B44B. Fingers, claws, hair, feathers.

.14. (.35.) .41.-.49.74.

The number and/or nature of the alternation of fingers, claws, feathers, coats, stripes on animal skin determines the number of time intervals in a calendar or daily cycle. See motif B44.

North Africa. Algerian Arabs (Tiaret Plateau) [The prophet asks animals for their opinion about Ramadan; the jackal wants it to last one morning and consist of eating figs; hare: as long as it takes for peeling the skin on the trunk of a yuyuba; boar: as many (days) as I have bristles and excrement; partridge: a month; the Prophet rewarded the partridge by painting its beak and legs with henna; its meat is edible, it inspires poets ; forbid eating wild boar and pig meat; the hare is edible, but its tail is not; everyone will drive jackals away]: Aceval 2005, No. 126:145-146.

(Wed. Western Siberia. Nganasans (Awam) [{in some places the text is complex and dark}; first water, a stone in the middle; on it two diamadas ("having a throat") were arguing about which of them would get the land; a bird flew in, a nose long, red breast (sandpiper?) ; the diamada did not dive to the bottom, the bird brought grass, moss, earth from the bottom; the Sun came, the bird flew away, the sun was gone, in five days the earth was covered with ice; the bird came back, said that now All diamadas will have five fingers; therefore, five days are cold; the Mother Sun has melted the ice; the bird is flying, throwing grass, roots; Mother Earth has become alive; worms have crawled out of it, covered with hair like bears; then their hair fell off, they became like humans, gave birth to children, carved fire out of the flint; they were females, looking like deer; the mother fire began to heat the children (these are stones), they burst; they looked up - the sky completely rose; when the skin became separated; another says: this is the road to my mother; she looked, he returned from Mother Moon, told me that she told me to collect hair from her head, hair, tie the children, Throw them around, where they fell, they will live; a voice to them from the sky: we leave you only half of your arms and half your legs so that only half of the people can destroy; one stone has become, which fire gives, the other is a stone that iron gives for fire; one will be Mother Fire, the other will be Fire Father, you will give birth to fire together; a man will get meat, a woman will keep fire]: Simchenko 1996 (1): 18-20).

Subarctic. Internal tlingits; taltan.

NW Coast. Tlingites; Tsimshians.

The coast is the Plateau. Quarry; shuswap.

The Midwest. Menominee; Northern Ojibwa (Sandy Lake); Ojibwa; Fox: Jones 1907, No. 11 [Visakya climbs into the bag, rolls down the mountain; Turkeys want them too; V. puts them in bag, brings them home; his grandmother releases them, only one thing is enough; V. throws turkey blood between her legs; asks how many stripes she makes on her bast bag; there are six of them; so women menstruation will last six days]: 289-295; Michelson in Boas 1916 [Manitou wants both winter and summer to last as many months as the feathers in the tail of a turkey; the hero says let it be as many how many stripes on the chipmunk's back]: 728; Ojibwa [The partridge angered others when she married the woman he was offered; to determine what to do, he was asked to fast; he overcame witchcraft directed against him; the fast lasted eleven days, marked since then on the feathers of his tail]: Jones 1916, No. 10:369-370.

Northeast. Montagnier; seneca.

Plains. Assiniboine; Comanches.

Southeast USA. Shouting.

California. Kawajisu.

Big Pool. Northern Payutes; Western Shoshones; Goshiyute; Utah.

The Southern Cone. Puelches; North Tehuelches; Southern Tehuelches.