M39a8b. Tongueless Robber. .15.22.27.-.32.

The one hiding in the tree uses a clever trick to cut off (bite off) the tongue of the dangerous character, so that he cannot tell his comrades anything.

Spaniards, Khmers, Bosnians, Greeks, Russians (Zaonezhie), Belarusians, Georgians, Baluchis, Swedes, Livs, Udmurts.

Southern Europe. Spaniards (Murcia) [a fool decides that he must carry a door (instead of locking it); he climbs a tree with his brother or mother; robbers come under the tree to count their loot; the fool cannot resist, he relieves himself, the robbers think that sausages, olive oil, etc. are falling from the sky; in the end the fool drops the door, the robbers run away, leaving their loot; sometimes one of the robbers returns and the brothers cut out his tongue, offering him food to put in his mouth]: Hernández Fernández 2013, no. 1653: 251.

Burma - Indochina. Khmer [entering a hermit's hut, the husband saw his unfaithful wife; she asks how she can kill her husband; in the voice of a hermit, the husband advises to boil a hen with eggs, let the husband eat it; the husband ate it and pretended to be seriously ill; the wife let her lover in, he hid in a large vat; asked his wife to boil some water and when she came out, poured boiling water into the vat; in the morning the husband left, and the wife decided to slip the body to four robbers; borrowed silk clothes from neighbors, hung them in the yard, as if rich people lived there; the robbers entered the house, there was only a vat; they carried it away, and in it was a dead man; the robbers began to beat the woman, and she pointed to the ship, said that she was going to get money from the helmsman; she sold the robbers to the shipmen as her slaves; they broke free; the woman climbed a tree; the chief robber climbed up there too; she offered him money and herself; they began to kiss, she bit off his tongue; he fell from the tree, could not say anything, the robbers decided that the sailors were chasing him; the woman returned to her husband and lived well with him]: Gorgoniev 1973: 244-249.

The Balkans. Bosnians [two brothers hired themselves out to a hadji as shepherds; the younger one climbed a pear tree and began to shake them, while the older one drove away the sheep; then the older one climbed the pear tree, and the younger one drove them away: he beat the goats with a hammer and killed them all; a ram was left; they hung all the bells on it, and threw the carcasses of the sheep into the river; the brothers asked for their pay and left; there was a water mill on the way, the younger one grabbed the wheel; they spent the night in a fir tree; the hadji sent the Turks to look for the brothers; they stopped under the fir tree; the younger one pees, the Turks - dew; he poops - figs; he drops the wheel; the Turks run, the brothers came down, finished the ram left by the Turks; the Turks sent one to check what was there; the brothers: you have a hair on your tongue; the Turk stuck out his tongue, the brothers cut it off; he bleats, the Turks run away in terror]: Krauss 2009(2), No. 630: 292-294; Greeks (Asia Minor) [two brothers, one fool; their rich father died; smart brother: the sheep that go to the new barn will be mine, and those to the old one will be yours; they all went to the new one, and only one stupid calf went to the old one; the smart one sent the stupid one to the imam to borrow a sieve, ordered him not to say why it was needed; he honestly answered the imam that the sieve was needed to measure money; the imam smeared the sieve with honey and then took the stuck coins; realizing this, the brothers cut off his head and threw it into a well, and then threw sheep's heads in there; the stupid one answered the guards that the imam's head was in their well; they ordered him to get it, he gets sheep and goat heads; brothers are taken to the police station, the smart one tells the stupid one to close the doors; the stupid one drags the doors with him; the brothers are released; they climb a poplar; at night 40 robbers are dividing the money below; the smart one tells the stupid one to throw down the doors; the robbers run away, one remains under the fallen doors; the brothers cut out his tongue and take the money]: Dawkins 1916, No. 1: 331-333.

Central Europe. Russians (Olonets: Zaonezhye) [brothers Peter, Vasil, and Ivan worked as barge haulers and were returning home; I. picked up a millstone; they went into the robbers’ house; they return and divide the money; the brothers hide “on the ceiling”; I. is peeing; robbers: God gives warm dew; I. recovered; robbers: God gives manna; I. threw down the millstone; the robbers ran away; then one was sent out to reconnoiter; I. ​​cut out his tongue; the robber babbles, the others think that “there are many of them”, the brothers got the money]: Karnaukhova 2009, no. 40: 117-118; Belarusians [an old man has three sons, the youngest is a fool; his father died, the brothers sent the fool to buy pots and salt; on the way back he wants to water the horse; it doesn’t drink; a fool poured salt into the river - then she got drunk; in the forest he covered the stumps with pots - it is not good for guests to be bareheaded, he put on hats; the brothers themselves went off to do some shopping; the fool opened kegs of beer in the cellar and began to swim in the trough; to the brothers: I thought you brewed me some beer for a ride; the brothers brewed beer again, sent the fool to call the guests; he tells everyone to go on foot, and he himself will come for the children on horseback; he put the children on wheels and pressed them down with a pole; they all died; the brothers run into the forest, come to Baba Yaga's house, there are her three daughters; the brothers spent the night under the stove; Baba Yaga arrives in a mortar, tells her to bake her eldest brother in the morning; he asks Yagishna to show him how to sit on a shovel, he roasted her himself, Baba Yaga ate her; the next day the same with the middle brother; The fool beat up Baba Yaga, brought her with a mortar, broom, etc.; the brothers went into the forest, climbed a spruce; the cabbies stopped under the spruce; one of the brothers relieved himself and the other; the cabbies: dew; pine cones; the fool threw Baba Yaga, the mortar, etc., the cabbies ran away; they found one in the bushes, cut out his tongue; the fool thinks that he speaks a special language, asks the brothers to teach him too; the brothers: we don’t know how; the fool killed them]: Dobrovolsky 1891, No. 16: 498-501.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Georgians (Guria) [brothers divide property; elders: there are three doors in the barn, let each take the cattle that comes out through his door; the youngest fool was placed at the narrowest exit, he received only a skinny bull; he tied it to a tree in the forest; when he returned, the bull pulled out the tree, and under it was a jug of gold; the fool carried it to the king; along the way, everyone he met replaced a handful of coins with pebbles and pieces of wood; the fool poured this out in front of the king, was beaten; asks: why? someone as a joke: because he worked in vain; the fool to the reaper: labor in vain! the reaper teaches to say: may God send a bountiful harvest! the fool says this at a funeral; at a wedding: heaven rest my soul! to the monks: be fruitful and multiply! the monks beat him, he stole a bell, climbed with it into a tree in the forest; robbers were feasting nearby, one went to find out; asks who is on the tree: the devil or an angel; the fool: rise up and stick out your tongue, I will write the answer on it; he cut off the tongue of the one who rose up; seeing his comrade howling in pain, the robbers ran away, leaving behind the loot; the fool became richer than his brothers]: Wardrop 1894, No. 8: 165-167.

Iran - Central Asia. Baluchi [the elder brother works, the younger one is a fool, plays and sits at home; got angry with his mother and killed her; the elder brother wanted to go sell the calf to buy a shroud; but the fool threatened to kill him too, and took the calf himself; at that time the elder brother borrowed money and buried his mother; the fool sold the calf to an owl (it kept nodding at his words), promising to come for the money later; at the funeral he smeared the carpets with molasses, they stuck to the people, the fool said that they wanted to steal them; the people left; the owl hid in a hollow; the fool brought his brother, began to dig, pulled out the owl, cut off its head as punishment for not wanting to pay; there was gold in the hollow; the fool sent his brother for a cup to measure the gold; gold coins stuck to it; the king ordered to beat the fool's brother until he confessed; The fool came, ordered not to beat him, brought the king to a hollow; the king climbed in, the fool blocked the exit with a stone; both left; the fool made his brother carry a millstone he found on the road; they lifted it up the tree; an army camped below, began to cook dinner, they had one sick man; the fool urinated, everyone decided that the sick man was sweating; then the fool threw off the millstone; everyone decided that the sky had fallen, they ran away; the chief sent one to check; the fool: let me kiss your tongue; cut off his tongue; seeing that the messenger was moaning and there was blood coming from his mouth, the people ran away; the brothers remained by that tree]: Zarubin 1949, No. 1: 17-29.

Baltoscandia. Swedes [someone (a simpleton, a foolish brother, a husband and wife) drags a door and climbs a tree with it; animals, robbers or supernatural characters are located under the tree; the door falls, they run away; sometimes one of them is left without a tongue]: Liungman 1961, No. 1653AB: 326; Livs [three brothers climbed a tree, devils are dividing money under him; the third (he is a fool) took a dump, the devils say that God sent them food; the fool threw an axe, it got stuck in the devil's ass; the devils ran away, one returned for the money; the fool asked him to stick out his tongue, cut it off, called himself "Sam"; the devil ran away, shouting that he himself cut off his tongue]: Loorits 2000(5): 41-42.

Volga - Perm. Udmurts [three brothers went to steal turnips (from a witch), the youngest is bald; while pulling out the turnips, he talks loudly, the witch catches the brothers and puts them under the bunk; she tells the eldest daughter to cook one ram, the brothers push the bald one out; he says that he does not know how to sit on a shovel, the witch's daughter shows, he pushed her into the oven, the witch ate it; so with each of the three daughters and with the witch herself; leaving, the brothers took the witch's gold, and the bald one - an iron door; they climbed a fir tree; under it the robbers began to divide the money; the bald one pees, shits, they think it is raining; he drops the door, the robbers run away; one stopped, the bald man cut out his tongue, he can’t say anything to his comrades, they run away even faster]: Wichmann 1901, no. 6: 67-69.