Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

B48B. A piece of human flesh .34.35.46.

The animals now being hunted contain a piece of human flesh left over from their anthropomorphic appearance.

South Altai Tuvans, Altaians, Baikal (?) and Trans-Baikal Buryats, Mongols, Kets (Lake. Nyakolda), sarsi, hidatsa, arikara.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. South Altai Tuvans [Tarbagan was the best shooter and ate human beings, as evidenced by the iron under his arm; he shot a crow, and the black kite flying after her only cut his tail; he was so angry at the miss that he bit off his thumbs, blew up the ground and disappeared into a hole; he no longer hunted people, but became the prey of hunters; Arkhar asked Tarbagan who won competitions, he replied that Man; Arkhar cried so much that he had only two eyes left]: Taube 1994, No. 51:271-272; Southern Altaians (p. Tenga, Onguday District) [hunter Tarbagan lived in Altai; he began to destroy all animals and birds; to stop this, Kudai cut off one finger and cursed him: "Let him live underground, let him not shows up during the day, let him eat what he gets"; the hunter went underground and became a marmot; when people kill a marmot, they don't eat the white meat under his arms; they say it's human meat]: Muytueva 2015, No. 4:78-79; Baikal (? the place of recording is not specified) Buryats [the bear used to be a man with witchcraft, which allowed him to turn into a bear when he went hunting; he always returned from hunting with abundant prey, which aroused the envy of his friend; one day a friend burned his clothes and the man remained in bear guise forever; as a bear, he carried a woman out of the village; cubs came from their marriage - this is how how bears appeared; they said that a bear has the same liver as a person; there was a ban on eating bear liver, because whoever tries it one day has an irresistible desire for human liver consumption]: Galdanova 1987:33; Erdenebold 2012:65; Trans-Baikal Buryats (Selenginsky: Tabanguts) [shortly after the creation of the world, a man named Khara-Erhe- Myran, who was a very good shooter; without hunting animals or birds, he killed only evil spirits and sorcerers; firing an arrow from a bow told it who to kill; the arrow was exactly obeyed orders and then returned to HAM; Burkhan-Bakshi created three suns in the sky: large in the middle and smaller at the edges; seeing that all the earth could dry out from these suns, and from the strong light, man's life on earth will become unbearable, God called the shooter and said: "Do you think you will destroy everything you have done?" ; HAM: "Not just living things, but even the three suns that are visible. If I don't destroy them, first of all, I'll cut off my thumb and toes, and second, I'll become a beast like you haven't created before; six months a year I'll live under the ground, I won't drink any water no dew, not even come out of the hole after the rain"; when he was ready to fire an arrow, God covered the middle, largest sun from him; when the arrow returned, God opened it; seeing that the arrow destroyed only two suns, and the third remained, and in keeping his oath HAM fulfilled his oath; promised that if anyone killed him with an arrow, he would turn to a person and harm the people; when tarbagans were still being hunted with a bow, it happened that a tarbagan wounded by an arrow hid in a hole; hunters began to dig it up and found a little man with a bow and arrow; since then, hunting with Tarbagan is strictly prohibited with onions; the front part of tarbagan is not eaten much because it is human flesh]: Smolev 1902a: 101-103; Khalha-Mongols [Erhiy-Mergen vowed himself what would become tarbagan (if it does not fall into the sun); an arrow at three or seven was prevented by a swallow; when he missed, he cut off his thumb and held it under his arm, so he has a muscle there; it is called They don't eat "human meat"; (and another similar text, but sketchy)]: Neklyudov 2019 (1): 468-469; Mongols {group not specified} [bear is the son of Heaven, who, against his father's will, descended to land; for disobedience, his father left it on the ground and covered his body with hair forever; not the whole body has become animal: it contains part of human meat that cannot be eaten - it is cut out and not eating]: Erdenebold 2012:65.

Western Siberia. Kets [people were starving; two brothers and sister lived on earth; You decided to help people make a squirrel out of a girl; when the brothers left, the girl became a squirrel, climbed a tree, the old woman grabbed her for the clothes (basam), she tore it, the squirrel got a tail; the brothers returned, began to cut down the tree, the squirrel jumped on another, galloped away; the squirrel left the person's thumb and a piece of white meat under its arms; people do not eat it, they throw it away; at first, the protein ate only nuts, then learned to eat dry mushrooms, twigs]: Alekseenko 1976, No. 20:77.

Plains. Sarsi [{cf. Arikara}; The old man drew rivers to the south, his wife to the north, the Old Man was smoother; his wife decorated her lands with lakes and forests; the old man sculpted people without fingers and replied that as chips float up, people will be reborn after death; the wife replied that then the earth will overflow, let them die for good, like a stone going to the bottom; and let there be fingers; Old Man made bison kill people; his wife objected: let the bison serve people as food; the old man taught people to hunt buffalo, shoot at the stain on the shoulder blade, where the skin is thin and the meat is soft; so this spot is called "human flesh"; the old man went south and his wife went north; the old man lay down to rest, the dent on the ground is still visible; the bird shot him in the side, he jumped up, ran where lay down, there were blood stains that became ocher deposits; both rose to heaven, the Old Man became the sun, his wife the Moon]: Dzana-gu 1921, No. 1:3-4; hidatsa [moose ate people; Coyote beats Moose, that becomes herbivorous; humans don't eat a piece of fat near an elk's neck; it's human fat accumulated when Moose was an ogre]: Beckwith 1938, No. 46d: 302; Arikara: Dorsey 1904d, No. 12 [Bisons like people; when people come out of the ground, Bisons surround them, drive them into a crevice, kill them, eat; the young man overheard the Bisons talking in their village; a stranger told him to make bows and arrows, give to men; when they came out of the ground, people started shooting at the buffalo themselves; they ran, became buffalo; when they ran away, they grabbed the harvested pieces of human meat, they became part of their bodies], 13 [bisons like people, but with a tail and horns; hitting a poplar in which a hollow summons people out of the ground; Cut-Nose always comes out first, he is on the buffalo side, then runs back; other people go out, the bison catch them , kill, eat; one young man manages to escape; the daughter of a buffalo chief becomes his wife, teaches him how to make many bows and arrows, give them to people who come out; people shoot, bison flee, grabbed pieces of human, turn into bison; arikara does not eat meat from under the shoulder blade - it is a human being that has grown to the body of bison]: 39-40, 40-44.