M90a2. What did the tree grow from? .11.15.17.23.27.29.

The character should guess that a tree (grass) grows from a part of the body of a person or a snake or from dirt collected from the body.

Kikuyu, Sicilians, Jordanians, Palestinians, Socotra, Ho, Albanians, Greeks (Lesbos), Nogais, Georgians, Swans, Armenians, Kurds.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Kikuyu [when he dies, the father bequeaths his son not to meddle in other people's affairs, not to trust his wife's secrets, not to miss secret men's meetings, not to go to bed at the bottom of the valley; bury his finger; from his finger a beautiful tree grows; everyone wants to know its secret; one man tells his daughter to marry a young man; when a wife gives birth to a boy, agrees to tell her the tree's name, "My Father's Finger"; wife leaves, taking the child, tells his father, he tells everyone; the young man leaves, stays with the rich shepherd, he has a young son; when everyone stays in the valley for the night, the young man leads the owner to the mountain; at night the rest the mudflow has washed away in the valley; one day he accidentally sees the shepherd's wife with her lover; is silent, but the wife thinks he will tell; accuses him {it is not said what exactly}, but the husband immediately agrees to destroy the young man, although before that he fell in love with him {it is very likely that the accusation of sexual harassment}; the owner tells the shepherds to dig a hole and bury in it whoever comes first in the morning; sends a young man; but he sees the secret a meeting of men, stays with them; the owner sends his son, the shepherds bury him alive; people sort out the case, everything is explained; the owner executes his wife, leaves the property to the young man, commits suicide]: Gagnolo 1953, 18:11-14.

Southern Europe. Sicilians (SW Sicily, Salaparuta) [poor Pippi has a mother and two sisters; he was hired as a boopas on a farm, but only for food, without money; an old ox advises asking the owner to give him back Pippi; the owner agrees; on Maslenitsa, P. went with an ox to visit his relatives; people are fleeing from a rabid bull; the ox advises to ask the bull if P. can tame him; defeated the bull; the king promises a daughter and gold to the one who plows a huge plot of land; the ox plowed, P. received the princess (during plowing, P. was given wine with opium, but the ox woke him up); the ox ordered him to be slaughtered; all dishes were prepared from his meat for a feast, and a garden grew out of buried bones; the wife found out the secret; the older sons-in-law proposed an argument: they know what the trees grew from; P. lost everything; thought that the sun had betrayed him, went to him; one old man sends to the older one, to the oldest; the oldest gives a pin to pull a splinter out of the lion's paw on the way to the sun; a grateful lion led to a sea of black water; tells him to say hello from him a winged snake; he appears before sunrise; the serpent hid P. under its wing so that the sun does not burn; then P. asks the sun why it gave it away; the sun: his wife betrayed; agrees to set after midnight; returning, P. makes a bet with his older sons-in-law, who are convinced that the sun will set at half past ten; his sons-in-law gave P. all his property, but P. returned it to them; the amazed king gave P. crown]: Calvino 1980, No. 172:616-622 (=Kotrelev 1991:148-156).

Western Asia. Socotra [The father tells his son to cut off and bury his finger after his death; it will grow into a tree that will bring wealth. And that's what happened. The young man asked those who came to guess what kind of tree it was. Whoever did not guess, gave away the property. The young man got married even though the bride loved someone else. She promised her former lover to find out the secret of the tree. She told her husband to tell her a secret if he loved her. He swore an oath not to tell anyone. That man came in, sat all night, and at dawn said that the tree was from the owner's father's finger. The owner had to hand over all his property. He went to the wadi and met a radiant woman there. She said she was the Sun her wife swore to. Let the tree owner argue about whether the sun will rise in the west or east. If one loses, one will return the property and the other will lose his life. The sun rose from the west, the man received back his property and the opponent's property, and the woman became covered with purulent ulcers due to a violation of the oath]: Kogan, Naumkin MS, No. 4 (resume in Naumkin et al. 2014, No. 4:2) ; Jordanians, Palestinians [{the motives present in the texts are listed according to S. Thompson, among them}: E607.1, The bones of the deceased are collected and buried; D1461, The Magic Tree provides the treasure; F961.1.2, The Sun moves from west to east; N81ยง, Bet: the sun will move from west to the east (will rise in the west and go to the east)]: El-Shamy 2004, No. 561Bยง: 319-320.

South Asia. Ho [7 Raja daughters swim in a pond, hide dirt from their skin in a hole in the ground; a tree grows there; the elder princess promises to marry someone who guesses what the tree grew out of; poor the sick shepherd watched the sisters, got a wife; at night he sheds her skin, becomes handsome, goes to dance at the Raja's court; the maid sees this, tells the mistress, she throws her skin into the fire; husband remains handsome, but continues to go out only at night, for his body emits a dazzling light; the Raja went to see, lost consciousness, but his son-in-law revived him and then stopped shining so much; moved with his wife to the palace and became an heir]: Bompas 1909:474-475; (cf. Marathi [the mother of the girl and the boy died, their father took another one; the girl is ill and wants to drink at night; the stepmother asks her stepson to water her sister himself; the brother puts a vessel of water without covering it with a lid, A snake crawled into the water, her sister swallowed it; began to wither away; brother and sister were expelled from home; one day a young man sees a snake crawling out of his sleeping sister's mouth; killed a snake; the next day he grew up in this place a tree with beautiful flowers on it; the sister made a garland out of them, threw them around her brother's neck, who turned into a snake himself; the prince saw the sister; brought the snake charmers, who began to call snakes; when, finally, The transformed brother appeared, his sister tore off his garland, he became human again; the prince married a girl, then became a raja, his wife's brother became a minister]: Knight 1913:112-124).

The Balkans. Albanians [a poor man saves a snake from the fire; she tells him to plant a wonderful fern in the yard, the poor man has become rich; a rich neighbor promises to give half of his work if he guesses what it is plants; didn't guess, I had to give it back; his wife told the wife of the former poor man that her husband was going to leave her; the husband denies everything; next time his wife demands that her husband swear, he swears "snake grass" ; the wife brags to the rich man's wife, she tells her husband; the snake advises to bet: if the sun rises from the west, the rich man will have to give all his property and leave; the snake sends the former poor man to the mother of the Sun; on the way, the pear asks to know why it does not bear fruit; the snake - why it can't crawl away; the water in the pond - why it is not flowing; the princess - why she is not married; the mother of the Sun promises that her son will rise tomorrow from the west; let the princess sweep the yard before sunrise; a man must drown in the pond; the snake must grab someone; the weight must be dug from under the pear; the person gives advice (to the pond and the snake goes a distance), digs gold from under the pear; in the morning he leads the rich man to the snake, which grabs him, drags him into the pond; the poor former man comes to the princess, becomes her husband; his former wife and wife He sent the rich man to the pond, they drowned in running water]: Lambertz 1952:138-144; the Greeks (Lesbos) [parents sent their son overseas to study music; when he returned, he fell in love with a girl who is not a mother liked it, and she sent her son away again; the serpent asks him to play and dances himself; then brought him to the treasure cave; the young man can take whatever he wants, provided that he invites the snake to the wedding and he will call him brother; if this does not happen, he, the snake, will die; then his bones must be buried, a cypress will grow; drink coffee with his wife under him, and leave the third cup for the cypress: he will bend down and drink; it is necessary invite visitors to guess three times what kind of tree it is (snake cypress, Snake-Cypress), let them bet their fortunes; the mother forbade calling the snake to the wedding, he died; because of the third cup the wife is jealous of coffee, her husband told her everything; the servant overheard, asked for calculation, appeared in the guise of a merchant, called the tree; the cypress immediately collapsed; the husband decided that his wife had betrayed him, told her to go to the merchant; the old woman advises her husband to ask the merchant to answer whether the sun will rise from the east or from the west; makes it rise in the west; the husband returned everything, lived well with his wife]: Rouse 1896, No. 1:151-154.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Nogais [bai gives his daughter Altynshash as the first person he meets; this is a poor young man Omiruzak; he buys two cats, comes to a village where rats gnaw people's noses and ears; cats caught rats, residents they pay in gold; O. is happy with his wife in a new house; bought a snake, she died, a golden tree grew on her grave; A. blurted out the secret to the mullah's wife; O. told the mullah that if he knew the secret, let him take it house and wife; in a dream, the soothsayer says O. that tomorrow the sun will rise in the west; O. argues with the mullah where the sun will rise, the sun has risen in the west, O. returns what he lost and gets the mullah's wife]: Nogai 1979, No. 28:137-140; Georgians: Dirr 1920, No. 67 (Imereti) [Solomon asks the employee if he wants money or good advice; he chooses advice; 1) trust no one secrets; 2) nothing do not offer it yourself if you haven't asked; 3) here's a road; wrap it in snakeskin you'll find on the way and stick it into the ground in your yard; a tree with golden fruits grew out of the staff; the man hid he got into the chest, became rich, got married; one day, when her husband was away, three Armenians came and asked him to spend the night; when they saw a golden tree, they decided to steal it; they promised his wife money if he found out from her husband where he has this tree; he did not reveal the secret for a long time, but in the end he told it and his wife told the Armenians; they demanded a tree from him, he agreed to give it back if they told me where it came from (otherwise they themselves they would pay him), lost the bet; went to Solomon again; he ordered a new bet with the Armenians: from which side the sun would rise; they replied that it was from the east, but this time the sun came from the west (if only they said that from the west, S. would pick it up from the east); the man returned his tree; continued to visit S.; the king called S. to his place twice through the vizier, had to go, the servant was with him; at lunch, the king needed a knife , S.'s servant offered his own; the king said that his knife, the man, had been imprisoned, S. was forbidden to see him; S. hit the cat, he meowed, S. began to bake it in a loud voice so that the servant behind the wall could hear; let will say that he took the knife out of the body of his murdered father, and since the king's knife, the king is the murderer; the king did not know what to answer and let the man go]: 254-256; Chikovani 1954, No. 63 [the employee agrees to take it from the merchant instead of paying 20 rubles, but two lucky nickels; the merchant promises to take them to the employee's wife himself, who stays for another year; the merchant bought a cat for nickels; in another place where rats could not live, he sold it for pearls and precious stones, he took them to the worker's wife; in the second year, the same (the merchant bought a mirror on his heels, sold them to the king, who had never seen mirrors); after the third year, the merchant gives advice to the farmhand: Whatever you find on the road, pick it up and bury it at the doorstep; whoever asks, don't say you know where it comes from; don't open your heart to anyone; the poor man found a snake's tail on the road, buried it at the doorstep; found out how generously the merchant paid him, but did not talk to anyone about it; in one night, a poplar grew at the doorstep with jewelry on the branches; the prince envied man's happiness; held a feast, ordered not a single knife for to the table; the man was also invited, offered his knife; the prince said that the knife was stolen from his father; decided: if the prince found out what the poplar grew out of, then the dagger and everything he would put his hand on were him; the prince sent a sorceress to a man's wife, she persuaded her husband to share a secret; the merchant found out about the trouble, arrived; the prince forbade them to live together, so she turns to the cat so that the person hears in the next room; about the knife say that he was found in the body of the father of the man who was killed by the robbers; when the prince climbs the ladder, cut off three steps, let him take it; the prince returned the dagger and ran away with shame]: 311-315; Swans [the man was hired to serve Solomon; when releasing him, he advised 1) finding a rarity on the road, pick him up, take him home; 2) not to reveal secrets to his wife; 3) not to give anything to anyone without request; the man picked up and brought snake skin into the yard; in the morning there is a tree with jewelry on the branches; he did not tell his wife about the skin; merchants want to buy wood; the person sets the condition: to guess what it is made of in 3 days appeared; they did not know, he took their property, including a precious knife; a merchant persuaded the man's wife to find out what the tree had grown from; he said, his wife shouted loudly about it, a merchant in the morning took the tree; Solomon took the man to the king next door; he did not have a knife, the man offered his own, the owner said it was his decorated knife, the man was thrown into prison; but Solomon taught him that he answer in court; allegedly he is the son of a merchant, his father was stabbed to death, a knife was in his throat; if the owner of the knife is a tsar, then he is a murderer; the case was dismissed]: Virsaladze 1973, No. 187:252-254; Armenians [the snake orders cut off her head, leave her in the hut; there grows a pomegranate tree that bears fruit with jewelry; the poor man gets rich, becomes king; others have found out about this, took away the tree; he goes to God with a complaint; ways two women ask to know why they suffer from headaches, three horses why they are plagued by scabies; old man god: women should marry, horses should serve people; they must be taken; the man who took grenades, will bet again; we must bet that the sun will rise from the west; this is what happened; the man regained his kingdom, but left his wife and children to the enemy]: Khachatryants 1933:246-252 (= Karapetyan 1967:154-158); Kurds: Jalil et al. 1989, No. 23 [Avci Ahmad hunts, the white snake asks him to protect him from the black snake, he shoots but accidentally shoots off the white tail; the white snake returns to his father, the shah of the serpent; he sends the cobras to sting AA, but they hear his story addressed to agha, tell the khan that AA is innocent; the shah summons AA, orders the serpent to point to the guilty serpent; AA points he is being killed; the daughter of the Shah of Serpents orders to ask for poison from her father's mouth as a reward; AA has begun to understand the language of stones, plants, animals; the Shah's daughter tells her severed tail to be buried at home; a tree with unprecedented fruits has grown ; AA asks everyone what kind of tree it is; the caravan persuaded AA's wife to find out the secret, AA answered correctly, so he won the argument, got his house and wife; the white snake tells him to sleep at the mazar; buried there The saint tells us to argue with the caravan that the sun will rise in the west, set in the east, gives a jug of gold to bet; the sun has risen in the west, AA has returned its home; more on how AA understands animal words, then gets into trouble, then avoids misfortune; finally dies]: 238-247; Rudenko 1970, No. 45 [Ahmad came to Aleppo to look for work, worked for a rich man for 7 years, bought it from his owner with the money he earned 7 tips: 1) everything requires patience; 2) the most beautiful is the one you love with your heart; 3) don't give anything until you're asked; 4) don't reveal the truth to your wife; 5) if you're sitting in a place of honor, don't talk to those on the opposite end; 6) grab everything softer than a stone on the way home; 7) do not get up from where you sat down; A. hired a caravan; he asks to go down to the well to get water; when A. sent buckets of water upstairs, the door opened in the wall, the young man dragged him into the room, where there is a beauty and a frog, the young man asks who is more beautiful; A.: who did his heart love; the young man gave A. seven grants; the caravan gave A. gold; A. asked to take gold and grenades to his wife Seyran; seven-year-old son S. Ismail opened one grenade, and jewelry fell from there; S. bought ordinary pomegranates for her son, bought a palace and a garden for jewelry, got servants; when A. went to the house, A. noticed a dead snake on the road and, remembering the council picked her up, covered the house with earth by the porch; when he saw a young man next to his wife, he grabbed a dagger, but realized that it was his son; where the snake was buried, a tree grew; if anyone said it was a pear, on a tree apples appeared if the apple tree was covered with peaches, etc.; the guessing A. promises to give all the property, and not the guessing player would give him his own; everyone lost, A. became immensely rich; the huckster persuaded the old woman gain confidence, convince S. that A. should tell her a secret, leave a chest in the bedroom; he hid himself in the chest and found out about the snake tree; agreed with A. that he would give him three things if he will answer correctly; when he called the snake tree, it broke out and disappeared; A. asked for three days, came to his first owner, who took him to a feast with the padishah, told him to sit next to him; but A. everyone the one who entered gave way and was on the very edge; the padishah is looking for a knife to cut a watermelon, A. offers his own, the padishah liked it; the vizier said that this knife was stolen from the royal treasury; the owner asks to let go A. promises not to say anything to him for the night; tying his donkey, beats him and talks to him as if about the advice that A. had broken; tells him to say that his father was attacked by robbers, he pulled the knife out of his chest, let the padishah will now pay for blood; padishah: this is what the vizier said; the vizier was executed; the owner Ahmed: the three things that the huckster wants are A.'s life, wife and property; orders to put a high staircase near the house and get to the balcony with his wife; the huckster will take three steps - these are three things he touched, let him take the stairs; everything is fine]: 116-126.