H34d1. Edible sky. .10.-.13.19.24. (.27.)

The sky or celestial objects were edible, but then this food source became unavailable or used only by those living in a country on the horizon where heaven and earth converge.

Lamba, Comorians, Mosi, Cacena, Bulsa, Bini, Giziga and Kapsiki, Aquapim, Hausa, Yoruba, Ijo, Nubians, Dinka, Dera, Nias, Ngaju.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Lamba [where the dome of heaven touches the ground, dwarfs ("little cloud eaters") cut off pieces of clouds, bring them home, cook them and feed them, this is their main food; or pieces of clouds they fall off themselves when clouds rub against the sharp edge of the earth, and dwarfs pick them up, dry them in the sun, crush them and make porridge]: Dome 1931:222-223; Comorians [God was the first to create heaven and earth; they fell in love, the sky descended to earth; God pushed them apart, but they reunited; then he created a mountain, a volcano, and a tree, and then the lovers were separated; God convinced them not to contradict to him; created people, they began to cultivate the land; seeing this, the sky began to cry, (rain) vegetation appeared, rivers and the sea filled with water; the sky suggested: if people stop injuring the earth, they they can cut off pieces from it and eat them; then people stopped working, began to eat pieces of the sky; some cut off so much that they could not eat and the pieces deteriorated; for this, God pushed the sky away high so that people can't reach it and work; the sky is angry, it's winds and hurricanes, the earth is angry - earthquakes happen]: Hatubou 2004, No. 18:85-87.

West Africa. Moshi [Wuende sky was close to the ground, people cut off pieces and ate; once a blind man lit a torch and burned the sky, it moved far away from people]: Tauxier 1917:498 (translated into Kotlyar 2009, No. 32:55); casena [the sky was low, preventing the old woman from cooking, she cut off a piece of it, put it in the soup; the sky moved away from the ground in anger]: Cardinall 1920:22-23 (=1931:15); boulsa [people did not work; Sky/God allowed pieces to be cut off and eaten, but forbid mixing them with seasonings made from the ash of certain types of millet (i.e. potash); the old woman mixed, the sky moved away]: Schott 1989:260 (=1993:23, 40-41); beanie [the sky was 51 close to the ground, people cut off pieces from it, ate it; they often cut off more than they could eat, throw it away; the sky did not like to see heaps garbage, it warned that it would punish people; yet the greedy woman cut off a huge piece, called her husband, then the whole village, but could not finish eating; then Heaven rose, people should work ever since]: Beier 1966:51; gisiga (about the same as the capsica) [at first, the sky is close to the ground, people walked bent, ate pieces that were cut off from the sky; the leader's daughter instead picked up with the land of grain, began to grind them in a mortar, touching the sky with a pestle; asked the Sky to move away three times; twice it moved a little, the third time to its current height; people were able to walk straightened up and farming, but lost the opportunity to feed on pieces of the sky]: Beek 2010:53; aquapim [the sky of Nyankupong, the incarnation of the god Nyang, was close to the ground; it was enough to throw a stick at it how a big fish fell from there; the woman pushed a pestle in a fufu mortar, asked N. to move away a little; he got up and asked if it was enough; but the woman asked three times, and eventually the sky moved away very far away; now there are few fish]: Frobenius 1909:380; Hausa (Niger) [the sky was low, people broke off pieces and ate with their hands; old people forbade children to make noise, grind in a mortar, disturb the sky; one girl crushed water in her mortar, hitting the sky with the end of the pestle; the sky moved away, people had to eat grain rather than semolina from heaven, old people told women and girls to grind grain]: Mariko 1984 : 5-7; Yoruba [Olodumare and the sky where it lives were low; people ate pieces of the sky, wiped their dirty hands on it; then O. and the sky moved away from the ground]: Scheub 2000:200; ijo (calabari) [the fat and fat Moon woman felt sorry for the starving old woman; went down to her at night, allowing her to cut off pieces of flesh; people wondered why the moon was getting smaller; broke into old lady, the moon ran to heaven in fear and does not go down anymore; during the day it does not go out at all; it still loses weight every month, but then gets fat again]: Dayrell 1910, No. 26:91-92; (cf. mancana [Hyena spies on the Hare asking the vine hanging from the sky to become shorter, climbs it into the sky, eats up there, then asks the vine to grow longer, goes down; Hyena also says the spell appears in heaven, Nashi-Bata's lord of heaven invites her to cook the porridge herself; Hyena does not want to cook, he drives her back; she has forgotten the spell, cannot go down; the NB gives her goatskin make a drum, tells it to soak; the hyena eats the skin; so several times; the NB gives shade from the skin; makes the drum himself; lowers the Hyena on the vine, tells you to hit the drum when the Hyena reaches the ground; Hyena sees the merchant, asks for food; she demands that the Hyena hit the drum; the Hyena first tries to just say "Nderen-Nderen", then hits the drum, the NB cuts off the vine, the Hyena falls; since then limps and howls at night, looking at the sky]: Nikolnikov, Katasonova 1976:109-113).

Sudan-East Africa. The Nubians [the sky was low, people picked off edible pieces from it; the woman shoved it with a spoon, the sky moved away in anger; therefore, the clouds only rain for a short time of the year]: Parrinder 1967:35; Dinka [the wall in the sky kept a man there; he ate part of the wall, God pushed him to the ground for it]: Lienhardt 196:35 (parrinder retelling 1967:35).

Melanesia. Dera (menggwa dla) [He lived in a pond for a month, went ashore to steal crops; the owner of the site followed, called people, they dried the pond with sago palm leaves {it is not said how}, found A month that hid in the hollow trunk of a pandanus; the landlord brought it home, hung it on the wall in a mesh bag; fat had been dripping since the Month, people filled it with sago, vegetables and other food; Kariawi came When only children are at home; they showed him where the Month is; he took it out of the bag, put it in a bucket of water, the Month rose to heaven; dew is now called "moon dew," meaning "moon fat"; but it is tasteless - probably because the moon is far away]: Sousa 2006:524-536.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Nias [people cut off pieces of fat from the sky; a woman, angry with her husband, hit the sky with an ax (and it moved away)]: Schroeder 1917 (1): 503, 506 in Fischer 1932:223; ngaju: Grabowsky 1892 [(only mentioned as Dayaki, but the myth is almost identical to that told in Stöhr, Zoetmulder 1965:26-27; Fischer 1932 (probably Olo Ngadju): 217); first the sky rests on earth; humans ate edible oily substance; Anak Mahatara (son of the supreme deity Mahatara) taught how to grow rice; M. became angry, pushed the sky away from the ground; in the future the sky will split, collapse to the ground, the same will die, a new world will emerge]: 118; Hardeland 1859:295 in Fischer 1932 [(apparently the same source as Grabowsky; the oily substance consisted of the sky itself, and they ate it; Anak Mahatara, son the supreme deity Mahatara, taught me how to sow rice; M. in anger pushed the sky far from the ground]: 217.

(Wed. The Balkans. Serbs [the sky was low; moved away after the dog mistook the month for meat and gnawed off a piece of it]: Janković 1951:23, 109).