B52C. The Earth is bigger than the sky.. 21.24.26.-.29.31.34.
When created, the earth and sky were of different sizes. The earth was squeezed, so mountains appeared. See motif B52.
Bugun, aka, Angami, Lao Black Tai, Dayaks (Sarawak), Ibans, Dusun, Murut, Western Toraja, Chinese (Sichuan), Lahu, Achan, (Lolo), Bulgarians, Macedonians, Bosnians, Serbs, Romanians, Russians (Saratov, Simbirsk, Orel), (Ukrainians), Ingush, Chechens, Georgians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Baikal Buryats (b. Kakha).
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Bugun [Zongma had sons Nipu and Nili; they were not shaped, they were like rocks; Nili created the earth and Nipu the sky; the earth was smaller than the sky; Nili squeezed it, so mountains appeared]: Elwin 1958a, No. 3:9; aka: Elwin 1958a, No. 9 [at first only two eggs, they collided, broke, from one came Earth, from the other her husband Heaven; Heaven asked the Earth to shrink so that he could hug her; she shrunk, valleys and mountains appeared; Heaven and Earth gave birth to all living things and plants]: 15-16; Pandey 1999 [Mung Saslung created two male and two female spirits, two for the earth and for the sky; with their help created a big bird; it began to dig the ground, but could not fly because the sky was too low; to allow it to take off, the sky moved away from the ground; then the MC with the four spirits asked for heaven and the earth grew; the earth grew bigger than the sky, they asked it to shrink, so the mountains appeared]: 112-113; angami [at first Heaven said to Earth: you are too big, I can't see you, set your legs; Earth shrunk, valleys and mountains have formed; one place, Whedzura, is left outside the Sky; there is light like a pale moon, people are aging rapidly; children are married when they are one year old and a year later they cannot recognize them; to get there, you have to start your journey right after birth]: Hutton 1914, No. 5:485-486.
Burma - Indochina. The black thai of Laos [the earth was from a ficus leaf, a sky with a snail shell; the earth tried to expand, and the sky tried to compress it; (that's why mountains appeared?)] : Bourlet 1907:921.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Dayaki (Sarawak) [was water, and two bird-like spirits, Ara and Iraq, swam on it; they dived and picked up two lumps of firmament from the water, the size and shape of a chicken egg each; A. created the sky from one, I. created the earth from the other; it turned out that the end of the earth extended beyond the edge of the sky; they squeezed the earth, valleys and mountains appeared; trees and other plants grew on their own; A. and I. for a long time they were looking for such a tree, the juice of a short one would resemble blood; when they found it, they could not turn the tree into a person; then they sculpted a man and a woman, the ancestors of the Dayaks, out of clay]: Dunn 1906:16 (retelling in Zolotarev 1964:220; in Hatt 1949:32); ibans (sea dayaks): Jensen 1974:73 [Rajah Gantallah created two birds; they created heaven, earth, then Batang Lupar (the beginning of the waters, the mother of rivers); the earth turned out to be bigger the sky, they squeezed it, they turned out mountains; man was made of wood, then stone; they could not revive it; then from clay, veins made of kumpang wood resin (it is red); man came to life], 74-75 [(according to Sandin 1962: 5-6; a brief retelling also in Laubscher 1977:227-228); Raja Entala and his wife are thinking of creating the world; they rolled dirt off their bodies, they made it the earth, then the sky, it turned out to be smaller than the earth; they squeezed the earth, creating mountains, valleys, rivers; the Rura banana seduced the Iri bird, fish come from them; RE made a human figure out of a bangkit banana stem, blood is the sap of a kumpang tree; RE's wife dressed the figure in a ritual woven clothes; when RE shouted for the third time, the figure came to life; this is how Telichu (the ancestor of Iban, who married the daughter of the spirit Sengalang Burong) and Telichai (the ancestor of demons) appeared]; Ling Roth 1896 (Dayaki on the river. Sakarran, western Sarawak) [the invisible Rajah Gantallah was on lumbu; lembu in Malay is "bull" or "cow", but the Dayaks do not have a specific image behind this concept; two birds appeared at his request the male and female who created the sky, earth, sky and the Batang Lupar River are the mother of rivers, the first water; when they flew, they saw that the earth was larger than the sky; therefore, they collected the earth in piles, i.e. mountains; created trees from them they tried to make people, but failed; then people did not speak out of stone; then from clay (earth), and the resin of the kumpang tree into the veins, it was red; they called out - the man answered, cut it - blood flowed; they they named it Tannah Kumpong, "made of clay" (Moulded Earth)]: 299; Dayaki (b. Sakarran, west of Sarawak) [in the beginning there are only ethereal Loneliness and Soutan (a Malay word for "man," "soul"; they created two birds - bullar and erar; birds flew and created heaven, earth, and rivers; the earth was larger than the sky, they collected the earth in piles with their paws, creating mountains; creating people, first they made them from trees, but unsuccessfully; from stones, people like statues; then they mixed clay with water, sculpted them man and he came to life; his name was Tanacompta; he created (brought to life) a girl, and she gave birth to people; the sky was low; this woman pushed him away with her hand and supported him with columns]: Labuan 1863:27 (retelling in Ling Roth 1896:300); Dayaks (Sarawak) [in the beginning there are only ethereal Loneliness and Soutan (a Malay word for "man," "soul"; they created two birds-bullar and erar; birds flew and created the sky. land and rivers; the earth was larger than the sky, they collected the earth in piles with their paws, creating mountains; creating people, first they made them out of trees, but unsuccessfully; from stones, people like statues; then they mixed clay with water , they sculpted a man and he came to life; his name was Tanacompta; he created (brought to life) a girl, and she gave birth to people; the sky was low; this woman pushed him away with her hand and supported him with columns]: Labuan 1863:27; dusun (Tempasuk) [the rock split into the sea, a Kinorohingan man and a Warunsansadon woman came out of it; V. created the earth by rolling a ball of mud on her body; K. forged the sky out of iron; earth was wider than the sky, V. densified it like fabric with a weaving sword, mountains appeared]: Evans 1953:15, 372-387 in Stöhr, Zoetmulder 1965:43; murut: Rutten, Pagan Tribes: 227-228 in Fischer 1932 [earth was the size of a knee, the sky was like an egg; the Earth invited Sky to expand, and so it happened, but the Earth was wider than Heaven; then the Earth shrank, valleys and mountains formed]: 233; Wooley 1928, No. 8 [Kaulung held the sky, it was fist, Bulumanok held the earth, it was like an egg; B. spread the earth, making it flat, K. spread the sky above it; when they brought heaven and earth together, the earth wrinkled valleys and mountains appeared]: 267; Western Toraja (bada) [at the beginning of the world, the Earth brags that the Sky will not be able to cover it; it opens; the Sky also opens, it is smaller than Earth; to him you have to squeeze it, this is how valleys and mountains appear; the Sun and Moon were born from the marriage of Heaven and Earth, and stars were born from their marriage]: Kruyt 1938, No. 1:1 (=Fischer 1932:11).
China - Korea. Chinese (Sichuan): Zhou Yang et al. 1998b, No. 1a (y. Baxian) [at first there was no heaven and earth, they were created by King Pangu; he had a dragon head and the body of a snake; he grew very fast, a day according to Zhang; grew 18 thousand years, grew huge, and then he became create heaven and earth; first created earth and it was flat; then hastily created a sky that looked like a cauldron cover: curved upwards in the center and low at the edges, it covered the ground; when creating the sky, P. forgot to compare the dimensions, the sky came out small and the whole earth did not cover; P. squeezed the ground, and it fit in size, but it had folds; since then there have been mountains and gorges, but there are also plains; King Pangu stood on the ground with his legs wide apart, opened one eye and closed the other; his eyes were the sun and the moon; he sighed, and his sigh turned into wind and clouds, cried out, and his voice turned into thunder; sweat wiped off and it turned to rain, rain fell into the gorges on the ground, so rivers turned; P. threw a few hairs from his head and body on the ground, it turned into trees and grass, threw parasites living on his body and they turned into humans and wildlife], 1c (y. Pingshan) [The sky was created by King Pangu, and the earth was created by King Biangu. Before creating heaven and earth, they agreed that whoever would finish the work first would be the big brother, and who would be the second the youngest. Pangu was more capable than Biangu and could easily finish earlier, so he worked and slept. Biangu was a simple man and knew that Pangu did not take him seriously, so he worked non-stop and finished the land in a few days. Pangu saw that Biangu was about to finish his work, waited for him to fall asleep, and called Ganshangao (Pole that controls the mountains) to wrinkle the ground. He took the bamboo pole that ruled the mountains, waved it three times, and the flat ground wrinkled. This is how mountains, gorges and plains appeared on earth. Biangu woke up and saw that the wrinkled earth was the same size as the sky and realized that King Pangu had deceived him but said nothing. At night, he invited Tezhugan (Iron and Bamboo Pole) and told him to pierce the sky. He took up his weapon and made a lot of holes in the sky, so stars and the moon appeared in the sky, and since then heaven and earth have looked like this], 2 (y. Yunlian) [Long ago, the sky and earth were ruled by Zhang-lan and Li-lan. Zhang-lan took control of the sky and Li-lan ruled the earth. They found that the earth is much larger than the sky, and it doesn't completely cover it. Then Li-lan came up with the idea of wrinkling the land, and so mountains and lakes appeared on it. Zhang-lan told Li Lan, "The Earth has become smaller, but what are you going to do with the water when it rains?" Li-lan said he would make several caves in the ground. So now there are caves in all lowlands]: 21-22, 23, 24; lahu (northern Thailand) [at first, only G'ui-sha in the center of the world is like a spider in a web; he scraped off the dirt from his arms and legs, made it four fish: gold, silver, copper and iron; put them on a pole; laid 4 beams of heaven and 4 earth; made poutrelles from the same scraped mud, creating heaven and earth, but the earth staggered; G. rolled 70,000 balls out of the same mud, filling the cells (mailles) of the earth; from the bones of his hands he made the bones of the sky, and from the bones of his legs he made the bones of the earth; to find out the thickness of the earth and the thickness of the sky, he created out of the mud of two ants; one climbed through the sky, the other through the earth; when they returned, they said that the thickness was the same; G. had two assistants: Ca Law, the man he told him to make the sky, and Na Law, a woman, who was told to make earth; NL worked day and night, and KL drank tea, so heaven and earth were not the same in size: the sky was like a large canopy, and the earth was narrow, wrinkled; because the earth was compressed, valleys and mountains appeared; to prevent the earth from swell, G. put a rock on it, but it slipped; the bulbul bird (Hypsipetes mcclellandii) told it not to slide; G. placed fire in The sun, fireflies to the moon; but they do not go to heaven, they are afraid of people; then G. gave them needles {obviously rays that pierce their eyes}; tiger to the Sun: you are too bright; he bit him, hence the eclipses; frog to the Moon: you're too cold; she tried to swallow it, so there are spots on the moon; by letting a tiger and a frog into the sky, G. made the sun go east and the moon west, otherwise they were constantly in the sky; from G. created stars, as well as a chicken with a rooster, scraped off his hands and feet; the rooster sang three times and the east lit up; this is how the light separated from the darkness; G. moon: it will be 12 months in the year]: Coyaud 2009, No. 1:9-12; achan (Yunnan) [the sky was larger than the earth {no details, but cf. Lahu}; Sky-zhepama went south to repair the sky; Earth-zhemima remained to weave; at this time, the demon Lahong placed on the top of the mountain in the middle Earth's two extra suns; the real sun and moon didn't move either, everyone was shining; the earth was burning; the pig, the dog, the bull and the horse began to swim, went into the water, and the fish and crabs went to land; when they returned, Zhepama wanted to destroy L. by poisoning waters or mountains, but Zhemima said that then people and animals would die; it is better to make friends with L. and then kill him; Zhepama does so; wins the competition: L. dries up a peach tree, and Zhepama is raining on it, it blooms again; has a better dream than L.; he loses his strength in despair; (obviously, Zhepama destroys excess suns; in other versions recorded from same informant, only one sun is mentioned)]: Richtsfeld 2000:305-309; (cf. lolo [A-chi worked soundly, made the sky flat; A-li woke up, saw that the sky was ready, hurried to make land, piled up mountains; the moon and sun were muddy at first; two heavenly maidens washed them and they shone]: Henry 1903:105).
The Balkans. Bulgarians: Kuznetsova 1998 [(=Stoynov 2006:260-261); God sends a bee to overhear what the devil says to the hedgehog and find out how to reduce the land, which was so big it couldn't fit under with heaven - 1) take a rod and hit the ground with it; 2) God, on the advice of a hedgehog, moves the earth here and there, but mountains form on it]: 78; Johns 2005 (NW Bulgaria, Vidin) [The devil dives, brings from the bottom of the earth under With his nails, God makes dry land out of it; the devil, trying to drown the sleeping God, pulls him in all directions, but this makes the earth grow larger than the sky; animals are summoned for advice; the Hedgehog advises in places raise the earth, compact it in places; valleys and mountains form, the earth becomes the size of the sky]: 264; Macedonians: Tsepenkov 1972:5 in Rakhno 2016 [God made the earth flat; made the sky and put it on the ground from above, like a clay lid on a bread pan; the earth was larger than the sky; God clenched it with his hands on all sides to make it round, and put heaven, earth and sky on top coincided; then he hung the Sun, Month and stars in the sky]: 254 (=Ortenzio 2008, No. 1:10); Ortenzio 2008, No. 1 [God created the earth and covered it with the sky, but the earth was larger than the sky, I had to squeeze it; hung it the sun, moon and stars are like lamps], 11 [when God created the earth, it was larger than the sky and he did not know what to do; the bee overheard the hedgehog talking to the devil; the hedgehog: God does not know that the earth should be beaten with a stick, it will become smaller, forming valleys and mountains; God rewarded the bee with the ability to produce wax and honey]: 10, 24; Bosnians [the sky was created later than the earth, it turned out to be smaller than it; God began to kick it (var. : chaining), the land became smaller, but mountains rose on it]: Janković 1951:18; Serbs [the earth was at first smaller than the sky; at first there were no seas, and when God squeezed it, there was room for the sea; Var.: By God's order, the winds squeezed the earth on four sides]: Jankovich 1951:18, 34; Romanians: Beza 1928 [when creating the earth, God took a ball of duck threads and another ball of base threads; while measuring the sky, he gave the ball of Hedgehog's base, who dropped it, as a result, the earth was larger than the sky; God began to think what to do; the bee flew to Hell, overheard him say to himself that he just had to squeeze the earth with his hands ; God did so, mountains formed; The devil hit the Bee with a whip, almost cutting it in half (thin waist)]: 123-124; Murgoci, Murgoci 1929 [first one water, 116 walks on it God and the Devil; seven years later, God sends the Devil to dive to get seeds to make the earth; the Devil takes the earth in his name, washes it out of his hands; when he takes it in God's name, he brings land under the fingernails; therefore, man belongs to God, and black under his fingernails to the Devil, preparing the deceased for burial, nail dirt must be removed; God took three grains of sand from what the Devil brought, created from they are flat earth; the Devil tried to drown God who fell asleep, but dragging his body only stretched the earth in different directions; it became wider than the sky; God sent the Bee to eavesdrop on the Devil; he says to himself what it should be compress the earth, creating valleys and mountains; when the Devil saw the Bee fly away, he hit it with a whip, almost tearing it in two; it left with black bruises]: 135-137.
Central Europe. Russians: Zavaritsky 1916, No. 1 (Saratov Volga Region) [God created heaven and waters, rides on a rock on water, spat, Titan came out of the abyss; says his name is Titaniel, but you can call him simply: Gogol; ready to listen to the order; God tells you to fly to heaven, bring land; he brought it, but hid a pinch by the cheek; God scattered the earth on the water, became dry; to hold it, he created three whales, on they have a stone slab, earth on it; God sees Gogol's swollen cheek, tells them to spit out the earth, a land with valleys and mountains has appeared; out of envy, Gogol rested, squeezed God's land, it also wrinkled; Gogol argues that this is more beautiful; a man will remember the Lord when he goes uphill, and a jester when downhill; God orders to bring seeds from paradise, gave it to God from his right hand, kept it from his left hand; from what God sown useful plants grew, from those sown by Gogol - useless, prickly, poisonous]: 67-69 (briefly in Kuznetsova 1998:146); Kuznetsova 1998 [1) Oryol Gubernia; God created the earth flat but liquid; asked I go from the west, went from the east myself and let's reap the land, which made it hard, but with mountains and ravines; 2) Simbirsk Gubernia; the land created by God was somewhat large, then with one God, and on the other hand, Satan took it and squeezed it, which is why the mountains and valleys happened; 3) Saratov Gubernia, cf. Zavaritsky]; (cf. Ukrainians (Kharkiv governorate) [The devil came in from the end of the earth and moved it, so mountains and valleys crossed the land; God asked why he did it - for people to remember both God and the devil]: Kuznetsova 1998:146).
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Ingush [when God created heaven and earth, the earth was three times larger than the sky; God squeezed it, mountains formed; the earth was wobbling, God created more mountains; God asked who would hold the earth; bulls came and agreed that they would not be harnessed to work on Tuesdays, but would be allowed to urinate while driving; under such conditions they kept the ground]: Dakhkilgov 2003:22; Chechens [ God created the earth three times as large as the sky, then he squeezed it, mountains of earth appeared; to strengthen it, God created stone mountains; the bulls agreed to keep the earth on their horns unless they worked on Tuesdays ( It is forbidden to work on Tuesdays), and they will be able to urinate while driving]: Dalgat 2004:177; Georgians: Virsaladze 1973, No. 3 [when God created, the earth turned out to be larger than the sky; the devil advised he squeezed the earth; God hugged the earth and squeezed it; the sky fell into place, but gorges, seas, lakes, etc. appeared on the earth]: 48; Stepanov 1893 [God created the earth, began to make a roof and sky over it; it turned out to be smaller; The devil created a net out of thread to offer God to fill the missing part of the sky, but God created mice that gnawed and damaged the net; then the Devil invited God to compress the earth; this is how they appeared mountains, gorges]: 124-125.
Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [the created land did not fit under the sky; the hedgehog advised God to squeeze it; this is how mountains appeared; God rewarded the hedgehog with a prickly fur coat; there is an option where instead of food is hell (Vels)]: Lajoye 2013:123 (Kerbelit for short 2001:45); Latvians: Brivzemniaks 1887, No. 36 [the hedgehog had elegant clothes, everyone tried to catch him; the earth was larger than the sky; only the hedgehog found a way out by offering to "pull it off in piles"; for this he received clothes that no one would look at]: 40-41; Lajoye 2013 [the created earth did not fit under the sky; the hedgehog advised God to squeeze it; this is how mountains appeared; God rewarded the prickly hedgehog fur coat; there is an option where food is damn (Vels)]: 123; Estonians: Laugaste, Liiv 1970 [Vanapagan is dissatisfied that the earth is too big; unable to make it smaller; invites God to fall down with different sides and squeeze it; God agrees at first; V. presses from Võrumaa, steep hills have formed there; God just pressed from the north and decided that this is not the right way, let the land be as it is]: 266-267; Loorits 1934, No. 3 [God untwisted the wheel, it fell apart, the sun, moon, stars appeared from the fragments; the earth remained, God thought it was too big, called Judas to help squeeze it; he pressed with all our might, so Rõuge had steep hills]: 50-51.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Baikal Buryats (Idinsky, r. Kakha, Osinsky District of Buryatia) [there were two planes, the upper and lower ones, the upper one was greater than the lower one; on the bottom there were four happiness (evil); one formed the sea, the second formed a golden willow, from the third is the human form, the fourth is the light of fire; the human form formed Ehe Burhan (Mother Goddess); she created a son named Budarga under the golden willow, and a friend from willow bark for him, the bird Anhata shubuun; Abarga zaga h an created fish in the sea, created the sun from the light of fire; the demon Archang-Shothor came out of the sea foam; he did not reach the earth. ; the ASH bird brought a handful of clay in its claws from the bottom of the sea, the EB on AZ's back made earth out of it; at night, the demon ASH began to pull the sleepers into the water, but only stretched the ground, which had become large; offered to squeeze the ground This is how the mountains appeared; he began to ask for a share; they agreed to give him enough to put up a cane; insects, snakes, worms, etc. crawled out of the hole; see motif B3B]: Hadahne 1926:32-33.