B44f1. The bear wants the night .34.40.41.43.-.45.50.
In a debate about whether the world should be light (warm), the bear is on the side of darkness (and cold).
Altaians, Copper, Labrador Eskimos, Koyukon, Kuchin, Southern Tutchoni, Slevi, Chipewayan, Thompson, Puget Sound, Cowlitz, Klikitat, Menominee, Iroquois (group not specified), hicarilla, Western Apaches.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Altaians [The myth of a bear's throat singing tells how a fox prevented a bear from singing good wishes correctly. The bear sang like this: to have more summer days and fewer winter days. When the fox frightened the bear, he forgot what he asked for. The fox deceived him by saying the wrong words: for summer to be hot, night short, day long... The creator of the calendar became angry with the bear and told him: "You will sleep in winter and only walk in summer"]: Tyukhteneva 2009:71.
The Arctic. Copper: Jenness 1924, No. 67 [Brown Bear: Let it be dark (turn twice), then dogs will smell seal holes better; Fox: Let it be light (repeats twice), then dogs will smell seal holes better; Fox witchcraft turned out to be stronger]: 78 (translated into Menovshchikov 1985, No. 189:402); Rasmussen 1932 [The Black Bear wants eternal darkness because it can track down prey by smell; The raven must see the prey, wants light, gets its way; dawns]: 217; (cf. netsilic [The Fox and the Hare divided the day into day and night: "Taok-taok-taok (darkness - darkness - darkness)!" - said the fox. She needed darkness to steal from people's warehouses. "Uvdlok-uvdlok-uvdlok (day-day-day)!" - said the hare. He needed light to find food; what the hare wanted was, his word was stronger, and the alternation of day and night began]: Rasmussen 1935:181; Rasmussen 1931:208; igloolik [dark at first; The fox suggests that this should continue to be the case; the Raven repeats carr, carr, which resembles a word for light, dawn; the alternation of day and night begins]: Boas 1901b, No. 2:306; Rasmussen 1930a: 253); Labrador Eskimos (Nain) [the world is dark; Fox: let it be light to see holes in which seals breathe; Bear: let it be dark for me to sniff out these holes in the dark; the fox found himself A stronger shaman, Bear went to a dark ice cave; thankful people have not eaten fox meat ever since]: Millman 2004:22.
Subarctic. Koyukon {The bear doesn't mind if it's always dark, the Foxes want light} [the sun is gone; people tied a rope to the Bear so that when he looks for berries, they will find it; The bear thinks it's in it there's nothing to worry about, let it be dark; people ask the Raven for help, give him as much food as he wants; the raven flies away; turns dust and grass into good clothes and shoes; the sun owner suspects that this is Raven, but others say that he is rich handsome; his daughter fell in love with Raven, he began to live in their house; he noticed a dog, asked him to hang it; people notice that someone with a three-toed paw pecked over the corpse; all must show bare feet; the raven orders that the veil cover their eyes, the audience does not notice that he has three toes on his feet; sent his wife to fetch water, threw a fir needle into the water, and the woman drank, swallowed; gave birth to a boy; in the same place where it was dark, the Foxes sang, Let there be light; rattles were tied to the sun and moon in the house so that no one would touch secretly; the boy cries, asks for sun games, grandfather gives; The raven wants the dog to grab the salmon; everyone rushed to the yard for the dog, but the Raven back into the house, grabbed, released the sun, it became light; kicked the child, he turned into a bunch fir needles; grabbed the moon, began to tear off a piece, giving each one of the months of the year the name; December became Nameless; the Raven came back, everyone is happy with the light]: Attla 1983:89-105; kuchin [ The bear holds the moon in a bag above his bed; while the Raven tells the Bear stories, putting him to sleep, the Fox opens the bag; Bear: Stop, the moon, don't shine; Fox: Swim, the moon, across the sky, the lights are brighter ; the moon has been growing and getting old ever since]: McKennan 1965:91-92; southern tutchoni [animals gather for a meeting, Bear is in charge; the world is dark; two Foxes blow on pebbles, making them move blows pebbles through a willow bark they twisted off; they say that this will be the case with people who die; a bear splashes a big stone into the lake, it drowns; and people do not will come back after death; Foxes get angry and run away; Deer, Mountain Sheep, Caribou and other animals want light; Bear, as well as Lynx, Fox, Wolf - to keep it dark, it's better in the dark hunt; The bear carried his big bag on his back; the rest are sitting by the fire; they hear him calling, cannot go to the fire; everyone laughs, they say - let him go; finally, he went out to the fire; in a bag near he has roots; he stubbornly repeats that light is not needed; the Fox says that the Bear is lost himself and that you must be able to hunt in the light as well; the Raven (Raven? - Crow), the Fox jumped into the sky after her, it struck, dawn came; it's Lisa's merit]: Workman 2000:26-27; watch [winter doesn't end; animals gather for advice; there's only the Bear; Lynx, Fox, Wolf, Mouse , Pike and others go up to heaven; find two Bear cubs in the house; learn from them that their bags contain rain, wind, fog, warmth; Lynx turns into a caribou, Mother Bear rushes after her; animals kidnap warm; snow melts, flood begins; huge creature drinks water]: Bell 1901, No. 1:26-27; Chipewayan: Birket-Smith 1930 [The squirrel wants the rocks to stay at the bottom and birch logs to float; The bear wants the opposite; others support the Squirrel; when angry, the Bear promises to make an eternal night; the Squirrel proves that the Bear will suffer himself; listeners admit that Squirrel is right, then stones roll into the sea, sink to the bottom; the Bear unsuccessfully chases the Squirrel, steals the summer; the animals go to a warm country; decide to lure the Bear by sending a herd of caribou across the pond, the Mouse must gnaw the paddle; but the paddle does not break, the Bear rows in the boat; because of fear, the Mice's eyes are left bulging; finally, it breaks; the animals learn from the cubs that the bag is warm, take the bag away; the last Pike carries, her teeth hole in the bag; The bear screams that from now on, heat and cold will alternate; the snow melts, the water floods the world, but the 'tulkkuzji bird drinks all the water; Lynx first strokes, then tears her stomach, water pours out]: 83-86; Goddard 1912, No. 11 [The bear wants the night; says that in the dark it will find food by smell and touch; Bear's younger brother Squirrel asks how the Bear He can handle it if something hits his nose or stabs him in his paw; The bear says he will roll on the ground; Squirrel: what if you drive around the body? The bear reluctantly agrees that there should also be a day]: 59.
The coast is the Plateau. Thompson [Black Bear and Chipmunk argue, screaming in their own way; the Bear wants darkness, the Chipmunk wants light; their powers are equal; the Bear scratches the Chipmunk with its paw (the origin of the stripes on the chipmunk's skin); if If the Bear killed the Chipmunk, there would be eternal darkness]: Teit 1898, No. XV: 61-62; Puget Sound: Ballard 1929:54-55 [Black Bear competes with Ant to determine the length of day and night; Ant: The darkness is short! ; Bear: The darkness lasts a long time! ; A bear cannot catch an Ant; Ant: it will be day and night, people will not sleep all winter long], 55 [The raven determines the day by tying five knots on a rope; the bear wants a long night to sleep all winter], 68-80; Cowlitz: Adamson 1934:188-189 [Bear wants to sleep all year; Ant, All your berries will be eaten! ; Bear, Let others sleep, let the night be all year long; Ant and Hornets, Frog, Quail: It's dark one night; The bear eats ants and hornets, sleeps all winter], 189-190 [Bear: We'll sleep 4 or 5 years; Frog: One night, one night; Bear: All year, whole year; all frogs in chorus: Only you all year; then: Okay, you all year and we all year , but humans sleep one night; frogs and bears sleep all winter]; clickitat [animals discuss how long the night should be; Bear: five days, Grizzly: ten years; Rattlesnake: five years, Bull snake: three years; Toad, Frog: one night and one day in a day; each repeats his own (Ten years, ten years! etc.), the Grizzly gets tired first, the Frog wins]: Jacobs 1934, No. 1:3-4.
The Midwest. Menominee: Bloomfield 1928, No. 92 [The raccoon makes a ball out of his excrement, gives it to the hungry Wolf to eat, hides in a tree; the watchman under the tree, the Wolf falls asleep, the Raccoon smears his eyes with resin; the blind Wolf stumbles upon trees, asks them their names; drowns in the lake; the old man catches a corpse, melts fat, summons birds and animals; who took how much fat is from him now; The bear wants eternal night; Chipmunk - as many summer months and as many winter months as there are stripes on his body; repeats, Day, Day; Bear repeats, Night, night, but accidentally says Day; The chipmunk wins, the Bear cannot catch up with him; the Puma wants to hunt Man, but the Dogs drive him away; the Birds decide to fish; the Turtle chases the Otter; the Mosquito decides to drink Human blood]: 303- 323; Skinner, Satterlee 1915, â„– II32 [The owl wants eternal night, but the Partridge needs a day; the Owl and the Bear repeat: Dark, dark, Partridge: Light, light; three days later the Owl's head fell off screaming, four years later the Bear fell asleep; the partridge kept screaming for as many days as there were now dark stripes on its tail]: 408
Northeast. Iroquois [Porcupine appointed animal leader; asks the audience if it should always be day or night; the issue is being discussed vigorously; the chipmunk wants an alternation between light and dark times, Repeats, There will be light, Bear sings, Night is better, even if it's always dark; when the Bear sees that the Chipmunk is winning and dawn begins, he chases the Chipmunk, having time to run his paw over him back; the trail remains; day and night alternate ever since]: Smith in Thompson 2000, No. 13:39-40.
The Great Southwest. Hicarilla: Opler 1938, No. IV.C [daybirds and animals play against the Bear and the nocturnal birds led by the Owl in a game of chance (moccassin game); if they win, there will be a day, and if they lose, that eternal night; plantain cuckoo: We bet the sun will rise! owl: I bet it won't rise! ; the plantain cuckoo was the first to guess correctly; (further details about the course of the game); when the owls who were playing on the side of the owl began to lose, they ran because they did not want to see the sun rising; but the rays scorched them, therefore, the fur is yellowish in some places; and those who wanted the day to come chose their own colors, so they are variegated; the moccasins left after the game turned into stones, are now visible; the bear disappeared into the thickets, where it lives now; the snake disappeared into a crack in the rock, it was shot with bows; when it flew away, the owl hit the plantain cuckoo with smut, leaving a burn mark under the eyes; coyote: I bet there will be no stars at night! partridge: There's nothing you can do! (more on how the fox tricked the coyote's eyes with resin)]: 231-234; Mooney 1898a [people live in the dark in the lower world; Bear, Puma, Owl and other nocturnal animals want darkness, Magpie, Partridge and others are light; decide to play; those who want light win four times; first time Black Bear, then Brown, then Puma, Owl go into darkness; accordingly, the Morning Star, dawn, more light appear , Sun; The Sun tells people to go upstairs; they pour four hills to the cardinal points, each planting plants with fruits of the corresponding colors: black in the east, blue in the south, yellow in the west, variegated in the north; hills stop growing when two girls go picking berries; so boys don't grow up after first contact with women; feathers are too light to make stairs; four bison put their horns in; people come to the ground; the horns have been crooked since then; the ground is covered with water, four winds of matching colors drain it]: 198-199; Western Apaches [moccassin variant game: guess which moccasin the ball is under]: Goddard 1918 (San Carlos) [1) the world is dark, Owl and Bear want it to always be like this; others call them to dance; Coyote sings, Let the day come, Owl, Let the day not come; Owl and Bear fall asleep, Coyote wins light; Owl and Bear prefer darkness; 2) Bear and Owl only want darkness; other people animals dance and sing, Let There will be light; The bear puts moccasins on the wrong leg, runs away to the mountains]: 44; Goodwin 1994, No. 34 (White Mountain) [two var.; the world is dark; snakes, lizards, beetles want the darkness to continue, their leader Bear; other animals led by the Coyote want light; agree to play (who can guess where the ball is hidden); Coyote repeats, Dawn, Dawn; It brightens in the east; the bear repeats, No dawn! Bear's party loses, they start killing them; Bear puts moccasins on the wrong leg, runs away]: 148-150.