M78B. Too many kids. .15.16.27.29.30.33.

Wishing a baby, a childless woman gives birth to many tiny boys. She or her husband kill them or throw them away, but she stays alone and helps their parents.

Italians (Tuscany), French (Dauphinges), Bulgarians, Romanians, Crimean Tatars, Adygs, Lucks, Turks, Persians, Kazakhs.

Southern Europe. Italians: Calvino 1985, No. 91 (Florence) [pea boy]: 334-337; Crane 1885, No. 77 (Tuscany) [a carpenter always scolds his wife for childlessness; a beggar gives her a hundred peas, they turn into kids; the husband hits them with a stick, but one pea rolled off, became a tiny Cecino boy; he invites his mother to take lunch to his father; people think he is crazy because he talks to himself; he shows them C., leaves an ox on his horn, goes to work; thieves try to steal oxen, C. raises the alarm, his father comes running, the thieves persuaded him to sell them C.; they go to steal horses in the royal stable; ask C. to give the horses oats, the horse swallows C.; thieves killed two horses, pulled them out into the field; the wolf began to eat the horse's carcass, swallowed C.; C. calls the shepherd from his stomach, the wolf got rid of C.; thieves come share money, C. repeats their words, thieves fight with each other, are frightened, run away; C. brings their money to his mother]: 242-247.

Western Europe. The French (Dauphine) [a woman with many children advises a childless woman to cook beans: those that fall to the floor will turn into children; everything has fallen, there are many children, everyone requires something; the woman swept them out with a broom, but one bean remained in the crack; his mother sent him to herd the cow and watch the cabbage; he sat on a head of cabbage, the cow swallowed it; his mother is looking for him, he answers from the cow's belly; the cow was stabbed to death, the intestines thrown away, eaten by a wolf; when he farted, the boy flew out of it]: Joisten 1991, No. 47.2:270-271.

The Balkans. Bulgarians [childless parents miraculously have many children (they come out of a chopped pumpkin; they come from grain poured into a vessel; etc.); there is not enough food, they kill them, the smallest one is saved (as tall as a finger; in one version, two are saved, adventures are distributed between them); the hero takes food to his father in the field; rides in the wild, getting into his ear; sold to robbers, takes their money; he is accidentally eaten with grass by a cow; when she is milked, he makes obscene noises from her belly; a cow is slaughtered, a wolf eats its entrails with the hero; he warns those against whom the wolf wants to attack, about his approach; the wolf dies (on the advice of the fox, after eating sand and drinking water, lay down in the sun), the hero goes outside]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, No. 700:236; Romanians [ A shepherd named Stan-le-Roc has no children; he met God and St. Peter, they are ready to fulfill his wishes; he asked for children three times; when he returned home, he saw a house full of children, everyone was hungry; he sold everything, left; the shepherds say that they are tyrannized by the dragon, ready to give a third the herd to the one who kills him; S. tells the dragon that he is stronger than him; the dragon offers challenges; S. squeezed the cheese, the water has flowed, the dragon could not squeeze water out of the stone; the dragon hired S. to serve, promising gold; the dragon threw an iron club; S. pretends to wait for the moon to be gone, otherwise his blacksmith brother will take the club on the moon; the dragon tells not to throw; the dragon tells him not to throw; the dragon tells him to bring water, S. begins to dig in a well to take everything at once; refuses to carry a tree, but begins to tie the forest with a rope to take everything at once; hears the dragon negotiating with his mother to hit him at night with a club; puts it together a log under the blanket; in the morning he says that fleas have bitten; pretends to stay for another two years; he is given not 1, but 3 sums of gold; the dragon agrees to take him to S. home; when they approach, S. explains that children are screaming because they want dragon babies; the dragon ran away; those S.'s children who didn't die still live]: Kremnitz 1882, No. 1:1-16 (=Nortines 1935:113-124).

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars [a childless tinker complains to a gypsy woman that he does not have children; takes care of her family; a gypsy woman tells his wife to throw an egg into the wall, 40 men jump out of it, call the tinker is a father; he tells the gypsy woman to take them away; one named Kichkene hides, the tinker agrees to recognize him as a son; he brings pancakes to his father, sits on a bowl, tins jugs, plows, getting into the bull's ear; 40 -Azhdag's head closed the water, gives it every day for a bull; K. brings A. the yellow bull Sary-Bey, who took all the bulls from the villagers; asks him to leave his rectum; dumps the contents into bed S. and his wife; ties buckets of water to the backs of S.'s sons; S. and his wife fight, accusing each other of spoiling the bed; their sons jump up, knocking over the buckets; the pipe plays, K. laughs, everyone gathers watch; A. bursts with laughter, S. runs away from shame, peasants take back their property]: Birzgal 1992, No. 11:140-152 (=Zarubin, Zarubin 1991:30-40); Adygs (Kabardian people) [old woman gives birth to a bunch little men, throws them on the roof, where they die; one hides in a cup; the old woman is sorry that she threw it away, the hidden one opens his name Kulatsu; he takes lunch to his father in the field; towards four the robber; he asks to take him with him, climbs into the stall, shouts loudly what kind of ox to drive the bull out; the robbers tell him not to make noise; K. takes the cauldron, sitting under it, people do not understand where the voice comes from, run away; getting into the cauldron, K. screams from there, the robbers also run away, K. takes their horses and property; together with the other boys he comes to the witch; at night he hears her sharpening her teeth, screaming, that at this time their mother was feeding them hot dumplings; chicken sauce; a witch cooks dumplings, cuts chicken and makes sauce; K.: At this time, our mother watered us with water with a sieve; while the witch goes to get water, K. takes away the golden lintel; the boys ran away, and the witch grabbed K. and put it in a bag; while she left, K. put the cat in the bag, and runs away, carrying the lintel; the witch killed the cat; K. offers to those he meets horsemen to prop up the mountain, supposedly, it falls, steals their horses; tells the herd that he got horses where the Khan's village is being robbed; the herd runs there, K. steals the herd; the same with a herd of bulls and a shepherd; K. brings his mother's cattle; horsemen, herdsmen, shepherds come to visit K.; at night he stains their beds with the contents of bovine intestines; they have run away, wealth remains]: Tambiev 1900, No. 5:31-33 (=Sokolov, Broydo 1936:117-120); Lucky [an apple fell on the royal roof during the rain; the queen ate it in half with her husband, gave birth to 40 boys; the king was frightened, ordered them to be left behind the mountain; later returned, 40 young men they called him father, asked him to marry 40 sisters; the king put on iron boots, took a steel stick, went to look for brides; a father of 40 daughters, also with an iron stick and iron boots, met him; father 39 sons went to pick up brides, and the youngest Susuna stayed at home; S. to father: when snakes fall from the sky and stone rain, don't stop anyway; but when the stones fall, young insisted on spending the night; at night they were surrounded by a ring of snakes, demanded their younger brother S.; tells S. to get the daughter of an overseas king; S. meets, takes as companions a bird shooter at the sky, drinks and spewing the sea; the king orders 1) to overtake the old woman; the shooter ran, fired an arrow in the back of the old woman and overtook; 2) climb a tree with a full bowl and go down without splashing; S. completed the task, but with the tops of the tree saw his mother in mourning for him, dropped a tear; but the king was convinced that it was not water; 3) spend the night in the iron room; the king ordered to make a fire around him, but the water bread spewed the water and cooled room; the princess does not want to go to the snake; the shepherd advised to ask the snake for a sword in a felt sheath as a reward; S. cut this sword by a snake; half turned to a dog, the other to a pig, they began to chase each other after another; S. received two wives: the princess and the former bride]: Omar-ogly 1868:52-58 (=Khalilov 1965, No. 51:137-142); Turks [because of his ill-conceived wish, the poor man receives many children The size of a pea; throws them into the fire, only one remains; getting into the donkey's ear, a pea boy brings lunch to his father in the field; a cow's cake fell on him; people collected a dung, began to drown it, the pea also burned down; options: the boy was eaten by a cow, he goes outside (through the ass); giants find him; he puts the dead lamb between the girls, ties two men with beards, dies of laughter; thieves tell him to steal the cow; he says so loudly that the owner came out but did not see anyone; he was given cow giblets and he hides in them; he was pecked by a rooster, then eaten by a cow; he climbed into giblets (into the dough ), they (him) were eaten by a wolf; he screams from the wolf's belly, he can't get anyone; parents killed a cow, threw his heart away, and there was a boy in his heart, came out]: Eberhard, Boratav 1953, No. 288:332-333.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians: Aliev et al. 1958 [=Rosenfeld 1958:94-99; dervish gives childless spouses peas, tells them to put them in good shape, every pea will become a child; the husband is afraid that so many children will not be fed, sweeps the peas, stays alone, this is the tiny boy Justic; he brings his father lunch, sitting in his donkey's ear; the bull's leg fails, there is a treasure; J. decides to take the gold to the padishah, but the mother keeps the gold for herself puts garbage in his bag; when he sees the padishah, J. was confused, offered him a cake, the padishah threw him in prison, then let him go; J. brings his father lunch again; climbs an apple tree, divas catches him, gives it to his own to fry the mother; J. pushes her in good shape; tells the diva that he ate his mother; climbs a tree; tells the wonder that he climbed with oil on his body; the diva leans to the hearth, burns; J. brings his treasures parents]: 123-128; Romaskevich 1934a, No. 30 (Jews of Yazd) [a childless laundress prays to God for a child - even a bug; gave birth to bugs, killed everyone, but one hid; when a woman regretted not a single one she left it, the bug came out; this is a bug girl; the prince shouts to the laundress to bring her washed clothes; the bug answers; the prince tells him to marry the laundress's daughter; the laundress says that it is not their custom show the bride; at night the bug enters the prince's room, but he throws her away; decided to pretend to be killed: whoever cries is his wife; the bug cries and laments; Queen Peri's daughter is stuck a bone in her throat; she came out laughing; for this she turned the bug into a girl as beautiful as herself; the prince is happy with his wife]: 137-140.

Turkestan. Kazakhs: Divayev 1909 (Syr-Darya) [the old woman asks her husband to bring her 40 lamb ears, eats her ears, gives birth to 40 ears; there is no peace from them, the old people have nailed them, one ear is hidden; goes on a camel behind salt; the old woman warns not to hide from the rain under the leaves, the ear hides, the camel swallows it; the old man cuts it but does not find his ear, throws away his stomach, it is swallowed by the wolf; every time rushes at the rams, his ear screams from his stomach; the fox advises him to run and sit on the ice; the wolf froze, the traveler killed him, took off his skin, his ear hid in his pocket; with this man two more, they stopped at overnight stay, the ear made a hole in the cup, ate everything, the owner's daughters are surprised (the guest must leave food to the owners); night puts the lamb's head between the girls, ties his wife's braids to the owner's beard, the maid to the oil mill, the shepherd to the wormwood bush; shouts that the wolf attacked the sheep; each girl accuses the other that she has a miscarriage, everyone is fighting; the ear steals sheep to the elderly]: 90-95; Kanbak Shal 1985 [ A childless old woman asks her husband to bring her forty ears; he brings camel ears; she eats them, gives birth to 40 boys the size of a camel ear; they drank all the milk, the old man kicked them out, and is left alone hid; asks his father to wrap him in a handkerchief, tie him to the horn of a white goat, herds his father's goats; the thieves stole the herd; the boy promised to help them, drove the herd home, brought the camel; they stabbed the horse, the boy ordered to put the meat on the camel, follow him; screams, the thieves run away in fear, the boy brings the camel to his parents]: 210-211.