F74. Undressed pretends to be dead.
.27.29. (.31.36.) .39.41.43.-.46.50.52.67.
Seeing a dangerous character, a man or woman undresses and pretends to be dead (or the character himself undresses the woman). Examining and sniffing the imaginary corpse, the character finds what he thinks is a wound or signs of decay, and leaves.
The Balkans. Bulgarians [the bear ruins the old woman's millet; the old woman goes to fight him; seeing that the bear wins, she falls to the ground and pretends to be wounded; the bear follows the healer; sends a hare to watch behind the body; the old woman farted; the hare joined by the fox tells the bear that the old woman has burst]: Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, no.*152C**: 67; (cf. Ancient Greece: Elian 5, 49 [Bears, smelling hunters, those who fall right into their clutches but hold their breath, leave them aside as dead, as it seems to be the animal disgust the dead body]; Aesop's fables [two travelers meet a bear on the road; one hides in a tree; the other does not have time, pretends to be dead, holds his breath; the bear leans towards him, does not touch him; the first asks the second what the bear whispered to him; the second replies that she whispered to him not to take those who leave others in trouble on the road]: Gasparov 1968, No. 65:82).
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Kalmyks [Erlik Nomin Khan sends the shulmus to destroy Mazan Batyr; he pretends to sleep in a yurt, knocks a boiling pot over the shulmus; next time he lies down in the steppe with his ass in the ass grass, a cake under his arm; the Shulmus do not hear a heartbeat, they undress M., decide that the corpse is already overgrown with grass, they leave]: Basayev 2004, No. 176:288-290; (cf. Karachays [the bear was a woman and therefore does not touch women; when meeting a bear, a woman exposes her breasts and he does not touch it]: Dzhurtubayev 2007:17; Avars [the bear descended from a person understands human speech; when they meet a bear in the mountains, women let their hair loose, expose their breasts, ask the bear to go their own way]: Khalidova 2012, No. 39:57; Turks [bear attacked a peasant; he fell pretending to be dead; the bear began throwing branches at him; went to bring more; the peasant ran away]: Boratav 1955:7).
(Wed. Baltoscandia. Swedes [if a bear is attacked, pretend to be dead; the bear will start digging a hole to bury the body, at which time the person will run away]: Klintberg 2010, No. R25:317; Finns [the bear is ferocious at the sight of the bear pregnant woman, but gets embarrassed and runs away when she lifts her hem]: Jauhiainen 1998, No. R401:321).
(Wed. Eastern Siberia. Western and Baikal Evenks [the hunter falls on the grass, pretends to be dead; the bear sniffs him and leaves]: Voskoboynikov 1980:30).
SV Asia. Forest yukaghirs [mother and daughter went for berries; saw chulzi-pulut ("ancient old man") coming to them, accompanied by a hare; the old woman sent her daughter home, undressed, and lay down between the bushes; the hare asked the ancient old man to wait, went to see; says that the man is overgrown in places with "moss"; on his belly there is a trace of a healed wound from an arrow; below someone cut him with a knife; pressed down his belly with his fingers, the old woman released gases; hare: burst; completely rotten, stinks; since then, the old woman of the ancient old man has not been afraid]: Spiridonov 1996:50; Chukchi [Brown Bear is fishing; a passing woman picks her up; Bear gets angry, pushes a woman; she pretends to be dead; he fears that her relatives will take revenge; looks for a wound; after undressing a woman, he finds two holes in the bottom of her body; thinks that these are the wounds he has inflicted, runs away ; woman picks up fish]: Bogoras 1928, No. 40:414; Markovo [archive; Kosetok's evil spirit examines the body of a girl pretending to be dead; the hole in the back mistakes for a wound; because of bad the smell concludes that the wound is old, decomposition has begun; leaves]: Batyanova 2010:494.
Subarctic. Helmet [Beaver sees a giant approaching; undresses, smeared with white powder, freezes; the giant puts a finger in his ass, smells, thinks it smells like game; but since the game does not move, he leaves; The beaver hides in the tree; the giant dives for a long time behind its reflection in the river; the Beaver laughs; advises the giant to go make a pole with a loop to catch him; runs away while the giant is busy]: Teit 1917a, No. 1 : 422-423; taltan [a person wants to show how stupid cannibals are with mosquitoes in their heads, not brains; he undresses, stands still; the cannibal sniffs his anus, mouth, genitals; leaves]: Teit 1921a, No. 72 : 351-352.
The coast is the Plateau. Coutenay [a woman sees Coyote, fears him, pretends to be dead; he puts his finger in her ass, smells, thinks she's dead a long time ago, leaves; she comes to Coyote herself, becomes his wife]: Boas 1918, No. 10:18.
The Midwest. Steppe Cree [The Big Skunk approaches, kills everyone with its jet; the Mouse and Laska can't kill him, they run away; the old woman throws a whetstone first, then a hollow; slippery, steep mountains appear, The Big Skunk overcomes them; the old woman and the girl pretend to be dead; the Skunk feels their vaginas, mistakes them for the wounds that killed them; putting his finger inside and smelling, decides that the meat is rotten; continues to harass people; then see B3A motive]: Skinner 1916, No. 1 (1): 341-346.
Northeast. Naskapi [hunter and wife cook caribou; cannibal Atcen comes; husband throws his spear, runs away; wife falls with her genitals exposed; Atzen puts his finger in her vagina, sniffs, decides that the meat is rotten, leaves; returns, deciding to take the liver; the woman pushes it into the fire, it burns]: Millman 1993:81; penobscot [seeing the cannibal giant Kivakwe, the old woman lies down with her legs spread apart, pulls her skirt over her head; K. smells her genitals, decides that the meat has gone bad; the old woman swims away on a log along the river; K. screams to bring him her liver; she advises him to Eljaskat his sister ( ultimate insult)]: Speck 1915b, No. 34:81-82.
Plains. Blacklegs [running away from Napi (Old Man), two women pretend to be dead; he undresses them, examines their vulvas, mistakes them for mortal wounds; transfers them one to another place ; on the way, the imaginary deceased shakes her hand, breaking his nose into blood; while N. returns for the second woman, both run away; he shouts to them, Lie down like you were! ]: Josselin de Jong 1914:18-19; Wissler, Duvall 1908, No. 19:36; assiniboine [Sitkonsky sees a naked female marten sleeping; takes the vulva for a wound, thinks his grandmother is dead ; touches her, she wakes up; he smells his hand, smells his genitals]: Lowie 1909a, No. 19:116; crowe [Old Coyote disguises his penis as strawberries; two girls lick it; seeing the Old Man- Coyote again, girls strip naked, pretend to be dead; he sniffs their genitals, decides the girls died yesterday; comes back to cut off their breasts but the girls have already run away]: Lowie 1918:43-45; Lowie 1918:44; Simms 1903, No. 3:284; arpaho [seeing a Bear, a man undresses, covers himself with clay, pretends to be dead; the Bear examines his penis; the man grabs the Bear by the ears; that rushes to run, he has diarrhea]: Dorsey, Kroeber 1903, No. 97:228; Comanche [The bear chases the man; he paints himself green, lies down; the bear sniffs his penis, believes that the man really dead, leaves]: Saint Clair 1909b, #13:276.
The Great Southwest. Mescalero [two girls see an ogre giant; undress, pretend to be dead; he feels their breasts, leaves]: Opler 1946:272; chiricahua [two girls see an ogre giant; undress, pretend to be dead; he feels their breasts, leaves]: Opler 1942:21; hicarilla [to scare the cowardly old man, people ask the girl to undress and lie on the path, put an ax next to her; the old man touches her genitals, smells, decides that the corpse is already decaying (and that the girl was killed by enemies)]: Opler 1938, No. 17:368-369.
Mesoamerica Lacandons [when the hunter sees the forest owner, he pretends to be dead by exposing his erected penis; the forest owner decides he is pierced by a female leaves]: Boremanse 1986:174.
Montagna - Jurua. Ashaninka [the hunter killed the deer, but the bear took the prey and lifted it to the tree; the monster advised the bear to eat the hunter; he lay down on the ground with the caterpillars in all holes in his body; bear decided that the meat was spoiled and gone]: Zolezzi 2014, No. 2:122.
Bolivia - Guaporé. Tacana [The Jaguar met Ocelot sleeping; he pretended to be dead, the wind blew, the Jaguar thought the corpse smelled bad, left]: Hissink, Hahn 1961, No. 116:252-253.