Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue translated by Jon F White

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

E38B. Pumpkin people. .21.-.23.25.26. (.27.) .52.

After a global catastrophe or at the beginning of time, a pumpkin appears on earth, and people's ancestors emerge from it.

Shunmara, kachin, inta, ahom, shans, white thai Vietnam, lao, vieta, bru, khmu, wa, palaung, shans, ancient India, bunun, miao, meo, man, asi, sleigh, lolo, fox, lahu, jino, li, Chinese (Gansu, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hunan, Sichuan), (Bulgarians), ancient Maya (painting in San Bartolo), Cozumalguapa (Bilbao, Monument 21), (Teotihuacan).

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Shunmara [Nat sends Toad to say that there will be a flood; people beat Toad, only her husband and wife sheltered her; they climbed a tree, other people did not believe them, drowned; the wife gave birth to a pumpkin, it was cut, The ancestors of many tribes came out of there]: Kasevich, Osipov 1976, No. 2:36-38; Kachin: Elwin 1958b, No. 23 [first the sky is close to earth; Ningun-Chinun gives birth to twins from Tungkam-Waisun, this is Sita (month) and his Sister Chan (sun); then LF gives birth to a Machang man, a Wakum pumpkin, a Lung-Nin-Chang stone; playing, the LNF smashed his pumpkin brother, people came out, rejoicing when the Sun and the Month climbed into heaven; no longer suffer in the darkness, cut off the stairs, the stars remained in the sky; the Sunwoman tried unsuccessfully to meet her month-old brother; he refused, became pale, like a saint], 28 [after the creation of the world in him is only the main god Phan-Ningsang and his assistant Mathum-Matta; they find a human-shaped pumpkin, cut it, and people without signs of gender come out; PN cut through his chest with an ax women, and those who had two navels turned one into a penis; people spread; so that they could descend to the plain, MM made a silver staircase (the British and Assames descended it, they have many silver coins), gold (Burmese, Khamptis, they are rich), reed (Adis, Nagas, they make reed bridges and belts); Kachin decided that wood is more reliable, they build their houses from it]: 58-59, 138-139.

Burma - Indochina. Inta [only the poor boy and girl warmed the old man; he pulled out his tooth, ordered him to plant, a pumpkin will grow, you have to hide in it during the flood; as it happened, the rain flooded the ground; after the flood a young man and a girl got married, the girl gave birth to a pumpkin, it was cut, the seeds were scattered, and different people and animals arose from them]: Kasevich, Osipov 1976, No. 42:143-146; ahom [ancestors of the royal shans, HPI-pok man and woman and HPI-mot descended from heaven; because Shan did not sacrifice to the gods, storm god Ling-lawn first sent cranes, then lions, then snakes to exterminate people, but the animals could not do it to cope; then L. sent a drought, and then a downpour that flooded the earth with a flood; the sage Lip-long and the cow escaped on the raft; when the waters subsided, the corpses began to decompose; L. sent snakes, then tigers, but they could not remove the corpses; then burned the ground with fire; Lip-long stabbed a cow and hid from the fire in her stomach; when the fire was over, water god Hkang-HKak ordered three pumpkins to be planted (their seeds were inside cows); one vine dried up under the sun, the other rotted when in the water, the third grew; the storm god sent the gardener to take care of it; the thunderstorm god began to hit pumpkins with lightning, they split, from one people came out, wild animals and birds from others, rivers flowed, plants appeared]: Cochrane 1915:121-125 (reprinted in Frazer 1919:199-203; retelling in Chesnov 1982i: 66); ahom [people destroyed by boiling water rushing out of the ground; new ones come out of a pumpkin that Indra's son Aiphalan opened with his arrow; var.: After a global flood and a world fire, the storm god Kubg-Lawn breaks with his thunder There are a lot of pumpkins from which people emerge, as well as animals, birds and useful plants]: Walk 1949:66; shans (Kengtung is the easternmost of the Shan states on the border between China and Laos) [( the end of a long story); the pumpkin (which was not mentioned before) has ripened and burst; the seeds crumbled and turned into savages; a man and a woman descended from the tree, they are the rulers Kentun; and you were driven to the mountains]: Scott 1918:281; Vietnam's white thai [after the flood, Taosung and Taongan were sent by the supreme god to build the land; he gave them 8 copper sticks (Saokamfa is "stick, supporting the sky") and 8 pumpkins; inside the pumpkins were people of 330 nationalities, seeds of 330 varieties of rice, books for predictors and priests; going down, T. it reached the countries of Myongum and Mongai somewhere between heaven and with earth, we saw that the land was not completely free from water; when the water left, only Taosung descended to the ground; he distributed pumpkins in different countries, pierced them with sticks; peoples came out of the pumpkins]: Chesnov 1982s: 393; khmu (tsa khmu) [brother and sister caught a rat in the forest; she asked her to let her go, reported the impending flood, advised her to climb into a hollow tree trunk; after the flood, the bird brother and the sister went in different directions to look for marriage partners; met only each other twice; the bird advised them to marry; the sister carried the fetus for three years, gave birth to two pumpkins; while bringing down rice, she dropped the pest , one pumpkin split, and tai, ly, lao, etc. came out of it; she gently pierced the other pumpkin with a heated piece of iron, but the ahem in it rushed straight out, got dirty in the coal, so swarthy; pumpkin fragments turned into rocks near Ban Tau Pung village ("pumpkin village")]: Roux 1928:177-179 (=1953:295-300; retelling in Chesnov 1980c: 163; more concise in Walk 1949:64-65); wa: Ho 1967, No. 70 [two people of different sexes, Yatawm and Yatai, lived on three hills, who were not attracted to each other; the Shans call them Ta-hsek-hi and Ya-hsek khi; the Creator threw pumpkins from the sky, they ate them, planted seeds, from which new shoots grew, after 3 years and 7 months they bore fruits the size of a mountain; since then, both creatures and 12 others (it is not specified who they are) have felt attracted; from one pumpkin heard the voices of people, the other heard the voices of animals {then, probably, about humans and animals coming out of pumpkins}]: 247-248; Scott 1918 [the pumpkin is ripe, the seeds crumbled under the feet of elephants and rhinos, buffaloes; wa people arose from seeds]: 281; Chesnov 1968 [people lived inside the pumpkin; the sparrow cut it, people began to crawl out of it; the tiger guarding the pumpkin grabbed everyone and ate it; the rat bit the tiger by the tail; the tiger turned its head, at which moment people ran out of the pumpkin; when the tiger saw many people, he got scared and ran away]: 168; 1982q [Hsung Hsang R'reng split two giant ones with a magic sword pumpkins, so that Yataan and Yatai would allow him to marry their tiger daughter; var: these pumpkins grew from the seeds of the one that the heavenly deity gave Me and Me to eat so that they could know the passion for love; from the crab and hare came out of the first split pumpkin; where H. threw the crab, a lake was formed (the city of Myong Mai stands on its shore); four groups of peoples came out of the second, eating rice, corn, and meat, roots (ancestors of Wa, Shans, Karen, etc.)]: 593; Lao: Scott 1918 [people came out of a melon or pumpkin and went in different directions]: 286; Walk 1949 [in different ways people appear 1) from the same pumpkin , 2) together with animals and plants from two pumpkins opened by order of the heavenly deity Praya Then by two then spirits; 3) from three pumpkins that grew from the nose of an exhausted person after the flood sent by Praya Then buffalo; Pu Lan Xon opened them with hot iron]: 65; palaung [Hulu creator ("gorlyanka pumpkin") planted calebasses, from which 72 peoples came out, including Palaung, Wa, Lili, Bai, Moso and Han; they came to two towers, whose owner told me to go to the creator and get sacred texts; they would have to be read when someone died to find their way to their ancestors; on the way home, we had to cross river; the palaung dropped his book into the water, and when he went ashore, put it to dry; the grazing ox ate it, so the cows have a book-shaped stomach; when he saw what happened, the Khan was smarter and put his book in his pocket and it has been preserved; only a part of it has been swallowed by the fish; the owner of the towers advised me to cut out wooden fish and hit it during rituals; Taoist monks do so, this is a kind of drum]: Oppitz 2008:10-11; bro [three brothers caught frogs; hear them say that animals will soon gather to judge a man; brothers let the frogs go, the elder goes to a meeting with the old frog, hides in a hollow; animals accuse each other of being guilty to man; only frogs man destroys innocently; the frog promises that there will be a flood; animals run away; the frog tells brothers make a raft; water floods the fire, brothers want to fry crab, swim to the Sun's house; the eldest fell in love with the daughter of the Sun, baked the crab to black; now visible in the sun with a black crab in his hands; raft descended on bare rocks; an older brother threw a tree trunk with two termites and two earthworms from the sky; termites and worms turn wood into soil, brothers plant rice; younger brother studies magic, meets an old woman, turns him into a beauty; the middle brother fell in love with the bride, took her younger brother on his magic horse; contrary to the warning, he galloped him, which caused the earth to catch fire, mountains and the sea formed, a horse and riders jumped to the moon, can now be seen there; a pumpkin has grown in the fire, brought one fruit; the ancestors of peoples came out of it; their skin is darker or lighter, depending on who smeared more with charcoal; some of their hair caught fire, became curly; taoi, vankieu, ede, sedang, banar, viets came out; the younger brother became the Spirit of the Earth, told everyone where to live and what to do (vietu - better lands), ascended to heaven]: Nikulin 1976:186-195 (=Vietnamese tales 1992:174-182).

South Asia. Ancient India (Mahabharata) [Mbh.3.104-105); the lord of the land Sagara is married to daughter Vidabhi and daughter Shibi; the second gave birth to a son, the first pumpkin; S. wanted to throw it away, a voice ordered to extract it from heaven seeds, stored in oil-filled vessels above the steam; seeds gave rise to 60,000 sons, who even oppressed gods, Gandharvas and Rakshasa; looking for a missing horse, they dug up the ocean floor to the very bottom Patala, died]: Vasilkov, Neveleva 1987:231.

Taiwan - Philippines. Bunun [a pumpkin fell from the sky, crashed, a man and a woman came out, and their descendants settled the land]: Ho 1967, No. 68:246.

China - Korea. Yao (Guangxi, Wu. Yongxian City Luocheng; by Chang Zhenxia, "A study of images on stone sarcophagi from Shapinba", magazine. "Showen Yuekan", vol. 1, No. 10-11. Lu Zhenyu. Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Shigan, 1962) [before the storm, a boy and a girl watched their father start repairing the roof; the father became angry with the thunder god Lei-gong and placed an iron cage under the roof; L. holding a wooden axe, he went down, flapping his wings; the man stuffed it with his horn into the cage and told the children not to let him drink; L. begged the children to give him a few drops of water; breaking the cage, He pulled out his tooth and ordered it to be planted, and flew away; when he learned of what had happened, his father began to make an iron boat, and the planted tooth grew a gourd pumpkin; when the pumpkin was opened, countless teeth were inside; the children threw them away and climbed inside themselves; a downpour poured in, the water covered the ground; the father sailed in a boat to the iron gate and began to knock; the spirit of heaven ordered the spirit of the waters to drive away the waters; they immediately subsided, the boat fell, crashed, the man crashed too; the children in the pumpkin escaped; the boy's name was Fuxi, the same as Paosi ("pumpkin brother"); the children grew up, the brother invited his sister to marry; she offered to catch up with her; but F. ran the other way and ran out to meet his sister; they got married; the wife gave birth to a lump of meat; they cut it into pieces, began to go up to the sky's gate; the wind blew, unfolded the bundle, pieces of meat fell and became human; the person who fell on a leaf received the surname Ye ("leaf"), on a tree - Mu ("tree"), etc.]: Yuan Ke 1987:39-43; yao (Vietnam) [Chang Lo Co built a house, Thunder in the form of a rooster descended him destroy, slipped, was caught, caged; Phuc Hy (this is Shang Luo Ko's son) gave him wine, he regained his strength, broke the cage, gave the boy a tooth, told him to plant, a pumpkin would grow; PI and his sister climbed into pumpkin during the flood, waxed the hole, took food and a couple of pets with them; Shang Lo Ko got on a raft, but the water suddenly slept, it crashed; the turtle advised PI to marry his sister; he Anger broke her shell with a stone, it grew together, but the traces remained; the same advice and episode with bamboo (knife marks); brother and sister went to bed on opposite river banks; two trees grew out of their bellies and intertwined; Three years, three months and three days later, my sister gave birth to a pumpkin; my brother told me to sow seeds everywhere; when we got up the mountain, there were only three seeds left, so there were few highlanders]: Dang Nghiem Van 1993:326-327; yao (Thailand) [brother and sister escaped in the pumpkin flood; the turtle advised them to marry, her brother broke her shell into 12 pieces in anger, they grew together; brother and sister repented; the old man also ordered to get married, someone said that this old man was a bird; brother and sister slept separately, but the columns of smoke from their fires, then the bamboo they planted, joined together, then they lay down together; the sister gave birth to a pumpkin, the goddess ordered her to cut it, throw the seeds into the plain, the peel into the mountains; the brother was in a hurry, fell, threw the seeds into the mountains, the peel into the plain; the seeds gave rise to highlanders, from the peel the inhabitants of the plains; var.: from seeds and 6 pairs of people arose peels, from them different peoples]: Kacha-Ananda 1997:270-171; man (North Vietnam, border with China) [Lightning spirit Leung Kung descended to set fire to a banana leaf made of banana leaves Tiang Lo Ko's house of spirit; TLK caught him, turned him into a rooster, put him in a cage; if you give the Rooster even a drop of water, he will become a thunder again; LC gave his beak for water, TLK poured him water, LK flew to heaven; the beak became a tree with one fruit; to catch up with the LC in the sky, TLC blocked the river, caused a flood; on the advice of the birds, the young Fu Hai and his sister sat in the fruit and escaped; LC destroyed the dam, the fruit from the FH descended on mountain; Turtle, Bamboo advise brother and sister to marry; FH hits them, now they have stitches; FH still marries his sister, she gives birth to a fetus; people grew out of seeds; after the flood, 12 suns, moons and stars appeared God told them to dry the earth; Luong Wung shot the stars, leaving one sun and one moon]: Karpov, Tkachev 1958:260-262; asi [the first married couple gives birth to five sons and five daughters; brothers marry sisters; four older couples cultivate the land, find the field intact every morning; see Silver and Gold spirits descend from the sky, restore turf; throw them away beat; younger brother and sister recognize spirits, tell them to let them go; they report that there will be a flood; older couples make chests of gold, silver, bronze, iron; the youngest is wooden; rain floods the ground in a flood, a wooden chest floats up, others drown; Gold and Silver spirits pierce the drains into the waters with arrows; when descending, the ark lingers on pine, chestnut, bamboo; at the direction of the gods, brother and sister they lower a sieve and a sieve from the mountain, two millstones; both times they fall on top of each other; brother and sister marry; wife gives birth to pumpkin, brother-husband cuts it, ancestors of different peoples come out from there, disperse earth]: Vakhtin, Eats 1956:33-44; sleigh [three brothers and sister plow the meadow, no signs of work are visible in the morning; an old man restores the untouched land; this is the spirit of Apish's thunder; says that there will be a flood, gives gold, silver, wooden chests; the younger brother chooses a wooden one, agrees to take his sister; the old man tells me to open the chests when the chicken hatches from the egg; each brother opens, older and middle they drown, the youngest in the wooden one swims further; the chest settled on the mountain, caught on bamboo and sycamore; A. gives seeds, bulls and cows appear from beans, buffalo peas; sister agrees to marry if Brother's thread will fit into her needle; if the millstones fall together; the sister gives birth to a fetus, cuts it into pieces, and men and women emerge]: Lin Lin, Ustin 1959:99-102; lolo [the first people are brother and sister, they had no parents; before getting married, they lowered two stones from the mountains; brother's stone lay on their sister's stone; the same was two sieves; two shoes; smoke from fires lit on two mountains united; sister gave birth to a pumpkin, it contained the embryos of all people]: Vial, Les Lolo, p.51f in Matsumoto 1928:121; fox: Dessaint, Ngwâma 1994 [Eyip'a descended from heaven, sowed on earth different plants; a giant pumpkin grew out of one seed; E. began to cut it with a sword; two snakes came out of the severed part facing east, female and male spirits to the west, and a wolf and a she-wolf to the zenith , to the wind, a cannibal with a cannibal, from the base, a boy Ahap'a and a girl Ahama; they immediately went and spoke; E. told them to marry; ordered them to lower a cylindrical stone from one mountain, and on the other, concave; one invested in another; after 10 lunar months, Akhama gave birth to three boys; one became a chief, the second a shaman, and the third a carver (sculptor, painter)]: 159-160; Miller 1994, No. 3 [brother and the sister was orphans; two birds told them that there would be a flood; told them to sit in a pumpkin and go out when they heard their voices; brother and sister tried to warn people, but they did not believe them; for 99 days the sun hung above the ground , it did not rain, the earth began to burn, the foliage crumbled; then a thunderstorm began, the flood flooded the ground; when the waters came down, the pumpkin was on the mountain; when the birds heard the voices of the birds, the brother and sister went out; after the flood, 9 suns began to burn the earth, and 7 moons began to freeze it at night; the birds told their brother and sister that a 9-horned dragon lives in the lake under the rock; if you get its golden bow and silver arrows, you can get extra suns and moons destroy; the birds gave a hammer to break the rock, silver mites grab the fish that the dragon would send; he consistently sends three fish, brother and sister threw them ashore; grabbing the dragon with ticks by the nose, they forced him to give up his bow and arrow; they knocked down 8 suns and 6 moons from the top of the mountain; brother and sister went each to look for people, found no one; the birds told them to marry; they agreed after as the turtle shells thrown down one and the other up, the two halves of the millstone descended from the mountain lay on top of each other, and the brother's arrow hit the sister's needle eye; and so on three times; they gave birth to six sons and 6 daughters; the couple remaining in place became the ancestors of the fox, and the other 5 were ancestors of Han, Tibetan, Bai, and Keqin]: 78-84; Jino [Mahei and Maniu are twin brother and sister; before the flood their parents placed them in a hollowed out tree trunk, brought with them seeds of cultivated plants and a bell, told them to leave only when the earth was dry and the bell rang; they began to cultivate the land and began to grow old; the brother offered to continue the family, the sister doubted, decided to go ask the sacred tree; the brother hid behind the tree and answered for it, allowing the marriage; but the aged sister was barren; all the pumpkins on the grown vine have dried up, and one has become big; voices can be heard from it; brother and sister tried to burn a hole, but each time exhaust their voices asking not to burn them; only an old woman Apierer offered to burn the button on her stomach, the place where the pumpkin joined the stem; people began to come out of the hole; Apo, the ancestor of the Konge people, was the first to come out; he smeared himself with charcoal; then they left Chinese, last Jino, he stayed where the pumpkin lay, other places were already occupied]: Miller 1994:68-73; Jino [{in the source, the text is referred to Bulang/Jinuo/Dai (i.e. bulang, jino, liu); since Jino (Ngwi Tibeto-Burmese) are declared to have preserved the language of the first ancestor pairs, they are most likely to belong to the myth}; husband and wife lived on the mountain; when the flood began, they placed their son and the daughter, into a drum cut down from a whole piece of wood, giving her a supply of food; after 9 days the water came down, brother and sister went to the ground; saw a pumpkin from which human heads were heard; the pumpkin grew; when brother and sister decided to get married, they heated an iron pin and punched a hole; people began to come out of the pumpkin; the bulang was the first to come out, and because it was smeared on the charred peel, a dark-skinned bulang; The bulang did not know how to speak, and their sister advised them to listen to the murmur of water; therefore, the bulang's speech resembles the murmur of water; then above jino (Tibeto-Burmese) tripped over a chestnut stump, which was not dark nor light; since then, Jino's skin is dark, but not as much as bulang; Jino spoke the same language as brother and sister, they did not have to learn another; then liu (dai) came out, stumbled over banana stump, so liu is light-skinned; liu learned the Bulang and Jino languages, which made their own language; the supreme god gave each nation its own culture, including writing; bulang signs were written in flatbread, jino on ox skin, liu on banana leaves; when people went to their villages, they crossed the river and everything got wet; while they were drying, bulang and jino were hungry and ate tortillas and skins; and banana leaves fell pigeon droppings, liu's writing has been preserved]: Oppitz 2008:7-9; lahu (northern Thailand) [G'ui-sha planted a pumpkin, it brought fruit; the owl frightened the deer, the deer kicked the bull, the pumpkin fell and rolled; G. first searches for the culprit (hit the owl in the face, it became flat), then asks many different plants if they have seen the pumpkin; depending on the answers, punishes or rewards them by determining characteristics; the same applies to bees; black bees respond that a pumpkin has fallen into the sea; two goats, an eagle can't reach it, two crabs reach it; people's voices can be heard from the inside; a sparrow with He began to bite with a long beak, spoiled his beak; a couple of rats gnawed for many days, making two holes; the boy Ca Ti and the girl Na Ti came out of it; G. rewarded the sparrow and rats by allowing them to eat rice; the children grew up; CT hunted; made musical instruments; G. invited the young to marry, but they replied that they were brother and sister; G. explained how mortar and pestle, sieve and hand winnower work, but the answer is the same; G. made a honey drink, sent one bee with it around the sun and the other around the moon; brother went to the sun, sister to the moon, but did not taste the drink; then G. put it in the lip organ and they felt taste; they began to eat it with a spoon; they came together; a hawk saw them; they asked them not to tell G., for this he would be allowed to steal chickens; a tiger saw: you will be allowed to steal piglets; a wild cat to steal chickens]: Coyaud 2009, No. 3:18-27; Lee (Hainan, W. Qiongzhong) [a gorlyanka pumpkin grew on the ground; the mountain became larger; the immortal spirit made a hole in it and placed two clay-sculpted men, brother and sister, as well as clay buffaloes, inside. bulls, pigs, dogs, cats, lizards, mantis and others like them - each creature in pairs; at this time the great flood began, the gorlyanka squash began to swing on the waves; when the flood receded, five appeared in the sky suns and five moons that quickly dried all the water; thanks to the sun and water, the little men and animals in the pumpkin came to life and jumped out; the suns were burning like fire, and in the evening, when the moons came out, it was so bright that I could not open my eyes; then the immortal spirit asked who could get rid of excess suns and moons; the wild boar replied that he had long fangs and could eat them; brother and sister became asked him to do this, but the boar replied that they should then feed him rice sprouts; brother and sister agreed and told him to eat four of the five suns; the boar ate four suns and four moons gnawed, their pieces turned into stars; when he returned, there were no rice sprouts to give him, but his brother and sister allowed him to eat all the rice he saw; so wild boars they often eat rice sown by people; brother and sister went to wander around the world, but could not find people and cried; the heavenly god of thunder heard their crying, came down and asked why they were crying; told them to get married; brother and sister said that they were relatives and if they married, they would be punished by the god of thunder; he replied that he did not intend to punish them; brother and sister did not believe it, and then he decided to show theirs strength; there were peals of thunder, the ground shuddered, rivers overflowed, trees split; the god of thunder laughed if they believed him now, and then they obeyed and married; they a son was born, they could not get enough of him; the god of thunder came again and told him to give the child to him; brother and sister said that the child had not yet been born, but the god of thunder replied that he already knew everything; he promised that he would turn the child into a multitude of people, and then brother and sister would not be sad that there were no people in the world; brother and sister disagreed, and the god of thunder took the boy by force; he cut it into pieces, began to sift them through a sieve; the sifted pieces of meat turned into four boys and four girls; the god of thunder gave them clothes; the first was a shirt and pants, he became Han; for the second cloth it was not enough, the god of thunder gave him two pieces, tied them in front and back to his waist, and he got so-called bag-shaped pants; this boy became a tsisky; the third young man got even less cloth; the god of thunder made a triangular loincloth for him, this young man became Xiaomi Li; the latter got the smallest piece of cloth, this young man became Bende Li; boys married girls, humanity became live from generation to generation]: Zhou 2002, No. 2:3-4; Chinese (Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hunan) [the emergence of people from a chopped piece of meat, pumpkin, egg]: Eberhard 1937, No. 49:89-90; Chinese ( Gansu, y. Minxian) [An old man who was called the "divine grandfather" lived on Mount Wenjiashan in Minxian County. He said that humans came from pumpkins made from primary particles. When heaven and earth were not yet separated, the clear particles of the sky and the turbid particles of the earth were in disarray. However, they did not mix, and some went upstairs, while others settled down, so there were few in the middle. These particles made a gourd pumpkin. One day, the sun and moon came out, illuminated everything around them, and the pumpkin had eyes; mountains rose; the pumpkin had its nose and cheeks; rivers flowed; and the pumpkin had seven holes. Spring came, herbs and trees began to grow - the pumpkin grew hair and beard; summer thunder sounded - the pumpkin had a voice; autumn came, the wind blew and frost appeared - the pumpkin became colorful; winter has come, the trees have dried up - the pumpkin fell asleep in eternal sleep. Morning and evening were coming, the sky was brighter and dark - the pumpkin also worked and slept. In addition, not one pumpkin grew from one root, but at least two. There were male pumpkins upstairs, and women's pumpkins below. They combined and then flowers appeared and fruits were set, and so, generation after generation, there were more and more pumpkins. Our Minzhou is in the west. Many centuries ago, there was a vast sea here. It was located near the Siwanmu Jade Pond, and many years later, the pumpkins came to life and began to mumble and move. Then Mount Kunlun, where immortals live, appeared, and pumpkins became even more dexterous. At this time, the flood began, pumpkins could not grow further, they began to take care of themselves (?) , and the more they were protected, the more they became. A huge number of mountains have appeared, which is why our Minzhou is called Yongzhou (Littered Area?). Minshan is the highest and longest of these mountains. It served as a breakwater, and rivers flowed east. This is how soil appeared, and gorlyanka pumpkins from primary particles acquired a human appearance, began to create tools, engage in productive labor and gradually became modern people]: Zhou 2001, No. 4:5; Chinese (Sichuan, Wu. Sichun) [A long time ago, a family lived in a deep gorge: husband and wife and their son and daughter. One day, a divine bird sat on a tree in front of their house and sang something that looked like the phrase "planting a throat pumpkin is better than weaving". Everyone was surprised but didn't take it seriously. But the bird began to fly in every day and sing the same words. Then they planted a gorlyanka pumpkin in front of the house, and the bird has not arrived since then. Soon the pumpkin grew to a huge size, and my father cut it off and put it in front of the gate to dry in the sun. On the same day, a terrible downpour began and a flood occurred. Then the whole family took refuge inside a pumpkin that began to swim on the waves. After a while, the flood receded, and they came out of the pumpkin and realized that they were the only people left in the world. A few years later, the father and mother died, leaving only brother and sister. They became lonely and decided to become husband and wife and have children. However, the sister decided that pregnancy would take a long time and suggested making people out of clay. The brother agreed, and they got down to business: the brother sculpted the girl and the sister sculpted the boy. They immediately became living people. The sister said that the boy looked like his brother, and the brother said that the girl looked like her sister. This is how people came back to earth. However, my sister decided that there were still few people, and they started sculpting new people every day. After making another batch, they took them to the mountains and plains. Soon, people were everywhere. There were many people, but they would come to their brother and sister for food, clothes and shelter, and then they told them to settle all over the world. When people settled in, they needed names, and then brother and sister said that their last names would be places where they became people. Thus, those who came to life in the yellow thorns began to bear the name Huang (yellow); those who came to life under the Coriaria tree (Masan) began to bear the name Ma; those who came to life on a stone began to bear the name Shih (stone), etc. This is how people got surnames]: Zhou 1998b, No. 29:52-53.

(Wed. The Balkans. Bulgarians [childless parents miraculously have many children (they come out of a chopped pumpkin; they come from grain poured into a vessel; etc.); there is not enough food, parents kill them, the smallest one is saved (as tall as a finger; in one version, two are saved, adventures are distributed between them); the hero takes food to his father in the field; rides in the wild, getting into his ear; sold to robbers, takes their money; he is accidentally eaten with grass by a cow; when she is milked, he makes obscene noises from her belly; the cow is slaughtered, the wolf eats its insides with the hero; he warns those against whom the wolf wants to attack, about his approach; the wolf dies (on the advice of the fox, after eating sand and drinking water, lay down in the sun), the hero goes outside]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 700:236).

Mesoamerica San Bartolo murals (ca. 100 BC, dep. Petén, Guatemala) [5 babies (umbilical cords are depicted) fly out of a split pumpkin, an anthropomorphic character standing next to each other; the character is born from a pumpkin, but in a less clear context, also in several paintings by Teotihuacan]: Nielsen, Helmke 2011:23-24, fig. 3; Cozumalguapa, Guatemalan coast, Classical period (Bilbao, Monument 21) [relief on a huge stone boulder; scene framed by a vine that has human heads instead of pumpkins; on the right side of the throne, a female character with rattlesnakes coming out from under his clothes (almost certainly the motif of a toothy womb); she holds two heads in her hands; a male character is standing in front of her, a knife in his right hand, and a head in his left hand; another smaller male character is behind him, apparently wearing a doll on his right hand]: Chinchilla Mazariegos 1915, fig. 2 (more detailed drawing), Parsons 1969, frontispiece (less detailed drawing).