L23E. Transformations of the Captured Man.

.13.15.16.19.23.24.27.-.29.32.

A man grabs a male character. Trying to free himself, he turns into various substances or animals.

Dinka, Moru, Latins, Scots, Cuman, Tamils, Ngaju, Ancient Greece, Greeks, Ukrainians (Volyn), Abkhazians, Mordovians.

Sudan – East Africa. Dinka {in the publication the text is attributed both to Dinka and to Bor, which belong to the northern Luo, i.e. to another branch of the West Nilotic languages} [every day the boys tend the sheep, but upon their return the sheep have no milk; one man spied, saw a youth jump out of a rock, suck out the milk, and disappear; upon learning of this, Aiwel went himself, grabbed the youth; he transformed himself into a hippopotamus, a bird, a gazelle , but A. did not let go, although he burned his hands; they sacrificed cattle, the rock split, and in the dry season it began to rain; then a live cow was put into the crack in the rock, the rock closed, and the rain stopped; in the village the captured youth Fakur anointed A.'s hands with fat, and they healed; this rock fell from the sky]: Scheub 2000: 8; moru [Okole began to play the harp, and his two sisters and other people began to dance; the dust from their feet completely hid O., but he told his sisters not to pay attention and eventually disappeared underground; the owner of the cattle began to notice that someone was attacking his bull in the water; he lay in wait for the one who at first seemed to be a man, and then began to turn into an elephant, a lion, a snake ; but the owner of the cattle did not loosen his grip and he became the same O.; he began to look for his sisters, but they had married; O. called the birds and told them to sing; he gave milk to the cigiri bird, since it called the names of O.'s sisters in its song; the cigiri flew to O.'s sisters, called them, and they returned home to O.]: Evans-Pritchard, Mynors 1941, no. 36: 83-84.

Southern Europe. Latin : Ovid. Met. VIII. 733-738, XI. 229-265 [Ovid's Metamorphoses (turn of the eras): "There are some to whom it is given to change into various forms - / You, for example, O Proteus, inhabitant of the earth-encircling / Sea! Sometimes you appeared as a youth, sometimes as a lion, / A fierce boar, a snake, to touch which / It is fearful, and sometimes you became a horned bull. / Sometimes you were a stone, sometimes a tree. / And sometimes, imitating the appearance of flowing water, / You were a river; sometimes a fire, hateful to water " {without mentioning that Proteus performed these transformations while captured by Menelaus; cf. Hyg. Fab. 118} (trans. S.V. Shervinsky); Hyg. Fab. 118 ["Myths" attributed to Gaius Julius Hyginus, who lived at the turn of the eras, but most likely dating from the 1st-2nd centuries: "In Egypt, they say, there was Proteus, the old man of the sea, a soothsayer who could assume any form . Menelaus, on the advice of his daughter Eidothea, chained him up so that he would tell him when he could return home {that Proteus changed his form when captured is not said; cf. Ovid. Met. VIII. 733-738}. Proteus explained to him that the gods were angry that Troy had been taken, and therefore it was necessary to do what in Greek is called a hecatomb, that is, when a hundred heads of cattle are killed. Then Menelaus performed the hecatomb and, in the eighth year after sailing from Ilion, finally returned home with Helen" (trans. D.O. Torshilov)].

Western Europe. Scots [Janet, the earl's daughter, plucked a rosehip flower; a young man, Tam-Lin, appeared and said that he was an elven knight, a mortal kidnapped by them; he could be disenchanted tomorrow, on All Saints' Day; he would turn into different things, but one must not let go of him; J. grabbed TL, he turned into a lizard, a snake, a piece of red-hot iron , but J. did not let him go; the elven queen realized that she had lost TL, he remained with J.]: Klyagina-Kondratyeva 1967: 163-167.

Melanesia. Kuman [a woman follows two brothers; they work on a plot; she lives with them; goes away; returns, seizes one of the brothers; he turns into a snake, into a stone, into the earth , but she does not let him go; many tribes are descended from their marriage]: Nilles 1969: 564-565.

South Asia. Tamils ​​[the demon Cūr (Cūrapadma) and his brothers glorified Shiva until they gained control of the universe; the gods turned to Shiva for help, and he promised to beget a son who would destroy the demons; Murukaṉ was born of Shiva's semen and began to smash the demons; at last he entered into combat with Cūr; during the combat he assumed various forms: a raging sea, fire, death, a mountain, a cloud, etc.; hid among the shadows created by him and finally turned into a mango tree in the middle of the ocean; the branches of the tree reached the ends of the universe, plunging the sea, sky and land into darkness; the stars rained down from the firmament, the mountains turned upside down to the sky; M. with his spear first dried up the ocean, and then cut down the tree; but Cūr was divided into two; one half took the form of a rooster, and the other a peacock; M. placed the image of a rooster on his banner and made a peacock his riding animal]: Dubianski 2000: 26-27.

Malaysia - Indonesia. Ngaju [a young tiger comes to live with Patih Teteh and his wife Akah Ihang Iho, becomes their son; PT did not recognize him in the forest, accidentally killed him; the wife killed her husband at night, hitting him in the face with a club; when she burned the corpse, she felt sorry for her husband, she went for smoke to the village of the dead; along the way, the spirits each time say that PT has just passed, ask for help with field work, the wife helps; in the village of spirits, her dead grandmother teaches her how to throw a net over a sleeping AI; he will promise to turn into a tiger, a snake, a hornbill (will peck out her eyes), you must answer that she is not afraid, wants to die herself; he turns into an egg, she wraps him in a scarf, runs away, the grandmother gives a comb, teaches what to do; a woman drops an egg into a river, the pursuing spirits dive for it, a bird advises the woman to search with a pole, she finds it, runs further, throws a comb, it turns into a wall; at home the woman carves three wooden figures, dresses them in her husband's clothes; the spirits make a hole in the wall, rush at the figures, carry them away, and discover that they were mistaken; the woman sprinkles the egg with living water, the husband comes back to life]: Schärer 1966: 151-158.

Balkans. Ancient Greece : Hom. Od. IV. 351-570 [Menelaus and his warriors fail to sail away from the island of Pharos; Eidothea tells them that her father, Proteus, can help them with advice; to do this, they need to hide among the seals and catch him: “Seize him quickly, no matter how he tries and struggles. / He will begin to take on the forms of all sorts of creatures that / Roam our land; and he will turn into water and fire . / But you, without fear, hold him and squeeze him tightly. / After he himself has addressed you with words, / Having assumed the form in which you have already seen him sleeping, / Immediately stop the violence, let the old man go free / And ask him by which of the gods you, hero, are oppressed, / How you can return to your home across the fish-filled sea" (hereafter – translation by V.V. Veresaev); Menelaus and his three warriors follow E.'s instructions, cover themselves with seal skins and hide among the seals; Proteus counts the seals and lies down among them, not noticing the ambush; “Jumping out of the pits with a cry, we rushed to the old man, seized / Him firmly. He had not forgotten his cunning art. / At first he pretended to be a bearded lion with fiery eyes, / Then a leopard, a dragon and a huge boar, / Suddenly he turned into a tall tree, flowing water . / Steadfast in spirit, we continued to hold it fearlessly. / The skillful old man soon grew tired of this trick. / Suddenly, turning to me with a human word, he asked: “Which of the immortals, Atreides, taught you from an ambush / To take possession of me against my will? What do you need?”»; Menelaus says that he wants to know how to return home; Proteus advises to bring a hecatomb to Zeus and tells about the fate of the other participants in the Trojan campaign; then he dives into the sea waters]; Apollod. Bibl. I. 3. 6; 9. 6; II. 5. 11; III. 13. 5; 1) “Later the brothers began to feud with each other, and Neleus, being expelled, came to Messenia and founded the city of Pylos there. He married Chloris, the daughter of Amphion, by whom he had a daughter Pero and sons Taurus, Asterius, Pylaon, Deimachus, Eurybius, Epidaius, Radius, Eurymenes, Evagoras, Alastor, Nestor and Periclymenus. Poseidon gifted the last one with the ability to assume the form of any creature. When Hercules was devastating the city of Pylos, Periclymenus during the battle took the form of a lion, a snake, and a bee , but died at the hands of Hercules along with the rest of the children of Neleus"; 2) "Passing through Illyria and heading for the river Eridanus, Hercules came to the nymphs, the daughters of Zeus and Themis. They directed him to Nereus. Hercules found him sleeping and tied him up, although Nereus repeatedly changed his appearance during the fight . He did not release Nereus until he had shown him where he would find the apples of the Hesperides. Having learned the way from Nereus, Heracles crossed Libya"; Nonn. Dion. VI (episode with the transformations of Zagreus and his murder: VI. 177-205) ["Acts of Dionysus" by Nonnus of Panopolis (5th century AD): Astraeus predicts that Persephone will be abducted by the bridegroom, but before that she marries a secret spouse; Demeter hides Persephone in a cave in Sicily; Zeus penetrates to her in the form of a serpent; he allows their son Zagreus to sit on his throne and play with lightning; because of the treachery of Hera, the Titans attack him: his transformations: child, old man, lion, horse, dragon, serpent, tiger; he dies in the form of a bull ; he is cut into pieces with a knife; Zeus casts the Titans into Tartarus; the world fire - even the seas burn; Zeus wants to wash away the ashes with water; during the flood the Nereids meet the Oreads, the animals meet the fish, and Nereus meets Pan; the water rises to the sky; people would have ceased to exist if Poseidon had not split the rock in Thessaly and the water had not gone into the crevice; Helios dried everything up, new people appeared; (summary in Zakharova, Torshilov 2003: 221-222)]; Greeks (Attica; west. in 1860 from a priest in an Albanian village; there were many Albanians in Attica) [St. Demeter is a kind old woman; she has a beautiful daughter, Aphrodite; a Turkish pasha (lord) on a black horse, from whose nostrils fire burst, kidnapped her and took her to the mountains of Epirus; D. went in search; the sun, moon, stars do not know; the old stork says that D. has always been kind to him, shows him where to go; it was winter, having reached Eleusis (modern Lepsina) D. fell from fatigue; the headman (khodja-bashi) of the village sheltered her; for this D. blessed their fields, which since then brought an unusually rich harvest; his son went to rescue A., having secured a promise to get her as a wife; went out to the fire, 40 dragons were around; the young man lifted a huge cauldron, lit a torch and put the cauldron back in place; the dragons are amazed by his strength; they ask for help in stealing a girl from the castle; the young man climbs the tower, asks the dragons to climb up after him one by one, kills each one; began to fight with the Turk; he turned into a lion, a snake, a bird of prey ; on the third day he won and cut the young man into 4 parts; took possession of Aphrodite by force; the stork brought the reviving herb, the youth attacked the Turk again; in order to win, he promised to become a monk in the monastery on Salamis; he knocked down the Turk, the stork pulled out a gray hair from his head, in it was the life of the Turk; the youth returned A. to his mother, and he himself went to the monastery]: Lawson 1910: 80-84.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Volyn, Novograd-volynsky district, Srednyaya Darazhna village) [a hunter saw a strange bird, and it was a snake; shoot! the hunter is afraid; so shoot a second time! he was even more afraid; a third time! the hunter fired, the bird fell with a crash, became a snake, then a man like a Polish lord; shall we fight or make peace? the hunter: make peace; he lifted it up a tree, threw it, the bones scattered; he revived it again, lifted it up, threw it; so three times; he orders to send his son, otherwise he will tear him into feathers; the hunter gave his son (his name is Peter) a ball of yarn - to follow it wherever it rolls; the snake has three daughters, the youngest is the smartest; the lad was distracted by the crows and magpies, lost the ball of yarn; the daughter returned the snake and said that P. was going to her father; by the sea P. sees three girls bathing, took the clothes of the youngest; She promises to explain how to behave when he reaches her father; he orders to uproot the forest overnight, sell it and bring the money; the snake's daughter summoned the devils, they did everything; plow the field, sow, grow and reap the wheat (ditto); dig a river overnight, build a mill, thresh the wheat and make buns for tea (ditto); grow a garden and collect the fruits (ditto); go to the forest and get what is alive there; a three-headed snake flies, scorching with fire; P. fought with it, but could not hold on (it was the snake itself); the next time an old woman comes; she persuaded her to let her go; the snake's daughter again: why did you let her go? now a stallion flies (it is the snake's son); turned into a bear, a wolf {and someone else}, but P. does not let go; when he became a hare (one hair is silver, the other is gold) P. brought it to the snake ; Build a bridge a hundred miles to the dragon's brother in one night: cast-iron beams, silver floor, golden railings (the devils build it); graze a hundred mares without loss; P. fell asleep, the mares disappeared; the dragon's daughter returned; let him not be afraid of them and hit the eldest on the forehead; milk the mares and boil the milk; bathe in milk; P. was boiled, the dragon's daughter cleaned the bones, collected them again, poured living water over them, P. became a handsome man; P. and the dragon's daughter understand that the dragon has guessed who is performing the tasks; now P. will be released, and she will be chained in hoops and left on the seabed; she orders to take a brush, a comb, a hairpin, a needle, a scarf; it will be necessary to call her near the sea, the hoops will fall off, she will come out; and so it happened, P. almost forgot, but remembered and returned to the sea; the serpent's daughter orders him to sit on her, she flies away; pursuit; orders him to throw down a brush (thicket), a comb (mountains); wave a handkerchief {not specified - probably a water obstacle}; the serpent's daughter became a church, P. - a priest; he replies that he saw the fugitives when the church was being built; an apple tree and a grandfather (he saw it when he planted this apple tree); the serpent's daughter tore off and threw down the sleeves of her shirt - a river; he and she became a pair of swans; the serpent began to drink, burst and disappeared; they reached P.'s house; the bride orders him not to bow to his parents, otherwise he will forget her; he bowed, forgot; gets married; the bride, disguised as an old woman, asks to give her some dough; she molded a pair of doves; they talk, the dove speaks as if on behalf of the brides; P. remembered everything, returned to her]: Chubinsky 1878, No. 54: 180-194.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Abkhazians [a young man promises to marry the woman who will sew him a complete set of clothes in one day; the girl does not have enough time to sew on the fasteners; she asks God to bring the sun back a little; when the newlyweds go to bed after the wedding, someone calls the young man; he returns in the morning tired; his sister and mother watch, but cannot seize him, for he turns into a snake, a frog, a flame ; his wife holds him back; this young man is Amyz (the moon); his former wife Amra (the sun) says that the new one separated them, but she will not allow their marriage to take place; and so she takes him every evening]: Shakryl 1975, No. 88: 393-395 (=Bgazhba 1983: 31-33; =2002: 36-38; =Khvartskiya 1994: 69-71).

Volga - Perm. Mordvins (Erzya) [the wife died; the boy and the girl persuaded the father to take the stepmother; she orders to kill the children; he locked them in the stable; they give water and moldy bread; the girl goes to Baba Yaga's pantry at night, but she has no bird's milk; the brother tagged along, Baba Yaga grabbed them, began to fatten them, but does not give bird's milk; he feels a finger, the girl holds out a kochedyk; but the boy sticks his finger in; Baba Yaga is going to put the children in the oven; the girl pretends that she does not know how to sit on a shovel; Baba Yaga shows, the girl stuffs her in the oven; they took silver and copper jugs, but forgot to take the ring on the window; the boy returned; the girl told him not to lick Baba Yaga's fat that flowed out of the oven, but he licked it and became a lamb; they returned home; The stepmother pushed the girl into the well, tells her husband to slaughter a lamb; he goes to the well: they sharpen an axe and knives, they go to slaughter; the sister: I can’t get out, the stone pulls, the snake sucks my heart; on the fourth day he pulled her out of the well; the stepmother slaughtered him; the bones became a dove, it sings: the father slaughtered, the stepmother boiled; the peddler, hearing the song, gave a spoon; another - a handful of needles; the third - hooks; the dove gave the sister a spoonful of honey, the stepmother - needles in her mouth, the father - hooks; they died; the fortune teller to the sister: smear the windowsill with glue, grab the dove; it will become a snake, a frog, and when it becomes a spindle, break it ; she did so, and the boy came back to life]: Maskaev 1967, No. 11: 98-102.