K80c1. Melon and severed head, ATU 780C.

.13.-.17.27.-.30.33.

After committing a misdemeanor or crime, a person brings home or brings something to eat (veal head, grapes, melons, etc.) to another. What is brought turns into the head or blood of the (supposedly) victim. A person is being executed or they want to execute. Cf. motive K168A.

Kordofan, Arabs of Morocco, Berbers of Morocco, Berbers of Algeria (Arabs of Algeria), Arabs of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Spaniards, Catalans, Germans (Grimms), Arameans, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Greeks, Ukrainians (Ugric Russia, Galicia, Pokutye), Crimean Tatars, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Baluchis, Kyrgyz.

{Uther 2004 mentions the French version, referring to Delarue, Tenèze 1985. There's no such story there}.

Sudan - East Africa. Kordofan (ethnicity not specified) [a rich man unfairly took another man's money and son, made him his servant; took him to the city, where he was going to give three daughters of the impoverished man for his acquaintances; The poor man argues why he could kill a rich man; and killed him; told his acquaintances that he was dead; when he came to the scene of the murder, he saw a magnificent watermelon growing there; decided to present it to the Sultan; but when the cook cut the watermelon, blood poured out from there; the poor man told him everything; people sympathize with him; the eldest daughter Fatma notices that they are not treated as before, comes to the city and finds out what case; tells the Sultan that if he kills her father, they, daughters, will kill him; the sultan does not take the threat seriously; F. found 7 more girls, 10 of them; they took out horses and weapons; when the Sultan took the girls' father out of the city to execute him, the girls rode and began to defeat the Sultan's men; he hurried back to the city; two younger sisters fell in battle, but the Sultan's people lost great; before F. they managed to close the gate; she promised to return and threatened to destroy the whole city if something happened to her father; F. ordered the horses to be killed and their weapons left, took the girls to another country; they met the old one shepherd; F., at his request, cleaned his lice; he replied that it was necessary to stab thorns into his head, then it was easy to tear off his skin; F. did so, put the skin on herself and turned into an old man; they came to gulya; gulya crushed the bones of those she had previously eaten to feed those who had come; F. noticed this and did not tell me to eat; asked Gulya to bring water to the sieve; the girls ran away; on the banks of the Nile they asked for a crocodile transport them; they fed them lamb on the way; he transported them; unable to collect water into the sieve, Gulya rushed in pursuit; the crocodile took her too; but since she did not give him lamb, but hit him in the face, he drowned her; the girls spent the night in the cave; the son of the Sultan and seven noble young men with him were nearby; the Sultan's son was lost; the young men began to look for him, releasing their horses; the horses came to the cave, the girls drove them away; the boys they found the girls, brought them to their parents, married them; the Sultan's son also came there; one of the girls advised him to look in that cave too; he brought an imaginary old man to him; he said to herd goats and he can't do sheep, but geese can; when the Sultan's son sent a slave to take lunch to the goose shepherd, he saw a beautiful woman at the spring; F. quickly pulled on the old man's skin, and when they sat down to eat, asked the slave to show her tongue - there was an insect on it; cut off her tongue and the slave could not tell anything to the Sultan's son; so with 4 slaves; after the fifth, the Sultan's son followed and saw everything; in the evening he ordered to bring the imaginary old man for dinner; he said he was too weak, and the Sultan's son ordered him to be brought; began to play dice: whoever wins can do what he wants to do to the other; the third time the Sultan's son won, cut the skin with a knife and F. came out from under it; agrees to become the wife of the Sultan's son if her father is released; the Sultan's son and the husbands of F.'s friends came with an army; at first, the Sultan decided that F. was not among those who came; but during She went out to battle with her friends, killed the Sultan's men and captured him; he had to let Father F. go and give a big ransom]: Frobenius 1923, No. 20:224-237.

North Africa. Arabs of Morocco [a man came to the barber's tent and asked him to shave; barber: I can slaughter you now and no one will recognize you; man: the chief sultan (i.e. God) will recognize and tell you the youngest; the barber cut off the man's head, buried his body and head in different places at night; one day he came to the place where he buried his head; grapes grew there, bearing fruit at odd hours; the barber decided present it to the Sultan; when he began to take it out of the bag, his head was severed; I had to confess everything; the Sultan ordered the barber to be beheaded]: Alarcón y Santón 1913, No. 1:87-91; Algerian Berbers (Zouavas) [two people carried figs to the bazaar; met a ploughman; he asked to guard the oxen while he was going out for a drink; they stole one ox first, then the other; then stole from the old woman's money; then one stole from another; came to him and offered to shave him, cut off his head; a pomegranate tree grew in this place; later the murderer picked the fruit from it and took it to the king; she was in the bag head of a murdered man]: Basset 1887, No. 57:114-116; (cf. Algerian Arabs (possibly influenced by Shawía Berbers, with whom there are many marriages) [two went hunting; one was going to kill the other: after all, no one finds out; another: God will be a witness; grapes with unusually large berries grew at the scene of the murder; talking birds flew out of them and told about the crime]: Hilton-Simpson 1924, No. 4:85-86); Arabs Tunisia: Al-Aribi 2009, No. 17 [Two friends went to the mountains. They were arguing about what would happen if the strong killed the weak. After all, no one will know anything. And the weak one says, "God sees everything." The strong killed the weak man, his conscience began to torment him, and pulled him to the grave, where beautiful grapes grew in the winter. He decided to take it to the king, who gave it to the queen. The queen wanted to taste it, and blood began to flow from the grapes. They called the murderer, questioned him, and he confessed. This is always the case] in Korovkina MS; Fermé 1893, No. 7 [the other two stopped in a deserted place; one asked the other to shave him; he put a knife to his throat and asked what would happen if he stabbed him; the friend replied that the Grand Sultan would inform the little one and he would administer justice; the first cut off the second head, later hid it, returned home and continued to live a normal life; once decided to visit the place murders and found a vine with excellent grapes there; decided to present grapes to the Sultan, but when he opened the bag, his head was severed; the murderer confessed and was executed]: 279-281; Arabs Libya, Egypt: El-Shamy 2004, No. 780C: 441-442.

Southern Europe. The Spanish [after earning the money, the maid went home; told her friend that she was afraid to go alone with the money; the friend's husband volunteered to accompany her, killed her, cut off her head and took the money; When he returned, he hears voices: you will pay in Seville; a few months later, two seniors asked him to accompany them to Seville; sent them to the bazaar to buy a calf's head; he hid it under his cloak and went back; police told me to show what was under his cloak; there was a woman's head; those two seniors disappeared and the murderer was hanged]: Camarena, Chevalier 2003, No. 780C: 219-221; Catalans (including Mallorca) [The Lord and St. Peter went to jail; St. Peter reproached the prisoner for his crime; the Lord sent Peter to buy a lamb's head; he bought it, put his head in a bag, and blood began to drip from there; the police ordered him to open the bag - in it human head; Petra was imprisoned; Lord: Now you see that innocent people are also going to jail]: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 780C: 159.

Western Europe. Germans (Grimms): Uther 2004 (1), No. 780C: 440.

Western Asia. Aramei (Malyulya) [a man lived and fed his family with firewood in the forest; a large tree has been felling for five days; two pots of gold coins under the roots; he called a rich neighbor; when they got it gold, the neighbor said he would kill the poor man; he promised to take care of his children; he asked to give them to his pregnant wife: let him call the child the Son of the Offended; the neighbor told the poor man's children that their father suddenly fell ill and died far away in the forest; a year later, a rich man came to the scene of the murder and found a vine with a bunch of grapes there, although it was winter; grapes were the size of an eye; a rich man brought grapes to the Sultan, but when he he unfolded his handkerchief, there was a human head; I had to tell everything; the murderer was beheaded and his property was given to the victim's family]: Bergsträsser 1915, No. 4:10-13.

The Balkans. Bulgarians [years after the crime is committed, a murderer buys a veal or lamb head and carries it home to cook; people notice a trail of blood following a person, follow he and instead of a calf's head, they find the head of the victim; the murderer is punished]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 780C: 276; Hungarians, Greeks: Uther 2004 (1), No. 780C: 440.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Ugric Russia, Galicia, Pokutye) [Secret murder opens: cabbage (veal head) turns into the head of the victim; wheat grown on the grave of the victim is red, dough from it - with blood; the body of the victim grows to the murderer]: SUS 1979, № -781*: 198.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars [while hunting, bey became angry with his servant, killed him, buried him under a rock; 10 years later he was driving past this rock with the khan; he saw a wonderful grape, asked Bey to pick him brush; blood poured from the very first berry; the remains of the victim were dug up, beat confessed]: Kondoraki 1875:131-132.

Iran - Central Asia. Tajiks, Uzbeks (widely used manuscripts in Persian and translated into Uzbek; the mentioned places of recording are Bukhara, Ura-Tyube) [stepmother tells her stepdaughter to strain every day a huge amount of yarn; the girl inherited a cow and a chicken from her mother; the cow ran into the cave or the wind took cotton wool away from the girl's hands; a gray old woman in white sits in the cave, says (in Persian version from Ura-Tube) sweep the floor, look in her head, remains satisfied, rewards the girl with beauty; tells the cow to eat cotton wool, thin yarn begins to come out behind her; in Persian, native the stepmother's daughter is inattentive to the fairy, becomes ugly (a bead stolen and hidden in her mouth makes her goiter grow); Tajiks in Samarkand, their stepdaughter washes her hair in the Black River, and her face in Belaya, becomes beautiful; her own daughter, on the contrary, becomes black faced and gray hair; stepmother asks her husband to stab a cow; she tells her stepdaughter not to eat her meat, bury her bones under the threshold; a noble person invites you to a feast; stepmother tells her stepdaughter to separate millet from sorghum, the chicken does the job, the old fairy calls the gurias, they dress up the girl to go to the feast; the girl loses her slipper, noble the man tries it on everyone, the stepmother locks her in a latrine, but the chicken shows where to look; after getting married, the stepdaughter prepares a treat in honor of the old fairy woman (Bibi Se-Shambe), the husband comes in, is insulted that the treat is poor, overturns the cauldron; he goes to cut off the melons, in his bag they turn three missing princes into the heads; before his execution, he goes to his wife, repents, sacrifices Bibi Se-Shamba; heads turn into melons again, princes return, man's innocence proven]: Andreev 1927b: 8-12; Baluchis (Quetta district) [fakir blesses childless prophet Dris, D.'s wife gives birth to 40 boys; D. decides that they cannot feed everyone, leaves them alone, takes 39 to a deserted place; a year later, the goat herd sees boys playing there, reports D.; he comes, calls himself their father, they they run away; the mullah orders D.'s wife to bring their remaining son there; when they start playing with him, she must say that she gave birth to them; the boys came out of hiding, she lured them with sweets, brought them home; Angel Azrail, by order of God, deprived them of all their lives; they were buried; D. went on a journey, picked a melon on melons, put them in a bundle; the horsemen arrived and asked if he had seen the king's son, they forced him to unfold the knot, it contained the prince's head; the tsar ordered D. to cut off D.'s arms and legs, pull out his eyes, stop dying; his potter went out; adapted to drive an ox that walks in a circle, rotating the lift, asked if he had seen the king's son, forced Raleso and reading the Koran; the king's daughter saw him, she liked his voice, she told her father to pass her off as a cripple; they came to D. Health, Luck and Wisdom, called a prophet, made him healthy; he asks to open the head of his supposedly murdered son - there is a melon; the king's son returns healthy and with a bride; God allowed D. to see him, telling him to leave afterwards; D. returned, saying that he had forgotten his shoes; he stayed to see God]: Dames 1893, No. 14:294-300).

Turkestan. Kyrgyz [stepmother tyrannites stepdaughter with work; the old woman advises to feed this wool to the cow; yarn is obtained; stepmother tells to separate millet from wheat; the old woman makes the work herself comes true; the khan arranged that one; the old woman did her stepdaughter gold shoes and a luxurious dress; when leaving, the girl forgot one slipper; the Khan's vizier fell in love with her and began to try on the slipper to all women; stepmother covered her stepdaughter with a bag; the vizier found her, noticing the cackling of the chickens; got married; the old woman gives her stepdaughter advice: sprinkle flour in the corners of the room every Monday, make it out of this flour on Tuesday grout and invite the 7 poorest widows; the vizier is outraged that his wife is feeding the guests with grout, knocked over the soup pot with his foot; returning from hunting, he bought three melons, and when he arrived at the khan's palace, he found out that Khan's three sons were killed; the vizier's bag contained 3 human heads instead of melons; as soon as the vizier repented that he had knocked over the soup prepared for widows, the khan's sons appeared alive, and in the bag The vizier is melons again]: The Muchnik 1944:59-62.