F53. An ugly husband.
(.19.) .20.21.40.43.47.-.50.52.55.61.66.68.72.
An ugly man marries but hides his face. When they see him, the marriage ends.
(Wed. Melanesia. Maevo [two women found an owl chick with white feathers; picked it up, he turned into a man, began to live with them; they began to quarrel with him, he promised to leave; when he went to bed, he forbade lighting a fire ; they lit it, looked at him, he became an owl, flew away; the women were grieving]: Codrington 1891, No. 8:397).
Micronesia-Polynesia. Samoa: Polinskaya 1986, No. 46 (Savaii) [a noble man marries Taem (Floating Sewage) and her sister Tila-Fainga (The Floating Mast; they both gave themselves first name in front of them); the husband leaves home and comes back in the dark; the wives put him to sleep, he wakes up late, they see a cockscomb on his head; T. gives birth, leaves the child, runs away with his sister]: 143; Pratt 1891 [like Polinskaya; husband has a huge nose; wives run away when they realize that he is a god, then take names for themselves]: 458-459; Tuvalu (Waitupu) [many spirits although marry Sina; Atua-fulu sleeps with her secretly from others, always leaves in the dark; she is pregnant; one day A. wakes up dawn, S. sees that he is covered with hair and mouths; gives birth to the same son; she sets fire to the house, A. has difficulty escaping and saves her son; parents scold S., she leaves, refuses to return to them; A. complains that now she smells of smoke]: Kennedy 1931:171-172.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Sherdukpen [Gyamu-Lala-Pipi rejects bird grooms; The Bat comes at night, says he only has this appearance in the dark, and during the day he is the king of birds; G. agrees to marry him; he leaves until dawn; G. says her marriage will be decided in the afternoon at the Bird Council; The Bat promises to come, says his wife will recognize him; she secretly ties a red thread to his claw; at the council in the center sits a gorgeous Rooster, the Bat hides on the edge; G. sees and notices him, says to the birds, they laugh, the Bat runs away, has not shown up since then; G. became a forest bird, and her chick from Black Duck Bat]: Elwin 1958b, No. 9:385-386.
The Arctic. Aleuts [a one-eyed man always leaves at dawn; one day his wife watches him, sees that he has no eye, leaves it; a giant meets her, throws her into his underground yurt; a voice tells her put on fox skins; she turns into a fox, runs away; comes to her father; cannot go down to his house, goes to the field forever]: Voskoboynikov, Menovshchikov 1951:601-603 (=Sangi 1989:467-468); polar Eskimos [A silly man marries a girl, takes her to an island; one day, when he takes off his snow goggles, she sees his ugly eyes; a woman's relatives take her away; a silly man raises a storm, a woman they throw her into the water; she clings to the boat, her father cuts off her fingers with an oar, they turn into commercial animals; her father now lives with her at the bottom of the sea; shamans come to them if animals disappear]: Menovshchikov 1985, No. 267:490-491; Holtved 1966-1967:147-148; igloolik [like the Polar Eskimos]: Holtved 1966-1967:149-150; igloolik (? "known throughout the Arctic") [Nutik hides his face from his wife and mother-in-law, eats in the dark, takes his wife from behind; mother-in-law assumes that he is eating his own crap; then I. opens his face, it and his whole body in cracks, he's a crack in the ice, walks away, merges with the iceberg; wife turns into a fox, mother-in-law into a dog]: Millman 2004:133.
The coast is the Plateau. Modoc [Jacalypse never shows his two wives his red eyes; tells him not to touch the gallbladder when cleaning the fish; to make him look, the wives cut the bubble, call it; They see his fiery eyes, blood-red face; they run away, throw a rope into the sky, climb it; he follows them but cannot catch up; turns into red clouds at sunset; when they appear in autumn, water freezes]: Curtin 1912:88-90.
Southeast USA. Chirokee [man marries two sisters; leaves early, arrives late; the house stands with his back to the fire; the woman's brother lights a branch, sparks fly; the husband turns around, everyone sees big eyes and crooked owl nose]: Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick 1966, No. 3:425-426.
California. Cahuilla [beauty rejects suitors; Bat wears a vegetable fiber wig, goes to her at night; one day she sleeps until dawn, she sees the Bat with her; she calls her grandmother, he runs away]: Modesto, Monut 1986:70.
Big Pool. Usually, the Bat marries two sisters; says he hunts all the time, but brings ice under the guise of fat; his wives leave him when they see his face. Western Shoshones [Girls' Mother - Toad]: Smith 1993:65-67; Goshiyute: Smith 1993:22-23; (cf. chemeuevi [two Worms in Yucca Fruits sisters travel in search of a suitable husband; Asparagus Worm's house has tendons; girls watch their husband and see what he is turning into tendons asparagus stems; go away; black pudding is hung near Poloz's house; wives watch, see Poloz scratching his body with thorns, bringing home his blood instead of food; fat at Bat's house; he brings ice, calls it "ice fat", advises eating raw, not frying; girls find the perfect husband in the Red-Tailed Hawk]: Laird 1976:162-168); southern Utah [wives pinch the Bat, to make him laugh; see his yellow teeth and festering eyes]: Lowie 1924, No. 5, 5a: 10-13.
The Great Southwest. Valapai [The bear returns from hunting after midnight, hides his face; his two wives light a fire, see that his face is dirty, run away, marry Puma and Wolf; Coyote, who lives in the same house, remains without a wife; The bear comes, he has four lives, the Puma has five, the Puma kills the Bear]: Kroeber 1935:264; SV yawapai [two wives of the Bat accompany him on the hunt; he misses by shooting at deer, kills a deer, wives take meat home; The Bat comes back late, brings a scar, says meat; wives want to see his face, light a bunch of grass, see ugly eyes, run away far east; he can't catch up with them, wanders in the dark]: Gifford 1933a: 372; havasupai [The Bat has two wives, many children; always comes back in the dark; children want to see his face; one day they lit the bark, saw that it did not bring fat, but ice, that his face was ugly; wives and children ran away, went up to heaven, became the Little Bear; he stayed behind them, at the edge of the sky, it is not known what happened to him]: Smithson, Euler 1994:98-99.
Mesoamerica Kekchi, mopan [see motive F34; brothers Keen and Shulab (Morning Star, animal owner) kill the old woman Shkitsa, who lived with; K. says that S., as the eldest, should marry, finds him wife; taking care of animals, Shulab gets up early, comes back in the dark; his wife lights a fire and sees his face; laughs because her husband is ugly and has a beard; he runs away, frightening animals that are since then the pores were wild; S.'s hands were covered in blood because he tried to keep the animals, their tails were cut off; he wiped his hands on the plant (it became edible) and on the old trunk (edible mushrooms grew on it); this is to make up for people's pets]: Thompson 1930:124-125; mopan [dwarf persuades a woman to break her husband's ban not to look at him in the light; she lights a torch; the husband is furious ( The explanation is not clear)]: Smailus 1985:278-279.
The Northern Andes. Guajiro [sister's husband finds a wife for the Bat; he hides during the day, hiding his little eyes from others; one day he works a lot in the garden and then gets drunk and falls asleep; wife's sister opens his face; he leaves]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1986 (1), No. 81:214-215.
Western Amazon. Cofan: Barriga Lopez 1988b [The bat visits a girl at night; at holidays she dances away from the hearths; flies away; she gives birth to bats, now they bite people]: 198; Calífano, Gonzalo 1995, No. 135 [The Bat's wife makes a lot of chichi, arranges holidays; her husband never dances until morning without seeing his nose; one day she forgets the danger, everyone sees that his nose is flying mice; he turns into a bat; his wife gives birth to bats]: 189.
Montagna - Jurua. Shipibo [The Bat marries a girl; leaves and comes back in the dark; goes to build a boat, tells his wife to warn him when she brings him a drink during the day; one day she walks quietly , sees his ugly head; at night, bats sucked the juices out of it, leaving skin and bones]: Roe 1990, No. 1:145-149.
Southern Amazon. Kayabi [a man with thin legs and a narrow ass is ashamed of his appearance, always returns to his two wives after nightfall; they watch him, he notices them, rushes into the river; they have time to see his legs; he turns into a mosquito]: Pereira 1995, No. 13:68.
Chaco. Maca: Wilbert, Simoneau 1991a, No. 95 [ashamed of their big eyes, Owls return to their wives only after dark, forbid making fires; bring only dientudos fish; alone the woman suddenly set fire to an armful of dry grass, frightened her husband's face; the women ran away from their husbands], 96 [The owl returned home only in the dark; one day his wife suddenly lit a fire and saw his terrible eyes, ran away]: 213-214, 214-215; toba: Wilbert, Simoneau 1989a, No. 185 (Western Tobas) [(Tomasini MS) Watoki bird marries the Owl; The owl is ashamed of its big eyes, brings fish only in the dark, not tells the fire to move; one day the wife moves the coals to fry the fish, sees her husband's eyes; talks about what another V. saw, who is married to another Owl; both leave their husbands, make a big fire, Owls do not dare to approach them], 186 (pilaga) [(Idoyaga Molina, MS) Dove advises his wife's sister to marry Owl, a good fisherman; one day the wind blows the coals, the wife sees her husband's big eyes, she doesn't want to anymore live with him; The owl leaves, stays alone], 187 (Eastern; by Wright MS) [The owl always tells her two wives to put out the fire when he returns; one manages to see his eyes; both run away; the Owl tells the Crane draw jaguars and other predators on the ground, revives them, they kill people in the home village of Owl's wives]: 259-260, 261, 262-263; mocovi: Wilbert, Simoneau 1988, No. 155 [two Ducks take off their clothes, they bathe; the Owl and the Heron hide their clothes, marry Ducks; they always come back late, prevent their wives from seeing them; one day they light a fire, they see that the Owl has ugly eyes and the Heron has a neck; they leave], 156 [two Owls marry two Ducks; come back in the dark, prevent their wives from kindling a fire in front of them; one day they light up, see the ugly eyes of Owls, leave their husbands], 157 [as in (156), one married couple] : 195, 196-197, 197.