K76C. Pumpkin son. .17.21.-.24. (.25.) .27.29.30.33.

The son or adopter of the couple is pumpkin or (rarely) watermelon. Or a girl has the image of a pumpkin. See motif K76.

Western Asia. Iraqi Arabs [the poor man lives by harvesting and selling a thorn for fuel; found nothing, looked for vegetable waste to feed the children, found a pumpkin; put it on a shelf at home; pumpkin in the morning gives gold and orders him to marry the Sultan's daughter; the vizier advises not to execute a person, but to give him an impossible assignment; the sultan demands a palace of gold and gems, the palace arises; a marriage contract imprisoned, a bird flies in to the princess, turns into a young man; forbids the bride to talk about him; one day she goes to a public bath, and the women whisper that her husband is a sparrow; she screams that he is human; the bird comes in, grabs her gold comb and bracelet, flies away; the woman builds another bath where you can wash for free, but you have to tell stories; the old woman went to the river to wash clothes; from the river a rooster comes out, she grabs his tail, he drags her into the underwater world, where the palace; 40 doves turn into female maids, and the prince grieves for his lost wife; the old woman talks about what the owner of the bathhouse saw , brings her herself, the son of the genies recognizes his wife, returns to earth forever in human form]: Stevens 2006, No. 11:45-57.

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Toto [old people sowed pumpkins, but only grew up alone; when the old lady was about to cut it, pumpkin voice: Grandma, don't do it, I'll help you; Pumpkin (Pagrusche, P.) grew a lot pumpkin; went to marry the princess; the elders laughed, the youngest agreed; when she saw the ripe mangoes, asked P. to pick them; he climbed the tree, threw off the mango, then rushed down himself; from A beautiful young man came out of the split pumpkin; his wife gave birth to him a son; the older sisters are jealous; the eldest came to P.'s wife, called him to swim, pushed her into the water, put on her clothes; but the baby did not recognize the imaginary mother, cries; at dawn, the drowned soul came to the child and fed him; P. realized that his wife had been replaced, returned the real one {it is not said how}; asked the imaginary one to dig a hole to plant an arek palm tree; buried a liar up to her neck, showed her sister, cut off her head with a sword; P. and his wife have many children]: Majumdar 1991, No. 10:231-236.

Burma - Indochina. Sedang [a woman gives birth to a pumpkin-like son, his name is Zha; he is hired by an elder; guards rice from birds, herds buffaloes, harvests firewood, clears a vast field; seven daughters the elders return when they meet the tiger; the youngest brings J. Fig; sees a beautiful young man come out of the shell with his lumberjack assistants; marries J., the father drives the couple away; J. creates a new one village; the girl's mother comes to her, happy; the elder turns into a tiger, devours his cattle, runs away into the forest]: Nikulin 1970a: 201-205.

South Asia. Punjabi [a childless woman laments that there is no one to take her husband to the field lunch; a watermelon in the corner promises to carry; rolled to her father, carrying a bundle of lunch; plows instead of her father, but falls into the manure; a woman comes to collect manure, says that the bulls were taken away by the Raja; the watermelon goes to the raja, meets and companions an ant, a panther, a tiger; the Raja throws a watermelon to the goats, who tells the panther to bite them; the same - bulls, the tiger bit to death; an elephant - an ant climbed into the trunk, the elephant died; the Raja returned the bulls]: Bystrov et al. 1962:168-171; Nepali [childless woman dreams of a son; pumpkin in the garden promises to become son; tells the Raja's daughter to marry; the Raja asks the daughters whose mind they live with; the youngest Kanchi replies that to her own, the Raja promises to pass her off as the first person to come to the palace in the morning; pumpkin, raja, comes gives him a daughter without a dowry; a pumpkin climbs a tree for fruit, fell, split, turned into a handsome man; the sisters became jealous, the Raja gave K. half his kingdom]: Bystrov et al. 1962:168-171; toda: Emeneau 1984 [At the time of the first ancestors, husband and wife traveled from one area to another; on the way, the woman gave birth to a pumpkin; they were ashamed and reported that the child had died; a pumpkin burst at the funeral fire, The boy Kwatöw jumped out of it and found himself on a mountain in the Celtis tetranda tree; the couple brought it to the first ancestor gods; he made them so angry with their tricks that they threw him off the cliff; but W. turned into a bird of prey, grabbed a bamboo trunk and hit the god Ko-ra-to-W on the head with it; the head fell into three parts, now it's three hills at an altitude of 1900 m; the gods decided that if K. could to make the river flow in the opposite direction, the sun to drink this river and turn day into night, then they recognize it as one of their own; K. dammed the river with a rock, caught the sun with a stone chain and made it drink leaving the river water chained by a pond among trees; the earth and the underworld plunged into darkness; then the gods begged K. to free the sun and recognized them as the most powerful of them]: 241 in Walker 2018:403 ; Rivers 1906 [a woman gave birth to a pumpkin; the couple said their baby was born dead; at the funeral fire, a pumpkin exploded, the boy flew out, fell on a tree; parents picked him up; it's Kwoto; people don't they believed that he was a god; then he hooked the sun with a stone chain, tied it to a tree; it became dark on the earth and in the world of the dead; var.: first he attached an iron chain, apparently also a bronze chain, but they melted; the sun was sitting on the buffalo, K. tied the buffalo; the gods asked to let the sun go, he let go, recognized as the most powerful of the gods]: 203-207.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Western Toraja [a girl climbed the rainbow for the Month, asked him to be her husband, he agreed, they went down to earth, she had a son; he was like a coconut; mother came to seven sisters to sell it, only the youngest bought it; put it on a bench, he disappeared; the next day she saw a handsome young man Mangkalukala ("Coconut"); other sisters out of jealousy in M.'s absence drowned her in the river; she did not drown but was under water for seven months; M. returned with many prisoners; his wife asks seven times from under the water if M. is coming, each time she is told that he is coming from behind; when M. himself hears his wife's voice, he tells her to be pulled out of the water; she is thin because she has not eaten for a long time; they have many descendants]: Kruyt 1938, No. 42:396-397; minahasa [the parents have a freak son, his name is Kapitu ("pumpkin"); plays the flute well; asks the mother to marry the chief's daughter; only Ingkan, the youngest of seven daughters, agrees; after the wedding, K. is handsome, has a large and wealthy house; six sisters are jealous, offer I. to swing her on a swing by the sea, cut off the rope, I. falls to the other side; K. sails in a boat, finds and brings his wife back; becomes chief]: Kratz 1973, No. 45:217- 220.

(Wed. Taiwan - Philippines. Ilocan [the pumpkin of the childless couple suddenly stopped bearing fruit, and then the only fruit appeared on it; when the husband and wife began to cut it, a voice was heard: be careful; he was inside boy; when the woman began to wash it, the drops of water turned into gold; the same the next day; but on the third day the boy flew away and the gold was gone]: Cole 1916:185-186).

The Balkans. The Greeks [the queen and the poor woman agree to marry their children if they are of different sexes; the queen gives birth to a beautiful girl, the poor woman gives birth to a pumpkin; the pumpkin asks him to marry the queen's daughter ; the queen orders to create 1) sources of gold and silver in three days, 2) a palace, 3) a meadow and a lake on the site of the mountain; everything appears, the Pumpkin gets a wife; when the wife is in church, the young man comes out of the pumpkin, comes to church, the wife falls in love without recognizing him; he confesses that he is her husband, tells her not to tell his mother, otherwise she will fly away as a bird; she says he flies away, telling him to look for him, wearing three iron dresses and three pairs iron shoes; after wearing them out in three years, the wife meets an old man; he says that 10 cannibals and a young man live in the castle; she sweeps in the castle; cannibals and her husband come, she reveals herself; the young man tells me not to eat her, because this is his wife]: Paton 1899, No. 4:500-502; Bulgarians [childless elderly spouses find and raise a snake (smoka, pumpkin) as a son or a childless woman asks for a gift to her a child, gives birth to a snake (smoke, puppy, pumpkin); the son grows up, demands a princess as his wife, performs the king's difficult tasks (to build a palace, a road, a bridge, a church overnight); at night, the groom appears to a bride with an appearance handsome; the bride burns the animal's skin or reveals the groom's secret; the magical husband disappears; the (pregnant) wife goes to look for him, wearing iron shoes; along the way three old women (mothers of the Sun, Month, Wind ) give advice and gifts (golden apples, chicken with chickens, self-spinning wheel); for them they get the right to spend one night with her husband; he recognizes her, marriage is restored], 425B [a young man with a horse head (or a snake) marries the princess, carries out the king's difficult assignments (to build a palace, a road, etc.); at night she appears handsome in front of his wife; she tells her family about this; her wife disappears; the wife goes to look for him, finds, thanks to the advice of the elders (three winds, etc.); with the help of his servant, he performs the difficult tasks of his sister or mother; on the day when the husband should marry another, he runs with his first wife; they are saved by transforming into various objects and animals]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 425A: 145-146.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Ossetians [a boy from his mother's womb demands to ask for the hand of his daughter Malik, builds a bridge, a house; is born in the form of a pumpkin, defeats two sons-in-law, pulls out water, a pig, an apple, turns into a young man and exposes son-in-law]: Byazyrov 1958, No. 90:336-337; Georgians [the sorcerer gives her husband two apples, let him eat one, the other by the childless wife; the husband eats both on the way, gets over the pumpkin, she rolls for him; tells her to marry the king's daughter; performs tasks 1) grow a silver vineyard, 2) gather all the birds, 3) bring unprecedented clothes; during the wedding, the pumpkin splits, comes out of it handsome]: Kurdovanidze 1998 (1), No. 51:204-205; Kurds [the shepherd's wife gave birth to Pumpkin, the pumpkin son asks his father to marry the khakim's daughter; fulfills the condition to bring 40 horsemen with gold armor by morning, gets a wife; the pumpkin splits, Mehmed Khan comes out of it, tells his wife to make coffee but not let it boil; the coffee boils, the young man disappears; the wife asks her father-in-law to make her iron sandals and iron sandals the staff promises to look for M. until he wears them out; wanders in vain for seven years; asks his father to build a palace, listens to the stories of travelers in it; the guide boy tells how he sat in a bucket that rolled out of the rock, got into the rock, 40 pigeons flew in there, turned into young men, one was sad; the wife penetrates the same way; M. tells him to run, his mother will not let them go well; M. turns into a shepherd, his wife into a sheep; the mother finds out they, but since the bride was more beautiful than her son, blesses them]: Farizov, Rudenko 1959:23-28; Turks [a daughter with the image of a pumpkin (kabak; along with other images: chicken, goat) is born in the family , crane, orange); when she washes by the stream, she takes on a human form; the prince sees her and falls in love; the prince marries her and she is beautiful for the wedding; her false appearance is destroyed and she remains human]: Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 85:91-93.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians [a childless woman prays for God to give her a child like a pumpkin; gave birth to a pumpkin, her husband left her; she grew a pumpkin, sent her to school; shahzade sees a pumpkin coming out of a pumpkin girl, hides again; manages to put a ring on her finger, wants to marry only the owner of the ring; the maids go around the houses, her hand sticks out of the pumpkin, shahzade marries a pumpkin, the beauty goes out, stays with him; her mother visits her, the lion wants to eat her; the daughter sends her mother back in the pumpkin; the lion breaks her and eats her pumpkin as his wife, the bride goes out and stays with him;]: Osmanov 1958:249-252.

Turkestan. Dungana [the Empress gave birth to a watermelon, threw it into the river, it was picked up by a fisherman, the boy Vonschir comes out of the watermelon; his adoptive father died frightened of his thunderous voice; he marries, he has two children; the emperor dreams of a tree with two fruits; changes clothes and goes to look for a son; sells himself to V.; he recognizes his father, everyone returns to the palace]: Riftin et al. 1977, No. 25:513.