M39a4d. A fool sells property to a lizard. .17.29.30.

A fool sells property to a lizard, believing that the buyer will pay. In an attempt to get the money, he finds a treasure.

Palestinians, Armenians, Turks, Persians.

Western Asia. Palestinians [(the final episode); a crazy husband looks for work, finds an unharvested field, works, sees a lizard, it keeps nodding, he goes into a crevice, there is treasure, the husband takes what is due to him; tells his wife that Abu Suleiman is rich, but he took only what he honestly earned; the wife scatters lamb legs and offal around the yard, says that there was a strange rain; secretly takes the gold from her husband; he says that she robbed Abu Suleiman, complains to the police; describes the robbed man: it is a lizard; says that it was raining lamb legs that day; the policeman to his wife: I hope God will soon cure your husband]: Lebedev 1990, No. 55: 250-258.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Armenians [a mother tells her younger, crazy son to sell a cow; he slaughtered the cow for the crows in a gorge, told them to pray for his mother, took a lizard as a witness: the crows must say a prayer, and then pay for the cow; the mother ordered the cow to be brought; the fool demands money first from the crows, then from the lizard, it is under a stone, the fool lifted it - there is a treasure under it; the fool took a handful, brought it home; the elder brother took the rest; the headman demanded that the gold be divided, sent the elder brother for a measure; at this time the younger drowned the headman in a well; at night the elder secretly buried the headman, threw a goat into the well; people gathered, the fool climbs into the well and asks: did the headman have a tail? a beard? the people shout yes - pull it out; and there is a goat; people dispersed]: Nazinyan 2007: 178-180; Turks [when dividing up their father's inheritance, a fool brother chose an old camel and offered to buy the meat from the lizards; they turned their heads; the fool decided that the lizards agreed, slaughtered the camel, and placed each leg on a separate stone; in the morning he came for the money, the lizards hid in a hollow, the fool hit the tree with an axe, it fell, and gold coins spilled out; the fool brought the gold to his brothers and brought the qadi; he began to divide: one coin for himself, one for the brothers; the fool volunteered to carry his bag of gold, but the qadi carried it himself, fell down the stairs, broke his leg, the fool threw him into a well; the smart brothers threw a goat on top; the fool began to shout that he had slaughtered the qadi and thrown the body into the well; going down, he began to ask if the qadi had ears, four legs, fur; The fool was left alone; he began to graze the goats, climbed a pear tree, and began to throw them on the ground; the goats ate them all, only one of them had two pears left on its horns; the fool ate one, gave the other to the goat, and slaughtered the rest of the goats; the brothers were captured and ran away; a caravan of merchants approached at night; the fool slaughtered a donkey, began to cook it, and ordered the merchant to eat, otherwise he would cut off his head; the merchant paid them off with gold; the brothers stopped at one house, and pushed the fool so that he would not eat much; he did not eat at all, and then came to the landlady for bread; she drove him away, he fell down the stairs and was killed]: Stebleva 1986, No. 60: 256-259.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians [two brothers are merchants, the third is a fool; they send him to their sick mother; while driving flies away from their mother, he hits her with a stone to death; the brothers want to divide the property three weeks after the funeral, the fool demands his share immediately; the brothers take everything except the spinning wheel, the cow, the calf, 15 sheep and a stone; at the funeral, the brothers decide to stab the fool's calf; they send the fool for guests, no one comes; the fool invited everyone on the condition that they pay him for the calf; a dog comes and eats meat; the fool demands payment for the calf from it, throws a poker at it, it hits the lintel, a pot of gold falls out; the fool continues to chase the dog: I don't need a pot of gold, I need 7 coins for the calf; the brothers took the gold; After the funeral, the fool drove the cow out to pasture and offered to buy it from the lizard; the lizard nods; the fool asks for 15 coins, the lizard nods again; come in 15 days? nods again; the fool left the cow near the hole, predators ate it; after 15 days, the fool demands money from the lizard, climbs into the hole, there is a door and 7 vessels with precious stones; the fool takes 15 coins for the cow; tells his brothers; they take the remaining treasures; the fool takes his shadow for a man, asks if the shadow wants to buy sheep; the shadow is silent and follows him; the fool lets the sheep go; leaves with the remaining inheritance; stops for the night on a hill above a stream; a traveler stops there, he has money in his saddlebags; he makes figurines from chaimal (sweets), calls one God, the others Satan, the Prophet, Ali; before eating them, attributes some fault to each; the fool threw a spindle whorl at him - leave me one too! the traveler is confused; the fool throws increasingly larger things - a shovel, a door; the traveler runs away in horror, the fool gets everything; he finds the last figurine - it is God; "Oh, God, I saved you!"; returns home with bags; at night the brothers discuss: they are rich, they could become kings if someone killed the king; the fool promises to do it, cut off the sleeping king's head, brought it to the brothers; they put a goat's head in a bag, tell the fool that this is the king's head, he threw it into a well, they look for the killer; the fool confesses, climbs into the well, asks if the king had horns and a goat's head; brothers: we told you he was crazy; at night the fool hears his brothers preparing to kill him; waits until they fall asleep, kills them both himself; a new king is chosen, a bird lands on the fool's head three times; he becomes the ruler and becomes smarter]: Lorimer, Lorimer 1919, No. 12: 70-78.