C25C. The Big Dipper and the End of the World. .16.28.29. (.31.) .33.34. (.36.) .41.46.50.
A change in the configuration of a constellation (usually Ursa Major) or its disappearance from the sky will indicate a global catastrophe.
French, Ukrainians, Ingush, (Eastern Sami), Kazakhs, Khakas, (Central Yakuts), Tagish, Taltan, Pawnee, Hikarilla.
Western Europe. The French (Ardèche, formerly known as Vivarais) [Big Dipper is a pot; Alcor is a little man watching when the contents start to boil; when it boils, he will pour out the contents and the world will end]: Roland 1878, Mélusine magazine, col.53 in Potanin 1899:414.
Central Europe. Ukrainians: Asimov, Tolstoy 1995 [Alcor is a mouse that gnaws on horses harnessed into a wagon (Ursa Major) or a bridle between three horses and a four-star cart; "when The bridle will break, the world will end"]: 119; Saint 1961 [Carts - four wheels and three horses drawn; between the far front and the other, a bridle (Alcor); when they "cross", the world will end ; Yekaterinoslavskaya: "A mole dog (from the mole family"; Alcor) gnaws on a horse's bridle; when he gnaws, the light is over"; Volyn: Alcor is a field mouse that wants to eat buildings near the Voz, but not can cope with it and from time to time runs to the water to drink; while he drinks, the buildings become thick again; when the mouse has a snack on the buildings, the world will end]: 113.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Ingush [Dyarzha-nanilg (properly Darza-nana) lived on Mount Kazbek; one of her 8 sons went to heaven; the other 7 drank molten copper and rose to the sky from the top of Kazbek; as a sign of their grief D. threw her trousers to the top of Kazbek, where there is now a snowless place; 7 brothers are walking across the sky looking for an eighth; if they find it, the world will end]: Dakhkilgov 2003:111.
(Wed. Baltoscandia. Eastern Sami: Kharuzin 1890 [(after Nemirovich-Danchenko. Lopar land//Picturesque Russia 1:171); Aroma-Telle is ten pines tall, his dogs are a deer, chases a white deer with a black head and golden horns; when he hits him with the first arrow, mountains they will fall apart, fire will be thrown away, the rivers will flow back, the lakes and the sea will dry up; the second in the forehead - the fire will spread across the ground; dogs will rush, the hunter will pierce the heart with a knife - the stars will fall, the moon will go out, the sun will drown] : 148-149; another retelling in Czarnoluski 1962:80-81 and 1965:80-81 [Thiermes throws lightning from a rainbow, chasing the Mändash-Pyrre deer; when he catches up with the first arrow, the rivers will flow backwards, the lakes will run out; second, the earth will be engulfed by fire, the Old Man from the North will burn; when dogs rush to M. and T. stabs a knife into his heart, the stars will fall from the sky, the earth will turn to dust]; Holmberg 1927 [Boahje Naste (" the northern nail") holds the sky; on the last day, the archer Arcturus will shoot him down with an arrow, the sky will collapse]: 221).
Turkestan. Kazakhs: Afanasiev (Poetic.): 762 in Potanin 1883 [The Big Dipper is seven wolves chasing pacers; when they catch up, the world will end]: 736; 1893:321 [Naarun-Zarkum owned many horses; the black mare brought a foal every night, but it was always kidnapped by someone; young Gali, N.'s son, guarded, shot a monstrous bird; grows up, rides that mare's foal to marry bride; puts an iron stake in the field, ties a horse to it, puts seven scarecrows (Jety Karakchi) around; every day he finds a horse on the spot, and thieves find only a stake and scarecrows; one day everything disappears; the bride says that thieves prayerfully approved a stake (North Star), a horse and a scarecrow (Little Bear) in the sky; the horse is waiting for its owner; when he comes, the world will end]; Kuftin 1916 [around Temir- Kasyk (North Stars), the Ak-boz-at and Kok-boz-at horses (white and blue, the two extreme stars of the Ursa Minor) ride the arcana; seven thieves (Jets Karakchi, seven stars of the Ursa Major) try to untie them; when one gets rid of it, the world will end]: 126; Svyatsky 1961 [(told by teacher A.B. Baitursunov from Orenburg in 1910); The North Star is a stake to which two horses are tied with an arcana, light and pale (Ursa Minor); they walk around the stake, and seven thieves (Big Dipper) seek to steal them; when they steal them, the world will end]: 112; Chuloshnikov 1924 [North Star - Temir-Kasyk (Iron Stake); "two white horses" are tied to him on a rope; if one unties, the world is over; Jets Karakchi ("seven thieves"), the seven stars of the Ursa Major, try to untie them; they are the souls of seven robbers who, during the day they stole, and at night they repented of their sins; for this they were turned into stars after death]: 243.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. The Minusinsk Tatars [the seven stars of the Ursa Major are tied dogs with iron claws; when they fall off the iron chains, the world will end]: Afanasiev 1855:191-198 in Holmberg 1927:425; in Potanin 1883:736; Khakas: Butanayev 2003 [Khan-Chigetey is the father of the Pleiades; once seven Khan brothers stole one of his daughters; he rushed in pursuit, but brothers on the mirrored surface of Heaven Tigir Köl Lakes rose to the sky and turned into the seven stars of the Ursa Major; HC shot them with a bow and nailed them to the sky with an arrow; since then, the Big Dipper has been circling around the HC arrow, which has become North Star; Alcor is the stolen daughter of HC; the remaining 6 sisters are the Pleiades; HC himself has become the constellation of Boopas and is forever chasing the Ursa Major; when he catches up with seven Khan brothers, it will come the last year of peace]: 48; Butanayev, Butanayeva 2001 [Koketey climbed Sulu-Khaya Rock, took out a scoter egg laid for the first time; it gives birth to the winged dog Hubai-Hus, but scoters they always break and eat the first egg; no one can leave X., K. got rich; after drinking, he sold H. to the Mongolian Khan; he ordered H. to get the invincible arsylan (lion), gave his son the raw heart of a lion, son recovered; H. fell off the chain, ran, drove the maralikha with two marals; K. rushed after them; three marals asked the lake owner to save them, she lured H. under water; K. cursed the marals; they turned into three rocks in the middle of the swamp, their souls are the three stars of the Orion Belt, Us Muigah; H. is the lower constellation of Koketey Adailari, K. himself is Sirius, Koketey Chyltys; the eternal pursuit in the sky lasts; in at the end of the world, H. will descend from the sky, his barking will spread across the Yenisei Valley]: 59-61.
(Wed. Eastern Siberia. Central Yakuts: Seroshevsky 1896 [Cholbon (Venus) is the beautiful mistress of the Devil's son Jurgel (Pleiades); when they strive for each other, storms and snowstorms occur; when they they will merge, snow will fall on the fathom in the middle of summer, all living things will die]: 668; Tolokonsky 1914, No. 112 (the place of recording is not specified, the mediation of A. Kulakovsky; probably central) [The Little Bear was big, covered the sun and moon; a terrible cold came; a shaman girl, a pupil of the formidable celestial Uluu Toyon , undertook to save people; before the campaign, asked no woman to look at her; Kamlay ascended to heaven and began to break the Little Bear into small pieces; at the moment when she collected sparkling fragments, small particles in her mouth, spraying the sky with them, setting up a system of stars, one woman could not help but look at the sky through the Chaughton window; the uda'an girl fainted The Little Bear has not been completely defeated; someday she will grow in volume and life on earth will end; retelling in Ergis 1974:134]: 88-99).
Subarctic. Tagish [Big Dipper is a big-headed man who took rabbits out of the trap, saying Hoo, hoo; one man shot him in the back; an arrow, a faint star near the second star bucket; Big Dipper once said the world would end when it stopped walking in circles and turned upside down]: McClelland 1975 (1): 78; taltan [Big Dipper told people to they watched him; if the moon disappears, it won't last long, but if it disappears, it won't appear again; therefore, during eclipses, people watch the Ursa Major and, seeing that it is in place, they say that all right]: Teit 1919, No. 5:228-229.
Plains. Pitahauirat [after the flood, Tirawa placed a bison in the northwest to prevent it from flooding the land again; it loses one hair every year; when there is none left, humans will disappear from earth; at the end of time, the Moon will turn red; the road of the dead leads from the Southern Star, the star of death, to the North Star; when the Morning Star told people where each of the great gods would stand on in the sky, an old man and a young person died; they were placed on stretchers and their stars carried around the North Star; these are Ursa Major and Ursa Minor; the North Star said that when- Either the Southern Star will rise so high that it grabs those carrying this stretcher and they will die; the North Star will disappear, and the Southern Star will become the master of the earth and people; the stars will descend to earth to people in a sign that it's time to turn into stars yourself and climb to the Southern Star]: Dorsey 1906, No. 35:134-137.
The Great Southwest. Jicarilla: Opler 1938, No. IC1 [children play bear; the girl is gradually becoming a real bear; for the fourth time she is completely transformed, kills everyone; leaves her younger sister, that She serves her; carries water in human turtles, from which the Bear made buckets; her father and five other men return from hunting; together with the girl, they make a fire at the Bear Cave, throw her face has a burning deer's peritoneum; they rise to the sky on the cloud, turn into Pleiades; there are 7 stars in the Pleiades; if you see that there are only 6 of them, then the Bear has reappeared and threatens people], II.2 [Big The bear is one of HactCin's first ancestors; brought dance moccasins; his wife helped him bring them; the moon is growing and old, and the Ursa Major is the same; but if you see that it has 6 stars {not 7} bad things will happen]: 113-116, 161.
(Wed. The Central Andes. Uarochiri (dep. Lima) [The "black constellation" Yakan (llama) moves along the Milky Way (mayo, river); in the middle of the night, when no one sees, Yakana drinks water from the sea; if she does not drink, the sea will overflow and flood the earth]: Salomon, Uriosto 1991, ch. 29:132-133).