F30A. The child is a worm. .19.26.40.-.42.

A woman nurses a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) instead of a child; people kill a monster.

Keva, fox, Asian Eskimos, Bering Strait inupiate, copper, caribou, igloolik, Baffin Land, Labrador Eskimos, Polar, West Greenland, Angmassalik, Tagish, Tlingit, Hyda, Tsimshian.

Melanesia. Keva: LeRoy 1985, No. 13 [an eel swam into the girl's vagina; she declined offers, gave birth to an eel, went to the river to breastfeed him every day; her brother followed her, knocked on the river a tree (as the sister called her son), killed an eel, cooked it, gave it to her sister; she went to her Eel husband; when the brother came to them, the Eel promised not to be angry at him; the second son of Eel went with his uncle, he kept him in a puddle in a hollow; while his brother was hunting, other men found and killed an eel; his brother came back to Eel; he gave him a tarot to take home, hid inside a tuber, wrapped around the man on the way; another man I saw it, cut the eel; most of the body swam away, the head remains; so we have few eels], 14 [my sister does not go to the garden to help her brother; he watches her, sees her coming to the river to feed her her son's eel chest; her brother makes himself fake pumpkin breasts, causes an eel with a conditional hiss, bakes it, gives it to her sister; she cries; he offers her pork, she continues to cry; brother leaves, he is killed strangers, butchering to eat; the old woman asked to leave her liver; the sister went to look for her brother, the old woman gave her a liver, told her to bury her under a tree; when there were many lightning in the sky, sister I realized that it was time, I came to the tree; there was a vegetable garden with a variety of cultivated plants, in the garden a boy and a boy, both like her brother; one day she dug a tarot, bleed; both brothers they shouted that their liver hurt, died; if the woman hadn't dug up the sago, the liver of the dead would be buried and they would have revived]: 46-51, 48-51; keva [brother and sister in Muli village near Ialibu; only brother worked in the garden, and my sister stayed at home weaving bracelets and handbags; brother decided to follow her; saw her go to the river, sat on a stone and made a new handbag; fish came out of the river and became suck her breasts; the next day, her brother asked his sister to go to the garden, but he stayed at home, came to the river and sat on a rock; pretended to breast the fish; when it rushed to him, he killed her; in the evening he served the cooked fish to his sister; when she saw her child, she wept; took her property and left; he found it; she warned that her husband was a masalay (spirit) and must be careful; Masalai came, pretended to be happy to see his wife's brother; at night, the masalai attacked the young man and they fought all night and the next day; bird: cut down the escape that is growing nearby; the young man did so, the masalai fell dead; brother went home, my sister gave her a tarot; when she tried to cook it, it fell to the ground; they fought for four months; the young man called his mother's relative, who came and cut the tarot in half; blood poured out, forming two lakes and halves of the tarot forming two mountains]: Slone 2008:52-54.

China - Korea. Lisa [the couple has 4 daughters, her husband died; the elder Amima and her younger brother Abep went to the forest for fruits; when she saw the monkeys, the sister stayed with them, sending her brother to her mother; gave birth to a monkey, came to visit the mother and the Sibling, did not show the child; the brother followed her, saw that her son was a monkey; out of shame she threw him off the tree, he crashed to death; the monkey husband beat Amima; came with her to mother-in-law; when he killed the pig with his teeth, the brother laughed, he chased him; the sister gave him chopsticks and told him to throw them along the way; the monkey husband picks them up every time and takes them to his wife, wasting time; Abepa was transported through Salwen; since then, humans and monkeys have not lived together; the second sister, Alema, married the caterpillar; Abepa came to her; her sister says that her husband is working_, tells him to call; Abepa calls, that Does dzï answer every time? then Abepa killed him with a spear; his sister asks not to see where she sleeps; Abepa is surprised that she is thin and pale; finds small caterpillars there; pours boiling water on them; her sister is desperate for her children; third her sister, Asama, became the wife of a fallen tree; she suffered from heat and cold for three years, and then a huge mushroom grew on the trunk; everyone became jealous; Asama brought it to her mother and lived with her again; the trunk was completely rotted; Asïma's younger sister married a bear; he brings a lot of food; others are jealous; his wife accompanies him when he pulls honey out of the hollow; next time he went alone; some man set up his bag and then killed a bear; his wife is unhappy; Abep's brother grew up, all the girls want him; he chose the most beautiful one, after which he got 12 goitters; one day he went to another village and spent the night in the forest; the spirit of the place invited him to eat; each of his 12 daughters took a goiter to use as a cooking vessel; in the morning he ran home; the spirits tried to catch up with him to give the goiter vessels, but they failed; the neighbor had 3 goitters; when he heard Abepa's story, he went to that place; the spirits gave him 12 goitters of Abepa, he was 15; his wife died of grief; he cut off his goiters with a sword and became an avenger spirit]: Dessaint, Ngwâma 1994:374-389.

The Arctic. Asian Eskimos: Menovshchikov 1988, No. 35 [a single woman raises a caterpillar as a child, feeds edible herbs; it grew the size of a walrus; while the woman was away, the eldest cousin her brother sang her song in her voice; the caterpillar leaned out, he saw her; the next time both brothers killed her with a spear; the woman pierced herself in grief with a knife]: 178; Rubtsova, Vakhtin 2019, No. 59 (Chaplino) [unmarried a childless woman began to raise a worm, breastfeed it; when she approaches the yaranga and carries its roots, she always sings a song about it, he crawls out into the corridor; he is already the size of a walrus; the woman's elder brother called the worm with the same song, stabbed him; a woman came and began to sing, no one came out; when she found the corpse, the woman stabbed herself; her brothers buried her sister, her yaranga was broken]: 753-755; (cf. Northern Alaska Inupiate [a woman finds an abdominal mollusk on the shore, hides it in her bed; her mother finds it but puts it back; the clam leaves, returns human, wins the fight rival]: Hall 1975, PM74:279-280); Bering Strait Inupiate (north shore of Seward Peninsula) [in spring people migrate to fish; forget the old woman; collecting on the shore food, she picks up a worm; it grows, hunts birds and rabbits for it, becomes huge, its skin cannot be pierced with spears; people come back, it kills everyone; the old woman tries to run away, he catches up Keithahn 1958:28-30; copper: Jenness 1924, No. 57 [a woman breastfeeds a caterpillar until it grows up and becomes her lover; one day she leaves alone in the house; people find monster, thrown to dogs; woman furious]: 75; Rasmussen 1932 [woman raises a caterpillar, feeds trout, caterpillar answers her: tee; in the absence of a foster mother, another woman calls the caterpillar, as the adoptive mother did, she replies, the woman kills her with a club; the adoptive mother finds the corpse, cries]: 227; caribou [the old woman took the caterpillar instead of the child; she sucked her breast the woman bayukala her; when the woman was away, people found the caterpillar and killed her; the woman cried]: Rasmussen 1930b:83; igloolik [the woman feeds the caterpillar under her arms with her blood; it grows, crawls on village; people let dogs down on it, they kill a caterpillar; sucked blood flows out of it]: Rasmussen 1930a: 268-269; Labrador Eskimos [caterpillar sucks blood from a woman's chest; woman's husband throws a caterpillar to dogs]: Nungak, Arima, 1969:43; Baffin's Land [women used to find children in the tundra; alone can't find; takes a doll as babies; she sucks her blood, grows big; husband finds a doll, throws it to dogs; woman dies soon]: Boas 1901b, No. 13:177-178; polar Eskimos [two var.: girl does not find a child to foster; takes a worm; he sucks her chest; her mother finds it, throws it away; it bursts, leaving a huge pool of blood]: Holtved 1951, No. 45:201-203; West Greenland: Grønnow 2009 [huge kullugiaq (he aasik is a worm, a caterpillar) live in the interior; women are kidnapped, or a woman becomes the wife of this creature; her relatives kill him and often eat it, because his body consists of pure fat; a woman gives birth to a worm and takes care of it like a child; then the story continues]: 198; West Greenland: Grønnow 2009 [huge kullugiaq (aka aasik - worm, caterpillar) live in hinterland; women are kidnapped, or a woman becomes the wife of this creature; her relatives kill him and often eat him because his body consists of pure fat; a woman gives birth to a worm and takes care of it as a child; the story continues]: 198; Ostermann 1939 [the sister of many brothers rejects suitors; an old woman tells her to marry a worm; the girl disappears; her middle brother finds her in a house where she nurses a baby worm; a big worm begins to shake the house, the wife tells him that her brother has come; called her sister to stay at home; she has come telling everyone to hide in bed so as not to see her child; her mother spies; sees a worm and her daughter's bloody breasts because the worm sucked them; having received her sister's consent, the brothers watched for her worm husband, killed her with arrows; then killed the worm child; sister grieved and calmed down]: 127-129; Rink 1975, No. 21 [the girl behaves strangely, then disappears; returns to her mother, bringing a child; it's a reptile or worm, it bites her lips and sucks blood; brothers girls find the monster's house, kill their sister's child, then his snake-like father; take their sister home; she gives birth to a worm again; leaves forever]: 186-188; Angmassalik [Arviaq woman is childless, her husband advises her to take the worm; she breastfeeds it, then in her armpits (from where she sucks blood); the worm becomes huge, men kill it with spears, whip fountains of blood, A. beats his head against rock]: Millman 2004:57.

Subarctic. Tagish: McClelland 2007, No. 43 [the girl grew a snake in her room, it became huge; it was found out, sent, the snake was killed; the girl cried, calling the snake her child], 68 [splits a log, the girl's uncle found a woodworm there, let her play; she began to feed it with her breast milk; he grew up huge, 15 m long, lived under the floor; the mother heard her daughter call with a song him; the mother's brother sent the girl to sew something, people killed the worm with spears; the girl heard that "her son makes sounds"]: 233-234, 339-340.

NW Coast. Hyda (Skidgate) [all the boxes of oil were empty; people found that they had been emptied by a huge worm hiding underground; it was the chief's breast-feeding daughter's favorite animal when he was sticking out of the hole as a cub; then began to empty food supplies throughout the village; the warriors killed him with knives attached to the ends of long poles; he was covered with scales like a big fish; if If he hadn't been killed, he would have destroyed the entire tribe]: Barbados 1952:120; Haida (Masset) [(the story belongs to the Tlingit family); collecting firewood, the girl finds a big worm, gives him a breast, he grows, she keeps him in a hole under the floor; he crawls around the village, emptying food supplies; people send the girl to the island, find a worm, kill him with spears; the girl disappears, returns with an old man; he gives food for her father; when she leaves, the food turns into snails, worms, frogs]: Swanton 1908a, No. 75:702-705; Haida Fr. The Prince of Wales (and the Tlingits? ; the author has a "tlingita-hyda") [the girl is in a ritual hut on the occasion of her first period; the slaves chopped firewood, found a woodworm, threw it to the girl; she began to take care of him; he refused food, began to suck her breasts when she gave it; grows up, crawls underground, empties the supply box; the mother notices her daughter with the monster; when it is time to leave the hut, men kill the worm with spears; the girl asks to burn "her son" at the funeral fire; soon she dies herself]: Beck 1989:93-98; Tsimshian [collecting brushwood, the chief's daughter finds a larva, brings it home, breastfeeds; the larva grows, She devours all the food supplies in the village; she buries into the ground, hitting her head at both ends of her body, which stretches from one end of the village to the other; in order not to starve, people tear off the monster they cut to pieces, leave the village, leaving a woman in it; the jagged mountains beyond Fort Rupert are pieces of the monster's body]: Barbeau 1953:239.