M39C. Horse egg, ATU 1319. .14.-.17.23.26.-.33.

A fool is told that a round fruit is a mare's egg (donkeys, elephants, etc.). A fool buys fruit for a lot of money. When he throws it or drops it, a small animal (usually a hare) jumps out of the thickets. A person believes that this is a foal (donkey, etc.) that has hatched.

Moroccan Berbers, Kabilas, Catalans, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians (Veneto, Umbria, Molise, Abruzzo), Sardinians, Frisians, Flemish, Walloons, French, Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, East Frisia, Westphalia, Pomerania, Switzerland), Irish, British, Syria, Yemen, Punjabi, Himachal Pahari, Marathi, Santals, Bengalis, Malayals, Tamils, Chinese (Zhejiang), Koreans, Chuan Miao, Lisu, Slovenes, Croats, Hungarians, Romanians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Gagauz, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Russians (Olonetskaya, Vologda, Gorkovskaya), Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Galicia, Podolia, Chernigov, Yekaterinoslavskaya, Kharkiv), Belarusians, Crimean Tatars, Dargins, Tatas, Armenians (Shemakha), Georgians, Persians (Hamadan), Mountain Tajiks, Dards (probably Kho), Latvians, Lithuanians, Finns, Veps, Karelians, Estonians, Swedes, Danes, Udmurts, Chuvash, Kazan Tatars, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks.

North Africa. Kabila [the boy's mother sent the boy to buy a donkey; the watermelon seller said they were donkey eggs; donkeys are always green; when he came down the mountain, the boy dropped a watermelon, it split, and from the side of the road a hare ran; the boy shouted to him to run to their house; asked at home if the donkey had come running]: Rivière 1882:173-174; Moroccan Berbers: Laoust, No. 46:50-51 in El-Shamy 2004, No. 1319:734 .

Southern Europe. Catalans: Oriol, Pujol 2008, No. 1218 [a fool buys coconuts or other fruits, believing they are elephant eggs and sits on the bed to incubate them; asks his wife to check if they have already hatched elephants; she sticks her hand and takes her husband's penis by the elephant's proboscis], 1319 (including Mallorca) [the crook sells pumpkin to fools under the guise of a donkey egg; they drop it on a bush, and a hare jumps out; fools think that it is their baby]: 111, 227-228; the Portuguese [gave the old woman a fig saying it was a donkey egg; when she saw a beetle, she thinks the donkey has hatched]: Cardigos 2006, No. 1319:275; Italians ( Veneto, Umbria, Molise, Abruzzo), Sardinians: Cirese, Serafini 1975, No. 1319:288; Italians (Veneto) [a rich peasant came to the godfather, saw melons for the first time in his life; he replied that these are donkey eggs; a peasant bought one; when he arrived at the house, he dropped it, the melon rolled, broke, a hare jumped out of the bushes, the peasant thought it was a donkey; the next time the godfather sold a wolf to the peasant disguised as a male covering the sheep; when the sheep bleated, the peasant decided that the producer had gone about his business; in the morning all the sheep were dead; for the third time, the godfather sold a hare that runs on errands (the name is the Postman - Portalattere); sent a hare with a letter to his uncle; when he saw that he was running in the wrong place, he decided that he was too difficult to explain, should have been sent along a more familiar path; waiting that the peasant would come again, the godfather told his wife to tell him that he was talking to God in the garden; the peasant also wanted to talk to God; the godfather taught him to stick his head into a swarm of bees; next time the peasant took a gun and came to shoot his godfather; the wife replied that he had just died; the peasant entered the room where the imaginary corpse was lying on the bed, was about to relieve him; the corpse bit him; at home, the peasant complained that even his dead godson continues to torment him]: Widter et al. 1866, No. 18:279-282; Spaniards: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1319:121-122.

Western Europe. Englishmen (southeast) [two Lunnon guys see a man carrying pumpkins; he replies that it's a horse's egg; sells it to them for a lot of money; one carried, stumbled and dropped, from the same pits popped up a hare; both shouting to other people: hold the foal; the hare ran away]: Riordan 1987:79-80; Germans (Schleswig-Holstein, East Frisia, Westphalia, Pomerania): Uther 2004 (2), No. 1319:121-122; Germans (Schleswig-Holstein) [Focbeckers found a piece of cheese lost by someone on the road, mistook it for a horse's egg, planted an old woman to incubate a foal]: Sumtsov 2015:12, 98; Germans ( Switzerland, Canton of Valais) [a fool saw a donkey for the first time; asked how to own such a useful animal; he was told to buy a pumpkin, sit it, hatch a donkey; the fool did so; when he got up In need, the pumpkin rolled down the slope; the hare sitting there rushed to run; fool: stop, darling, I'm your father]: Jegerlehner 1913, No. 159:140; (cf. French (Haute-Brittany) [mother goes to church, instructs her son to put a goose in the pan for roast; the son grabbed the goose sitting on eggs and without plucking it, put it in the pan, and sat down on the eggs himself]: Sé billot 1982 in Sumtsov 2015:98); Irish [four brothers run a household together; the eldest jumps to sell oil at the bazaar, the wineskin fell, rolled down the slope; the guy decided to catch him under the mountain, but did not wait (he caught on the bush); returned home; the second brother offers to buy a new wineskin with a small one, let it go down the slope and watch: the second will roll after the first; the third brother advises you to contact the police, and the fourth to promise half the oil to the person who found the wineskin; as a result, the second wineskin disappeared; they decided to grow turnips; one took one turnip root for testing, tied to a horse; a rope cut short, the turnips rolled downhill to the fence, and a hare jumped out; the brothers decided that they did not have turnips, but horse eggs; they tried to plant a mare on these eggs, but it trampled on all the rhizomes; the brothers decided to marry one, he was very afraid]: Danaher 1967, No. 8:32-37; walloons [a peasant sells a cucumber under the guise of a horse's egg; the buyer drops it on the way, the cucumber rolls into the bush, where does the hare come from; the buyer thinks his foal hatched and ran away]: Laport 1932, no.*1219A: 91; friezes [the boy saw a mare with a foal in the meadow; asked the father where the foals came from they take; father: from eggs; the boy asked for a foal; the father bought a mare, it did not rush for a long time; one day the boy noticed a stone nearby and decided that it was an egg; the father agreed: it was necessary sit out; when the boy was tired, he threw a stone into the bushes, and a hare jumped out from there; the boy thought it was his foal and called him to come back]: Sundermann 1870:52; Flemish, French, Swiss: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1319:121-122.

Western Asia. Syria, Yemen: El-Shamy 2004, No. 1319:734.

South Asia. Punjabi [seeing a bunch of watermelons in the city, the poor weaver asked if they were horse eggs; the seller confirmed by selling the watermelon for 1,000 rupees; on the way, the weaver put the watermelon in the bush and went swimming; a hare jumped out, the weaver rushed after him, but did not catch him; at home he told his wife about the loss; wife: sorry, I would ride a foal to my father; the husband began to beat her: you are ready to break the back of a tender creature; after learning about What happened, the peasants ordered to show the bush where the egg was left; the weaver could not understand where the foal had jumped from; the peasants ate the watermelon and gave the weaver seeds]: Swynnerton 1892, No. 46:146-147; himachali plowmen [the lender came to demand the debt; only the debtor's wife was at home; took out 4 pumpkins and said they were horse eggs; foals would hatch, they would sell them and receive money; the lender took pumpkins instead of money, and the wife pretended to be unhappy with this replacement - eggs are more expensive; on the way home, the lender slipped and the pumpkins rolled down the slope; the man saw deer running away and thought it was hatched foals]: Seethalakshmi 1960, No. 23:77-78; Marathi: Dexter 1939:144-148 in Thompson, Roberts 1960, No. 1319:137; Bengalis [the author heard the story as a child but doesn't remember details; the poor man's son wanted a horse and bought a horse egg, i.e. a pumpkin, but the horse did not get it; one day he went to the village to relieve himself, saw a tiger, mistook him for a horse and galloped; at the end the tiger finally threw him off]: Mitra 1894:55-56; Malayali [two guru's disciples went to buy him a horse; walking past a pumpkin field, they asked what it was; the owner replied that horse eggs; they bought the pumpkin for the guru to sit for the foal; the one who carried the pumpkin dropped it, it split, a hare jumped out of the bushes; one said: well, that's good; what if it were the size of a horse {the end is not entirely clear}]: Fawcett 1915:417; Santals: Bodding 1927:217-221; Campbell 1892 [the man went to buy a foal; he is told that there are no foals but eggs; he bought an egg, i.e. a pumpkin; the seller warned that the foal will hatch along the way; the man spent the night in the village, went to the pond in the morning to wash, leaving the pumpkin on the shore; the jackal pushed it; the pumpkin rolled down the slope, the jackal got scared and ran away, and the man thought that the hatched foal ran away; the man drove the jackal into the hole, stayed waiting; thieves came; when they found out what was going on, they persuaded the man to go with them - they would give them a normal horse; making a passage through the wall of a rich house , told the man to get inside and carry what was heavier; he brought a millstone; he carried the drum and began to beat it, the thieves ran away, afraid that they would be found now; the man began to cook rice with milk; when he heard that someone is raving in his sleep, "eating, eating", pouring boiling milk into his mouth; the man was captured; when he told everything, the owners considered him a savior from thieves, let him go, letting rice eat with milk]: 125- 127; Tamils [The Adventures of Gooroo Paramarttan; 5 hermit students must get a horse, but they have little money; one sees a field with foals and lots of horse eggs; the owner of melons and pumpkins asks them not to say that he gave them an egg for only 5 gold; the hermit promised to sit the foal; on the way, the pumpkin fell, crashed, a hare jumped out of the bush; fools lament such a horse that is so rushes fast as soon as it hatches from an egg; hermit: it's also for the best who can ride it]: Clouston 1888:37-38 (=Zographer 1964:204-211).

China - Korea. The Chinese (Zhejiang) [a lumberjack is barely making ends meet; spent his whole life on a mountain in the forest; once he saw a cow; asked what kind of animal it was, if he could cultivate the land, does he lay eggs; the interlocutor sold him an inflated pig bubble: in a month an ox will hatch, the egg must be carried with you all the time; when the time came, the man went to the mountains to pick herbs for the future ox; stumbled, the bubble burst, and at that time a hare jumped out; the man thought it was his ox, ran after him, but did not catch up]: Eberhard 1941, No. 139:232-233 {apparently this text is briefly recounted in Eberhard 1937, No. 1.X: 275 pointing to the province}; Koreans [the woman sent her husband to sell the canvas and buy something; he saw a watermelon; the owner said it was an egg, a donkey would hatch; he gave all the money he put it on the couch at home, the watermelon went bad, the wife ordered it to be thrown away; the husband threw the egg into the grass, the donkey jumped out and rushed to the neighbor's stable; the neighbor had to give the cole; in fact, the baby was neighbor - donkey brought twins]: Park 1991:321-322; chuan miao [women carry pumpkins, tell the person they meet that they are elephant eggs; if you sit on such an egg, an elephant will hatch; the man gave for the pumpkin is a lot of good and sat on it; decided he could not sit so long and threw the pumpkin off the cliff; at that time a takin (antelope) jumped out; the man screamed to catch the elephant, but he was not caught]: Graham 1954:224-225; a fox [a man was hired for three years by a Chinese merchant who promised a horse's egg for his job; at the end of his term, he first refused: no mare had yet laid eggs; then put an oval stone in the stall, saying that it was a black mare's egg; on the way home, the worker met a Dunganin caravan, who asked why the man was carrying the stone; saying that the worker was a victim deception, Dunganin threw a stone into the crevice; a munjak reindeer jumped out; the man lamented so much that the Dunganin had to give him his horse, and finally two]: Dessaint, Ngwâma 1994: 544-545.

The Balkans. Slovenes, Romanians, Greeks: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1319:121-122; Croats [the bird brings pumpkin seed; villagers mistake pumpkin for a mare's egg, incubate one by one; when the pumpkin accidentally broke, people mistook a hare that ran near him for an elk; then they dismantled the seeds in the yards and began to sow them]: Sumtsov 2015:98; Romanians (Galicia) [in Galician-Romanian anecdote, a sailboat plants his old mother on a pumpkin to incubate a foal; a Jew buys a pumpkin and instructs his mother to sit; after a while, the Jew threw out the pumpkin; at this time a hare ran; the Jew took him for a foal;]: Sumtsov 2015:97; Hungarians [the watchman found a pumpkin, brought it to the board; no one knows what it is, they decided it was a horse's egg; they began to incubate, the pumpkin began to deteriorate; it was decided; hers decided to roll down the hill, a hare jumped out of the bush; elder: there was little left to incubate, a foal would come out]: Ortutai 1974, No. 42:407-409; Bulgarians [a fool mistook a melon or pumpkin for a camel egg; finally threw it into the bush, from where the hare jumped out; the man thought that the hatched camel had fled to the mountains]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 1319:420; Gagauz [Moldovan exchanged for gypsy pumpkin on a fur coat; ordered him to sit on a mountain on a pumpkin - 50 foals would hatch; the gypsy sat, and then put his wife in and went to eat; his wife's dress rose, their son played, shouted that he could see a foal tongue; the gypsy got up, the pumpkin rolled, crashed, the hare jumped out; the boy screamed that the foal was good, wanted to sit on it; the gypsy called him a donkey, hit him with a hammer and killed]: Moshkov 1904, No. 65:121 .

Central Europe. Czechs, Slovaks: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1319:121-122; Poles: Krzyżanowski 1962, No. 1319 [a fool believes that a melon is a mare's egg and waits for a foal to hatch; when he sees a fleeing hare, thinks it's a foal]: 40; Sumtsov 2015 [a man buys a bull bubble in a butcher shop; the butcher said that if you hold the bubble in the stove for a year, a foal will come out; a year has passed the foal did not come out, the bag threw out the bubble, hit it against the pine tree; a hare rushed from under the pine tree; the man chased him, believing that it was his foal; the hunter shot the hare; the man grieved that his foal killed]: 98; Russians (Gorkovskaya) [a pop saw watermelons at the bazaar; he is told that they are horse eggs; he must sit down and hatch; the pop sat on a watermelon in the bushes for a long time; then he got tired, he threw the watermelon, and a hare was sitting under the bush; the pop decided that a foal had hatched, ran after the hare: I'm your mother]: Eremina et al. 1979, No. 31:213-214; Russians (Olonetskaya, Vologda), Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Galicia, Podolia, Yekaterinoslavskaya, Kharkovskaya), Belarusians [Mare's egg: a fool (pop) sits on a pumpkin to sit out a foal (puppy), mistakes a fleeing hare for a foal]: SUS 1979, No. 1319:282; Belarusians [the man brought pumpkins to the bazaar; answers the master that these are horse eggs; you have to climb onto the Christmas tree and sit on such an egg; on the third day, the wife forgot to bring the master to eat, he became tossing and turning, the pumpkin fell, a hare jumped out of the Christmas tree; the master decided that it was an underlived foal who had run away; reproaches his wife]: Vasilenok et al. 1958:201-202; northern Ukrainians (Chernihiv Gubernia) [the man sold the pumpkin; the Jew asked why it was expensive; the man replied that if you sat on it, you would sit on a stallion; the Jew bought a pumpkin and sat on it at home; the wife said that they laughed at him; the Jew threw it away pumpkin into the bush, a hare jumped out from there; the Jew reproached his wife for not allowing him to sit on the pumpkin; a man came and asked to spend the night; the wife asked where he came from; the man said that he was from another world; wife asked how her parents were there; the man replied that they were "so cut off; that mustache to carry water, that dog to carry"; his wife gave him money, asked to take them a hotel; a Jew came, scolded her, galloped for that man; the man saw that he was being caught up and stood by the tree; the Jew asked if he had seen whom; the man replied that he had seen; the Jew asked him to catch up; said he would give his horse; the man agreed, but on the condition that the Jew would hold a tree for him; then rode away; the Jew returned home; said that he had given the horse so that his parents would not carry water there]: Chubinsky 1878, No. 56:571-572.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars [Ahmet-ahai saw a man carrying a watermelon; he jokingly replied that it was a horse egg; A. asked to sell it; the man refused, but agreed to change the egg to a horse; on the way home A. let the watermelon out of his hands, it rolled into the abyss and crashed against the stone under which the hare was sitting; A.: my foal ran away; at home A. told about the sad incident; A.'s son began to ask permission take a ride on this foal; A.: do you want to break his back? A. beat his son]: Kondaraki 1875:115-116; Dargins [a highlander saw a pumpkin for the first time at the bazaar; the seller said that it was a mare's egg; a man should sit on it and not get up for 10 days, it will hatch a foal red as fire; the knotweed sat in a secluded place on the top of the mountain where his wife was bringing him food; one day he got up, the pumpkin rolled, split against the bush where the hare was sitting; the highlander shouted to him "Good!" ; how would this foal run if he could sit it out, the highlander lamented]: Osmanov 1963:78-79; taty (Lahycz) [Kirakos came to town to the bazaar and asked the melon seller what he was selling; he he replied that donkey eggs; K. bought it; on the way he put it on the ground, it rolled, broke against the root, a hare jumped out from under the tree; K. thought it was a hatched foal, tried in vain to catch up with it; He told his wife everything at home; she regretted not being able to ride a donkey to the monastery, and her husband beat her: such a young donkey could break his back if he sat on it]: Dirr 1920, No. 83:278-279; Armenians [Kirakos is the village foreman; saw a mountain of watermelons in an Azerbaijani shop; the owner replied that they were donkey eggs; K. bought a watermelon at exorbitant prices, carried it, stopped for need; the watermelon rolled down the slope, crashed, a hare jumped out of the bush; K. and his wife are burning at home about his loss; his wife regrets that she will not be able to go to the monastery on a donkey; her husband beats her: the donkey is still small!] : Kalashev 1889, No. 2:130-131; Georgians: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1319:121-122.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians: Baiburdi, Borshevsky 1968 []: 42; Marzolph 1984, № 1319 (Hamadan) [a fool buys a melon, which, according to the seller, will grow 12 times in a year and hatch a donkey; melon along the way falls, a hare jumped out of the bush, the fool thinks it was a donkey hatched]: 196; mountain Tajiks [when the Vakhi people saw pumpkins on Vanja, they mistook them for melons and watermelons; one Vakhi mistook pumpkin for a strange beast; they came running with guns, someone shot, the pumpkin split, a frightened hare jumped out from under it; Vakhin: what a big cub this beast has!] : Rosenfeld, Rychkova 1990, No. 60:166; dardas: Leitner 1893b (probably kho, Chitral) [the man noticed that the king was not eating anything; thought he was not given; baked bread and brought it to the king the next day; everything they laughed; the king ordered the man to open a treasury; he refused gold and took a watermelon, because the treasurer explained that it was a donkey egg; on the way, the man dropped a watermelon, which split at that time a hare jumped out; at home, the wife said that if the husband brought a donkey, he could be loaded; the husband boiled with rage (the donkey is still so small!) , hacked his wife with an ax]: 9-11; Schomberg 1935 (tire) [the man went to buy clothes, saw a watermelon for the first time, the seller said it was an elephant egg; after giving all the money, the man took the watermelon home, dropped it rolled and split; a hare jumped out from under the bush; the man thought it was a hatched elephant, but could not catch up with it]: 212-213.

Baltoscandia. Latvians [the man sells cucumbers; answers the master that these are horse eggs; you have to put them in a pot, sit down and incubate; asking to answer, "Tpru-u"; a month later, the master could not stand it, took the pot to and threw the forest away; a hare jumped out of the bushes, the master decided that it was a foal; told the peasant; he says that a fool and a foal cannot sit]: Alksnite et al. 1958:453-454; Karelians: Evseev 1981 [poor old man carried to sell the only egg his chicken laid; pop wants to buy; poor man tells his ass that if a person sits on an egg for the right time, a foal will hatch; pop bought for expensive; sat on an egg and fell asleep, the egg burst; at that time a mouse ran by; pop: the foal did not have time to grow up and disappeared into a mouse hole]: 307; Makarov 1963 (Tver Karelians) [the merchant brought watermelons; pop: a What are they doing to them? merchant: you can sit out the foal; popadya offered to sit on a watermelon, but the pop said that he would sit himself, so reliably; two weeks later, the women came to the ass: why does not serve impoverishment; came to the ass, pull for hair, one grabbed a watermelon and threw it, and a hare slept under the entrance to the barn; rushed to run; pop: they would not let them sit out, the foal would be lively], No. 4:16; Lithuanians, Finns, Veps, Estonians, Swedes, Danes: Uther 2004 (2), No. 1319:121-122.

Volga - Perm. Udmurts [a watermelon merchant tells his ass that it is a horse egg; sells for a high price; he did not sit for a month, carried the watermelon into the forest, stumbled, a hare jumped out of the brushwood; the pop thinks he ran away foal]: Kralina 1960, No. 96:282-283; Kazan Tatars [the potato merchant replies to Bayu that he sells horse eggs; bai buys; the merchant orders to put eggs in a basket and sit on it for a month, nor anyone without talking to; bay's wife calls the elder and the sergeant; bai is silent, the sergeant beats him, buy runs into the forest, the basket has fallen, two bunnies sitting nearby jumped out and ran away; bai scolds the old woman: out would be real trotters]: Zamaletdinov 2009, No. 108:405-406; Chuvash [the poor man does not grow grain on scarce land; then he sowed a melon, one huge one grew up; he took it to sell it; shouts that he sells mare egg; popadya believes; convinces the priest to buy an egg for a hundred rubles, the pop began to incubate; the priest is called to perform the funeral service for the deceased, he takes the melon with him; the horse rushed, the melon fell, burst, jumped out from behind hare; pop laments: a good stallion ran away, but the tail did not have time to grow]: Chuvash tales 1937:221-224.

Turkestan. Kazakhs: Sidelnikov 1958 [Otezhan received a melon seed from the mullah for his work: the melon will grow, bring seeds, other melons will grow from them, etc.; O. grew a melon, told Bayu that it was an egg tulpara, he bought it for a lot of money; buy carried it, stumbled, the melon broke against the bush, a hare jumped out of the bush, buy decided it was tulpar; the mullah demanded his share for tulpara - there was a melon seed grown on his land; O. told Bayu that tulpar was sitting in a yurt and took the form of a mullah; bai bridled him and dragged him, beat him with kamchoy; the mullah thought that Satan had grabbed him]: 354-357; 1962 [the man decided to buy gift to his wife; saw a watermelon at the bazaar; the seller said it was a horse egg; on the way home, a man dropped a watermelon, it crashed, and two birds with one stone jumped out of the bushes; the wife regrets: you will not have to go to foals; the man was furious: how can you ride them, they are still small and tender; went to look for his tulpar in the city; the joker said that he had become a casino; the man came to Kazia, threw him on he dragged a rope his neck]: 369-370; Karakalpaks [merchants tell Omirbek that he does not know how to trade, offer to sell melon at the price of lamb and hare for the price of two rams; O.: I will sell them together at a price cows; painted a melon, said it was a winged tulpar egg; the guy who sold the cow gave all the proceeds from it for a melon; O. merchants: he will come tomorrow and ask to sell the second such melon; asked give him a ride to the melon buyer, as if inadvertently pushed the melon off the cart and at that moment released the hare from the bag; the buyer thought that a foal had jumped out of the egg and rushed after him; the next day he came buy a new tulpara egg for the bazaar; O. returned his money and explained what was going on]: Privalov 1970:71-74.