L96C. I haven't learned anything! .14.-.16.27.29.30.32.

A young man is learning magic. In order for the sorcerer to let him go, he must pretend that he is incapable of learning.

Arabs of Morocco, Egypt, Portuguese, Germans (East Prussia), Greeks, Serbs, Gagauz, Stavropol Turkmens, Abazins, Ingush, Avars,Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Persians, Wakhans, Turkmens, Kazan Tatars.

North Africa. Arabs of Morocco [having lost his mother, Muhammad lived with a foster mother, went to a Jew to learn magic; the Jew's daughter warns him that he must tell him that he has learned nothing ; the Jew lets him go; M. tells his (foster) mother to sell him in the form of a hound, but without a leash; he returns; now in the form of a camel (without a bridle; ditto); a horse (ditto); a mule; the old woman sold the mule with a bridle; the Jew loaded stones on it and sat astride it himself; the Jew's son led the mule to the river, it asked to take off the bridle, the sister also asked; M. jumped into the water, becoming a fish, the Jew - a net, the fish - a bird, the net - a falcon, the bird - a ring, which ended up on the finger of the princess; [at night he tells her, when the sultan, at the request of a Jew, asks for a ring, to throw it on the ground; the ring became a pomegranate, the grains scattered; the Jew became a rooster, began to peck; the last grain became a knife, he cut off the rooster's head; the knife became a youth; wedding with a princess]: Socin, Stumme 1895, No. 12: 116-118; Arabs of Egypt [a Maghrebian gives a childless king two sweets on the condition that he will give him his firstborn; the red one is to be eaten by his wife, and the green one by the king himself; a son is born, Mohammed the Wise; after a while, Ali the Wise, and then a third - a fool; when a dervish came, Ali went with him; the Maghrebian asks if he wants to eat and drink, Ali answers that he does not; the Maghrebian takes him back, demands the firstborn; M. answers as he should (if you want to eat and drink, then so do I); A Moroccan orders him to learn a book by heart in a month, otherwise he will kill him; not a word of the book is clear; on the penultimate day M. goes into the garden, where a girl is hanged by her hair; she explains that she is hanging because she learned the book by heart; she taught M., but ordered him to answer that he did not learn it ; orders her to hang her back before the Moroccan sees; he cuts off M.'s right hand and gives him another 30 days; M. reads three words and the hand grows back; M. and the girl find three leaves {of a tree or a book?} in the garden, which the Moroccan lacked to master all magic; both mounted their horses, the girl galloped off to her home, M. to her mother; orders him to be sold in the form of a ram, not to sell the rope; the ram dived into a vessel of water and disappeared; the buyer is considered crazy, and the Moroccan realized that it was M.; the next time – to sell in the form of a camel; the Maghrebian gave so much money that the mother sold him with the bridle; M. flew away as a raven, the Maghrebian chased after him in the form of a falcon; M. became a pomegranate in the Sultan’s garden on a pomegranate tree; the Maghrebian asks to give him the pomegranate (the Sultan does not believe that it has grown, it is not the season now), he gave it to him, the pomegranate burst, the seeds rolled out, the Maghrebian became a rooster, began to peck at the seeds, the latter became a dagger that cut off the rooster’s head, the dagger became M.; the Sultan’s daughter was the girl whom M. saved; the wedding]: Spitta-bey 1883, No. 1: 2-11.

Southern Europe. Portuguese : Cardigos 2006, no. 325 [the father has apprenticed his son to a sorcerer, or the sorcerer takes only illiterate pupils; the youth pretends to be illiterate and secretly reads books of sorcery ; is sent home or teaches his father how to recognize him among several identical birds; returns home having mastered the art of transformation; tells his father to sell him in the form of a hound, but without a leash; in the form of a horse, but without a bit; the father sells him with the bit, the buyer is the sorcerer; someone takes the bit from the horse, the youth runs away; successively assumes the forms of different beings, and the sorcerer pursues, assuming the forms of stronger beings; at the end the youth turned into a ring, then into grains or pomegranate seeds; when the sorcerer became a hen to peck the grains, the youth became a fox and killed the hen; (the sorcerer asks to give him the ring, in exchange for which he promises to cure the king); the young man marries the princess (during the day he is the ring on her finger, at night he turns into a young man); {there are obviously many different options, it is impossible to single them out from a short summary}]: 74-75;

Western Europe. Germans (East Prussia) [a father apprenticed his son to a sorcerer; the sorcerer asked the youth if he could read; the youth pretended to be a simpleton; replied that he could count potatoes; and he himself began to read books of magic ; he was told to feed a cow and a dog; when he came to them, there was meat in front of the cow, and hay in front of the dog; he changed their places; when two weeks remained before the expiration of the year, he began to sweep the ashes in the room, so that it would seem that the books were covered with dust and had not been touched for a long time; again put meat for the cow and hay for the dog; the youth returned to his father and ordered him to be sold at the fair when he took the form of a cow; but do not sell the ropes; the sold cow ran back and again became a youth; the sorcerer found out about this; when the father led away to sell his son in the form of a horse, the sorcerer gave such a price that the father sold the horse with the bridle; asked a blacksmith for a hot iron rod to pierce a horse with; a girl took pity on the horse, and it asked to take off its bridle; flew away as a canary, flew to the girl; a sorcerer first chased as a kite, and then came to the girl and demanded that she give him the bird; the bird became a ring on the girl's finger; she took off the ring, but it fell to the floor as three barley grains; the sorcerer became a rooster, and one grain a ferret, he killed the rooster; returned to his father; having saved money by selling himself in the form of horses, he got married]: Lemke 1887, No. 27: 143-147.

Balkans. Greeks : Dawkins 1916 [a father sent his son to be trained as a hatter, but he failed to learn; decided to take him far away; sighed at the spring; Of appeared: why did you call? promised to take him as an apprentice, she must come for the youth in a year; Of's daughter tells the youth to answer her father that he has learned nothing ; on the way home the youth turned into a lamb, then into a donkey; told his father to sell him in the form of a camel; Of bought it, paid separately for the bridle; Of's daughter let the camel go; Of chased after a hare; then a sparrow and a hawk; the sparrow became a rose, the hawk became a dervish, demands the rose from the king; the princess threw the rose on the ground, it crumbled into barley, the dervish became a hen with chickens, the grain became a fox, gnawed them; [the young man married Oh's daughter]: 365-369; Megas 2012 [{many variations, but there is this one}; a poor father (mother) sends his son to be apprenticed to a sorcerer (devil, Moor, snake) who comes out of a spring (sea); the sorcerer gives a magic book and the keys to 39 rooms, after which he leaves or goes to bed; the sorcerer's daughter (wife, sister) tells the young man to answer that he has learned nothing; in the last forbidden room there is a magic book, the sorcerer's daughter, something else; the sorcerer believes that the young man is stupid and lets him go; the young man's mother or father sells him for a lot of money when he takes the form of domestic animals; the last time the young man is sold together with his bridle and ends up in the power of the sorcerer; the sorcerer's sister lets him go; a chase with transformation into different animals; the last transformation into a ring (flower, golden apple), the princess drops it, it crumbles into grains, the sorcerer in the form of a hen with chickens pecks the grains, the last one turns into a fox and wrings the necks of the hens; the young man frees his daughter (sister, wife), the sorcerer (princess)]: 65-66; Serbs [the young man goes to study, someone in green clothes offers to follow him to the bottom of the river; there the old woman warns him to answer the devil that he has learned nothing; the son warns his father not to sell him with the bridle when he becomes a horse; next time - a tent, but without the keys; the tent turns into a dove, the Turkish buyer - into a red-footed falcon; the dove descends to the princess as a ring, the red-footed falcon becomes a man, offers to serve for the ring; at night the ring turns into a young man, tells the princess not to give him to the servant; the king gives the ring, the princess throws it on the floor, it turns into grains, the servant - a sparrow, the grain - a cat, kills the sparrow]: Dmitriev, Volkonsky 1956: 30-33 (= Arkhipova 1962: 95-99, = Golenishchev-Kutuzov 1991: 132-134); Gagauz [an old man takes his son to learn a craft, stops at a well, sighs; Oh asks why he was called; the old man gives his son, Oh takes him to the well; there the girl advises him to answer that he has not learned anything ; the father takes his son, he becomes a pair of oxen, he must be sold, but without a rope; the father sells, the son returns; the same – becoming a greyhound; a horse; the father agreed to sell the bridle as well; the devil urged the horse on, he dodged, turned into a bird, the devil – into an eagle, the bird – into a flower in the girl’s room, the devil – into a young man, wanted to pick the flower, the flower turned into a millet grain, the devil – into a hen with chicks, the young man became himself, killed the hen and the chicks]: Syrf 2013: 165-167.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Stavropol Turkmen [(west. A.N. Grenom, from materials of L.G. Lopatinsky); Mouse and Rat fight over prey; Eagle tries to reconcile them, they gnaw him; hunter shoots at wounded Eagle three times, both times misfires; agrees to bandage his wing; Eagle carries him to his wives; throws him down and catches him three times so that he can feel how scared the Eagle was; sends a man to each wife as a fortuneteller; the first two are unhappy with the promise of the return of their husbands, the third is happy; Eagle throws the first ones off a cliff; Eagle gives a box, does not tell him to open it on the way; the man opens it, the herds run away, he says, Akh ; old man-Akh appears from under the ground, returns the herds to the box for a promise to give his son Baidzhan; Akha's son tells B. not to admit that he has mastered the science, A. lets B. go to his father; B. knows how to turn into animals, tells his father to sell him like a horse, but without a bridle; A. buys him with a bridle, wants to kill him, A.'s son tells him to run; B. turns into a hare, A. into a greyhound; the lark is a kite, the father is a hen, the fox grabs the hen; A. gives B. his property, leaves for another country]: Bagriy 1920(2): 77-84; Abazins [a calf herder asks his father to woo the shah's daughter for him; the shah promises to think about it if the shepherd is skilled; the son and father walk, get tired, the father sighs, Ukh appears from a hillock , takes the young man as an apprentice; Ukh's daughter tells the young man to say that he has not understood the science , otherwise his father will kill him; a year later Ukh returns the youth, he turns into horses of different colors, the father sells them, the youth ends up at home each time; orders not to sell with a bridle; the father got greedy, sold him, Ukh brought him home, the youth flew away as a dove, Ukh chased as a gyrfalcon, they flew to the shah; in a series of reincarnations, the youth won, killed Ukh; took the shah's daughter and Ukh's daughter]: Kapiev 1991: 35-40; Ingush [the princess promises to marry only a guy who can do what others can't; the father takes his son to study, sitting on a stump, groans, Uffai appears; orders to send his son to study for a year; U.'s daughter advises to answer that he has not learned anything , otherwise U. will kill; a year later the father took his son; he orders to sell him when he becomes a horse, but not to sell the bridle; the son was sold the first time, returned; the second time U. bought him with a bridle; the daughter let him go; the young man flew as a dove, the father behind as a hawk; the dove landed on the girl's lap; the hawk fought so hard that the girl gave him the dove, but it turned into an apple; the hawk became a beggar, asked for an apple; the apple crumbled into millet, the beggar became a hen with chicks; the grain became a rat and gnawed them to death, then the young man took human form; the princess married him]: Tankieva 2003: 360-362; Avars [a poor man's son asks his father to woo the khan's daughter; the khan agrees if the son-in-law surpasses others in intelligence; the son and father stop at a hillock, the father says, ugh , Uf jumps out of the hillock, offers to give him his son for a year to study; U.'s daughter tells him to say each time that he did not understand the study ; U. lets the young man go, he turns into animals, tells his father not to sell himself with a bridle; U. buys with a bridle, his daughter lets him go; the young man flies away as a dove, U. pursues as a gyrfalcon; the apple is an old man, the millet is chickens, the cat kills the chickens; all this in front of the khan; the young man marries the daughters of the khan and Uf]: Mazaev, Kasumov 1997(1): 118-122 (= Saidov, Dalgat 1965: 281-286); Armenians [a peasant takes his son to study, drinks from a stream, says, Okhai ; the water spirit O. takes the boy for study; after some time, at the peasant's request, gives him a magic tablecloth; the melik's wife replaces it; O. gives a pumpkin, cavalry jumps out of it, goes after the melik, he returns the tablecloth, the peasant hid the cavalry back in the pumpkin; O.'s daughter tells the young man to answer that he has not learned yet , otherwise his father will cut off his head, like the other students; the young man knows how to turn into animals, orders to sell him as a horse without a bridle; O. buys him with a bridle, his daughter lets the young man go, he flies away as a dove, O. chases him as a hawk; the dove fell as a rose among the feasting, the hawk became an ashugh, crushed the rose; millet - chicken - fox; the young man began to feast with everyone]: Ganalanyan 1965: 80-83; Azerbaijanis : Bagriy, Zeynalli 1935 [Kaffar, a peasant son, fell in love with a princess; the king promised to give his daughter to him if K. learned an unusual craft; the father and K. went on a journey; after drinking from the spring, the father said, Ohek; the red-bearded man jumped out: why did you call him? he promised to teach K. an unusual art in two weeks; at the bottom of the spring, the girl teaches him not to say that he learned something , otherwise the cannibal will eat him; cut off a piece of his dress and sew it to yours, you will gain the ability to transform; Ohek let K. go, he turned into a horse; when he became a man again, he told his father to sell him in the form of a camel, but not to the red-beard, and if to him, then without a bridle; but the father sold him with a bridle too; the girl took it off, K. flew away as a swallow, it became a bouquet of roses, fell at the feet of the princess; the dervish orders to give the rose; the princess threw him the rose, it became grains of millet, the dervish – a hen with chickens; one grain became a fox, she ate the hen and the chickens, became a young man; the king gave his daughter in marriage to K.]: 249-255; Nabiyev 1988 [a poor man takes his son Akhmed to study; drinks from a spring, says, Okhay, what water ; O. takes his son to study, orders to come for him in a hundred days; takes him to the spring; A. sees a wall of skulls; one skull orders to ask O.'s daughter for help; O. forbids to look into the fortieth room; O.'s daughter is in it; she orders A. to pretend that he has not learned everything ; O. swears, but lets A. go; he turns into a horse, tells his father to sell him, but without a bridle; once he sold him to an old man along with the bridle, A. disappeared; O.'s daughter teaches A. to shake his head so that the bridle falls; A. runs as a deer, O. as a hunter behind; the fish is a fisherman; he hid in a chest as an apple; the bird is a kite, the grain is a chicken, the jackal strangled the chicken; O.'s daughter agrees to marry him if he unravels the secret of the white diva apples; he sets out on a journey, she tests him; 1) tries to seduce in the guise of a peri; 2) threatens in the guise of a hero, A. is not afraid; 3) becomes an old woman, her lower lip sweeps the ground, the upper lip rests on the sky; asks which apple is one-, two-, three-year-old; A. puts them in water, the one-year-old sinks, the three-year-old floats, the two-year-old is in the middle; the old woman turns into O.’s daughter; they disenchant the people killed by O., and hold a wedding at A.’s father’s (=Seidov 1983: 21-33)]: 23-33.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians : Osmanov 1958: 75-84 [a bald shepherd wants to marry the village headman's daughter; the headman tells him to first earn money and start a farm; the shepherd leaves, meets a dervish; the dervish invites him to go down to the spring with him; tells his daughter to teach the shepherd; the daughter warns him: she must answer that she has learned nothing ; the shepherd answers the dervish inappropriately, the dervish gives him money and sends him home; coming to his mother, he tells her to sell him in the form of a horse, but without a bridle; then a camel; a mule; each time he returns; but the mother sold the ram with a collar; at the sorcerer's house, his daughter lets the ram go; it flies away as a dove, the dervish chases like a hawk; the dove falls like a bouquet at the feet of the princess; the dervish orders to give the bouquet, the princess throws it away, it crumbles into millet; the dervish becomes a hen with chickens, one grain becomes a fox and it strangles the chickens; the shepherd explains everything; marries the headman's daughter], 152-160 [in Balkh, the lazy Bu-Ali asks his father to send him on a journey; his father Abdullah takes him to find a place to study somewhere; they drink from a spring, the father says, Oh! the beardless man jumps out of the hollow, asks what his test was called, takes B. to study; the beardless man's daughter advises B. to pretend that he does not understand anything , otherwise he will be put in a barrel of acid; gives him her father's books; the beardless man leaves B. in the desert; he returns home, orders to sell him in the form of a deer, a horse, but without a bridle; the beardless man buys the horse with a bridle; the daughter helps B. to escape, he flies away as a dove, then falls as a diamond into the crown of the padishah; the beardless man flies as a falcon, in the guise of a dervish begs for a diamond; the diamond turns into grains, the beardless man into a rooster, the grain into a jackal, kills the rooster; the padishah gives his daughter in marriage to B., marries his son to the daughter of the beardless man], 240-248 [the poor boy Bu-Ali asks his father to let him go look for work; sits down by the spring to eat a flatbread, sighs, Hey-wai! Hey-wai, an elbow tall, with a beard seven elbows long, emerges from the spring, takes him as an apprentice; E.'s daughter chops B. into pieces, boils him, pours cold water over him, turns him into a handsome man; this happens several times; after each B. replies that he has learned to turn into a horseshoe, into a dove, etc.; the girl does not allow her father to admit that he knows something more , than turning into a dove and a horseshoe; a year then consisted of three days; on Sunday B.'s father will come, must recognize his son among a multitude of doves; the girl explains that B. the dove will fly down to his feet; the rest of the doves are unrecognized by their fathers; the father takes his son; on the way he turns into a hunting dog, orders to sell himself without a leash, returns; turns into a horse; E. buys it with a bridle; lends it to the shahzade, ordering not to let the horse drink; the young wife reproaches the shahzade for cruelty, the horse drinks, turns into a fish, swims away; E. chases a big fish, then a falcon after a dove, the dove flies to the padishah's daughter, tells about the chase, turns into a gold ring; the mason asks for a ring for his work; the ring turns into grains, E. into a rooster, one grain into a young man with a sword, killing the rooster; B. - a young man marries the daughter of a padishah]; Wakhans [a sorcerer asks a woodcutter to give him his son for training; the sorcerer's daughter tells the young man to answer that he has learned nothing; the sorcerer gives the woodcutter a magic tablecloth; he invites the king and the vizier to visit, they replace it; the sorcerer gives a pumpkin, there is an army in it, the king has to return the tablecloth; returning to his father, the son turns into a horse, a camel, orders not to sell the bridle; the sorcerer buys the bridle, tells his daughter to bring a knife to slaughter the camel; she untied it, it ran away as a hare, the sorcerer chases in the form of a dog; a dove - a hawk; the dove turns into a flower, the king's daughter drops it, it turns into millet, the hawk - into a chicken, pecks, the last grain became a cat, she killed the chicken; [a young man married a sorcerer's daughter]: Grunberg, Steblin-Kamensky 1976, No. 39: 349-353; Turkmen [a bald man asks his grandfather to woo the padishah's daughter for him; he orders him to learn a craft that is not known among the people; the bald man comes to the diva's daughter; one lip of the diva sweeps the earth, the other reaches the sky; he teaches the young man science; the young man pretends that he has learned only half of the book; the diva beats him, but lets him go; returning to his father, the son knows how to turn into a horse, a she-camel; he orders that he be sold in these forms, but not to sell the bridle; he immediately returns, the father earns good money; the diva in the form of an old man buys a she-camel with a bridle; the diva's daughter lets the bald man go, he flies away as a dove; the diva pursues with a golden eagle; the young man offers a flower to the padishah's daughter, the old man asks for a flower; the young man offers millet, the old man offers a chicken, the young man becomes a fox and eats the chicken; the padishah gives him his daughter]: Lebedev 1954, No. 13: 148-157.

Volga - Perm. Kazan Tatars [a coachman's son orders his father to woo the padishah's daughter for him; the padishah demands that he learn a craft in a year that no one else knows; a father and son came to a lake, the father burped, a div jumped out: why did you call me, saying "Eh-eh"? took his son, ordered him to come back in a year; the div's daughters order him to answer their father that he has learned nothing ; at home the young man orders him to be sold in the form of a horse, but without a bridle; the div bought him, began to torture him; his little son took pity on him, set him free; the horse became a dove, the old man a hawk; a ring on the hand of the padishah's daughter; a groat; the old man - a hen with chickens, the groat - a falcon, he tore the hen and the chickens apart; became a horseman; [the padishah gave away his daughter]: Zamaletdinov 2008b, No. 14: 128-132.