M39a4g. A fool sells property to dogs. .16.27.-.32.

A fool sells property to dogs, thinking the buyer will pay. Trying to get the money, he finds a treasure.

Germans (Westphalia), Transylvanian Saxons, Bulgarians, Ukrainians (Ekaterinoslav), Kurds, Persians (Kerman), Latvians, Finns, Karelians, Bashkirs.

Western Europe. Germans (from the von Haxthausen family, Westphalia) [a peasant sold a cow for 7 thalers; the frogs in the pond croak; he thought they were saying "two (thalers"); he threw some money into the pond - let them count it; after a while he goes to sell beef; the dog barks, he leaves her some meat so that she would bring him the money in three days: he knows who the dog serves; there is no money, the peasant went to complain to the king; when he told her, the princess burst out laughing; the king: I promised to give her in marriage to whoever made her laugh; the peasant: I already have a wife; the king is angry: come in three days, I will give you another reward, I will give you the whole 500; the soldier hears, asks for 200 to be given to him, the peasant agrees; the Jew offers to change the money; the peasant agrees, but that he give it to her immediately; he gave him some worthless change; when the peasant came to the king, they wanted to beat him, but he objects: he already gave 200 to the soldier, and 300 to the Jew; the king allows the peasant to take from the treasury as much as he wants; at home the peasant cannot count the money, grumbles; the beaten Jew overheard, reported that the peasant spoke disrespectfully of the sovereign; the peasant is uncomfortable going to court to the king in old clothes; the Jew lent his; peasant: the Jew keeps lying - maybe he will say that I am wearing his clothes? the Jew was beaten again, his clothes remained with the peasant]: Grimm, Grimm 2002, No. 7: 26-29 (=Grimm, Grimm 1987: 24-28).

The Balkans. Transylvanian Saxons [Hans, the son of a Romanian widow, is considered a fool; he went out to sell cows and loaded a barrel of shit that had accumulated in the house onto a cart; he stopped at a rich house; he said that the barrel contained living water for the king; let the servants guard it in turns; the servants opened the barrel, the owner was afraid that it was his fault that the water of life had become shit, he paid a huge amount of money; G. said at home that he got this money by selling shit; the villagers took their shit to the city; they were beaten; when they returned, the villagers killed G.'s cow; dogs began to gnaw the carcass; G. drove them into an empty room to beat them and demand money for the cow; a large dog knocked down the wall, gold poured out; G. told how generously the dogs paid; the villagers slaughtered their cows, gave them to the dogs, but did not receive any money; G. placed his aged mother by the window in the place where he usually slept, put his cap on her; during the night she was shot; G. carried away his mother's body, and in the morning the neighbors decided that the devil had carried them both off; G. brought the wrapped corpse to another noble house and said that it was an enchanted sleeping princess from an eastern country, whom he was taking to the king; at night the owner opened the covers to see the beauty, but saw only blood; G. said that because of sacrilege, the princess returned to her country, and in her place - someone's corpse; the owner paid a huge amount of money; the neighbors killed their mothers and went to sell them; they were sentenced to be beaten with rods; the victims put G. in a sack and brought him to the bridge to drown; the pastor ordered them to go to church with him first; at that moment a nobleman was riding in a carriage with four horses; G. began to shout that he did not want to be burgomaster; the master took his place and was drowned; the next day G. tells of his stay in the underwater world; he could have taken any animals, but took only horses; the men told G. to drown them; G. told the women that they would hardly return – he liked it too much]: Haltrich 1882, no. 63: 62-63; Bulgarians [a fool sells an ox (alive or slaughtered) to a tree or bush (cross, stump), or to wild animals or birds (wolves, bears, foxes, crows, jackdaws, eagles, sparrows), or to dogs ; demanding payment, he cuts down a tree, etc. and finds a treasure]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, no. 1643: 543.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Ekaterinoslav, Mariupol districts) [two brothers, one smart, the third a fool; suggests weaving a story about the barn: to whose cattle will come; all came to the fool's barn, only a filthy ox remained; brothers: what will you feed the cattle with? the fool exchanged it for one filthy ox; went to sell; the dog barks; the fool decided that it wanted to buy an ox and told her to come in a week for money; a week later the dog was under a stump, and there was a pile of money; the brothers send the fool to the priest for a measure, let him say that they were measuring wheat; the fool asks the measure to measure money; the priest will come soon; the brothers put the fool at the gate, told him to whistle when he came; the fool whistled him with a pickaxe; buried him on the mountain; the brothers reburied him, and put a ram in that grave; a fool takes the priest's wife up the mountain and asks if her priest had horns]: Dragomanov 1876, No. 23: 332-333.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Kurds [Mullah Mardan slaughtered a cow and distributed the meat to dogs; told his wife that he would collect payment from them in the fall; in the fall he began chasing the dogs, demanding money; one jumped over the wall, a stone fell out of it, and behind it a jug of gold]: Jalil et al. 1989, No. 194: 498-199.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians (Kerman) [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, a cow, a 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 do not need a pot of gold, but 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: 124-134.

Baltoscandia. Latvians [ The Fool and the Birch . The Fool sells a cow to a birch tree, which creaks in the wind, comes for the money, gets angry, hits it with an axe; finds money in the bank]: Arijs, Medne 1977, No. 1643: 364; Finns [his parents raised their son in a barrel so that worldly vices would not stick to him; when they released him, his mother sent him to sell butter to a rich gentleman; he will be tall and beautifully dressed; the lad sees a red milestone with a white top, fills a crack with butter, and comes for the money the next day; the milestone is silent, the lad turns it over and finds treasure underneath; the mother sends him to sell meat to a pastor, one of those in a black cassock and a white collar; the lad sold the meat to a dog; the next day he dragged it to court; the people came to watch; the king has a daughter who neither laughs nor speaks; she spoke and laughed for the first time; the king gave the boy gold]: Konkka 1993: 120-129; Karelians (Kalevala district) [a girl gave birth to an illegitimate child, hid it in a cellar; 15 years later her parents died, she looked into the cellar, there was a grown boy there; she sent him to sell a bucket of butter; he sold it to a rotten stump; the next day he came, started to beat the stump, there was gold under it; they slaughtered a bull, the boy put the meat in a sleigh, took it to sell; the dogs grab the pieces; the boy gave them everything, promised to come for the money; the king ordered the owners of the dogs to pay for the meat]: Onegina 2010, no. 62: 501-503.

Volga – Perm. Bashkirs [Khuzha bought some meat, gave some to the dog on the way home, telling it to pay later; came for the money, started beating the dog, it hid in the corner of the barn; Khuzha found the money there, counted out the amount; “As soon as I gave you a good beating, she found you right away!”]: Barag 1992, No. 147(174): 194-195.