U is for Unusual Conception (WTF Hungary - Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales)

Welcome to this year's A to Z Challenge titled WTF Hungary - Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales! You can find all other participating blogs on the A to Z Challenge main blog.

Unusual conception in folktales is really not all that unusual. We have already seen people get pregnant from smelling tulips, eating roses, swallowing peppercorn, and a million other things. But there is one folktale, collected from storyteller Karácsony József in Chibed, Transylvania, that definitely takes the cake. The title of the tale is Miklós, Son of the Mare (Kancafia Miklós), and this is how it starts:

Once upon a time there was a rich man whose crops kept getting stolen. He went to a wise woman, who gave him some peas, and told him to sow them along with the wheat. Whoever tasted the crops would have a pea grow on their nose.

Time for the harvest came. A maid brought food to the harvesters, and found some fresh peas at the edge of the field; she picked them, ate them, and lo and behold - a pea grew on her nose! She ran home crying, and told the rich man what happened.

The rich man, feeling bad that the maid got cursed instead of an actual thief, went to the wise woman again. The wise woman told him that the girl can get rid of the pea by kissing someone. When told, the maid immediately ran out to the mountains, found an unsuspecting shepherd, made out with him... and passed on the pea.

The shepherd went to the same wise woman to ask for advice. She told him the same thing: Kiss someone, and pass on the pea. So, when the shepherd met the priest on the way home, the made out with the priest, and passed the pea to him.

The priest also went to the wise woman. She told him that he could get rid of the pea for good if he "rubbed up" against some animal. So he went to the stables, rubbed against a mare... and the pea disappeared. Some months later, the mare gave birth to a baby boy - Miklós, Son of the Mare.

Miklós then goes on to have all kinds of adventures, but really none of them are nearly as weird as his conception. Trust me.