Once upon a time there was a man who had a wife who never had a child. She cried a lot about it. Once she asked God: "Give me a child, even if it's only a pumpkin!" After some time, she gave birth to a pumpkin. The woman said: "God has given me what I asked him for." She washed the pumpkin, rubbed it with redwood and called a servant: "Take care of the pumpkin as you would a child!" The little servant took the pumpkin and carried it for a walk. She went outside the city wall so that the pumpkin could play in the bushes like other children. In the evening, she carried the pumpkin home again and laid it on its mat. The servant took care of the pumpkin for three years. One day they were outside the city wall again and the pumpkin was lying on the servant's lap. Then the pumpkin said: "I want to talk to you!" The servant girl jumped up, startled: "You're talking!" The pumpkin said: "Yes, I am talking, but you don't have to be afraid." The pumpkin jumped up and out of the pumpkin came a beautiful little girl. No one had ever seen such a beautiful girl. She was completely adorned with gold. The pumpkin girl played with the servant, then she said: "I'm going back into my pumpkin, then you can take me home. But don't tell my mother or my father." So the pumpkin girl went back into the pumpkin, it closed and the servant carried the pumpkin home. And so it went every day, time passed and the pumpkin girl grew up. One day, a horseboy passed by the city wall to cut grass for his master's horse. He saw the servant sitting on the ground with a pumpkin on her lap. At that moment, the pumpkin burst open and a girl came out who was so beautiful, so adorned with gold and shining so brightly that the horseboy could not take his eyes off her. He ran to his master and said: "I have seen a girl who is so beautiful, more beautiful than all the girls in the world, she was outside the city gate in the bush!" The master shook his head and said: "That must have been something really special, you're quite beside yourself." The next morning, the rich gentleman accompanied the horseboy to the city gate. They hid and didn't have to wait long before the servant came with the pumpkin, sat down on the ground, the pumpkin burst open and out came the most beautiful girl the man had ever seen. "She is worthy of a king," he thought. The gentleman rode to the royal palace, had himself brought before the king and told him everything. "This is quite extraordinary!" exclaimed the king, "I want to marry this girl. Let the pumpkin girl's father come to me." The servants fetched the man and brought him before the king. "I beg you: give me your pumpkin child as a wife."

"You can't marry a pumpkin!" the man exclaimed. "But if you wish, I will give you the pumpkin as a gift."

"But no," said the king, "you should become my father-in-law and entrust me with the pumpkin. In a few years' time, I will marry the pumpkin."

The pumpkin girl's father shook his head and said, "If that's what you want, my king, then so be it. If you think you can marry a pumpkin, then I will give you the pumpkin child as your wife." The king gave the future father-in-law pearls and beautiful clothes for his mother-in-law and the father returned home. A few years passed and the king sent a messenger to the man with the pumpkin child, saying that he would fetch the pumpkin in ten days.

After ten days, the king married the pumpkin child. Many people came to see the pumpkin child. The servant carried the pumpkin into the king's house. All the people shouted: "The king has married the pumpkin child! The king has married the pumpkin child!" The king asked the servant, "What do I have to do so that I can see the pumpkin girl?"

"You have to wait until night comes," said the servant. "Then the girl will come out to take a bath. As soon as she has left the pumpkin, take the empty pumpkin and hide it." The king waited. When it got dark, he hid until the pumpkin moved and cracked open. The pumpkin shells fell apart and out came a beautiful young woman, adorned in gold. The king looked and looked and could no longer take his eyes off her. Then he crept closer, took the two pumpkin shells and hid them. When the pumpkin girl had bathed, she returned to her room, sat down on the golden bed and asked: "Where is my pumpkin? I can't see my pumpkin?"

The servant said, "I saw a man come in and go out again quickly. Maybe he took the pumpkin with him." The pumpkin girl cried, but the servant comforted her: "Don't cry, everything will be fine tomorrow." The pumpkin child fell asleep.

The next morning, the king had the drums beaten for his new wife. He entered her room and spoke the sweetest words to her. But she sat on her golden bed and did not say a word. This went on for several days. The king was very sad. He went to the servant and said, "What must I do to make my wife speak to me?"

"Put out a big pot of water for her to bathe in and get into it with her clothes on." The king had a large pot brought into the pumpkin girl's room and filled with water. Then he climbed in with his clothes on. The pumpkin girl began to laugh and said: "If all men bathe like this, this is a strange country."

"The pumpkin girl speaks!" cried the king, delighted, and got out of the bath. "Bring me dry clothes!"

To this day, a woman does not speak to her husband after the wedding until he has had a bath, but if you ask God for something, you should ask him for something sensible and not for something as crazy as the woman who asked for the pumpkin child.

Märchen aus dem Sudan, aus: D. Jaenike, Pflanzenmärchen aus aller Welt, © Mutabor Verlag , englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike ©Mutabor Märchenstiftung