B62. The man and the vulture.. 47.51.52.59.64.68.
A person believes that vultures live better than humans, changing their appearance with a vulture. A former vulture lives with a man's wife, and the person most often doesn't like his new life.
Chiroqui, Yaki, Western Mexican Nahuatl, Puebla Nahuat, Nahua Durango, Totonaki, Tlapanecs, Tlapaneques, Mixtecs, Aguatec, Avacatec, Tsutujil, Kakchiqueli, Mom, achi, Quiche, Pokomchi, Pokomame, Kekchi, Yucatek, Tsotsil, Tseltal, Hakalteki, Chorti, Carinha Guyanese, Spike, Kayabi.
Southeast USA. Chirokee [the hunter complains to Vulture that he did not get anything; he offers to change his appearance; goes to the hunter's wife, who thinks it is the husband; the hunter sees deer from above; the partners return Each other has his own appearance; the hunter finds deer, from now on he is lucky]: Mooney 1900, No. 48:294.
NW Mexico. Yaki [lazy man wants to fly; Vulture agrees to change clothes with him; a man's wife can't sleep because of the stench coming from her new husband; the man is starving; six days later they change again, everyone regains their usual appearance]: Giddings 1959:27-28; Western Mexico's Nahuatl [man wants to fly to the edge of the world; Vulture gives him his clothes; lives with his wife a man who doesn't notice the change; the man comes back, they change clothes again; a man slaughters a cow for Vulture; when he explains to his wife why he did this, she dies of grief]: Preuss 1968, No. 53:273-277.
Mesoamerica Nahuat Puebla: Argueta et al. 1987 [p. 7-27; the father resettled the lazy son; he went to earn money making tortillas; his wife sent him to work, he fell asleep on the site; when he saw the Gromov come, asked God to make him Thunder; the Thunders took him home; ordered him to cook 5 beans, he poured lots of beans; watched the Thunder dress, put on their clothes himself, flew, causing a storm, mountains collapsed; he was returned to his wife; p. 27-44; he fell asleep on the site, vultures (zopilotes) flew in; he wanted to be one of them, agreed with one to change his appearance; the wife is glad that the husband (this is transformed in man Vulture) began to work well; the former man flew in, the former vulture gave him a cake; God restored the vulture to its human appearance; he came to his parents, told him everything, died a day later]: 7-44; Taggart 1983, No. 3 [a lazy man pretends to work; brings his wife to pick corn from someone else's field; invites Kite to change his appearance; becoming human, Kite talks about what happened to his wife man; works hard, wife happy; ex-man starves], 4 [as in (3); Vulture; explains to the ex-man that he will now have to eat carrion and crap]: 208-209, 209-211; (cf. . Nahuat Morelos [man changes face to Tornado; suffers from the blows he receives; becomes human again, sympathizes with Tornado; dies after losing his soul in the meantime]: Pittman 1954:44-49 in Horcasitas 1978, No. D-13:191); Totonaki (Río Necaxa) [a puny (flojo) man complains to a hawk (gavilan) about a hard life, but he does not know the trouble, does not cultivate the fields; the hawk replies that he also catches birds are not easy, he suggests changing their appearance; it turned out that it was difficult to chase birds; the man offered to switch back, but the former hawk replied that he had already ripped off all his feather clothes and refused; and the former hawk didn't want to eat cooked chicken, he needs it raw]: Beck 2012:220-253; Totonaki (Puebla) [about the same as Beck 2012]: Román Lobato 2012:321-344; tricks: Hollenbach 1980, No. 8.6 [a young man scolds a vulture for flying over him; Vulture takes the form of a priest; a young man asks him to change clothes; turns into a vulture and Vulture marries on the young man's bride; she smells, Vulture runs away]: 8.7 [The vulture tells the peasant how easy it is for him to get food; they change clothes; the farmer's wife smells; imaginary the vulture comes back, asks for a change; Vulture refuses, continues to live with the peasant's wife]: 457-478; mixteki [the lazy husband only pretends to work in the field; suggests The vulture will change his appearance for 8 days; the wife is happy that her husband works well, but notices that his face turns red; when a vulture arrives, who was human, he (or vice versa, became human?) refuses to change his face back]: Dyk 1959:115-123; tsutuchil: Orellana 1975, No. 12 [the peasant is tired of working, he envied the life of a vulture; they have changed their appearance; a new vulture, not wanting to eat the carrion, he returned, entered his wife's house; a former vulture also came there, the woman drives him away because of the stench, beats his ex-husband, who looks like a vulture; the former vulture explains everything; It is impossible to change guises back, the man remains a vulture]: 856-858; Sexton 1992 [Mariano and his wife Pascuala are both lazy; M. sees vultures, wants to be one of them; Vulture changes from in his guise; works, but his wife notices the stench; he replies that it is from hard work in the sun; his wife takes him to the bathhouse, he is hot, he puts on other wings, flies away again as a vulture; ex-husband arrives but can't say anything; his wife hits him, kills him]: 147-150; Aguatec, Kakchiqueli, Kekchi, Mom, Nahua Durango, Northern Puebla Nahua: Bierhorst 1990:217; tlapanecas [the man envied Vulture; he replied that he had nothing to envy but agreed to change his guise; the former Vulture explains to the man's wife that the vulture had stained him with his droppings, hence the smell; the wife is glad that her husband has begun to work well; the family has become rich; after five years, the ex-man wants to switch back, the former Vulture agrees to the condition that he will give him the leg of a slaughtered cow; the wife is indignant that her husband leaves his leg to the vulture, but he still leaves him]: Lemley 1949:81-82; achi, avacateks, quiche, pokomam, tsutuhil, kekchi, yukatek [man and vulture change their appearance; man is unhappy with the exchange; Vulture is a good worker, although the wife complains about the smell]: Peñ alosa 1996, No. 3311:87-88; tsotsil: Gossen 1974 (Chamula), No. 15 [a lazy man invites Vulture to change clothes; the wife asks her husband why he has feathers on his feet; when he finds out what is going on, looks at husband in disgust; in the morning, when he sits on the edge of the cauldron, scalds him with boiling water; since then, vultures have a red bare neck], 118 [people were lazy, envious of vultures; one offered the vulture to change clothes; flew away, and the former vulture came to the man's wife; she saw feathers on his lap, he explained what had happened; the next morning, the real husband, in the guise of a vulture, flew in to see his wife, wanted cooked corn; she did not recognize him, scalded it with boiling water; so vultures have a red neck]: 262, 314-315; Guiteras-Holmes 1961 (San Pedro Chenaljo) [the man went for a mile, saw a vulture, changed his appearance, became a vulture and ate carrion, and the vulture began to work on a mile]: 204; Laughlin 1977 (Sinacantan), No. 50 [a lazy peasant invites Vulture to change appearance; Vulture is a good worker, his wife is happy with him; when her ex-husband, now a vulture, arrives, she kills him with a stick], 48 [the lazy man invites Vulture to change his appearance; he explains that food will be where evaporation (from falling); the vulture man sees the smoke from the burn, rushes into the fire, dies], 69 [the lazy man invites Vulture to change his appearance; he agrees, asking permission from her leader; the wife smells, but is happy with her new husband, who works hard; the man who becomes a vulture dies]: 50-51, 246-251, 342-343; tseltal [the lazy sleeps on the site, says to his wife, that he works; the Vulture invites him to change his appearance; the wife is surprised that her husband has turned black and smells bad; a man who has become a vulture wants to change back because he cannot eat carrion, but The vulture refuses; his son is called Méndez Zopilote ("vulture"), hence the name among the tzotsil]: Relatos Tzeltales 1994:50-67; Jacaltecs [The Vulture agrees to change his guise with a lazy peasant; the wife smells first, but then it disappears; the wife is glad that her husband has taken up work; the new vulture is starving because others do not let him eat; the old vulture agrees to switch back when a person promises to be hardworking; the promise is kept]: Montejo 1991:89-93; Chorti: Pérez Martínez 1996 [the farmer envied Eagle (gavilán) ), because he eats meat, and he himself eats tortillas; when the peasant's wife returned, the Eagle offered to change his appearance with him, they changed]: 49; Anónimo s.a. [the man saw an Eagle in the sky, called, asked me to change his appearance; did not find food, returned, the former Eagle agreed to change again].
Guiana. Carinha (Guyana) [a man kills a vulture, takes off and hides his clothes; another finds them, puts them on, flies to heaven to visit a vulture's wife, lives with her under the guise of her husband; her father suspects deception, requires 1) to make a bench out of stone with his own image (there is one stone all around, the woodpecker is hollowing out), 2) build a stone house (woodpecker and worm help); father-in-law lets his son-in-law go, he returns to the ground, takes off the vulture's clothes]: Gillin 1936, No. 4:194-195.
Eastern Amazon. Spiking [the hunter killed animals, lured them with urubu corpses, killed or caught uruba; learned to understand their language; killed the Royal Vulture; urubu captured the hunter, covered them with feathers, turned into a Royal Vulture; told him he was ill when Vulture Father asked why he was thin; he should always look him in the eye; they told him he was ill when Vulture Father he will ask why he is walking; he calves when he goes swimming with the victim's three wives, he must hang it (something - bones or pieces of wood); urubu ate carrion, Falcon fed the man fresh meat; the man took look, hung the bones correctly, but the wives still realized that it was a substitute; the urubu carried him back to the ground (otherwise the father of the murdered vulture would kill the man); restored his human appearance, but took him out of the crown Is āvī; the person fell ill; the shaman flew to heaven, took Isāvī, put it back in, the person recovered]: Nimuendaju 1922:393-394.
Southern Amazon. Kayabi [man kills uruba vultures to get arrow feathers; urubu is grabbed, brought into his world, husbands an Urubu woman whose husband the man killed; the woman does not suspect deception; his wife sent him to bring water with panacum; he didn't know how to use it, he was taught; people have been able to do it ever since]: Pereira 1995, no. 38:95.