E29. A lizard makes hands for people, A1311.1. .48.-.50.

Two characters (usually a coyote and a lizard) argue about whether people's hands should have the shape of a paw or end with fingers.

Karok, Pomo, Patvin, Nisenan, Yana, Mountain and Coastal Mivok, Chumash, Yokutz, Cahuilla, Washo, Utah, Maricopa.

California. Karok [Coyote and Lizard discuss how and how babies will be born; the Lizard gives the boy arms, legs, and penis; when a sleeping baby laughs or cries, it is the Lizard that tells him to do so; people forbid boys to kill lizards; girls are told that the Lizard is their husband]: Harrington 1932, No. 9:26-27; Pomo: Barrett 1933 [two var.; Coyote makes people with the same hands as his paws; The lizard returns that people will not be able to do anything with these hands, makes brushes like hers], No. 5, 6:80; Curtis 1976 (14) [Coyote makes willow and dogwood sticks, paints them striped flat sides, puts them in a circle inside the house, sprinkles crushed bark side by side; sticks turn into people, pieces of bark into fleas; The lizard wants people to have five fingers in their hands, the Coyote wants them to have paws like his; they fight, the Lizard wins; Coyote wants people to kill game by pointing fingers at it; the lizard objects that it will be too easy; bow and arrow are invented]: 170-171; Kroeber 1932b, No. IV7 [Coyote first makes people hands like his paw; The lizard says people will not be able to work; Coyote agrees to make Lizard-like hands with fingers]: 236; Williams 1954 [Coyote became make people, called his brothers Kingfisher (Lord of Heaven) and the Lizard (Lord of Fire); did not know how to make a human hand, wanted to follow the model of his paw, but the Lizard showed that it was better to follow the model of his paw lizards; Coyote agreed]: 15-16; patvin [first humans have no fingers; The lizard insists that her son have five fingers rather than stumps]: Kroeber 1932, No. 2:305; Nicenan: Beals 1933 [ Coyote and animals made people out of clay; Coyote wanted them to have feet like his, and the Lizard wanted fingers like hers; when Coyote was away (fell asleep?) , The Lizard made people's hands]: 382; Merriam 1993 [Month, Coyote and Lizard argue about what a person should be; agree that chubby is like the Month, but they argue about his hands; Coyote wants a paw, Lizard - finger brush; decided in favor of the Lizard, but since then coyotes have been catching and killing lizards wherever possible]: 59; Yana [Rabbit, Squirrel, Lizard, Coyote have been discussing what people should be like; Coyote wants so that they have paws like his; The rabbit cuts the ends of people's hands, making fingers]: Sapir 1910, No. 6:88-89; yuki [Coyote makes people; thanks to the Lizard, the human hand ends with five fingers, not with a fist, as Coyote wanted]: Kroeber 1907:185; northern mountain mivoks: Merriam 1993:55 [first humans don't have fingers; Black and Little Lizards give them hands], 115 [Puma has two wives, Grizzly and The raccoon; their children look more and more like humans; turn into real people when the Lizard gives them five fingers]; central mountain mivoks [Coyote and Lizard both want people had a hand like theirs; The lizard gets its way]: Merriam 1993:61; mountain mivok: Barrett 1919, No. 1 [The frog invites Coyote to create land; Coyote is looking for the best diver; Duck, the other Duck, The Water Snake does not dive; the Frog brings two handfuls of sand by itself; the Coyote scatters sand, earth arises; the Coyote decides to make people's hands round like his paw; Triton offers his paws as sample, but they are also round; The lizard suggests making fingers like hers, Coyote agrees; tells animals where to live]: 4-6; Wilson 1922 [Coyote and Frog (man) sailed on a raft in the east; Coyote told the Frog to dive and get the earth from the bottom; he took it out, the Coyote created land; the Coyote wanted to make people in his own likeness, but the Lizard (man) did not agree: let them have fingers like hers; they sent the mouse stole the fire from the people of the Valley; when it was chased, the mouse hid the fire in the horse chestnut trees and cedars; from there the fire blazed into the sky, becoming the sun, and some remained in the trees, from where it they are mined by friction; the Coyote went and stuck two sticks where he wanted people to be, naming these areas; told the Lizard and the others to turn into animals; the coyote still catches lizards, for then the lizard argued with him; a female star who loved abalone shells turned into stars; and so all the ancestors]: 91-94; coastal mivok [when Coyote had his first child (this is Obsidian, Obsidian young fellow, see motif F3), Coyote wanted his hands to be like the paws of a coyote; the old lizard woman {obviously in this text she, not the Frog's wife of Coyote} said let her hands be like hers with five fingers; Coyote began to beat his wife, she went to her mother, he brought her back; for the fourth time she disappeared into a hole in the ground, Coyote did not return her]: Kelly 1978, No. 4:29; chumash [Snilemun (Coyote in heaven) wants to give people the same hands as his; the lizard stands in the back and is the first to leave his hand print on the rock; this print is still visible in the sky (constellation); the Sun and Slo'w ruled that let people's hands be like a Lizard]: Blackburn 1975, no. 6:95; yokutz: Gayton, Newman 1940, No. 5 [Coyote and Wolf wanted people's hands to be without fingernails; just point to an animal to kill him; The lizard wanted people to have fingers like hers, disappeared into the crevice; Coyote wanted to eat the earth, ate part of the hill, decided it was impossible, otherwise the whole earth would be eaten]: 19; Kroeber 1907a, No. 38 [The Coyote and the Lizard both want people to have a hand like theirs; the Lizard gets its way, but the Coyote makes people mortal]: 231; cahuilla [Mukat and Tamaiyauit compete in creation; T. took the Coyote out of his heart, made him his assistant; M. took out the Owl; M. sculpts people from dark clay, T. from white clay; people have a second person on the back of the head, the abdomen in front and back, the feet are directed to both sides, hands are like a dog's paws; he says everything will go through his fingers and grab it well with his paws; M. objects that you can't take anything with them; T. takes his creations and falls into the ground]: Strong 1929: 134-135.

Big Pool. Washo: Curtis 1976 (15) [The wolf decides that it is time for the first ancestors to become animals, to give peace to real people; Coyote says they should have four fingers like him; The Lizard objects - it must be five so that people can use their hands; hides from the Coyote under a stone; the Coyote sends the Mouse east to steal the piñon nuts; the mouse took them out of the house, the Coyote brought them to your country, they were planted, pine trees grew]: 149-150; Lowie 1939, No. 9 [The lizard wants people to have five fingers, the Coyote wants them to have paws like him and take objects with their mouths;]: 343; Utah (White River) [The Coyote and the Lizard argue how many fingers humans should have; the Coyote wants four but the Lizard insists it should be five; hides in a crevice, the Coyote makes a fire, but she gets out unscathed]: Smith 1992:157.

The Great Southwest. Maricopa [see motif B1; Cucumat and Isasipas make people out of clay, K.'s people have webbed fingers, he says it's more convenient to take water to drink; I. says it's more convenient for people to drink water make a palm with a cup; both argue whose creations are better, K. falls into the ground]: Spier 1937:346.