F51D. Ginseng baby. 26.33.37.
Ginseng roots are boys or girls who help the hero.
Chinese (Liaoning, Shandong), Koreans, Dungans, Manchus, Udege.
China - Korea. Chinese: Liaoning 1994, No. 141 (Liaoning, Wu. I.; 1983; said an elementary school teacher) [an elderly couple lived in a cave on the mountainside; they went to collect medicinal herbs, found nothing; they noticed jumping near the well multicolored silk ball; when they came up, they found the ginseng root, dug it up, it turned into a man, his forehead had bangs, a tail on the back of his head, the rest of his head was shaved, dressed in a red apron, himself white and plump; said that he was the root of ginseng, asked him to let go, then he would ask his grandfather to fulfill the couple's wish; they asked for the children; at midnight a golden-red bird flew in and spit out pumpkin seed; it turned into a sprout; in autumn, the couple picked a pumpkin, sawed it with a saw, a boy and a girl inside; the boy was named Wangan ("Look at the Post"), and the girl was named Emin ("Glowing in the Night"); they grew up quickly; a wealthy landowner from the Yu family with a crack in his lip (cleft lip) was nicknamed "rich crack" (BT) by people; he said that the land on which the spouses live belongs to him, demanded that E. be given to him as concubine; the couple sent E. and V. to hide in a cave on the mountain; BT beat the couple to death; noticing E., tried to grab her, but V. threw him into the abyss, he turned into a rabbit; his servants drove E. onto a rock, she jumped down and became a mountain pigeon; his brother followed him, became a rocky falcon; shouts "emin, emin!" , calling his sister, and the mountain pigeon shouts "wangan, wangan," calling his brother; a rocky falcon protects crops by driving away rabbits]: 311-313; Riftin 1957 (Shandong; cf. Klaus 2015:301-302) [An old monk with a 12-year-old novice lived near Mount Taishan (this is Shandong); tormented the boy with hard work, did not feed well; two girls came in red jackets and green pants, then they brought others; did any job easily; the monk forced the boy to talk about them; ordered the rope to be quietly tied to one of the girls's leg; found ginseng along the rope; threw four roots into the cauldron, the others were locked in the closet; the girls called for help; the boy opened the closet; the girls said that the four sisters could not be returned anyway, they had to escape; they scooped up soup from the cauldron and poured it on the ground, the temple began to climb into the clouds; the monk brought the other monks to cook all the roots and rejuvenate; clung to the temple, but the girl hit the monk on the fingers, he fell and crashed; in clear weather, over Mount Taishan you can see a temple with red walls and a green roof]: 186-190; Koreans: Park 1991 [a kind and poor peasant cuts wood in the forest, hears laughter; he follows the boy, he disappears, and in his place there are two root; the peasant gave one to his father, he recovered and the other put it aside; a rich neighbor stole the root, ate it and went blind]: 310; Choi 1979, No. 58 [the young man became rich by selling the roots of an unusual plant; another young man He secretly entered his house and found a box with babies; told his superiors that the ginseng seller was executed; then people found strange rhizomes in his house and planted them; the current ginseng came from them]: 26.
Turkestan. Dungan [poor Tsunyu has a ten-year-old daughter Huar; the landowner is ill, he needs the oldest ginseng, he demands that Ts get it, promises half of the land and wealth; X. comes to play Bonfour, a girl, says she lives in the forest; her parents have guessed who she is, agree to get ginseng; ask H. to stick a red thread in B.'s clothes; in a dream, B. asks H. not to dig it up, and call three times, she will come out by herself; C. finds ginseng on the thread, shouts "Bonfour" three times, the root jumps into his hands; C. doubts whether to run with his family and sell the root; B. comes to H. in a dream: give infusion to the landowner; he recovered, fulfilled the contract in the hope of selling the root at a high price; hid it in a chest, put it in custody; the governor fell ill, the landowner went to take ginseng, but the root disappeared]: Yusurov 1970:51 -57; (cf. Russians from the NW of Manchuria [grandfather digs ginseng; another boy comes to play with his grandson; grandfather advises to tie a red thread to him; they come along the thread to the ginseng, dug up the root, got good money] :Klaus 2015:303-304).
Amur - Sakhalin. Manchus [(cf. Dungans, Yusurov 1970); parents and son named Mushroom Hat live in the forest; he runs away from morning to night to play in the forest; parents are surprised; the boy replies that he is playing with him red fat man; they understand everything, give a needle with a red thread, tell them to quietly attach a needle to the fat man; watch their son; in the evening the fat man runs away; parents walk on a red thread, find a huge ginseng root; by morning they dug up; when the son found out, he was horrified; the parents put the root in the cauldron; the husband thought: I will become immortal, I will marry a beautiful fairy instead of my old wife; wife: I will have fun, I will not need anyone; if you eat the root in half, none will be immortal; wife: go get your parents; husband: and you go; both went out; at that moment the son took the root out of the cauldron, took it out yard; parents are back; everyone just walked around the house to be the first to take the root; husband: I came back to check if the window was closed or the thieves would take the root away; wife: and I - if the boiler lid was closed, or if the dog was closed will climb; the root turned into a fat red man, took the boy in his arms, ran away; the parents started fighting, and the root and boy were gone]: Bäcker 1988, No. 14:105-109; the Udege [Giátu asked allow the Chinese king to search for ginseng; went to the forest, the son remained Joma; a red-haired girl came; playing with her, the boy then forgot everything; in order not to forget, he cut his hand with a knife; the girl showed the way - let G. follow it; he went, found ginseng; the girl asked her to take it, she loves her son G.; tells the king that he found little ginseng; the king wanted to stab, the girl ran up and stabbed the king his own knife; the tsar died, G. lived well with his family]: Lebedeva et al. 1998, No. 54:319.