K73b3. Throw a nut as a keepsake. 28.30.31.
A person who is asked to count the nuts in a barrel (take the nuts out piece by piece) accompanies his actions with an revealing story.
Belarusians, Persians, Lithuanians, Seto, Estonians.
Central Europe. Belarusians [three sisters were picking mushrooms, it rained, they sat under a birch tree, the stream flowed from the rain to the tsar; the servant found the girls, overheard the conversation; one promises to dress, the other to feed the army, the third is to give birth to a son with a month in his forehead, dawns on the back of his head; the king married the last, left, she gave birth, sent a letter, the sisters were replaced (either a dog or a frog; let him go to sea in a barrel); boy got out of the barrel, made a bridge from island to ground, led his mother along it to the king's wedding with another sister; the king takes out the nuts, suggests guessing them; the boy, disguised as a violinist, tells his story; takes off his hat, under it for a month, dawns; his mother's sister was torn by horses]: Potanin 1891:147-148
Iran - Central Asia. The Persians [the poor old woman has a bald son; when he saw his peers playing dice, he began selling yarn to his mother, lost everything; the mother found that the last skein was left, threw it to her son, and drove him away; since then, the bald man began to win; the king promises his daughter to whoever cut the deck with one blow, and whoever does not cut it, executes him; Bald buys fried chicken, but she was carried away by a falcon; bald wishes him good health; so three times; he ate cakes, crumbs scattered on the ground; grateful ants ask how to repay him; the bald man asks to exude the deck; the deck fell apart when hit; the king does not want pass off his daughter as a pleshivets and asks the vizier to come up with another task for the Bald Herb; he suggests sending 40 rams to the bald mouth and returning them exactly the same weight as they were in 40 years; bald every day lets a wolf cub go to the sheep, they do not eat herbs out of fear, the weight has remained the same; 40 days to herd 40 turkeys and return them safe; when three days are left, Vakil's daughter decided to help the princess, came to ask give her the turkey; the bald one agrees if she gives herself to him; after copulation, the girl took the rooster home, but the falcon took it away and returned it to the bald one; the same daughter of the vizier; the princess herself; the last requirement: tell a story so that the barn with nuts is empty at the end; the bald man begins to tell the whole turkey story, saying after each phrase, "Throw the nut as a souvenir!" ; the king asks not to be told, the bald man received a princess, a whirlwind's daughter and a vakil's daughter]: Osmanov 1987:82-90.
Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [140 options; three sisters washed, a boy walked by; one says that if he married her, she would feed the family with a slice of bread; the other dressed the family with arshin cloth; the third would give birth a child with the sun in her forehead, the moon on the back of her head; the boy married her, became a soldier; the wife gave birth; the witch replaced her letter to her husband and his answer; allegedly the wife gave birth to a half-cat half-dog, the baby was ordered to be abandoned into the barn; the mother threw it to geese, cows, pigs, sheep; everyone keeps it; puts it in a coffin, lowers it into the sea; the beggar picked it up and raised it; the king will give the estate to anyone who counts two barrels of nuts; the adopter of the beggar is called to count and tells the whole story himself; the pan gives him the estate]: Kerbelite 2021, No. 96: (=2014:217-220); Lithuanians [three sisters wash by the river; the queen hears them conversation; if the Queen married her, the eldest would dress the army with a piece of canvas, the middle one would feed the army with a slice of bread, the youngest would give birth to a son, the sun in his forehead, the moon on the back of her head, covered in stars; the queen took the youngest; she gave birth to the promised son; the messenger stopped in a forest hut; lauma lived there, replaced by a letter: a dog on his forehead, a knot on the back of his head, covered in chiryas; the king orders the offspring to kill; him thrown to stallions; sheep; pigs; geese; all animals care about him - the ruler of the world will grow up; they made a glass coffin for the baby and let him go along the river; the beggar found him, raised him, the young man became a shepherdess; the king promises to make the son of someone who counts a barrel of nuts by a couple; the son of a beggar takes out the nuts in pairs and tells the whole story as he finishes; when finished, takes off his hat, everyone sees sun, moon and stars; the king gave the beggar content]: Kerbelite 2021, No. 97:96-201; Estonians (Tartu; mostly in southern Estonia) [three sisters pull flax, the passing king pays attention to them; the eldest promises to dress the army with a piece of cloth, the second to feed him a crumb of bread, the third to give birth to a son with a month on the back of his head, the sun on his forehead, a star above his heart; while the husband is at war, the wife gives birth to an ordinary boy, mother-in-law sends a letter to his son as if his daughter-in-law gave birth to a son with a wolf head, bear paws, and a fox tail; the king orders to expel his wife and her offspring; mother-in-law lowers them into the sea in a barrel; a bird brings them food, the son grows up; knocks out the bottom of the barrel at the shore; hears people that the king will remarry if the nuts from the barrel jump in pairs; the son goes to the king, tells his story , nuts pop up all the time; as the story was told, a month, a sun, a star appeared on his body; the king called his wife and stayed with her]: Mälk et al. 1967, No. 104:341-343; seto [three sisters fluttered flax; one: if the king marries, I will feed the whole army with one rye seed; second: I will put the whole army on one piece of cloth; third: I will face a son with the moon on the back of his head, the sun on his forehead, stars on his body; the king heard, married a third; when leaving, the king orders to inform by letter who she gave birth; the messenger spent the night in the hut, he changed the letter - the wife gave birth to a puppy; the king orders the offspring to kill; left the boy in hot bath - unharmed; in the stable - sitting on horseback in the morning not trampled; left at a crossroads, the landowner picked it up; the boy tells his story, after each episode saying "two nuts in the closet"; at the end: "and I'm sitting here."]: Kippar 2002:11-13