Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

C6H. The insect is extracting land. 21.-.23.47.

An

insect brings the earth (from the bottom of the sea or from somewhere far away).

Mishmi, Shana, Barela-bhilala, Baiga, Semanga, Chiroki.

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Mishmi [at first one water; the god Techimdum surfaced, looked around, erected a pillar; white ants crawled along it, carrying particles of earth from the bottom, put them on the water, land appeared; T. put more a pillar in the four corners of the world, ants climbed and on them, land arose; where they laid more land - mountains; a river flowed from the mountain, filled the lake, it overflowed; brother and sister were saved at the top of the hill; god Drakob caught fire for them by friction, set fire to the forest; the water dried up, but now everything was burning; brother and sister escaped from the fire behind a wall of banana leaves; married, gave birth to people, their wife brought them, planted seeds of all plants]: Elwin 1958a, No. 18:21-22 (=1958b: 23-24).

Burma - Indochina. Shans [ants dive into the primary ocean, get land]: Walk 1933:74; (=Hermanns 1946-1949:835, citing W. Schmidt. VI. 230 ff).

South Asia. Barela-bhilala: Stiglmayr 1970:155 [Hamara Bhagwan decided to create land; created a winged dog from the mud on his chest, sent a letter to Dhuda darian; next to him was Lika darian, who could read; a plant grew from a letter buried in the sand, the wasp fertilized it, the Earth came out of one fruit, animals came out of the other, and the spirits of disease from the third; Bhagwan ordered the Earth to create the earth; she did a hoe out of its tooth, and the Benahor worm promised to dust Duli raiya; he first did not give, then gave; she sculpted small earth on a potter's wheel, the earth grew; it was placed on 12 iron pillars ], 161-163 [Pini meher decided to make land, rolled mud off his chest, created a pigeon, gave him a letter, sent him to the Ocean (Dhuda sanat), he slept, the pigeon buried the letter in the sand, and a plant with six or a family grew branches, it is a woman, the wasp became her husband, 5 fruits appeared; including 1) grains (seeds), 2) wild and domestic animals, 3) metals, 4) Kala nag (black snake), 5) Welu bai (Earth); Bhagwan told her to mold the ground on the potter's wheel; two frogs hit the tooth to make an ax and a shovel, she dug up ores to make the circle itself, the bird helped make it, but broke its beak; Duli raja made six or seven spools of earth, wasp them she took it away; he made a snare out of her hair, the wasp got caught, so her waist was narrow; but let go, giving her five pellets for Welu bai; she made the land and the earth grew; Kala nag couldn't hold it, the bull couldn't either so Bhagwan placed the ground on 6 pillars; Ram and Lakshman swayed the pillars, the ground staggered; then Welu bai placed fish below; cancer on the fish's tail, sometimes bites it; during hunger, the ocean dried up, the fish naked; people cut off pieces from it; only brother and sister were against eating fish alive; the fish told them to sit in the basket and sent the flood; everyone drowned, brother and sister to the grief man ( together with the female mountain they rose above the waters, but the man was taller); he asked who they were, they said brother and sister; turned them in opposite directions, asked again, they replied that husband and wife ; their excrement, urine, and saliva became a multitude of people of all castes], 164 [Goddess Welubai sent a wasp to bring clay to make the earth; Indraz-Bhagwan put up a snare, the wasp was caught, her waist became narrow; V. sent a wasp again, which brought clay, V. gave it to the potter, he made land; God made a watchman's house, earth was laid on it]; baiga: Elwin 1939 [at the beginning only water, a leaf floated on it a lotus, Bhagavan sat on it, rolled dirt from his hand, turned it into a crow, his daughter Karicag, sent her to search for land; losing her strength, she fell on the back of the great Turtle, Kekramal Chhatri, sitting on the waters , with one leg at the bottom of the sea, the other reaching the sky; the crow calls the Turtle the elder brother, the Turtle calls the Raven its younger sister; says that the land was stolen by the worm Gichnaraja, he is at the bottom of the sea; took the Raven to Logandi Raja; he called 12 Loharsur brothers, 13 Tamesur brothers, 14 Agyasur brothers, they made an iron cage, lowered the Turtle and the Raven to the bottom; the Turtle was frightened of the Worm, hid behind the Raven; The worm itself was frightened when the Raven promised to beat him, lied that Dano had the land, who would burn those who came; the emboldened Turtle grabbed the Worm by the neck, he spit up 21 times; each a portion of land is named in its own way, from mother earth to virgin land (white, red, nice, trembling, rocky, etc.); the turtle pulled the chain, Logundi Raja pulled out the cage, the Turtle tied the earth to the Raven's neck, she brought it to Bhagavan; he summoned the virgin, who knocked down the ground in a vessel of leaves for 8 days and 9 nights; B. threw the earth on the water, it grew, became dry; first the earth was wet and slippery; B. called Wind and Bhimsen; The wind dried the earth, but when they stood on one side, the other rose; Bhimsen walked, created mountains, valleys; Nanga Baigin (wife of Nang Baiga) drove four nails in the corners, the ground was established (but the earth itself is round, p.330)]: 308-316; Fuchs 1952 [=Fuchs 1960:405-418; Bhagwan has not washed for 12 years, rolled dirt from his armpits and chest, blinded a man and woman, revived; these are Nanga Baiga and Nanga Baigin; they were ashamed of their nudity, sat in the sea up to their necks, fished, ate raw (there was no fire); the Pandwa brothers and their mother Kotma Ma lived in the middle world; KM B. complained that there were only rocks; he ordered to bring land from the lower world; the P. brothers sent the Turtle there, it passed through a crack in the rock; took the Wasp, the Alumina Worm, the White Ant and another one with them ( the informant forgot); The wasp put the others on its wings, carried them across the river; the Kakramal crab guards the entrance, one claw on the ground, the other reaches the sky; he sleeps, the Turtle passes, Fertile Soil agrees go to the middle world, tells you to swallow it; the Turtle and its companions have swallowed all types of soil: white clay, red earth, chernozem; returning, the Turtle falls into the seventh trap, convinces Crab that his maternal uncle; the owner of the lower world, the Ancient Serpent (Burha Nang), is waking up; he will give up the Earth only if Bhimsen himself comes for it; those who came were placed under the press, the ground was squeezed out of them; they went out upstairs; an alumina worm knocked out the Turtle's big teeth, collected a piece of land the size of a grain from them; for this, Bh allowed him to eat up the stems in the fields, but not the grain itself; the wasp revived the Soil; the lump was placed in a huge vessel of water, the whorl snake KM (mother of the Pandavas) began to knock her down, the earth became huge; Bhimsen brought an alcoholic beverage (the leaves of the tree between the middle and lower worlds fell into deepening, fermented; probably an analogue of catfish), Soil filled the middle world, but was going to return to the lower world if Nanga Baiga did not honor her; Bhagwan breathed Nang Baiga clothes, he came out seas, addressed the earth, "Mother Earth, I pay you my respects, I will honor you"; the soil told him to cut off his sixth finger, which was very long, divided into four parts, hammer it in the form of pegs in the corners of the world]: 608-617.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Semangs (Kintak Bong): Evans 1937:159 [1) a dung beetle brought the ground in powder form from below; the bear rammed it with its paws, otherwise it would have filled the entire space to the sky; another informant later (1935) said that the bear stopped the beetle when the earth rose half the distance to the sky; 2) (according to Schebesta 1927:212); at first there is water everywhere; the dung beetle brings a bag of earth from under the water; earth grows; there would be mountains everywhere, but the bear rammed part of the land, plains appeared], 160 (Kensiu) [(Schebesta 1927:242); The Dung Beetle extracts the land from the swamp, it dries up under the sun, hardens].

Southeast USA. Chirokee [(about the same in Erdoes, Ortiz 1984:105; told at the Chirokee Tribal Convention in 1975, it seems that the story is taken from Mooney); at first, water is everywhere, animals are crowded in the upper World Gălûñ'lăt; The floating beetle Dăyuni's( "Beaver's grandson") goes on exploration; swimming, it finds no land, then it dives, brings clay, it grows, turns into land; animals send various birds to find out if the earth has dried up; ask the Great Vulture (the ancestor of the present) to dry the earth; he hovers above the ground, it is still soft; when he reaches the country of the teal, he is from fatigue began to wave his wings; where they touched the ground, there were valleys, where wings were raised - mountains; animals were afraid that the whole world would become mountainous, Vulture was recalled, but the teal country remained mountainous]: Mooney 1900, No. 1:239.