E31. The Imaginary Pygmalion .20.23.27.30.34.35.42.43.
A man makes a wooden doll and acts like it's alive. It doesn't come to life or comes back to life only partially or temporarily. A real woman replaces her figure and marries a carver.
all bantu, Micronesia-Polynesia sandaves removed
. Yap [Namgey will soon give birth in a women's home; Yelfath nii gwa has a son, Yelfath nii chig; he went down to the woman, helped recover from frambesia, said that a son would be born and find his own name; that he he should not drink coconut juice from a nut with his head up; the boy drinks, sees his father in the sky; the mother makes a fire, the boy goes up to his father in a column of smoke; when he reaches the sky, he shoves off a pole, so now the smoke does not rise vertically, but deviates; the young man (now his name is also Yelfath) grows up, marries the heavenly maiden Namgey; she returns to her father, says she no longer wants a husband; the father cuts out a copy of her daughter's tree; Y. understands the deception, tells the father that he helps her son revive the wooden girl; she puts on N.'s skirt, follows her husband; N. rushes after; Y. takes both wives; N. has many children, and wooden Gowrong did not give birth]: Mitchell 1973, No. 48:134-138.
South Asia. Muria [poor widow has difficulty buying her son an ax; he tells a hundred trees to fall in one blow, and this is what happens; wild boars plow the field; son wants a wife; mother makes a wooden a doll, dresses it up; he brings it to the field, tells her to serve food, the doll does not react, he throws it on the ground; frightened wild boars rush away, the young man thinks that his wife ran, rushes after her, stumbles upon her a young woman who just got married yesterday; she has the same outfit; the young man thinks this is her wife; let her take whoever calls herself her husband by the mustache and twist it in the air; if he doesn't if the husband cries; the husband has tears, the young man keeps his wife for himself]: Elwin 1944, No. 6:342-344 (translated to Zograf 1971, No. 55:228-230).
The Balkans. Ancient Greece [(Plutarch, Fragments, ix, 6; cf. Pausanias, ix, 3); Zeus quarreled with the Hero; wandered until he came up with a way to deceive her; dressed up the oak tree as a bride, shaped it and called Dædala; they began to sing the wedding hymns, Hera came angry; realizing the deception, she burst into tears, laughed, and led the marriage procession herself; the image of D. was burned]: Goddeb 1893:142; Bulgarians , Greeks (Albanians?) [same story as ancient Greece]: Goddeb 1893:142-142.
Iran - Central Asia. Persians [the merchant threatens to kill his wife if she does not give birth; she asked the carpenter to carve the doll out of wood; the shah expresses a desire to marry the merchant's daughter (when she grows up); a bone is stuck in peri's throat ; when Peri flew over the ottoman on which the wooden bride was lying, she laughed, the bone jumped out; Peri decided to replace the doll; but Peri did not let the Shah approach him; he took another wife, and she sent a maid to Peri; the maid sees Peri's thimble rolling into the corner of the room; she cut off her nose, sent him for a thimble, her nose returned to its place; the new wife threw her thimble, cut off her nose, died of blood loss; the same with her second wife: Peri enters a hot tone, takes out cakes from there; the new wife burned down; with the third (peri turns the fish over with her bare hands on in a hot frying pan, the new wife burned her hands and died); Peri explains to the Shah that she will give herself to him only after marriage; that's what happened, everything is fine]: Osmanov 1987:283-285.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Dagura [Big Brother (SB) is married, the youngest is 15 years old, is known as a fool; carrying bundles of firewood, he saw a donkey wagon falling off, stopped it with a parcel, a knife in it; the owner ran up, He promised money for the knife, daughter, but Little Brother (MB) said he did not see the knife; when he found out that MB did not take the money, the SB wife became angry and the SB threw an ax at MB; seriously wounded, he was thrown into the ditch; he crawled to his aunt's house; he was cured there, he came to the rich man's house, who took him to teach his son; the son married; upset that MB did not have a wife, he made a doll for him; once offered her tobacco, she came to life, offered to smoke MB first, went out, but the doll's frame remained; the wife (ex-doll) invited MB to go to her parents; at night she disappeared, only the doll remained; it turned out that MB's father-in-law was the man whose He did not give up the knife; his eldest daughter died, her soul moved into the doll, but such creatures only live for a year; instead, the man married MB his youngest daughter; everyone is happy]: Stuart et al. 1994:57-58.
Western Siberia. Mansi: Lukina 1990, No. 123 [Mos-ne lives with his brother; brother (Mos-hum) says that this is not good, he goes to live alone; makes his wife out of wood, dresses her; in his absence, M. comes, cuts and burns a doll, puts her clothes on, sits in her place; brother thinks the doll has come to life, marries her; they have a son; the wife then never shows her face to her husband]: 326-327; Kannisto 1951 (1 ): 250-263 in Lintrop 1998 [mos' woman and her brother live in neighboring houses; brother makes something with an ax; in his absence, she finds a female figure under the mosquito net, still wooden below her shoulders, taller revived; she cuts off one leg and one arm of the figure, hides the figure under a pile of garbage, lies down in her place; brother takes her sister, they have a son; he plays outside, hears three times from under a pile of garbage a story about what happens is that the arm and leg are rotten; the sister/wife asks the son not to tell his father every time; the brother cuts off his wife/sister's arm and leg, then cuts it into pieces, takes the son, goes to the forest; from the woman's pieces of meat hogweed grew up; the bear ate it, gave birth to two cubs and a girl; while hibernating, the bear tells the girl to make patterns on birch bark; when the dog finds a den and a hunter from the city digs it, let the girl will put birch bark on the stake, cling to the stake; the girl was pulled out, the bears were killed; in the city, a girl hides pieces of bear and bear meat, throws it on the roof, then on, a bear with cubs turn into three stars]:?..
NW coast. The Tlingits [the chief's wife is dead; he asks the carver to carve her wooden figure; the statue comes to life but does not move or speak; it is moved to a new location; they find a small cedar on the floor - hers child; woman moved a little but never spoke]: Swanton 1909, No. 41:181-182; Tsimshian [husband hunts mountain sheep in winter; wife cooks and weaves at home; dies; he does not bury for a long time body; after burying, carves his wife's figure out of red cedar; places her in front of an unfinished blanket, makes her fingers move and her head turns when he enters; every time he returns from hunting talks to his wife and answers himself, explaining that she cannot meet her halfway because the yarn is wrapped around her fingers; two sisters, whom their mother scolded, run away from home, come to the hunter's house; see Inside the woman, when they enter, they realize that it is a doll; they hide, the hunter comes, they laugh; when they find the girls, he feeds them; the eldest eats greedily, the younger one moderately; he marries the youngest; she promises him destroy the doll]: Boas 1916, No. 17:744-745; bellacula: Boas 1895, No. 11 [Kasana's man had half a head, one arm, one leg, etc.; carved his wife out of a tree growth, named Culems; planted her as if she were weaving a blanket; Chief Heiltzuk sent his two daughters to marry K. ; they entered the house, knocked down a wooden woman, hid; K. came in, angrily told his wooden wife that he did not need her because he could not sit; one of the girls laughed; he did not marry both, each with a child; went with them to their father]: 256-257; 1916, No. 17 [retelling a text from Boas 1895]: 745; McIlwraith 1948 (1) [at the beginning of time, a lonely man descends to the ground; makes a woman out of wood, dresses her up; sits in front of a loom every morning, leaves food for her; two girls enter the house, push the figure, the head falls into the fire, burns; they weave a blanket, eat food, hide; returning from hunting, the husband praises his wife for her work, asks to be more careful; girls they laugh; he marries the eldest, invites other people to live nearby, arranges a potlach]: 356-357; quakiutl: Boas, Hunt 1902, No. 3.1 [1) Sitting on earth goes to tear cedar bark; voice invites him into the house, asks where his wife is; he replies that his wife cannot speak because she is carved from alder and her hair is made of yellow cedar bast; more about visiting the homes of supernatural creatures; 2) the chief sends two female slaves to swim; when they return, one falls into the fire, burns; the other decides to commit suicide in the forest; walks up the river for four days; sees a house with two wooden ones female figures, a pile of mountain sheep hair and a spinning rod; a hunter enters, asks the figures to talk to him; divides the meat, puts it between them; when she leaves, the girl roasts the meat; when he returns, he thinks that wooden wives have begun to come to life; brings salmon, the girl also secretly cuts them; the hunter thinks that the wives have begun to work; the next day the girl burns the figures; the hunter thinks they killed each other a friend out of jealousy; a girl appears, says that she is the embodiment of wooden figures; after becoming a man's wife, the girl gave birth to many children, they became the ancestors of the tribe]: 122 (=Boas 1916, No. 17:745); Boas 1916, No. 17 (neveti) [a man named Sitting on Earth carves his wife out of alder; hangs a cedar bast over the doll to make it seem like she is weaving; the Bear takes him ten mountains to his village; in the Mouse's house they give him wild sheep wool; Since then, blankets have been woven from wool; in the Blue Jay house they have been fed berries; since then people have been eating berries; the old woman does not tell them to enter the Wolves house; a man comes in Wolves eat it, then revive it]: 745; Boas 1916, No. 17 (neveti) [a man named Sitting on Earth carves his wife out of alder; hangs a cedar bast over the doll to make it look like she is weaving; Bear He takes him ten mountains to his village; in the house of the Mouse they give him wild sheep wool; since then, blankets have been woven from wool; in the Blue Jay house they have been fed berries; since then people have been eating berries; the old woman does not tell her to enter the Wolves house; a man comes in, the Wolves eat it, then revive it]: 745.
The coast is the Plateau. Halkomel: Boas 1895, No. 2 (Kovichan) [first Sialatsa, then Swutlak, then other men and women descend from heaven; S. teaches them to hunt and fish; tribes disperse , S. is left alone; another leader sends his daughter to him; she finds an empty house with a wooden woman in her hands, a spindle and a piece of fat put in her hands; the one who comes eats fat, hides; S. is glad to think that the wooden wife ate; the next time she comes burns the wooden one, puts on her clothes; marries S., her maid marries another man]: 47-50; 1916, No. 17 [retelling 1895]: 746; Hill-Tout in Boas 1916, No. 69 [Converters meet Coyote, who uses a piece of wood with a hole in a knot instead of his wife; makes him a new wife out of cedar bark]: 609.