E30B. Pygmalion. .11.13.23.27.44.
A man makes a figure or gets a woman. She comes to life and becomes his wife.
Upper reaches of the Zambezi (Lunda?) , Nyanja, Lenje, Sandave, Meitei, Ancient Greece, Eastern Ojibwa (timagami).
Bantu-speaking Africa. Upper reaches of the Zambezi (Lunda?) [The hare carves a woman out of wood, revives her; the chief finds out about her, takes her away; the hare comes, sings that his wife has been taken, she has become a tree again]: Jacottet 1894 in Werner 1909:454; nyanja or yao (nianja paternal informant, yao by mother, these texts are usually transmitted by the mother's side) [The frog carved the woman out of wood, revived it, placing mpande in her heart; the leader took her; The frog sent a pigeon, he took mpande back, the woman became a tree again]: Werner 1909:454-455; lanje [a group of girls came to Kasere, which has a lot of meat; but when he was about to choose a wife, girls It was no longer there; he cut down an euphorbia tree (milky juice oozes from it, hence the association with a woman), carved out a female figure, she came to life; in K.'s absence, people asked her for water and fire; when they learned about the beauty, the chief ordered her to be delivered to him; K. tells his wife to be locked up, but she stayed outside; she was taken away by force; her husband follows her, sings about what happened (as in all Lenge texts, the voice of the protagonist or then choir); he sees it in the chief's house, tries to get it, but turns into a tree again]: Torrend 1921, No. 7:40-44.
Sudan - East Africa. Sandave [Binxi has an ugly face, women reject him; he found Irangari {some tree} that grew up, cut it out of a woman's figure with an ax, decorated it with shells and rings, and put it on it handkerchief; she came to life; from going with her to the east of the sun; consistently met Elephant, Leo, Antelope; everyone offers to fight, if B. loses, he loses his wife; but B. wins because his wife every time he says, "Don't fall down, B., I'm a powerful forest tree"; at sunrise, B. left his wife at the edge of the village of chiefs, went to find a place to sleep; Chief Nzova's men found Irangari, took him to him; B . ordered Irangari to return all the jewelry; she returned except the shell; he tore off the shell from it, it turned into a tree, the trunk filled the entire hut; B. returned home]: Arnold 1984:168-170.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Meitei [the peasant is single and has to do all his homework himself; asks a carpenter he knows to make him a wooden woman to look alive; he has made and dressed up a figure; a peasant talks to a fictional wife, acts as if she does the household, not him; one day he hears a voice from the kitchen: a woman has come to life; she will be half the time human, and half a wooden figure; the carpenter was envious; he quarreled with his wife and children and brought them back to his father-in-law's house; told the peasant that he wanted to correct his figure a little; but he did not come to life and he returned it to the peasant; the carpenter was unhappy and alone]: Oinam et al. s.a.; meitei [single; he does not have time to meet friends because he has to do all the homework himself; once ordered a master the wooden figure of a woman; talked to her as if she were alive; one day he went to meet an acquaintance and told his imaginary wife to cook for his return; ashamed to say that he was single, the man replied to a friend who was married and invited to his place; leaving the guest at the door, the man went to cook everything himself, but saw a woman who cooked and cleaned everything; the figure came to life; amazed by the beauty of the hostess , the guest suggested that the next time each of them should have the right to take what they touch from the other's house; he thought he would take the woman away; the man brought a chest of jewelry from a friend; when a friend came to visit the man again, his wife climbed onto the roof on a stepladder; the guest climbed after her, but was told to pick up the stepladder and leave]: Oinam et al. s.a.
Balkans . Ancient Greece. Pygmalion was a sculptor on the island of Cyprus and the son of Bela and Anhinoi. He carved an ivory statue of a woman and fell in love with it. The sculptor gave her gifts and dressed her in expensive clothes, but the statue continued to be a statue, and love was unrequited. During a holiday dedicated to Aphrodite, Pygmalion pleaded with the goddess to give him a wife as beautiful as his sculpture. Pygmalion did not dare to ask for the cold statue to be revived. Touched by such love, Aphrodite revived the statue that became Pygmalion's wife]. This myth may have been introduced into literature by Neanf of Kizik. The golden Pygmalion olive was kept in Qadira.
The Midwest. Ojibwa (timagami) [a lonely young man carves his wife out of wood; she tells her to be locked in a teepee for three days; he peeks for a while, she leaves; he follows her; three old women one after the other show him the way, give him lynx bones like amulets; he climbs to heaven on a tree trunk; 1) his wife warns that her Polar Bears brothers will play ball with him, chasing the ball around the earth; he makes the Bear drop the ball, wins; 2) The bears cannot move the rock, he breaks it with an arrow; 3) kills the red otter first, then the blue otter; recognized as a son-in-law]: Speck 1915d, No. 9:57-62.