The Tale of the Little Dog (Russian: "Собачья сказка") is a fairy tale from the Sami people collected by ethnographer , about a girl that marries a youth under a canine skin, betrays his secret and goes after him when he disappears. It is related to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband, wherein a human maiden marries a man under an animal curse, loses him and has to search for him. Variants have been collected from oral tradition from Sámi tellers.
Source According to Vladimir V. Charnolusky, the tale was collected in 1927 from a female teller named Kuropteva Varvara Ivanovna.Чарнолуский, Владимир Владимирович (1962). "Саамские сказки" [Saami Fairy Tales]. Зап., пер., обраб., предисл. и примеч. В.В. Чарнолуского. М.: Государственное Изд-во художественной литературы. pp. 292-293.
Summary An old woman laments the fact that she does not have any sons, so prays to have a son, even if he is a little dog. So she gives birth to a dog. The little dog helps his old parents with daily chores. One day, he wants to marry, so his parents arrange for his marriage with a human girl. The bride goes to live with the dog in the barn, but, on the wedding night, she becomes so afraid the dog becomes enraged and kills her. The dog's parents arrange another bride for him, who treats him kindly and shares her food with him. They move out to the barn and live like husband and wife. The girl discovers her husband takes off the dogskin at night and becomes a handsome man, and keeps the secret to herself.
One day, the old woman inquires her daughter-in-law about their life together, and the girl tells her about the dogskin. The old woman promises to burn the dogskin to keep him human. The next morning, the dog husband (now human) cannot find the skin, and escapes from home. His wife wakes up after him and does not see him in bed. She hears his voice, telling her to wear out three iron canes in search for him.
The girl fashions the three iron canes and walks about for three years, until she reaches the house of an old sorceress. The sorceress welcomes her in and says the husband lives with a rich "shalyutka" named Ulitta in their city, gives the girl a copper comb, and tells her to take out the comb and use it on her hair when her husband is playing a ball game. The girl follows her instructions and goes to the nearby city and waits for her husband. He throws the ball, which lands at her feet. She takes the ball and withholds it, and tells the player she wishes to give Ulitta a message: she will return the ball if Ulitta allows the girl to sleep by their doorstep at night. It happens thus.
The next day, the old sorceress gives the girl a silver comb, with the same piece of advice. The girl withholds the ball again and announces she will return it if Ulitta allows her to sleep by her husband's feet. On the third day, she is given a golden comb, and withholds the ball until Ulitta allows the girl to sleep in their bed at night. On each night, the girl cries for her husband, and, on the third night, her tears stain her husband's shirt. He turns to her, recognizing his wife and embracing her. Ulitta sees the sleeping pair, takes her box of golden treasures and jumps into the sea, never to be seen again. The girl and her dog husband (now human) return to his parents.Чарнолуский, Владимир Владимирович (1962). "Саамские сказки" [Saami Fairy Tales]. Зап., пер., обраб., предисл. и примеч. В.В. Чарнолуского. М.: Государственное Изд-во художественной литературы. pp. 171-175.
Analysis Tale type The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 425A, "The Animal as Bridegroom". In this tale type, the heroine is a human maiden who marries a prince that is cursed to become an animal of some sort. She betrays his trust and he disappears, prompting a quest for him.
Motifs
According to Hans-Jörg Uther, the main feature of tale type ATU 425A is "bribing the false bride for three nights with the husband". In fact, when he developed his revision of Aarne-Thompson's system, Uther remarked that an "essential" trait of the tale type ATU 425A was the "wife's quest and gifts" and "nights bought".
In other stories (from Europe, mostly), the heroine's helpers may be three old crones, or her husband's relatives.Bamford, Karen. "Quest for the Vanished Husband/Lover, Motifs H1385.4 and H1385.5". In: Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy (eds.). Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature. A Handbook. Armonk / London: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. p. 254.
According to A. Ermolov, the dog holds an important place in Sami folklore, and this is reflected in Sami tales about the dog as bridegroom, such as "Человек-собака" ("Youth-Dog").Ermolov, A. "Саамские сказки". Вступит. статья и подготовка текста А. Ермолова. Мурманск: Мурманское книжное издательство, 1959. p. 8.
Variants Hunter in Dog Skin In a Saami tale collected by A. Ermolov with the title "Охотник в собачьей шкуре" ("Hunter in Dog Skin"), a poor old couple have no children. The wife wishes to have a son with dog snout, and one is born to them, also in dog skin. Some time later, the dog asks his father to find him a bride while he goes hunting. The old man brings home a girl ad they sit to eat. The potential bride eats her dish of meat and throws the bones to the dog bridegroom, who takes her to the barn and kills her, demanding another bride from his parents. The same events happen to a second girl. Finally, the couple find him a third bride, and they sit to eat: the girl shares her meal with the dog, which greatly pleases him, so much so he takes her to the barn and takes off the canine skin to become a handsome youth. They spend the night together. The next day, the old wife finds her son without the dogskin, and tells her daughter-in-law to steal the dogskin while he is asleep and give it to her so she can burn it. The girl follows her mother-in-law's suggestion, and the skin is burnt. The now human dog son wakes up, admonishes his bride and tells her she can only find him by wearing down three pairs of iron shoes, three walking iron canes, and have three iron discs melt in her mouth, then vanishes. A smith forges her the requested objects and she begins her journey: she passes by three huts that spin on chicken legs, and gains three combs, one copper, the second silver and the third golden. At the third hut, she is advised by its dweller to go to the churchyard where her husband is playing ball with another woman named Katerina, take out the combs and use them on her hair; they will throw the ball which she must catch, and make a promise to return it if Katerina allows the girl to spend a night with her husband. It happens thus: Katerina allows the girl to spend the night near the threshold, then near the husband's bed, and lastly near him. Katerina listens to the girl's woes and gets out of bed. She takes a box with sewing material from her room, goes to the seashore and throws its contents in the water, ordering them to become seashells, starfishes and coral. Katerina then goes away, and the now human dog son lives with his bride.Ermolov, A. "Саамские сказки". Вступит. статья и подготовка текста А. Ермолова. Мурманск: Мурманское книжное издательство, 1959. pp. 67-69.
Dog Skin (Kert) Russian Finno-Ugricist Georgy Martynovitch Kert collected a Sami tale from Lovozero titled p'ennɛ tor̩r̩k, which he translated to Russian with the title "Собачья шкура" ("Dog Skin"). In this tale, an old couple long to have a son, and the old woman wishes they could have a son with human face and dogskin, thus one is born to them. Time passes, and the dog son asks his parents to find him a bride, from one of three sisters of a neighbour. The first daughter is welcomed by the old couple, and she hears a dog barking, which the old couple explain is her bridegroom. They sit to eat, and the girl gives only bones to the dog son. In retaliation, he kills the elder girl, and requests another wife: the girl's middle sister, who suffers the same fate after she gives bones to the dog. Finally, the third sister goes to the old couple's house and is told of the dog son. They sit to eat, and she shares meat and bread with him. In return, the dog son takes his bride to the barn and removes the dogskin, becoming a handsome youth to sleep beside her. They live like this for a while, until the bride decides to take the dogskin and burn it. The dog son smells the burning and laments that his bride destroyed it, since he would have become human in three years time. He then says she will only find him after she wears down three pairs of iron shoes, three walking canes made of iron, and melting three pewter discs in her mouth, then vanishes. After wearing down the iron garments, she reaches a big city and finds him among some ball players. They kick the ball so hard it falls next to the bride. She takes the ball and promises to return it if he allows her to sleep in his bedroom for one night. It happens again the next day, when she offers to sleep by the foot of his bed, and the day after, when she offers to sleep behind him, and pours out her woes to make him remember her. She does on the third night, and he recognizes her. Now reunited, they have a child together, and return to the dog son's parents.Керт, Георгий Мартынович. "Образцы саамской речи". Материалы по языку и фольклору саамов Кольского полуострова (кильдинский и иоканьгский диалекты). М.-Л.: Издательство АН СССР, 1961. pp. 56-59 (Saami text for tale nr. 19), 59-61 (Russian translation)."Саамские сказки" [Saami Fairy Tales]. Составление, предисловие и примечания Е. Я. Нация. Под редакцией Г. М. Керта. Мурманск: Кн. изд-во. 1980. pp. 226-228.
Beautiful Katerina (Kert)