M136E. Should the Bride Be Shortened? (.27.)

Instead of asking a person to bend over a low lintel, others suggest cutting off his head or legs.

Albanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians.

Balkans. Albanians [a peasant's daughter reasons that her father will marry her off, she will give birth to a boy named Mazlum, who will start walking, a pumpkin will fall on him, killing him; the girl, then her mother and brother, cry; the husband chops the pumpkin into pieces and goes off to look for more fools; an old man lives in a windowless house, picks at the wall with a knife; a man makes a hole in the roof; the bride must ride through the gate on horseback, the gate is low, people are considering whether to shorten the bride or the horse; the man bends the head of the rider, receives money as a reward; the groom jumps up, trying to get both feet into two trouser legs; the man shows how to put on trousers; returns to his family]: Serkova 1989: 300-303; Bulgarians [seeing an axe hanging on the wall, a girl begins to cry, imagining how she will give birth to a child, and the axe will fall on him; mother (mother-in-law, etc.) join her; usually the episode is connected with the plot ATU 1384 (pp. 450-452): amazed by the stupidity of his daughter (daughter-in-law, sister, mother, wife), a man goes looking for those who are even stupider; having found such, he decides to return to the family; a huge number of entries]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, no. 1459: 466-467; Macedonians [a mother and daughter at home; she sees a mallet hanging over the door; she says to her mother: I will get married, I will give birth to a boy, the mallet will fall on him and kill him; both begin to cry; in the field, the girl's brothers are surprised why no one is bringing them food; the youngest comes to find out what is going on; having found out, he leaves the house: he will return if he finds the same fools; in one house, a newlywed is asked: the doorway is low, so does she want her head or legs cut off? The young man hit the bride on the back, she bent over in pain and went through the door; at the spring the woman asks where the young man is coming from; he replies that he is from the other world; “Has he seen her brother?”; the young man agrees to give the deceased bread, cheese and new clothes; upon learning what happened, the woman’s husband gallops after the deceiver on horseback; upon seeing the rider, the young man tells the miller that he is in danger: let him change clothes with him and climb a tree; the imaginary miller points his finger at a poplar; the rider dismounted, took off his boots and climbed the poplar; the young man put on his boots, jumped on his horse and was gone; he returned to his sister and mother; the woman’s husband told her that he had decided to send her brother a horse and boots as well]: Mazon 1936, no. 75: 277-283.