows from them; the brothers see the approaching open mouth, hide in the house of the one who smelts lead (Lead Friend, SD); they pour molten lead into the dragoness's mouth, she died; now SD offers KM to fight; with his little finger he drove KM into the lead floor; lets go for a promise to get the Green Daughter of the Green King for him; lets go of the older brothers; they attribute to themselves the victory over dragons, marry princesses, the eldest becomes king; they released the lunar and solar horses into the sky, but they began to shine sadly; KM goes in search, meets, takes as companions the Runner, the Drinker, the Glutton, the Freezing in Fire, the Far Seeing, the Strongman, throwing an iron club; the Green King (GK) demands that Pluto bring his daughter's wedding dress faster than the local runner; but GK sent his old witch mother to run in the evening, and the Runner ran only in the morning; he overtook her, received a dress from Pluto, but on the way back the witch persuaded him not to hurry and go together; put him to sleep,She grabbed the dress box and ran; The Seer saw this, The Strongman threw his club, knocking the horse skull out from under the Runner's head, on which the witch had laid his head; The Runner overtook the witch again, took the box and handed it to the ZK; he demands to spend the night in an iron oven; The Freezing One cooled the oven; The ZK demands to eat and drink an incredible amount of meat and wine (The Eater and the Drinker complied); The KM received the princess, but as soon as he admitted that he got her for someone else, she disappeared; The Seer saw her in the whale's belly, Drinker drank the sea, The Runner delivered the whale, The KM got the princess out of his belly; the princess disappeared again; The Seer saw her in an apple hanging in the ZK's garden, The Runner brought her; the third time the princess is in a cocoon hanging in the sky; The Strongman knocked down the cocoon with a club, The Runner ran and caught the princess; KM let his companions go; told the princess that she should find out what SD's power was; while he was talking to KM, the princess used her magic to open 7 iron doors to the basement, took gold out of the lead barrels and ordered the jeweler to gild the threshold; SD became furious, began to beat the princess, but she replaced herself with the devil and lay down on the bed; promised not to gild anything else if SD told him what his power was; he refused; then she gilded three more thresholds; all the same; 7 thresholds; after this SD confessed: in the silk meadow under the seventh bush there is a hare, there is an egg under its tail, in the egg there is a hornet, in it is his power; at night the princess told KM about this; he became a hound, caught the hare, then the hornet that flew out; SD died; KM and the princess arrived in KM's kingdom in a luxurious chariot; the sun and moon immediately shone brightly; the sage explained everything to the old king; KM said that as heir to the kingdom of SD and ZK, he leaves this kingdom to his brothers; KM and his wife are still ruling the two kingdoms, if they have not died]: Curtin 1890: 477-516;what is his strength; he refused; then she gilded three more thresholds; all the same; 7 thresholds; after this SD confessed: in the silk meadow under the seventh bush there is a hare, under his tail there is an egg, in the egg there is a hornet, in it is his strength; at night the princess told KM about this; he became a hound, caught the hare, then the hornet that flew out; SD died; KM and the princess arrived in KM's kingdom in a luxurious chariot; the sun and moon immediately shone brightly; the sage explained everything to the old king; KM said that as the heir to the kingdom of SD and ZK, he leaves this kingdom to his brothers; KM and his wife still rule the two kingdoms, if they have not died]: Curtin 1890: 477-516;what is his strength; he refused; then she gilded three more thresholds; all the same; 7 thresholds; after this SD confessed: in the silk meadow under the seventh bush there is a hare, under his tail there is an egg, in the egg there is a hornet, in it is his strength; at night the princess told KM about this; he became a hound, caught the hare, then the hornet that flew out; SD died; KM and the princess arrived in KM's kingdom in a luxurious chariot; the sun and moon immediately shone brightly; the sage explained everything to the old king; KM said that as the heir to the kingdom of SD and ZK, he leaves this kingdom to his brothers; KM and his wife still rule the two kingdoms, if they have not died]: Curtin 1890: 477-516;Hungarians[beyond the sea of ​​Opérentz lived a king; dying, he ordered his three sons for those who would come for them; in the evening someone knocks on the window, gets the eldest sister; then the middle one; the youngest; the king did not order to stay overnight in the forest under one tree; the brothers wanted to know why; they stayed by this tree; the eldest brother guards first; he saw a fire, went there, came across a three-headed dragon and killed it, did not tell the brothers anything; on the second night the middle brother, a six-headed dragon; on the third - the middle one, nine-headed; having killed the dragon, the youngest began to look for fire; going to the light, he saw how Night was fighting with Morning Dawn; dawn: she does not want me to go out; the young man tied both to a tree; he went to the fire of three giants, they were sleeping; the young man took a brand, but the giants woke up; they agreed not to roast him in order to eat him if he would help them kidnap three princesses; The youth entered the castle; the eldest princess lay on a copper bed, the middle one on a silver one, the youngest on a gold one; he took a gold ring from the finger of each; lowered a rope to the giants, killed them one by one as they rose; went to the brothers, untying Night and Dawn on the way, and immediately the day came; brothers: it was a long night! The youngest led the brothers to the city where he saved the princesses; called himself the killer of giants, took the youngest princess, gave the elder ones to the brothers; three weddings; the king asks his youngest son-in-law not to take his wife to himself, but he did not listen; she was kidnapped at the border; the king: look for her in the White Country; on the way, the youth visits the sisters; their husbands are dragons with 4, 8 and 12 heads; the 4-headed one does not know the White Country, calls the animals, they do not know either; the same with the 6-headed one; the 12-headed one was last to receive a lame wolf; he just injured his leg in that country when he attacked a sheep; the wolf led the youth to a mountain from where the White Country is visible; approaching the spring, the youth met his wife; wife: the White Knight has kidnapped me, his horse rushes like a thought, he will catch up with us; go to the old woman who has three mares; these are her daughters; hire yourself out as a coachman, ask for a foal, an old saddle and a bridle in payment; on the way to the old woman, the youth released a fish into the water, she blew a whistle to call it; helped an ant that was fighting a fly (ditto); took a splinter out of a fox's paw and bandaged the paw (ditto); the old woman has 99 heads on stakes, the hundredth is missing; the youth has served a year, 3 days left; the mares must be grazed, the old woman gave her a sleeping pill; it is already evening, there are no mares; the fish shows three gold fish in the pond, tells to throw a bridle, the fish became mares; the same the next day (among the ants three are mares); on the third day the fox: mares - three eggs in a basket under the old woman's chair in her room; I will grab the golden rooster and the hen in her henhouse, she will rush there, and you grab the eggs; the old woman had to give up the foal born yesterday, a saddle and a bridle; the foal asks to let him go for a day to fatten up; brought the youth to the spring, where he met his wife; the foal: to run like the wind or like a thought? youth: as you wish; the White Knight galloped up, but the horse threw him, he crashed to death; the youth mounted him,and the wife rode on his foal; the old king died, the youth reigned; they are still alive, if they have not died]: Gaals, Stier 1957, No. 1: 1-15;Transylvanian Saxons [the king built a beautiful church; a wanderer says that it lacks a golden bird, from whose beak pearls fall when it sings; the eldest son goes after the bird; refuses to warm the fox by the fire and feed him; the prince squandered everything and became a worker at the inn; the same with the middle son; the youngest welcomed the fox; she teaches him to walk 7 days through the forest, then through the meadow to the castle; gave a silver flute to call her for help; the princess is in the castle: she is in the power of a six-headed dragon; it appeared, breathing fire; the young man took a sword from the wall and cut off all the heads at once; the princess does not know where the bird is, sends her to her younger sister; gave a copper apple: roll it, I will fly to you; there is a 9-headed dragon; it also breathes fire, all the heads are cut off; gives a silver pear, there is a 12-headed dragon; the young man chopped off 11 heads and they grew back while he was chopping off the 12th; only at sunset did he manage to chop off all of them at once; the princess: a golden bird flies here once a year at dawn on New Year's Eve; but the princess wanted to keep the young man with her, she plugged his ears and he did not hear the bird flying in and singing; but the young man noticed pearls scattered under the tree; but the next year she caught the bird herself and gave the cage with it to the prince; so that he could return home faster, she gave him a horse with 6 legs; gave a golden plum to call her; the young man paid the debts of his brothers and took them with him; at their overnight stay, the brothers gouged out the eyes of the youngest, cut off his arms and legs and threw them into a well; they took the horse and the bird, gave them to their father; but the bird did not sing, and the horse did not let anyone near him; A copper apple fell out of a young man's pocket, he rolled it with his mouth, the eldest princess flew in, returned his legs, wetting it with dew; the princess of the silver pear returned his hands with the help of dew; the princess of the golden plum returned his eyes; the prince called the fox with a whistle; she pulled him out of the well, telling him to grab hold of its tail; the prince came home; his father did not believe him, but the horse recognized the prince and the bird sang; the young man called all three princesses, gave the eldest to his brothers, and took the youngest for himself; he reigned; and when he died, the six-legged horse and the bird disappeared]: Haltrich 1882, No. 7: 6-7.

Central Europe. Czechs [the ninth son of Janko is the strongest; leaves home, wins, takes Vyrvydub, Lomajzhelezo as sworn brothers; dragons kidnap the king's three daughters, the sworn brothers go looking for them; each cooks in turn; a dwarf with a huge beard knocks down the cook, eats the porridge; J. beats the dwarf, who shows the pit where the dragons have hidden; only J. dares to go down; kills the three-, six-, twelve-headed dragons, freeing the princesses of the copper, silver, gold castles; sends them up, then a stone, the sworn brothers cut the rope, the stone falls; J. kills a snake ready to eat the chicks; they explain to their mother that he is their savior, not their enemy; the bird carries J. on itself, he throws meat into its beak, pours water, cuts off the last piece from its leg; on the ground she spits it out, applies it; I. beats, but forgives the brothers-in-arms, all three marry the three rescued princesses]: Karaliychev, Todorov 1969(4): 71-88; Slovaks[translated in Bogatyrev 1955: 37-47; two sons of a widow are as alike as drops of water; they have grown up, are getting ready to go wandering; the mother asks them to go hunting and bring meat; they hunt three times, but find no game; instead they give bacon and bread to a pair of wolves, bears, and lions; they are brought home; muzzles are found on the faces of the predators; the brothers parted at the linden tree, having stuck a knife into it; whoever draws blood will have trouble; the eldest comes to a city where a fire-breathing 12-headed serpent demands a girl to eat every day, otherwise he will not let her approach the well; it is the princess's turn; her savior will receive her; the young man, with the help of his animals, cut off the snake's heads, but they grew again until the lion tore its neck; the young man cut off their tongues, came to the princess, she gave him half of the ring; when he fell asleep, the coachman ran up, cut off the youth's head, made the princess call him her savior; the lion tells the wolf to run to the snake, which was just about to revive another one with grass, crushed by the cart; but the wolf himself ran into the cart, got scared of people; then the lion sent a bear, he took the potion from the snake, the youth came to life, but his head was put back on; the bear tore off his head again and put it back on correctly; when the youth came to the city, they were preparing the wedding of the princess and the coachman; the youth sent the princess and the bear a letter and half a ring; the princess sent back food, wine and her half of the ring, the halves grew together; the youth showed snake tongues; the coachmen were given to be torn apart by animals; one day the youth saw an enchanted yellow forest from the window; a fox appeared, the youth chased it, found himself in a dark forest; he began to fry bacon; an old woman on a tree, screaming that she was cold, gave a stick to touch the animals, because she was afraid of them; the animals turned to stone; the old woman began to fry a frog, not bacon; she touched the young man with a stick, he also turned to stone; the younger brother saw blood on the knife, went to look for the older one; his wife took him for her husband, but at night he put a sword between them; he did not touch the animals with the old woman's stick, but let them loose on her; he forced her to give him a golden stick to revive his brother's animals and an ointment to revive him; then the animals tore the old woman to pieces; first the older brother's animals turned into knights, then they killed the younger brother's animals and they also became knights; they, six brothers, quarreled, for this they became predators; the older brother returned to his wife, and the younger with six knights came to their lands and became king there]: Dobšinský 1970: 3-10; Slovaks []: Gašparíková 1993, no. 230: 159; Poles: Shcherbakov 1980 [a fisherman caught a fish with a silver tail and gills; fish: let it go, your happiness is ahead; the same with gold; with diamond; she orders to cut it up, give a piece to each of his wife, mare and bitch; bury it in the garden along the edge, three oak trees will grow; the wife will give birth to three sons, the mare - three foals, the bitch - three puppies; all the twins are alike; the eldest comes to the city, where the dragon demands one person a day, it is the princess's turn; the young man chopped off 12 heads of the dragon, cut off and hid the stings; the horse and dog helped; the young man left, the forester ordered to say that he was the one who defeated the dragon; the young man returned after a year and 6 weeks; the impostor is preparing a wedding; the young man sent his dog with a letter to the princess; at the feast he shows the stings; the forester was torn apart by four horses; On the first night the youth put a broadsword between himself and his wife; on the second he slept with her; he rode into the forest; an old woman came to the fire to warm herself; she gave the dog a twig to whip, they all turned to stone; at home one oak tree withered; the middle brother rides on, is mistaken for the eldest, puts a broadsword on the bed; the same with him; the youngest rides on; also puts a broadsword on the bed; chases a deer with golden antlers; spends the night in the forest; the old woman comes; the youth grabs her, makes her revive the younger brother with grass; both brothers make her revive the middle one; the brothers chop up the old woman, the pieces grow back; the brothers tell the dogs to bury the pieces; the forest turned into a city with people; the princess recognized her husband in the eldest brother; the narrator was shot from a cannon at the ball]: 93-104; Russian : Russians (Karelian Pomorie) [an old hunter bequeaths a towel and 7 dogs to his son; don't let the younger sister wash the towel; if you need to cross a river, wave it in that direction - a bridge will be built; one day the sister sees the devil on the other bank; he advises her to take the towel without asking and make a bridge; she does so; so that her brother wouldn't notice him, the devil, entering the house, turns into a broom; the dogs rushed at the broom, but the sister persuaded them to call them off: there will be nothing to sweep the floor with; the next day the brother suspects something is wrong; he can't find the towel; the devil advises him to pretend to be ill and ask for bear's milk; the she-bear herself gave her milk and a bear cub to boot; the same with lion's milk (lion cub); the devil suggests sending them to an iron mill, where they grind in three minutes; the brother jumped out, and the dogs and animals remained behind the iron door; the sister asks her brother to heat up the bathhouse (she and the devil are going to burn him in the bathhouse); the bird: don't hurry, your animals have only gnawed through two doors; when the brother went to the bathhouse, the hunt came running and tore the devil to pieces; the brother put out three tubs of water and three stacks of hay for his sister: when you eat the hay, I'll let you go; the brother went to the city, where the people were crying: the snake has taken to it, today it will eat the king's daughter; the hunt rushed in, gnawed off the head of the three-headed snake, the brother cut out the tongues and hid them; the same with the 7- and 12-headed snakes; the water carrier took credit for everything, but the guy showed the tongues; he forgave his sister (she managed to eat two stacks of hay and drink two tubs of water)]: Razumova, Senkina 1987: 86-90; Russian(Karelian Pomorie) [a peasant hunter set a snare for his 12-year-old son to be lucky; a firebird fell into it; the peasant took it to the tsar, who gave him money and a stone house; he put the bird in a cage and sent invitations to look at the curiosity; Tsarevich Ivan was playing and saw it; the bird asked him to steal the key from his mother and let it out; the bird flew out and returned after 6 hours; it had to sit for three more days; then after 8 hours - three more days, only then would it be able to rise high enough to fly to its kingdom; it never returned, Ivan quietly returned the key to its mother; the assembled tsars decided that the royal family could not be executed, but must be exiled; the tsar gave a bad horse and a footman, he was also Ivan; water had to be gotten; the servant said that if he went down the well, the tsarevich would not be able to pull him out; the tsarevich went down; I. the footman made the prince exchange clothes and status, only then did he get him out; in another kingdom, I. the footman suggests sending the real I. the prince to tend the chickens; there are no chickens, they gave him three years to tend 300 hares, he will be punished for losing them; each pasture is a year; the hares immediately ran away; the firebird appeared, told him not to worry, and carried him to her; the bird became the king: he fought with another kingdom, and fell into a snare; I. lives with the elder sister of the firebird king for 11 months, who gives him a hospitable tablecloth; the king himself gives him an accordion: if he plays, the hares will gather; I. ​​the prince returned, unfolded the hospitable tablecloth, played the accordion, the princess came and sat for a long time; after that the accordion does not work, I. cannot gather the hares, the firebird brings them to her again; the middle sister gives a whip to collect hares; the princess comes, I. tells her everything, she gives a ring; after that the whip lost its power, the firebird brings it to the younger sister; she would like to marry I., but he refuses; she gives special clothes; the firebird: when you return, a snake will come out of the lake to demand a person to eat every day; I. will easily defeat the 6-headed and 9-headed, he will cut off 10 heads of the 12-headed, but two - no way; you need to shout when the sun rises: look, your house is on fire! he will look back, the heads will be cut off; gives a horn to collect hares; under the stone there is a horse and a sword-kladenets; the princess is at home: do with me what you want, I agree to everything; she lived with him for two whole days; to the servants: I was with one princess; a snake appeared, the king promises a daughter and half the kingdom for defeating him; I. drank from the bottles given by the firebird, became strong, got a horse and a sword-kladenets; the imaginary I.-tsarevich bought tongues from 6 heads, and allowed this one to cut off a finger from his foot and a finger from his hand; the same after killing the 9-headed dragon: cut off a belt from his back by a finger; when the 12-headed one, they fight for two days; Your house is burning! falling, the dragon scratched I.'s right hand and foot; the princess bandaged it; took another finger from the imaginary prince and another belt; at the wedding, the princess orders that all the servants be there, including the hare shepherd; he is sleeping, blood is dripping from under the bandage; I.-tsarevich came, brought fingers and belts from the impostor's back; hit him, a wet spot remained; inherited the throne; lived to a ripe old age]:Nechaev 1938: 11-38; Russian (Olonets) [In India, the rich young boyar Duke Stepanovich hunts geese and swans, spends three hundred arrows, and with three more arrows kills three eagles and three eaglets, who were flying not over holy Rus', but over the blue seas. The eagle loses a feather, the visiting sailors pick it up, sell it at a fair for more than satin and rumpled velvet, Indian peasants buy it and bring it to Duke's father. Duke asks his mother for permission to go to Kyiv to see Prince Vladimir. His mother warns him that he will not be able to pass three outposts: the first is the crushing mountains that come together and apart, on the second are the pecking birds that will peck him along with his horse, on the third The Gorynchishche Zmiishche with twelve trunks , who will eat him together with his horse. Duke does not listen to his mother, gives the burushka-kaurushka honey drink and feeds it with white-ear millet, puts a Circassian saddle with twelve girths on it, and tightens the third for strength, says goodbye to his mother, who tells him not to brag in Kiev. With the help of the talking burushka, Duke rushes past the crushing mountains before they have time to close up, the pecking birds before they have time to spread their wings, the Gorynchishche Zmiishche before he has time to spread his trunks. He arrives in Kiev; {further proves his superiority over the Russian princes and heroes}]: Rybnikov 1861, No. 49: 295-308; Russians (Zaonezhie) [a backwoods grandmother tells the tsar to catch a fish in the sea, boil it in 7 waters; let the tsarina eat it; the cook also tried it, the dog gnawed the bones; all three gave birth to a boy: Korolevich, Kukharevich and Son of a Bitch (SS); they went to see the light, they are guarding Kalinovy ​​Bridge; the Korolevich fell asleep, the SS fought with a three-headed snake, it drove him knee-deep into the ground; the SS cut off the heads, hid the tongues; the same the next night (Kukharevich; 9-headed snake, waist-deep in the ground); on the third night, the SS tells the brothers to hurry to help if there is blood on the knife; 12-headed snake, neck-deep in the ground; the brothers woke up at the last moment, killed the snake; the SS returned for the abandoned knife; overheard the conversation of the snake's wives; one will become an apple tree, another a well, the third a bed; SS warns the brothers; the prince ate the apple, Kukharevich drank water, they were torn apart; SS wanted to lie down on the bed, but the horse did not let him; SS began to burn the bed with fire, forced the third snake to revive the brothers; and the snake was burned]: Karnaukhova 2009, No. 43: 126-128; Russian(Vologda) [the tsar had a beautiful daughter; he put her in a tower so that she would not be stolen; she asked to be let out into the garden, found an egg, ate it half and half with her nanny, both became pregnant, Ivan Tsarevich and Fyodor Nankin were born, they grew up quickly, went wandering; at the fork in the road there was an inscription: to the right - you will break your head, to the left - to drink, walk, have fun; I. went to the right, F. to the left; they exchanged rings, if the ring turns black - trouble; a cup was left at the fork in the road, if there was blood in it, one of them died; I. the tsarevich arrived at the hut; an old woman: every night a girl is brought to be eaten by a sea monster, the boyar's, prince's and tsar's daughters remained; I. tells the old woman to wake him up in the evening, to let the horse go if it starts to worry; they brought the boyar's daughter; "who sings, who plays, who roars"; at midnight a sea monster with three heads rides out on a horse; I. "blew on the field", three heads flew off; the next night they brought the prince's daughter - the same thing (six heads); on the third night they brought the princess, the monster has 12 heads, the old woman is sleeping, the horse is thrashing; the monster threw I. up; I. threw his left boot at the old woman's house, then his right, the house rolled, the horse broke free; I. jumped on his horse, "blew on the field", knocked off the monster's heads, took the princess's personal scarf, restored the old woman's hut; the vagabonds told the tsar that they had killed the monsters, the tsar did not believe him; I. showed the scarf; a wedding; before they had time to fall asleep, Baba Yaga arrives (she rides every day, eating a bull, a cow); I. chased after her, she asked permission to "weave the horse's eyes", the horse disappeared, I. returned on foot; the next time I. allowed him to weave the eye himself, he died; F.'s ring turned black, there was blood in the cup; he arrived in that kingdom, they took him for I., put him to bed with his wife M.; when Baba Yaga appeared, the princess answered: "As if you don't know, I spent two days chasing Baba Yaga"; F. caught up with Baba Yaga, made her bring living and dead water, revive I. and his horse; having learned that F. slept with his wife, I., as atonement, demands from F. that he go "to the faraway lands, the faraway seas, to the faraway kingdom to the princess for an egg"; F. arrives to Baba Yaga, she gives a letter to her sister, the sister gives a letter to her older sister; the eldest teaches: the princess is in the kingdom behind the wall, there are strings and bells on the wall, everyone sleeps after dinner, you need to jump over the wall, take an egg, dip the cap in the well to the left; F. took the egg, kissed the princess, the strings began to ring; F. jumps from one Baba Yaga to another, escaped pursuit; a year later, that queen arrived on a ship with her son; F. first sent a drunk, the son asks if this is his father, treats him to a belt on the back; then F. himself came; princess: I will treat this one myself; wedding]: Gura 1965, No. 17: 226-229; Kuzmina 2008, No. 36 [the poor brother has two sons, 7 and 8 years old, and the rich man is childless; the poor man shot an unusual bird; the rich man offered to buy it, the poor man gave it up; the rich man ordered his wife to cook it, and the heart, liver and lungs separately; the nephews accidentally came in and ate it; the rich man's wife substituted rooster's; the rich man did not find gold under his pillow in the morning,and the nephews found; the rich man tells the poor man that his children are evil spirits; the poor man did not kill them, but left them in the forest; a hunter picked them up, they lived with him until they were 18; then they left; they did not kill the hare, the fox, the she-wolf, the bear, the lioness; each gave them two of her cubs; at the fork, the eldest went left, and the youngest went right; the eldest came to the city, there was mourning: the 12-headed snake takes the king's daughter; the guy cut off the snake's heads, cut out the tongues, wrapped them in a scarf, the princess gave him her necklace; the servant cut off the sleeping man's head, made the princess say that he was the savior; the hare ran for the reviving root, the animals revived the owner; he sent a letter to the princess with the hares; he came to the wedding feast, showed the princess's necklace and the snake's tongues; the deceitful groom was shot; one day the elder brother went hunting; the old woman in the tree: cold; afraid of animals; gave him a rod; after that he and the animals turned to stone; the younger brother sees that the elder's dagger has rusted; follows in his footsteps; realizing that he is mistaken for the elder brother, refuses to lie with the princess, citing fatigue; did not take the rod, forced the old woman to revive the petrified ones, then the animals tore her apart; having learned that the younger one was with the princess, the elder, her husband, cut off his brother's head; repented; revived his brother with the same root with which he was revived; the wife only recognized who her husband was by the necklace; I was there, drank honey and beer, but nothing got into my mouth]: 79-86;Russian (Pskov) [Ivan Tsarevich wears an invisibility cap and a brawler's club; he sees a castle in the forest, surrounded by an iron wall, with a 12-headed serpent at the gate, 6 of which are always asleep and 6 are awake; he could only kill himself; I. rides up in an invisibility cap and sets his club on the serpent; the serpent breathes fire , tumbles, gnaws the ground, and finally tears itself apart with its claws and dies]: Smirnov 2003(1): 350-351; Russian (Moscow) [the world disappears; one Malsyskar(?) promises the tsar that he will return it; he is given two comrades; M. leaves his comrades at the serpent's house, giving them a glass of water: if there is blood in the glass, then scream; he himself lies down under the bridge; A three-headed dragon rides along, refuses to give up the white light, M. cuts off the heads, puts them under the bridge; the same with the six-headed dragon; each dragon wonders what the dog is barking about; M. cuts off 11 heads from the 12-headed dragon; the 12th: there is a duck in the box, there is an egg in the duck, and there is the white light in the egg; M. takes out the white light, wakes up his comrades; there is a meadow and two young ladies on the way; they ride past; the next time the comrades approach the young ladies, they are torn apart; Baba Yaga is chasing, M. - to the forge; Baba Yaga tore apart the horse; they tell her: lick the wall; she licked it, her tongue was torn off with hot tongs; M.: is it possible to make a horse out of her? they made a horse, but told her not to dance if there was music; [the men are playing, M. started dancing, the horse disappeared]: Vedernikova, Samodelova 1998, no. 21: 55-56; Russians (Tula) [the servant cleaned the fish, poured the slops over the horses, they ate the fish with the tsar's granddaughter; after this Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan Devich and two foals were born; IC and ID grew up, rode their horses; at the fork IC went to where the horse was fuller, and ID to where he was hungrier; they both stuck a knife into the post; Baba Yaga gives ID her hair, tells him to tie it up and blow on it; ID and the horse turned to stone; Baba Yaga crushed them, put the bag under the stone; IC saw that the knife had grown dull; he came to Baba Yaga, asked her to show him how to blow on a hair; she herself turned to stone; IC began to pound and pound her until she told where the remains of ID were and how to revive him; slaughter a horse near an oak tree, climb into the carcass, a raven and a chick will fly in, grab the chick; IC tore it apart and told the raven to bring living and dead water; he brought it; IC revived ID and his horse, and rode on himself; a 6-headed serpent is riding across the bridge, and next to him a dark-skinned hero burrows into the ground out of fear; IC knocked off three heads; the horse sensed it, tore out the hitching post and rushed on, knocked off the other three heads; the dark-skinned hero brought the heads of the serpent to the tsar - supposedly, he is a hero; the same with the 12-headed serpent; the tsar gives him his daughter; IC came, began to sadly play the gusli; and then he lifted the bell with his little finger; but the dark-skinned hero could not lift it; he was driven out, and IC married the princess]: Erlenwein 1882: 76-81; Russian (Bryansk region) [the youngest son is Ivan Popyalov, who lay in the ashes ("in the popyale") until he was 12 years old); the sun was hidden by a snake; IP asks his father to make him a club, throws it up, puts his forehead under it, the club breaks; the third club weighing 15 poods did not break; kills three- and six-headed snakes; chops off 9 heads of the 12-headed one; the snake asks Raven to fly and call his She-Snake for help, IP asks him to call his brothers, promises snake meat; Raven flies to his brothers; the brothers came, killed the snake, broke his head in his house, light appeared in the world; IP returned halfway for mittens, becoming a cat, overheard the conversation of the snake's wife and daughters; the brothers want to rest on pillows in the meadow, IP hits the pillows with a club, blood flows; on the apple tree there are golden and silver apples, IP beats them, blood flows; a spring – the same; these were the daughters of the snake; a she-snake flies, her mouth from the ground to the sky; the brothers throw three poods of salt, the she-snake thinks it’s IP, tries, loses time; IP hides in the forge of Kuzma and Demyan; they offer her to lick 12 doors with her tongue, then take IP; they grab her by the tongue with pincers, kill her with hammers, burn her]: Afanasyev 1958(1), No. 135: 264-266; Russian(Voronezh, 1939) [The beautiful tsar's daughter does not want to study, meets a wizard, who sits her on a chair and teaches her his science, advises how to choose a groom - ask a riddle, if the suitor for her hand does not guess - "off with her head." An Indian prince comes to woo, the princess takes him to the "rich hall where the horned devil lives" treats him to wine, he falls asleep. In the morning she tells her father that the groom slept all night, his head is cut off. The same thing happens to the second suitor, a nobleman. A soldier who has served in the army scoops up water in the river, takes out a crayfish, the crayfish asks to let him go, gives him an invisibility cap and advises the soldier to boldly woo the tsar's daughter. The soldier asks the bride to pour him wine in mugs, falls asleep. A crayfish appears, climbs into the soldier's mouth and he wakes up. The hero puts on an invisibility cap and watches the princess. She goes into the garden, calls on magical powers near the gazebos, eats and drinks. The soldier repeats all her actions. He approaches a willow bush, looks in all four directions, pulls a branch and goes underground. She approaches the copper, silver and gold wells in turn, washes and drinks. The soldier does the same, but takes three jugs from each well. The maiden comes to the 12 sisters, tells them that the groom got drunk and fell asleep. The sisters show the gifts of their grooms. The soldier climbs up to them, quietly takes the gifts and the goose from the table, falls, the sisters hear a crash, run to the window, but do not see the soldier. Returning to the table, they see the loss. The princess sets off back, but cannot drink from the wells, cries, shouts "my soul is burning". The soldier overtakes her, returns to the place where he fell asleep, takes off his hat. The princess wakes him up, but he tells her where she was at night and what she did, she admits that he guessed all her night riddles. The king does not want to give his daughter to the soldier and another contender for the princess's hand advises to give the groom a task: to go there, I don't know where, to find something, I don't know what, "so that it is not seen, but pleased". The princess gives the soldier a ball of yarn, orders him to follow the thread, when the Serpent flies at him, to say that the soldier is a servant of the Russian dog-tsar, then he will not touch him. And so it happens, the serpent offers to treat the soldier, orders Ursa to set the table; the tablecloth and treats appear on the table themselves. The serpent gives the soldier the keys to open the borders, and flies off to fight the enemy – the 9-headed serpent. The soldier wants to bring Ursa to the king, she promises that she will leave with him and orders him to flee across the border so that the serpent cannot kill the soldier (“he will gnaw and grind his bones into flour”). On the land of another serpent, with 6 heads, Ursa orders her to be exchanged for a barrel, and promises to return to the soldier if the serpent does not call her name until they cross the border. The soldier crosses the border, the 6-headed serpent appears, threatens to devour him, burn him with fire , the soldier offers to feed the Snake. He doubts, because he needs a lot of food. Ursa sets the table with abundant treats. The Snake understands that with Ursa he does not need to fly every day to hunt and exchanges Ursa for a barrel with the soldier. The soldier crosses the next border, calls Ursa, she appears with him. A Snake with 12 heads appears, wants to devour the soldier, he feeds the Snake with Ursa's help. The Snake exchanges the self-cutting sword for Ursa. The soldier gets caught in the rain, does not know how to warm up, Ursa advises to order the self-cutting sword to beat the Snake, the sword cuts off all 12 heads. The soldier comes to the king, says that he served him for 20 years and demands that the king served him, orders the sword to cut off the king's head. The soldier calls all the soldiers, orders them to guard the (“workers’ and peasants’ kingdom”) of the poor and orphans, and distributes land to the soldiers. The soldier turns the barrel, and a crystal palace appears. Among other things, the Bayun cat lives there, from whom the storyteller learned to tell tales]: Tonkov 1949, No. 11: 181-189; Belarusians(Demyanki village, Vol. Gom. u., Stepan Grigoriev district) [A merchant dies, his pregnant wife soon gives birth to seven children. The children grow up and go to plough "with one plow". The tsar rides by and sees seven men ploughing on one horse. He sends a gendarme to find out who is the eldest. The gendarme asks who is the eldest, and all seven shout in one voice, "I am the eldest!" The gendarme reports to the tsar. The tsar asks what their names are. The gendarme asks. They all answer, "I am Simeon!" The gendarme reports. The tsar orders that the Simeons be taken to the palace. In the palace, the tsar asks what the brothers will do. The first answers that he will make a ship, the second that he will sail this ship wherever. The third one says he will be a blacksmith, the fourth one says his blacksmith brother will forge him a gun, and he will kill everything he sees with it. The fifth one says that the fourth one will shoot birds, and he will pick them up and carry them. The sixth one says that his blacksmith brother will forge a pillar “to the clouds,” and he will sit on that pillar and watch what is happening “in other kingdoms.” The seventh one is asked, and he answers that he will be the first thief. He is tried and ordered to be hanged. But the queen pities the seventh brother and orders that he not be killed in vain. They leave everyone else, each one doing his own thing. The sixth brother on the pillar sees the beautiful Nastasya in the ninth kingdom and notices her for the single king. The king calls the seventh Simeon, a thief, and orders him to bring Nastasya to the palace. Simeon agrees and asks two brothers to help him - the one who will build the ship and the one who will sail on it. The three of them set off on their journey. The thief takes a seal with him. The seal is trained to do whatever he is told - to sing, dance, tell stories. They dock at the shore of the ninth kingdom. The first brother is making ships on the shore ("knock and slap - so the ship"), the whole pier is filled with ships. The second Simeon drives them in different directions. The maiden Nastasya walks in the garden, wondering who is in charge of so many ships. The seal walks along the deck, sings songs, dances. The princess admires the seal, asks who its owner is, wants to buy the animal. The thief brother appears, says that he will give the seal without money if they are allowed to trade their goods in the ninth kingdom. The princess wanted to look at the goods, went on board the ship. As soon as she set foot, the thief ordered his brother to give her some sleeping drops and to drive the ship away from the shore as quickly as possible, and he himself put the princess to sleep on his lap. They arrived at the court, the brother on the pillar gave a sign to the tsar. They approached the thief - the princess was sleeping, then woke up. When the tsar saw her, he was delighted and soon married her. And the tsar had a stepmother, a great sorceress. The tsar ordered to make the thief a governor for his good deed. Once the beautiful princess Nastasya asked the tsar to go visit her in the ninth kingdom. The tsar listened to her, took Ivan the footman with him and set off on a ship. They stayed with their father-in-law, two boys were born to them there. And they wanted to return back to their kingdom and sent the ships back. The tsar ordered Ivan the footman to come in the evening to drink tea with them. Ivan comes and drinks. The tsar tells him to go to bed with them.Ivan refuses, goes to sleep on deck, listens to "news of the world, or miracles." An angel flies to him from heaven. Sits on his face and says: "The Tsar has married well, but not for long! When you arrive at court, the damned stepmother will bring out three glasses of wine, whoever drinks it will die! And whoever smells it and says it will turn into a stone up to their knees." And he pretended to be asleep, but he heard everything. The next night everything is repeated, the angel: "The Tsar has married well, but not for long! When you arrive at court, the damned stepmother will bring out three pieces of roast, whoever eats it will die! And whoever smells it and says it will turn into a stone up to their waist." On the third night, the same thing: "The Tsar has married well, but not for long! When you arrive at court, the damned stepmother will bring out a stallion. Or else it will not be a stallion, but Satan. As he snorts, everyone will be dead! And whoever knows, let him tell – he will become a stone up to his neck.” On the fourth night, the same thing. Angel: “The Tsar has married well, but not for long! When you arrive at court, the damned stepmother will assign them a room to sleep in. When they lie down, Satan will crawl out with twelve heads and devour them. And whoever knows, let him tell, he will become a stone!” In the morning they arrive at court. The stepmother meets them, brings out three glasses of wine. Ivan the footman jumped up, snatched the dish with wine, slipped and fell – everything broke. The stepmother got angry: “Son, you don’t keep a footman, but some kind of fool!” She brings out the roast. Ivan jumped up again, snatched the dish, stumbled, the dish fell and broke. The stepmother calls their stallion to look, and Ivan loads his gun with golden bullets. When Satan appeared, Ivan fired three bullets at him, and he died. The stepmother began again: "My children, I will give you a room." And Ivan the footman hurried to sharpen his sword for midnight. As soon as midnight came, Satan came out with twelve heads. Ivan fought with Satan. He chopped off six heads. He begged for mercy. Ivan did not let him go and chopped off all the heads. The Tsar woke up, followed by the Tsarina, and they saw Ivan with a sword. They said: "We have forgiven you everything, Ivan, but we will not forgive this! You wanted to kill us!" "No," Ivan answered, "I will die, but I will tell. And keep the damned stepmother for now, so that she does not run away, put a gold ring in her lip!" Ivan began to tell what the angel had told him at night, he told and turned to stone. He had already turned to stone up to his neck - the Tsar and Tsarina began to cry, but nothing could be done. Ivan told about the last night and Satan with twelve heads, and became all stone. And they cried near this stone all night, both the king and the king's people. They grieved that such a man had perished. And they began to pray that the Lord would make him alive again. The Lord came to them, turning into a man, and said: "Sovereign, he saved you from death. Slaughter both your sons, and rub the stone with their blood, and Ivan will become alive again." The king asks the Lord what he should do with the bodies of his sons later. The Lord answers him: "Put them in coffins, and place the coffins next to the stone. And go to bed yourself, for the morning is wiser than the evening." And so he did: he slaughtered his sons and anointed the stone with their blood, and placed the bodies next to them. The next morning the king wakes up, and Ivan is alive, and his living sons are holding hands.The stepmother was tried and killed with an aspen stake]: Romanov 1901, No. 11: 101-105;Belarusians (Mogilev, west. 1888-1891, Staroselskaya volost, Mstislavsky uyezd, from a local peasant) [Two tsar's sons leave to look for brides, 7 years later the tsar has a third son, Ivan, who grows up quickly and decides to get married; Ivan's grandmother advises her on who to buy the horse he needs from, the tsar-father refuses to buy the horse the first time for 100 rubles, buys it the third time for 300; the horse speaks in a human voice and carries Ivan through the air, they fly up to a house with a high fence, a pillar with a ring, and an inscription on the pillar: whoever jumps over the fence can marry Nastasya Prikras; Ivan jumps over, meets his grandmother, says that he has come for Nastasya, eats, drinks, takes her horse, and leaves; the same with the second and third houses; on the fourth time the horse carries Ivan to the golden house, the horse advises Ivan to go to the 12th room and take the keys from Nastasya; Ivan finds Nastasya the second time (she is sleeping), commits a sin with her, the horse recognizes her, sends Ivan to the river to wash three times, the horse touches the fence with its hoof, Nastasya wakes up, sends out a pursuit; on the advice of the horse, Ivan writes a note on an oak tree (whoever can cut down the oak tree will catch the villain), gains time, reaches his grandmother, does not drink, does not eat, changes horses; again a pursuit, the horse gives the same advice with an inscription on the oak tree, the story with the oak tree is repeated; Ivan changes horses again, leaves, repeats the story with the inscription on the oak tree for the third time; at the third old woman Ivan drinks, eats, takes his horse, flies away on a horse, Nastasya promises to come to him in a year with a child; Ivan goes to bed by the stone, his brothers are coming, one wants to kill Ivan, the other wants to send him under the stone to the next world, the brothers lift the stone, Ivan is thrown down, the gifts are taken, the horse is not given to the brothers; Ivan wakes up, goes, finds a house, asks for a drink, there is no water, the 12-headed snake must eat the king's daughter and unlock the keys with water; Ivan goes to the sea, where the princess is brought, Ivan asks the princess to search in his head, falls asleep on her lap, a snake appears from the sea, the princess cries, the tear wakes Ivan; the snake asks whether Ivan has come to fight or to make peace; the opponents fight, with two blows he cuts off the snake's 12 heads, pulls out 12 tongues , sticks to the cart; water comes; Ivan goes to the old woman; the gypsy learns how the princess escaped, makes her imagine him as a savior, the tsar holds a wedding; Ivan goes to the wedding, finds a violin on the way, plays at the wedding, asks for a glass of wine from the princess, drinks it, puts the princess's ring in the glass, the princess sees her ring, tells her father the truth; Ivan shows his tongues, the gypsy is tied to a horse's tail and unlocked; the tsar offers Ivan to marry his daughter, he refuses ("uzho odruzhon"); asks to be carried out into this world, the princess explains how to get to this world on her father's three-horned goat, the goat carries Ivan out, returns back; the horse carries Ivan home through the air; Nastasya is already standing in the courtyard 50 miles from her father's courtyard; Ivan returns without gifts, he is locked in a dungeon; Nastasya writes a letter inviting Ivan, the eldest brother comes, the heroes beat him and bring him back, the same with the middle brother; after the third letter the tsar releases Ivan, he meets with Nastasya, they live in this palace]: Romanov 1901, No. 40: 370-378; Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Khust district, Gorinchevo village) [in the 77th state, behind the glass mountains, behind the milky streams, live an old man and an old woman, they have no children; the old woman asks the grandfather to make a child and a cradle out of wood; he cuts down a sycamore, hews out a boy, they call him Sycamore Ivan (YAI); he makes a cradle, the woman rocks it, the child does not come to life, grows; two years later he goes into the forest, helps the grandfather; snakes (sharkans) took the three tsar's daughters; their savior will receive one of them and the state; YAI goes in search, meets a gypsy, become friends; they find a hole, weave a rope, fasten it to the slab; one will take the youngest daughter, the second - the middle one, the eldest will serve; YAI goes down, hears the girl singing, she is in a hut rotating on a chicken leg; girl: her husband has five heads, he has strong water; YAI drinks the water; an iron club falls into the yard, YAI throws it back, the snake sees that there is someone strong in his yard; he enters, says that it smells sinful; wife: it's my brother; they shake hands; the snake eats melted tin dumplings, drinks water, then they go to fight; the snake drives YAI into the ground up to his knees, YAI him - up to the waist, the snake - up to his arms, YAI - up to the neck; he begins to beat off his heads with a club, but they return again; the girl sprinkles them with ashes, the heads cannot grow back, the snake is killed; the girl says that she and YAI belong to each other; YAI orders to collect everything valuable, lock the house, wait for him; puts on the snake's clothes, takes his saber, comes to the middle sister; she also plays the accordion and sings; her husband has ten heads, drinks a special wine; YAI swaps barrels of water and wine; approaching, the snake throws a club of 12 centners; YAI drinks wine, throws away the club; (further the same as in the house of the first snake); YAI changes the saber for the one that the stronger snake has, comes to the third hut; the youngest princess is there; the snake yells at his wife that he caught her with her lover, breathes fire from 12 mouths ; YAI hides by the door; when heads appear in the hut, he orders the sabre to chop them off; the eldest princess puts all the jewels in a cream, the middle one in an apple, the youngest in a nut, YAI puts them in his pocket, sends the royal daughters upstairs, the gypsy takes them out and walks away with them; YAI walks along the path day and night, comes to the hut, there is a woman, her eyelashes reach the ground; she calls him the son of a dog, agrees to take him into service, orders him to take a pitchfork and lift her eyelids, otherwise she cannot see him; YAI lifts the woman's eyelashes, she recognizes him as YAI: the sycamore from which he was made also knows him; he will look after her mares: graze them three times and drive them back, otherwise the head will be off; the mares are the woman's daughters; the woman gives YAI a sleepy cake; when YAI wakes up, the mares are gone; the fox asks to be given a crust, tells him to go home and stand in the manger: the mares have become hens, the fox begins to torment them, the hens run into the barn, become mares, YAI ties them up, reports to the woman, who beats them with an iron pitchfork for letting them get caught, tells them what they should do; on the second day, everything is the same, the wolf promises to help if YAI treats him with bread; explains that the mares have become crows; the old horse lying on the manure will tell him everything that should be done; the horse: there is a twig in his tail, you need to wave it and say: "Stay where you are"; three crows sitting on a tree fly into the barn, become mares; the woman beats them with an iron pitchfork: they are probably sleeping with Ivan, they love him, they want to destroy her; on the third day YAI gives the crust to the bear; he advises to go home, there is an ox lying on the second pile of manure, he will explain what to do; the ox tells him to take two twigs from his tail, wave one to the left, the other to the right, until the mares appear, ask the woman for an old horse for his service; the mares have turned into crayfish, they swim from pool to pool, YAI hits them with twigs, turns them back into mares; the woman tears her hair, tells him to ask for whatever YAI wants; he asks for the old horse; the horse advises the woman to say goodbye, the woman spits after him, he manages to close the door, otherwise he would have burned; the horse asks how to go - with the wind or against the wind, flies up, asks to look what is behind them; YAI sees a black cloud, it is the woman, the horse tells him to throw the comb (thickets from the ground to the clouds); the cloud almost catches up, but they cross the border of the earthly world; the woman roars terribly, crumbles to dust; the horse suggests going to the royal city; the woman: the three royal daughters have returned, a wedding is being prepared, the gypsy takes the youngest; YAI hires himself out to a shoemaker; the princess ordered to make such shoes as had never been made before; YAI takes the shoes of his youngest sister out of a nut, hangs them on a nail; in the morning the youngest princess comes, tells the shoemaker that it was not his doing, and she still needs to go to the tailor; YAI runs to the tailor, takes a dress out of a nut; the princess calls the craftsmen to her wedding; YAI tells the horse, he orders to climb into his left ear, there is a beautiful dress; they fly to the palace; the gypsy to the king: it is an angel riding to the wedding; seeing YAI, the bride cries with joy, but the gypsy does not confess; YAI puts a plum on the table,apple and nut; the older sisters take out their wealth, but the nut of the youngest is empty; she understands everything; the gypsy is executed, YI marries the youngest princess]: Lіntur 1969: 151-160;Ukrainians (Volyn, Zaslavsky district, village of M. Slovuta) [parents died, brother and sister remained; went out into the world; found a house in the forest, there was food and drink; in the morning the brother left his sister at home and went hunting; the fox asks not to shoot her, goes with the guy; then the same boar, wolf, bear, lion, falcon; the next day the guy goes hunting, taking his sister; at night they climbed a tree, animals are under the tree; light is visible; the bear goes to scout; there is a snake, he killed it; behind the second door there is a snake with two heads; etc.; the one with 12 heads hid in the cellar; the brother and sister came to live in this house; the brother went hunting, and a snake came out to the sister: either I will take you as a wife, and she will destroy your brother, or I will eat you; the sister is ready to destroy her brother; pretend to be ill and send your brother for the cockerel, who stands on the snake cross; the horse brought, the brother brought the cockerel; get a young wild boar; they got it; get flour from the mill, which is behind 12 iron doors - if the brother returns himself, then his hunt will remain behind the doors; the neighing of the horse opened the doors; taking the flour, quickly back, the doors slam behind your back; but the hunt remained behind the doors; the guy asks to be allowed to steam in the bathhouse before he dies, otherwise it is bad to eat dirty food; the falcon flies and reports how many doors the hunt has gnawed through; the snake hurries; the guy asks the snake to put up a pole; he will climb it and throw himself into the snake's mouth; at the last moment the lion came running, and others after him, tore the snake apart; the sister ran away and hired herself out to a king as a housekeeper; she says that her brother can get anything; they brought her brother; the sister was afraid that he would marry the princess; a fortune teller gave a handkerchief to put under the brother's pillow - he would not wake up; a bear smelled it, pulled out and threw away the handkerchief; a fortune teller gave a bullet; it pierced the brother's head; by that time he had married; the tsar's son-in-law was buried, and so that hunting would not interfere, the animals were given something to drink; they woke up, dug up the coffin; the same again; then they placed the body in a tarred barrel, launched it into the sea; it washed up on the shore, the animals broke it, a lion ran his paw across the owner's head, the bullet jumped out and killed the lion, and the owner came back to life; then the same: the bear revived the lion, he himself died; the wolf the bear; last - the falcon, but the bullet was washed out of his head by the waves, so that everyone is alive; the tsar gave the kingdom to his son-in-law; the sister and the fortune teller were torn apart by two stallions]: Chubinsky 1878, No. 50: 157-167; Ukrainians(Volyn) [there are three daughters in a family; the father went into the forest with the eldest; a whirlwind blew her away on a bridge and a sack of money fell on her from above; the same with the middle one; with the youngest; a son was born; when he grew up, the girls did not want to marry him, so that they would not be swept away too; the parents admitted that their son had sisters, he went to look for them, with him a mace and 12 loaves of bread; in the field, three devils are fighting over four wonderful objects; a pipe in which tobacco never ends, an inexhaustible purse, a flying carpet, an invisibility cap; the guy tells them to go to the other end of the field: whoever runs up first gets everything; he himself flew away on a flying carpet; flew to the eldest sister; when her husband flew in {from what follows it is clear that all husbands are snakes with a different number of voices}, he promises not to kill the "schwager"; promises to help; the same with the middle sister; with the youngest; On the way home the guy ends up at the king's; his daughter will marry someone who weighs more than her, and executes losers; the guy, remaining invisible, asks three times what the secret is; the princess replies that she has a ring that pulls the scales down; the guy threatens to kill her, she gives the ring; a wedding; the king gave the kingdom to his son-in-law; the wife does not order him to open the door, "that is tied with bast"; they have a son; a year later the young king opened the door, there is a snake hanging by the tongue on a hook; took him for the husband of his elder sister, freed him, and he took his wife; he asks his wife to find out what the soul of the snake is; the snake: in a bull with golden horns; she slaughtered the bull, found nothing; a ram with golden horns (ditto); a pillar in the sea, a hole under it, in it an egg; the king asks the "schwagers" for help; the youngest, with 12 heads, knows; they came, he parted the water, they pulled out so much, got the egg; the king began to fight with the dragon; they drove each other into the ground; then he broke the egg; the dragon disappeared, the hero remained on the throne]: Chubinsky 1878, No. 52: 172-179; Ukrainians(Cherkasskaya, Chigirinsky u.) [the queen quarreled with the blacksmith's wife; her son from the womb: "a bitch started barking with a bitch"; the queen: I will hatch you and then eat you; when she gave birth, she sent the child to the blacksmith, ordered him to roast it and bring it to her to eat; the blacksmith sharpens a knife; the boy stood up and said: don't cut me, daddy, I will be useful to you; slaughter the puppy and cut off my finger as proof; the blacksmith pretended that the dogs took the meat, only the finger remained; the queen ate the finger; seeing the blacksmith, the king orders him to milk the bull and make butter and cheese; the son: go and cook peas on the road along which the king will travel; say that you are going to sow it; the king: what a fool; the blacksmith: is it smarter to ask to milk the bull? the king: that you come both on foot and by train; the son: with one foot in the stirrup and the other on the ground; the king: come with a treat and without a treat; the son: give a bun and a chicken, but give the chicken so that it immediately flies out the window; the king promised to come himself to identify his son; he went out into the steppe and began to play with the children; the frogs croak; the boy: whose frogs fall silent is the king; everyone shouts: be silent, frogs; and when the boy told them to be silent, they fell silent; the boy king gave everyone a horse, i.e. a stick; then a second; one came to complain: another took one stick from me, now he has three; the boy king ordered the thief to be hanged; they hanged him, but he left; everyone is looking for him - both the king and the blacksmith; the king orders a golden plow to be dragged around the world; whoever names the price is my son; the boy-king: he is not worth a crust of bread; they told the king; the king: so this is my son; the king threw a feast for the whole world, but the son left again; he married in another land; the serpent stole his wife; he came to his wife: the wife: now a 12-headed serpent will fly in and eat him; the serpent orders to hang him; but he made an agreement with three regiments, they will appear at the call of the corpse; he asks permission to sound the trumpet three times; the three regiments come, they hanged the serpent; the wife too, because she thought that her husband was finished, and clung to the serpent; he married in his own land; I was there, drank honey, beer, it ran down my beard, but did not get into my mouth]: Grinchenko 1897, No. 187: 262-269; Ukrainians (Ekaterinoslavskaya, Mariupol district) [while hunting, Ivan Tsarevich meets an iron wolf; the wolf agrees to eat him on his wedding day; the tsar surrounds the palace with an army, but the wolf passes by, Ivan gallops ahead, comes to a hut on a chicken leg, where a witch with three daughters lives; she agrees to rid him of the wolf if he marries her daughter; the wolf is her husband; they decide to kill their son-in-law, send for living and dead water; a crow promises to get it if Ivan does not touch her crows; teaches a bird to fly into a well and fly away to the side, otherwise the guard snakes will burn it with fire; Ivan came to an old man, his wife had died, Ivan revived her; the old man gave a handkerchief, told me to throw it on the wolf, the iron fell off him, he became a 12-headed snake, you need to hit the right and the left, the heads flew off; [one must get to the witch as a kitten; I.-the kitten hears how the eldest daughter of the witch and the wolf promises to become a well, the middle one – an apple tree, the youngest – a room with food on the table; he chops all this, blood flows; returns home to his wife and parents]: Dragomanov 1876, No. 6: 271-274 (=Petnikov 1956: 159-163); Ukrainians(Kharkiv) [A princess gives birth to a son, her parents drive her away, cut off her hands, tie the child to their back. She wants to drink at a well, her son asks her to put his hands in the water - she does, the hands grow back. They settle in an empty forest house. Ivan examines the house, finds a 12-headed snake on 12 chains in the barn ("tied with a strip of stripe, and smeared with excrement"), the snake asks to give him a drink - there are buckets of water and blood nearby, Ivan refuses, forbids the mother to enter the barn. In his absence, she enters, gives the snake a drink, he becomes a handsome man, convinces her to destroy her son - to send him for rings, which can be obtained by riding between two shifting mountains. On the way, Ivan comes to a hut where a girl is embroidering, she gives him her horse so that Ivan can get to the mountains, at the mountains the horse orders him to climb into his right ear. Ivan takes out a bandura from there, places it between the mountains, the mountains stop from playing the bandura, takes the rings. The mother again pretends to be ill, sends her son for snake fat, he again receives the girl's horse, it tells him to beat the snake when it wakes up (?), it "cowards" for 11 days, and dies on the 12th. Ivan cuts out the fat, brings it to his mother, she demands bear's milk, he again takes the girl's horse, the horse advises him to tie the sabre "to the ears", the she-bear asks not to kill her, milks the milk for Ivan. The horse gallops 12 miles in one jump, in the house Ivan sees his mother with a dove (a snake that has turned into a snake), the bird flies out the window, Ivan chases after it, the mother asks her son to throw down his sabre so as not to get hurt, he obeys, the snake takes its form, kills Ivan, scatters the bones in the field. Three mermaids, the sisters of the girl from the hut, see him, each of them steps over Ivan's bones, he is healed, gets up, then speaks (the ability to speak as a stage of returning to life; then it is not clear - something was cut off and molded into a cake and eaten). He marries the girl from the hut, kills the snake, seats the mother in front of two buckets - his and the snake, to understand who she cries more about - him or the snake. He returns, sees that the bucket is full of snakes, leaves his mother]: Grinchenko 1895, No. 158: 155-159; Ukrainians (Ekaterinoslavskaya, Pavlograd district) [an old woman advised a childless queen to catch and eat a fish; the cook also ate, the dog ate the head, and the cat the guts; everyone (including the cat) gave birth to a boy; the sons grew up, the tsar gave them horses, but Suchenko did not; he whistled - the whole herd fell; only one horse in the third herd survived; S.: this is mine; everyone throws a stone, S. hit the tsar's palace with a stone; all four arrived in the forest, where there was a hut on a chicken leg, on a goose foot; the old woman warns that a snake flies in at night; everyone goes to keep watch, falls asleep, each time the snake meets S. instead of them; the first is the Cat Man; a three-headed serpent rides a horse across a bridge; S. and the serpent blow on each other, driving each other into the ground; S. cut off all three heads and went to bed; Kukharenko – a serpent with 6 heads ; on the third night – 12 heads ; The 12th cannot be cut down; the brothers are sleeping, they do not see the blood on the plate; a fly woke up Kukharenko, they let the horse and dog down, and came running themselves; S. took off his boot and threw it, destroying the house where they were sleeping; S. eavesdrops on the conversation of the snakes' wives under the bridge; one promises to become a well, another an apple tree, the third {not clear}, the fourth - a cloud; S. cuts down a well, an apple tree - blood flows; a she-snake flies, they threw a salted cake into her mouth, she flew to drink; then she swallowed Koshechnik and Kukharenko; S. hides with the blacksmith Kuzma-Demyan; when the she-snake flew in, he ordered her to drill a hole in the door with her tongue; he grabbed her by the tongue and harnessed her to the plow; S. orders them to burp the brothers and bring living water; She first brought it dead, then normal, and had to hit its head with a hammer; after the brothers were revived, the snake was released; it flew to the sea, began to drink and burst]: Chubinsky 1878, No. 69: 252-256.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Megrels (Chakvindzhi village, Zugdidi district) [{interlinear translation; sometimes not entirely clear}; a visitor promises a childless king that he will have a son, Dzhimushieri, but he must never see an egg or hear such a word in his life; one day Dzh. hears the word, tells his parents to tell him everything, and leaves; the girl will marry the one who explains what “the heart’s rose and the heart’s longing” are, and the loser’s head will be given a bare head; Dzh. arrives to the sad king, who will tell him about this, but then cuts off his head; the horse promises to carry Dzh. over the wall; the king says that his wife has fallen in love with a 12-headed giant; the king’s sister found out about this, and his wife turned her into a white dog; the king cut off the giant’s head, turned his wife into a falcon; Dzh. galloped away, married the girl, and returned to his parents]: Petrov 1894: 78-89; Georgians (west in the Georgian village of Sachilavo in Megrelia) [the king has 363 sons, the eldest Samaisa ("samasi" - 300); S. suggests to his father to marry them all at once to 363 sisters; the first devi replies that he has 361 daughters, the second - 362, the third - 363; he gives away his daughters; warns that near the devi with 362 daughters lives a nine-headed devi, and near the one with 361 daughters - a 12-headed one; S. does not let him go to the 9-headed one, but the 12-headed one pulls all the newlyweds into the abyss to himself; promises to let him go if S. gets him the daughter of the eastern king; S. meets, takes as a companion 1) the one lying on the ear and covering himself with it, 2) the one chasing hares, having tied a millstone to his leg, 3) the one shooting at an animal, at a bird a thousand miles away, 4) the one plucking feathers from pigeons, and they do not notice, 5) the one counting the number of ants in an anthill, 6) the one drinking a lake in one gulp, 7) the one swallowing lumps of earth; everyone answers that this is not surprising, but what is surprising is that S. with 362 brothers married the daughters of the 12-headed maiden; S. jumps over the wall on horseback, opens the gate, the shooter destroys the guard dogs, the king proposes tests; 1) whose messenger will be the first to bring living water; the king's messenger offers the Runner a snack first, he falls asleep; The archer shot an arrow, it broke a millstone, the Runner returned first; 2) who will eat more (Obedalo devours the food, shouts that it is not enough); 3) drink 40 wineskins of water (Opivalo drinks); 4) collect the sown wheat (the one who counted the ants orders them to collect it); the king gives his daughter away, but orders to add a sleeping potion to the food; The one who plucked pigeon feathers switched the dishes, the king's men fell asleep; having brought the princess, S. offers the maidens to shave him, cut his throat with a razor (if he cuts again, new maidens will appear with each swing); S.'s brothers dug a hole, S. fell into it, but the horse galloped away, the brothers covered the hole with earth, took the princess; the horse asks the fox to dig a hole in exchange for a promise to give her his hind leg; kicks the fox when she approaches; the same with the wolf, the bear; the bear dug to the bottom, the horse pulled S. out; the parents gave S. the throne, and made his brothers his servants]: Kapanadze 1900: 129-141.

Iran – Central Asia. Dards (tire) [rachiye (something like peri; shamans are associated with them) rarely have wings, but more often move on flying carpets or on the back of a 12-headed demon]: Nicolaus 2005: 219.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [a peasant's eldest son is smart, but his youngest is a fool (lit. "doesn't understand"); every midnight the peasant is awakened by the crow of a rooster coming from under the floor; the eldest son watches; a fiery red rooster appears, crows, and flies away through the roof; when it is the fool's turn, he gives the rooster peas soaked in vodka; the rooster fell asleep, the lad brought it to his father and brother; they decided to kill the rooster, but the fool prevented it and did it; the rooster woke up and flew through the wall; the fool's father chased him away; a rooster came towards him; cut off a piece of his own flesh and told the lad to eat it; the lad felt incredible strength; the rooster warned that the lad should no longer drink vodka: one sip was enough for all the strength to go away; the lad makes himself a huge club; hires himself out to different masters, easily does unimaginably hard work, gets money, but each time gives it to a young tramp he meets; together they come to a city where a 12-headed dragon has kidnapped the princess; the guy goes to free her, and meets a three-headed dragon; in place of each severed head a new one grows, but the companion cauterizes the necks; then behind an iron wall there is a 6-headed dragon (ditto); behind a golden wall there is a 9-headed (ditto); in a golden castle there is a 12-headed (ditto); the guy washed himself in the dragon's blood and became covered with a horny crust, and only his eyes remained vulnerable; the king gave the guy his daughter and the throne; the new king sent for his father and brother, but it turned out that they had again caught the fiery rooster to kill him, but the rooster destroyed them themselves; the wife remained childless and died; he took another, but she did not love him; brought and hid the king of enemies and began to give her husband wine to drink and ask where his strength lay; "In his beard"; cut off his beard; persuaded him not to be angry, gave him wine again; "I will weaken if I wash with hot water"; washed (the same); "I am not vulnerable, but my eyes are vulnerable"; the wife plunged a knife into his eye; before she plunged it into the second, the king grabbed a sabre and swung it, destroying the castle; he, his wife, friends and enemies perished under the ruins]: Medalje 1889: 28-34; Lithuanians{The text seems to have been adapted from the Labours of Hercules; but the 12-headed dragon is in keeping with the Circumbaltic standard} [God granted the requests of a childless royal couple and sent an angel; he gave the queen a golden fish; but the witch gave her a silver one; she had two sons; Hans (Jonas?) with golden hair and a golden star on his forehead, and Peter with silver; one day the nurses brought the baby into the forest and went away; at that time a lioness fed G. with her milk, and a she-bear fed P.; seeing that G. was more handsome and stronger than Peter, the witch sent two snakes to bite Hans; but Hans strangled them both, squeezing each with his hand; at 15 years old, brothers easily kill robbers; the witch summoned from the earth a snake-legged giant with dragon-like hands; the old man (it was the same angel) gave G. an ointment, telling him to smear it on his body after washing; G. shot all the giants with a bow; he and P. went wandering; a girl is tied to a tree by the water to be eaten by a 12-headed dragon; G. chops with a sword, but two heads grow in place of one; but G. lit a log and began to cauterize the wounds; killed the dragon; smeared it with poisonous blood arrows; defeated the dog-headed men]: Richter 1989, No. 1: 230-239; Latvians [a poor fisherman is childless; he cast a net to pull in Laima's catch, caught a fish; she tells him to collect its scales, put them in his pocket, the scales will turn into money; the wife thinks that her husband robbed someone, threatens to report to the king; having learned about the fish, orders it to be brought; the fisherman caught it again, she orders it to be cut into 5 pieces, given to his wife, mare, dog, cat to eat, the fifth piece to be shove under the floor in the stable; everyone gave birth to twins, the boys, foals, puppies, kittens have golden hair (wool); the king asked to give one boy to him; his own son is jealous - the father loves the adopted child more; pushed him from the tower; but he did not crash, but returned to his father; decided to go wandering, taking with him his stallion, dog, cat; found a saddle and bridle under the floor of the stable; mourning in a strange city: the princess is given to the 12-headed snake; the young man killed the snake-devil, the animals helped in the battle, cut out their tongues , left; the deceiver collected the heads, ordered to say that he is the savior, the king promises to give him his daughter; the princess asks for a year's reprieve; a year later the young man returned, the princess recognized him, he stuck out his tongues, a wedding; the impostor was executed]: Niedre 1952: 110-115; Estonians : Järv et al. 2015 (Virumaa, Lüganuse khk.) [the father taught his son the language of birds, asks what the crows are talking about; the son: that one day you will bow down to me; the father drove his son away; on the way he bought three dogs – Ass, Võts, Murra kaul (“Get it!”, “Take it!”, “Break my neck!”); came to the city, where it was the turn of the king’s daughter to be eaten by the snake, otherwise it would flood everything; when a three-headed snake crawled out of the lake, the young man ordered the dogs to kill it, cut off its heads, cut off its tongues , hid in a handkerchief; the same with 6- and 12-headed snakes; promised to return in 5 years, cutting the princess's ring and taking half for himself; in the fifth year, the general produced the heads, demanded the princess for himself; before the wedding, the real savior appeared, produced the tongues and half the ring; wedding; the general was hanged]: 17-20; Mälk et al. 1967, No. 71 (Juri) [in the forest, the king saw a mushroom, and under it a dwarf with a big beard; he brought it to himself, put it in the basement, called the other kings to look at the curiosity; the boy prince was playing with a ball, it flew into the basement; the dwarf promised to give the ball back if the boy stole the key from his mother; let him cry, the mother will take it on her lap, you need to take the key out of your pocket, and then return it in the same way; the prince grew up and then told his father everything; he drove him away, giving him a horse and a servant; when the prince went down into the well to get water, the servant made him swear that they would change roles, otherwise he would not pull him out of the well; another king had a deceiver become his chief adviser, and the real prince had to look after the horses; he laments his fate; that dwarf came out from under the stone, led him underground; the eldest daughter gave a self-assembled tablecloth and a copper whistle; if you whistle, a copper horse and robe will appear, with them no enemy is scary; the same thing next time (silver, gold horse and robe); a three-headed snake coming out of the lake demands the king's daughter, otherwise he will ruin everything; the prince in a copper outfit kills him, returns the daughter to the king; the same with the 6-headed (silver horse) and 12-headed (golden horse) dragons; the youngest princess bandaged the savior's wound; the impostor bribed the warriors to say that he was the savior; the king wants to give him his youngest daughter; she caught the fake groom playing the pipe; he appeared to the king in a golden robe and brought the heads and tongues of snakes; but the impostor cannot; the prince is made son-in-law and heir, the impostor is thrown into the well]: 204-213; Setu : Järv et al. 2009, no. 4 [the queen is childless, the king brings fish, tells the cook to cook it, and not to eat it himself; the queen ate the fish, the cook the broth, the dog the bones, each gave birth to a son: Ivan Tsarevich (IC), Ivan Povarov (IP), Old Son of a Bitch (S); the brothers come to the bridge; IP is the first to guard, the Devil (vanasitt) rides, IP hits him, he does not even notice, S. kills the Devil; the same on the next night, when the IC is on guard; on the third - the 12-headed devil; S. leaves a knife - it will drip blood, let the brothers come to the rescue; the devil's severed heads grow back; S. throws a shoe, then another, at the brothers, but they hid under the stove; S. gathered his strength, killed the devil; the first two devils had wives, one became an apple tree, the other a well; S. destroyed the apple tree, the well; the wife of the 12-headed one, one lip for half the world and the other for half the world (ühe huule ühe ilmaveere peale, teise huule teise ilmaveere peale), opened her mouth; S. poured flour there; S. and the IC slipped through, the IP was swallowed; S. told the blacksmith to prepare the tongs; the 12-headed man's wife opened her mouth, the blacksmith grabbed her tongue with pincers, she burped IP, he was in flour, S. killed her]: 47-50; Karelians(Southern Karelia) [a priest rode through the forest on horseback; a she-bear ate the horse, carried the priest to her den; she bore him a son; his face was clear, his body was hairy; Ivan Medveddin (IM) grew up, suggests that his father leave; the she-bear caught up with him, he killed her; the priest and his wife are afraid that IM will ruin them - he works too much; they decided to kill him; they order to bring a foal that had been behind the fence for three years; it opened its mouth, but IM pacified it and brought it; the priest orders to put it with the horses; the foal killed them all; they send for fish to a small lake, where a water spirit attracts fish from 30 fathoms; IM makes a sleigh out of pine trees, harnesses the foal; beats the water spirit, forcing him to load the sleigh with fish; he calls the water spirit a deacon (he has long hair) and brings it to the father: we have no deacon; people tell THEM that the priest wants to destroy him; he goes off on a journey, taking the foal and the sleigh; he meets and takes a fisherman as a companion (a fishing rod is a pine tree, a lure is a horse); then a second; a third; they live in a house, cook in turns; a two-toothed old woman got up from the cellar, pinched the cook's beard between the floorboards, ate everything, went back; so every time; when it is THEM's turn, he puts a red-hot iron in the old woman's mouth, she loses the gift of speech, hides underground; THEM is lowered down after her on a rope; below is the seashore, clouds from the sea, an eagle's nest, the eaglets are freezing; THEM plugged the cracks in the nest, the eaglets warmed up; the eagle attacked THEM, but the chicks explained that he had saved them; she agrees to carry him out to land, but must rest; THEM walks along the shore, a girl is weaving in a hut; as he strikes with a harpoon - 12 shoes fall; says that HIM crippled her grandmother; HIM says that HIM died, proposes to marry her, she agrees; the same with the second girl (12 overcoats fall); with the third (12 rifles); in the fourth hut is the grandmother (this is the old woman); they ask him for help: let the grandmother either recover or die; HIM tells everyone to leave; puts a hot iron in the grandmother's mouth, pours boiling water; the old woman died; HIM sent three girls to the ground; puts a stone in his place; the companions lifted it halfway and threw it, thinking that it was HIM; the eagle carried HIM to the ground; he forgave the companions; arrived in the city, there the princess is given to the snake; the first angler is coming; a three-headed snake; angler: there the magpies pecked to pieces your hemp field; the snake turned around, the angler cut off two heads, the snake returned to the sea; second angler; 6-headed serpent; "Smoke rises from the NE, you don't see it"; the serpent turned around, the angler cut off 5 heads; third; 9-headed serpent; 12-headed serpent; HE himself is coming; he made an iron woman who smiles; the serpent put his hands in her mouth, she bit them off; HE knocked down 11 voices; HE took as his wife the princess whom he himself saved, others received ranks from the king]: Konkka, Tupitsyn 1967, No. 29: 251-262.

Volga – Perm. Komi (Lower Vychegda dialect) [a young man went to pasture cows; a black cloud approaches; it is a three-headed serpent; he cuts off all three heads; then a 6-headed one (ditto); a 9-headed one (ditto); a 12-headed one (the text breaks off)]: Rédei 1978, no. 37: 137; Komi -Permyaks (northern dialect) [the tsar allowed his three daughters to walk in the garden; a whirlwind immediately carried them away; the tsar promises one of them as a wife and a rank to the one who returns the daughters; the soldier Foolish Ivanushka (I.) promised to find them; the tsar gave him two soldiers as companions; I. began to play the accordion; a long-bearded man appeared and began to dance; I. stopped playing on the condition that the dwarf would tell him where the kidnapped princesses were; he only said that they were with the serpents; I. pinched his beard, splitting the stump, but he broke free at night, leaving a tuft of beard; I. and his companions followed the bloody trail to a hole in the ground; they lowered Ivan on a rope; it was light there, the princess was rinsing linen in the river; she lived with a three-headed serpent; her sisters were further away; he ordered to change the barrels with strong and weak water; the serpent breathes fire, but weakens, I. chopped off his heads, the princess gave him a crystal palace; the next princess had a six-headed serpent for a husband (also, a silver palace); the third had a 12-headed serpent (also, a golden palace, I. and the princess decided to get married); the companions pulled the princesses out, began to argue over them, but I. did not pull them out; I. began to play, the dwarf began to dance; I. stopped playing when the dwarf carried him to the ground; the princesses to their father: we will marry the soldiers if they bring us the palaces and clothes that we had; I. plays again, forcing the dwarf to bring the palaces and place them opposite the king's palace; I. showed the princesses' clothes and tongues cut out of the mouths of snakes; the king put the deceivers in prison, married his youngest daughter to Ivan; I was there, drank beer, and not a drop got into my mouth]: Rédei 1978, no. 188: 425-431; Mari(meadow) [=Sabitova 1992: 102-109; a soldier returns home, bends down to drink at the pond by the mill, the devil grabbed him by the beard, lets him go for a promise to give him back, that he does not know the house; he has a son Ivan at home; I. goes to look for the one to whom he was sold; he enters through the oak door, there is a staircase down; the old man (he is the younger brother of the big Satan) tells him to go three hundred miles, 11 doves will fly to the lake, turn into girls, start swimming, put on their clothes again and fly away; after this the 12th will fly in, her clothes must be hidden, returned for a promise to become his wife; she promises, it is three years' journey to her, she will hang a ribbon from the window, her house will be the third from the edge; I. comes, the wife tells him to go to her father, slam the door loudly, take the spoon from him, start eating himself; Satan is surprised, promises to give him work in a week; orders 1) to uproot the forest overnight (wife sends workers, I. brings the last stump); 2) to plow, sow, reap the harvest, bake bread, bring one boatload of bread (ditto); 3) to build a church and for a priest to serve; ditto; Satan will turn into a pig, wife orders to throw a hammer at it; tame a stallion; this is Satan himself, you need to hit him with a hammer; Satan orders to take and choose a wife from 12 girls, they are in the form of doves; wife: I will go down and up; 12 sheep (wife will come out third); 12 dewdrops (third from the edge, about to drip); Satan sends the young into a cast-iron bathhouse, wants to burn; wife orders a broom, trough, ladle to answer that they are still steaming, washing; the young people run, 11 daughters of Satan in pursuit; the wife turns I. into a chapel, she herself is an old woman, the sisters return; Satan himself chases, the wife is a ruff, the husband is a lake; Satan becomes a pike, cannot catch the ruff, breaks the bank so that the newlyweds do not come out, but I.'s wife restores everything; a wedding in the house of I.'s father]: Chetkarev 1941, No. 37: 282-286; Mordvins [the horse orders to take off its skin, put it on itself; when necessary, the horse will come to the rescue; the guy began to be called Horse Skin (LS), he hired himself out to the tsar as a gardener; the three-headed dragon demands the eldest daughter to be eaten; LS calls the horse, kills the snake, the princess gives him her ring; the coachman orders to say that he is the savior; the same with the 9-headed snake (middle daughter); with the 12-headed (youngest); LS falls asleep every time, wakes up from a dripping tear; at the feast only LS showed the princesses' handkerchiefs and rings; married the youngest, and the coachman was tied to the horse's tail]: Samorodov 1972: 202-213; Mordvins[the tsar has a son, plays with children, cripples them; decides to leave; orders a club weighing 6 poods to be forged; tossed it up, put his finger under it, it broke; the same at 8; at 12 only bent; meets, takes a hero as a companion; another one; they build a house by the bridge over a ravine; they must guard it in turns, but the companions fall asleep, every night the prince is by the bridge; in the first he killed a 6-headed snake, in the second - a 9-headed one; on the third he orders the heroes not to sleep: if the water in the glass becomes like blood, pour clean water; 12-headed snake; the prince threw down his boot, the companions woke up, changed the water, the prince's club became strong again, he knocked off all the heads; they rode on; the prince returned, supposedly for gloves, he himself eavesdrops; The wives of the snakes promise that one will become a spring, the second an apple tree, the third a pillow; the mother of the snake: one lip must be raised to the sky, the other left on the ground; one breast on the ground, the other to the sky; the prince cuts down a spring, an apple tree, a pillow; blood flows; the mother of snakes is on the way; the prince's horse jumped over her, and she swallowed his companions; the prince hid in the forge, teaches what to do; the mother of snakes stuck her tongue in the window, the blacksmiths grabbed him with pincers, chained him to the anvils; the prince beats her, she belched up her companions; released; as soon as the prince thought that he was very strong, his horse disappeared; found him imprisoned in the house of a wizard; the prince gave the grooms a drink, took the horse away; the wizard looks in the mirror, caught up on a three-legged horse, took the prince's horse away; the wizard caught up again, but agreed to give it up if the prince would get him one of the three sisters in a glass palace at the bottom of the sea; the prince meets and takes Obiedala as a companion; lying on a red-hot harrow on a fire and suffering from hunger; opivalu; jumping to the sky; turning into a fish; they came to a glass house; the old woman offers to wash in a red-hot bath (the freezing one cools it down); opievalo and obiedala consume wine and bread; the bride became a fish; a star; the prince's comrades catch her; the prince received the girl; she creates a ditch with red-hot coals, orders him to steal the horse again; the three-legged horse falls into the ditch on the 12th jump; the prince brought the girl for himself; the old man offers to share her; [he cut them in half, cleaned out the snakes and frogs, put them back together, revived them, and gave them to the prince]: Maskaev 1967: 56-66; Mordvins(Erzya) [the wife died; the boy and girl ask their father to take the stepmother; she asks her husband to kill the children; he only agrees to lock them in a barn; the cow feeds them milk, butter and cottage cheese; the stepmother sends the seven-eyed daughter, the children put her to sleep; then the six-eyed one; etc.; the one-eyed one has a big eye, does not sleep, she told the stepmother, she asks her husband to slaughter the cow; she tells the children to tie her with a rotten rope, open the gate, grab her by the horns, carries the children away; runs through a forest of copper (do not touch copper buttons), silver (silver rings), gold (earrings), tin (coins); the boy picks one each time as a gift for his sister; they live in a house with a door made of bark; a copper, silver and tin bull come in succession, each one orders to call a cow to butt him, since her children took a button, a ring, an earring; the cow kills the copper, silver and gold ones; she knows that the tin one will kill her; she orders to make three belts from her skin, call three dogs, put belt loops on them; their names are Skakun, Gryzun, Lovun; they bring food to the brother and sister; a lion and a tiger join them, 30 animals in all; they killed a 12-headed snake ; they buried 11 heads, but forgot the 12th; the brother comes to his sister, the house has rich storerooms; in one of them there are robbers; the lion and the tiger killed them; when leaving, the brother does not order his sister to open one room; she found a robber there; they came to an agreement; they agreed to kill the brother in a hot bath; the brother blows the horn, the animals hear, break down the door; they tore the robber apart; the brother left his sister at the millstone; when she dries like a torch, the millstone becomes as big as a pear, and two troughs fill with blood and pus, he will come to him; the king's daughter has disappeared; the guy with the animals comes to the witch; the sorcerer came to her at night; the lion squeezes him in his paws; he confesses that the princess has been turned into a ring on the old woman's finger; disenchanted; in her place the king has an imaginary daughter - she seems to be ill; the guy poured pitch on her, she turned into clay; the guy received the princess and the kingdom; he goes to his sister; everything came true there (a trough of blood, etc.); the old woman gives her sister hemp seeds (in fact, these are the teeth of a poisonous snake) to put in the ear of her sleeping brother and his wife - they will die; the animals began to shake their bodies, the seeds fell out; the lion tore the old woman to pieces, and the tiger - the sister; the wife gave birth to a son - an iron heel, a stone crown, knees wrapped in wire]: Maskaev 1967, No. 10: 82-93; Chuvash [Ivan's mother died; the stepmother has three daughters from I.'s father; the stepmother baked I. a poisoned flatbread; the foal tells him about it, advises him to give the flatbread to the puppy; the stepmother hangs an axe over the door (the same, the axe fell on the puppy); the healer advises to ask her husband to stab the foal; the foal advises to ask permission to ride him for the last time, carries I. away; orders to put a pig's bladder on his head, to hire himself out to the king to guard the garden, to answer "I can't know" to everything; the king has three daughters, a snake demands the eldest to be eaten; the tsar promises her to the savior; the unrecognized I. rides on his foal, chops off the heads of the two-headed serpent; the same - the seven-headed one; he demanded the middle daughter, she bandaged the hero's broken finger, then saw her scarf on I., noticed his golden hair; but still considered I. a fool; the tsar gave the eldest and middle daughters to false saviors; the same with the youngest - a 12-headed serpent; I. comes to the wedding feast in her true form; the youngest princess recognized I. as the savior; the impostor was hanged]: Sidorova 1979: 108-113; Chuvash Tales 1937 [the serpent knocked the sun and the moon out of the sky with its tail and captured the peoples and tribes; three babies remained and with each a foal - white, black, dun; one in the steppe, another in the forest, the third in a crevice of the rocks; grew up, became Ser-pattar, Yuman-pattar, Tu-pattar ("earth-, oak-, mountain-heroes"); S. met first Y., then T., they rode together; stopped in a house, next to a bridge over a river; at midnight S. woke up: a wave carries a snake sitting on a copper throne with three crowns on three heads; S. fights with him on the bridge, killed him, hid the heads and pieces of the body under the bridge, did not tell the brothers anything; they drove up to the village; S. peeks through the window of the hut: there a woman is rocking a baby, she has a star on her forehead, stars in her ears; she tells the baby that to avenge the death of his father, he will become a raspberry bush, the heroes will eat the berries and die; S. cut the bush, black blood flowed; the brothers stop in another house near the bridge over Shura-Shyv ("white river"); Y. must to guard, but falls asleep, S. sees how the ninth wave carries out a serpent on a silver throne, silver crowns on 9 heads; he drove S. waist-deep into the ground, but S. chopped off all the heads, hid them under the bridge; S. again peeps into the hut; the same episode, there are even more stars on the woman, she sits on a silver chair, promises to turn into a spring; S. chops the spring, black blood began to flow; the brothers spend the night at the bridge over the Black River, T. goes to guard, falls asleep; the twelfth wave carries out a 12-headed serpent, golden crowns on their heads; he drives S. into the ground, but S. came out, chopped off 11 heads; to save the last one, the serpent took the sun out of one ear, the moon from the other, gave it; S. cut off his head anyway; in the hut, a woman with stars on her body sits on a golden chair, promises to turn into a bed with a feather bed; S. chops, black blood flowed; the mother of snakes surrounded the heroes with her body, swallowed Y. and T., S. jumped over on his horse, galloped away, the snake pursued; S. locked himself in the forge, offered the snake to lick the iron door, grabbed her tongue with hot pincers, came out, began to chop from the tail, all the swallowed came out, each threw a handful of earth, a mountain was formed; S. took the sun and the moon out of his pockets, they returned to the sky]: 27-40; Kazan Tatars[a brother has three dogs: lighter than the wind, lighter than hops, heavier than the earth; a sister took a snake-yukha as a lover; he offers to poison her brother; one dog overturns the poisoned water, another - a bowl of porridge, the third breaks the bathhouse in which yukha wanted to burn the young man, carries it to the river, the young man comes to life; leaves his sister to fill a barrel with tears, dry out like a torch, gnaw a brick; kills 6-, 9-, 12-headed azhdakha, to whom the eldest, middle, youngest daughters of the padishah were given; each gives her ring; the watchman says that he saved the princesses, but cannot lift the stone under which the heads are; he was shot, the young man took the middle princess, lives with her in the forest; the sister came, put two teeth of yukha in her brother's bed; dogs found and pulled teeth out of the ear of the young man (made a bear roar and a hare put its ear to the ear of the young man); the young man cut off his sister's head]: Zamaletdinov 2008b, No. 1: 25-32; Bashkirs [after the death of their parents, 10 brothers go off to look for work, refuse to eat the old woman's unsalted soup; the youngest, eleventh Karasa-batyr, eats it, she orders to first destroy the talismans of the yalmauz, then fight; the girl says where the talisman of the 7-, 12-headed yalmauz is, K. kills him; the same in the palaces of the 9-headed; K. frees the captives; meets the brothers, gives each one 10 girls, takes three for himself; at night the azhdakha captured the brothers, releases them for K.'s promise to bring the daughter of Kurenmyas Khan; K. meets and takes as his companion 1) a one-legged runner, 2) a tall man who catches birds with his hands, 3) a listener, 4) one who drinks from a lake; the khan demands 1) to wrestle a bull; 2) to climb a pole without spilling milk, to ring a bell; 3) to overtake a runner (a 60-year-old old woman); 4) to spend the night in a hot bathhouse; together the companions do everything; the khan turns his daughter into a knife, a pillow, a writing pen, orders her to choose among 12 samovars, 12 feather beds, 12 scribes; K. makes the right choice every time; the girl turns into a fish, the Drinker drains the lake, the companions cook the fish, the imaginary fish jumps out of the cauldron; turns into grains of wheat, they are fed to a duck, the girl takes on her previous appearance; flies away as a duck, the birdcatcher grabs her; The fox offers to give her to the azhdaha instead of the girl; the azhdaha believed; K. lives with four wives]: Barag 1988, No. 32: 200-213; Bashkirs [40 sons, the youngest Altynduga; one did all the work that the father and the older 39 sons were accustomed to do (return the herds from the pasture and lock them in the stalls); chose a poor shearer for himself, it turned out to be a heroic horse; brought him to the rock where there is a sword above the door: take it, your soul is in it; nearby is a house with girls; a horse: one of them is your bride; A. asks his father to find them 40 sisters as wives; the father met an old man: he has 40 daughters; the father left A. at home; he told him where to go; on the way back do not stop in the garden and do not pick berries there, the garden is owned by a seven-headed monster yalmauz (a man-eating sorcerer or snake); they began to pick berries, Ya. demands that A. get him the daughter of a deva from behind Mount Kaf, take his bride hostage; A. goes, meets along the way, takes as a companion 1) an arrow (an arrow shot into the sky falls after three days); 2) a drinker (drinks a lake, passing water through his teeth, the fish remains in his mouth); 3) a runner with millstones on his feet; the king will give his daughter to the one who climbs a pillar without spilling a glass of honey on his head (A. climbed, saw his house from the top, burst into tears, but proved that the drops are not honey, but a tear); 2) shoot an arrow through a golden ring (the shooter shot); 3) overtake an old woman runner, run for 13 days; the old woman put the Runner to sleep, covered her with a pot; A. saw from the top of the pillar, the Shooter woke her up, hitting the pot with an arrow; 4) survive in a stone house, and around there is burning firewood 40 soot thick (the Drinker doused the fire); A. and his companions go to Mount Kaf, and the princess will be taken on the way back; at the top of Kaf A. leaves the kurai: if blood flows from it instead of milk, then trouble; he goes on alone; the old woman directs him to the eldest sister, she - to the eldest; she says that the deva has 3 heads, his brothers have 6 and 12 ; offers to take off the whip, A. cannot; gives a drink of strength - then he was able; hit the girl with this whip near the house, a ditch will appear, hide in it; the girl will come out to the howling of animals - there is no one; this several times; she will kill all the animals and go to bed; she must be beaten with the whip until she submits; having become A.'s wife, the girl advises to wait for her uncles-devs under the bridges over which they will pass; A. killed the devas, settled with his wife by the sea; An old woman floated up on a board: everyone drowned, only one remained; stayed to live with A. and his wife; advises to find out from her husband what his soul is; A. in the insole of a boot; the old woman burned the insole, A. did not notice; in a sword; the old woman threw the sword into the sea, A. died, the old woman lured the girl into a boat, brought her to the king, who sent her; A.'s friends are on Mount Kaf: blood instead of milk; Vypivalo saw a bloody fish; the fish: it cut its eyes on the sword (since then these fish have red eyes); Vypivalo drank the water, they found the sword, A. came to life; the friends came to the kidnapper, destroyed the king, his army and the old woman, divided the spoils; A. offered to divide the girl; from fear she vomited blood; thus he cleansed her bad blood; on the way home he took the princess given to him by the king; killed the yalmauz and took the princess destined for him; he was left with three wives]: Barag 1988, No. 34: 219-234.

Southern Siberia – Mongolia. Ordos Mongols[Ondey, the best of men, is immeasurably rich in cattle; someone is stealing the foals that his mare gives birth to every year; he is going to give the foal to Khormusta; the mare gives birth, but a yellow rainbow carries it away; O. shot an arrow, the foal fell, the mare licked it; the long yellow lama also fell; he said that he stole the foals on the orders of the burkhan; O. dug a deep well, lowered Long into it, sat the bull and the camel on the hole, ordering them not to get up, even if they were beaten and a twig or stick broke; he went off to inspect the herds; O.'s wife's fire went out, she goes to look for fire, hears a song, comes to the well; Long advises to offer the animals grass and water - O. did not tell them about this; the animals got up, Long got out, the woman brought him to her; she says that she will not return to her husband; Long advises to pretend to be ill, to ask for the heart of a monstrous snake; O. took his dogs Ardzhu and Bardzhu, a peacock and a parrot, went in search; arrived at a black yurt, in front of it a gold and silver hitching post, O. tied the mare to the gold one; the girl invited him into the house, the old woman fed him and paid tribute; having reached the mountain behind which the snake is, the horse teaches to close his eyes, the horse will gallop, making thunder, the snake will close its mouth in fear, you need to shoot, swallowed people will come out of the mouth, then insert an arrow, enter the snake, cut off the heart; the snake's upper lip is level with the mountain to the west, the lower lip is level with the mountain to the east; when O. pulled out the heart, blood flowed, causing a flood; having reached the yurt, O. lost consciousness; The old woman tells her daughter to throw the snake's heart into the abyss and replace it with a bull's heart; at home, Long advises the woman to feed the snake's heart to her husband - it is poisonous and he will die; O. does not die; Long advises her to pretend to be ill again and ask for the brain of a 12-headed black mongoose; O. goes to the black yurt, where there is another girl and an old woman; the old woman tells the girl to cook a bull for her guest and keep the brain separately; the horse trampled the mongoose, O. collected the brain; the old woman tells her daughter to replace the mongoose's brain with a bull's brain; the wife only pretended to eat the brain; she got her husband drunk until he lost consciousness; Long crawled out of the chest and chopped O. into pieces; the mare, the peacock, the parrot and both dogs grabbed and carried off the pieces; the wife gave birth first to O.'s son and then to Long's son; animals guard the chopped body of O., Naran Gho (the daughter of the old woman from the white yurt) found them, the mother gave her a magic item to revive O.; gives him a daughter in marriage, gives him a new name Shudurg Mergen Chagadai Khan (Chagadai Mergen); Long flew away to the sky; CM (i.e. former O.) arrived when only his son was at home; revealed himself to him; took the animal meat out of the cauldron, cooked Long's son; asks his wife if she wants to live with five jings or with the one she does not love; she: with jings; he tied her to five horses; when CM's mare neighed, her son, on whom Long was sitting in the sky, rushed, carrying a rider; Sh. chopped him into 5 pieces and cooked him; lives with his wife, her mother and his son; by order of Khormusta, became the son of Genghis, became emperor]: Mostaert 1937, No. 1 in Solovieva 2014; Oirats(Khukhunor Olety) [Geser, having returned his wife from the twelve-headed Atgyr-Khara-Muus, does not go blind, but his eyelids grow and hang down over his eyes. When he and his wife begin to starve in the steppe, the wife must prop up her eyelids with wooden posts while Geser draws his bow to kill a roe deer; {other details are not given}]: Potanin 1893: 114.

Western Siberia. {Recent Russian borrowing}. Mansi : Kumaeva 2015, No. 1 [Ekva-pygris' and two older brothers go to fight the Menkvas; they live in a hut, taking turns guarding a bridge; the eldest and middle brothers fall asleep, E. kills the 6-headed Menkva on the first night, the 9-headed Menkva on the second; the brothers are ashamed that they overslept everything; when E. fights the 12-headed Menkva, he puts the severed heads back with a fiery finger, drives E. into the ground up to his shoulders; E. throws one glove, then the other - the brothers do not wake up; he threw down his hat, they woke up, released E.'s horse, he galloped up, E. killed the Menkvas; the brothers went on, E. returned to pick up the kerchief; he hears the conversation of the Menkvas' wives; one will turn into a puddle, the second into berries, the third into a bed of deerskin; E. does not allow the brothers to drink, eat, lie down, chops the puddle, berries, bed with a sabre, blood flows; the mother of the Menkvs is chasing with her mouth open; the brothers are hiding in the house of 12 blacksmiths; the mother of the Menkvs licked 11 iron doors; E. went out and killed her; the brothers returned home]: 7-23; Kannisto 1956, No. 18 [in the merchant's house they cooked fish; the dog licked the fish soup, the maid tried it with a spoon, the daughter ate the rest, all three became pregnant, each gave birth to a boy, the name of each is Vanka, all three look the same; playing with their peers, the brothers cripple them; they made bows for themselves, shot and went; Little V.'s arrow fell closest of all, big V.'s arrow fell furthest, beyond 9 seas, 9 mountains, onto a raspberry bridge; they came there, by the bridge there was a house with three locks; little V. tore off the smallest lock, the middle one tore off the middle one, big V. tore off the largest lock; there was food and decks of cards in the hut; they started playing; youngest V. was supposed to go and keep watch, but the eldest went (he was the dog's son); a 6-headed devil rides across the bridge, asks his horse why he stumbles; the horse predicts the devil's death; V. killed him, returned to the hut; the same thing the next day - a 9-headed devil; the third time V. left his mittens in the hut: if one falls and blood appears on the other, he must hurry to help; the 12-headed devil overcomes, the brothers are sleeping, V. throws down his boot, the brothers wake up, come running, 6 heads are cut off; once again the same (throws the second boot, the remaining 6 heads are chopped off); the brothers set off, but V. returned for the boots, became a mouse, overheard the conversation of the she-devils; one promises to cause heat and become a well, a bed, the second - to bring cold and become a hut, the third - to become a pig and kill the brothers; V. chops down a well, a hut, in their place - chopped up corpses; the brothers disperse along three roads; the pig caught up with and killed the youngest, middle brothers; the eldest V. hid in the forge of Kuzma Demyan; the pig licked the door with her tongue, Kuzma Demyan ordered to grab the she-devil by the tongue with pincers, V. did it, crushed the skull with a hammer]: 182-189.

Guiana. Lokono [a man catches a queen vulture, ascends with her to heaven; the vulture mother-in-law demands 1) a bench to be made (as in Coll 1907, no. 1; the mother-in-law has twelve heads), 2) fish to be caught, 3) water to be brought in a basket (ants seal the holes); the man is surrounded by a fence in a vegetable garden; he flies away as a fly]: Coll 1908, no. 2: 483.