H5. Humans and snakes. .11.-.15.17.-.24.26.-.29.33. (.34.) .38.43.
.44.47.48.50.52.53.55.-.59.61.-.69.72.
Reptiles or invertebrates are opposed to humans as immortal and/or responsible for people dying and not being reborn; the dead turn into snakes. See H4 motif.
Rwanda, fipa, chagga, luya (wugusu), tabwa, vemba, bende, zulu, bene-marungu, luba, fang, isanzu, kwaya, wute, eve, kono, kone, isoko and urhobo, oromo, konso, tsamai, guji, darasa, Sidamo, Souk, Meen, Malgashi, Ancient Egypt, Portuguese, Italy, Babylonia, Old Testament, Phoenicians, Karajari, Murinbata, Nungaburra (=ualarai), Manam, Abelam, Mountain Arapesh, Marind Anim, Kiwai, Dugum Dani, Daribi, Kukukuku, Dobu, Trobrians, Bining, Tolay, Gazelle Peninsula, Batom Islands, Guadalcanal, Ambrym, Oba Kanaka, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Samoa, Tuamotu, Hawaii, Tibetans (Ham), Moklum, Burma Naga, Lushei , Vieta, Zhuang, Thai Vietnam, Lao Black Thai, Zyaray, Mahabharata, Rajastans, Marathi, Dhanwar, Baiga, Bondo, Sora, Tamils, Nias, Mentawai, Dusun, Toraja, Balantak, Tetum, East Timor, Kay Islands, Chinese (Sichuan, Hubei, Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong), Naxi, Yi, Miao, Tuja, Ancient Greece, Armenians, (Altaians, Khakas, Buryats), Nanai, Ainu, Miyako Islands, Okinawa, Amami Islands, Klamath Islands, Triki, Sumu, Embera, yupa, shikuani, sanema, yanomami, warrau, tamanak, lokono, cariña Guyana, kalinha, aparai, hishkaryana, kashuyana, emerillon, sekoya, mayhuna, shuar, ufaina, makuna, letuama, yukuna, barasana, tukano, waupes, chikuna, yagua, carijona, arua, maue, middle Amazon, katawishi, tenetehara, spike, huanca, amahuaca, kayabi, nambikwara, iranshe, trumai, kamayura, kuikuro, karazha, matako.
The first death comes from a snake bite (centipede), but snakes are not opposed to humans as immortals.
Karanga, Kone, Baiga, Juang, Bondo, Ancient Greece, Kazakhs, Northern Soltos, Chiroki, Yana, Patvin, Pomo, Mivok, Nisenan, Maidu, Cahuilla, Cupeno, Pima, Lacandons, Hikake, Bribri, guayabero, macuna, tupari, bororo.
Bantu-speaking Africa. Rwanda [1) Imana tells me not to sleep that night, but to listen to his words; people overslept and did not answer the call, but the snake answered; I. said that in old age you should shed your skin and do it again young; 2) the woman's child died; Imana asked why she was crying; told her not to sleep; the woman fell asleep and the snake heard to change her skin and not die]: Abrahamsson 1951:37; fipa [Leza lowered first man and woman from heaven to earth; asked if they wanted to die; humans and animals slept, now they're dying; only a snake heard, changes skin, and renewed]: Janssens 1926:551 (quoted in Abrahamsson 1951: 38); luya [The chameleon climbed into a mug of beer, told the man to drink it; he refused, because the chameleon is considered poisonous and disgusting; the Chameleon told people to be mortal; the Snake drank the contents , became immortal, changing her skin]: Abrahamsson 1951:18; luya (vugusu) [people did not die, or were resurrected on the fourth day when they got back from the grave; the Chameleon asked the person to share with him food, he drove him away; the Snake shared; The Chameleon told people to get sick and die, and snakes to live forever by changing their skin]: Wagner 1949:169-170 (=1955:43-44; =Abrahamsson 1951:18; =Parrinder 1967:56); tabwa [Leza decided to punish a person for breaking the rules; offered a choice of baskets of death and life; people chose death, and the snake changed their skin now]: Abrahamsson 1951:44; chagga [Ruwa told people to rejuvenate by changing their skin like snakes; warned that children and grandchildren should not see this; the old man decided to change their skin, sent his granddaughter to bring water full of holes calebasy; she plugged the hole, came back quickly, saw the old man shed his skin; people became mortal, the girl was driven into the forest, her descendants were baboons and great apes]: Abrahamsson 1951:59 ( about the same as Dundas, p.109-111 in Millroth 1965:202); vemba [Kabezya brought the first humans down from heaven to earth; offered a choice of bundles of death and life; people chose death; so even animals are mortal; but the snake has chosen a bundle of life, sheds its skin and rejuvenates]: Janssens 1926:553 (quoted in Abrahamsson 1951:43); bende [people overslept and the snake heard God's call, received ability to shed skin and rejuvenate]: Abrahamsson 1951:66; Zulu [the snake sheds its skin every year and renews itself]: Abrahamsson 1951:66; bene-marungu [Leza offered a choice of bundles with with life and with death; people chose death and snakes life; now they shed their skin and renew themselves]: Janssens 1926:556; luba (tumbwe) [The Great Spirit called the man, woman and snake to choose what they want: the embryos of death or immortality; the woman chose death and the snake chose immortality]: Abrahamsson 1951:44; luba (bahololo) [God invited the woman and the snake to choose the embryos of life and death; the woman chose death, snake life]: Janssens 1926:556; fang [god Essamnyamaböge has four sons: Mode (man), gorilla, chimpanzee, snake; he leaves M. and a woman, tells them not to eat ebon fruits, not copulate; sends Gorilla, then Chimpanzees take them food, they do not give them; then the Snake, who persuades M. to eat the fruit; E. came to the village of M., he and the woman hid behind a banana; E. told the woman give birth, every second child will die]: Tessmann in Abrahamsson 1951:94; karanga (hungwe): Frobenius 1931 [God Maori created a Mwuetsi man ("Month") at the bottom of the lake; he went to empty land; God gave him a wife Mossassi ("Morning Star"), she gave birth to plants; took her, gave birth to his wife Morongo ("Evening Star"), she gave birth to pets; the morning after re-copulation, she gave birth to sons and daughters, who immediately became adults; God warned against further copulation, but Mvuetsi did not listen; after the fourth copulation, the wife gave birth to predators, snakes, scorpions; then told her husband to take wives of their adult daughters; she slept with the snake herself; Mwuetsi wanted to sleep with her, the snake was under the bed, bit him, he fell ill, the rains stopped; his children strangled him, burned him, Morongo also killed, chose another ruler; (=Frobenius, Fox 1937:215-220; retelling in Abrahamsson 1951:72)]: 237-240; Beier 1966 [{source? This is a slightly different text than in Fribenius 1931}; god Maori created a man at the bottom of the lake, Mwuetsi ("The Month"); he went to empty land; God gave him a wife, Mossassi ("The Morning Star"), she gave birth to plants; two years later, Maori took her to live in heaven, eight years later he married Morongo (Evening Star) for two years; she gave birth to pets on the first day, wild herbivores and birds on the second day, and wild herbivores and birds on the third - people; contrary to warning, the Month slept with her for the fourth time, she gave birth to predators, snakes, scorpions; the Month met with her daughters, they gave birth to many children, the Month became the king of a large people; Out of jealousy, the Evening Star sent a snake to bite her husband, who fell ill, the rains stopped; the children killed the Month, threw them into the sea, chose another king; the Month ascended to heaven, haunting its first wife The Morning Star with whom I was happy]: 15-17; isanza [The sun came down to earth, brought a jug, his wife Luna a basket; decided to find out who is wiser on earth; the woman chose a jug and the snake chose a basket; they should have thrown the chosen items to the ground; the jug has broken but the basket is not; so humans are mortal, and snakes change their skin and are getting younger]: Kohl-Larsen, S. 309 in Abrahamsson 1951:46, in Millroth 1965:200, in Beier 1966:64-65; quaya [a man sent a daughter-in-law to tell the Snake that when she dies, he will remain dead, and if a person dies, he will be reborn; daughter-in-law confused, said the opposite; father-in-law I asked her again, got angry, sent her again; this time she said the right thing, but the Snake refused to listen; so snakes change their skin and revive]: Huber 1967:796-797.
West Africa. Vute [God sent a chameleon to tell people that they would rise up after death; along the way he decided he needed a hat, asked him to do it, it took two weeks; the snake overheard the words God, hurried to people and announced that they must die completely; Death heard this and rejoiced: how powerful God has given her! When the chameleon came to the people, they did not believe him and said that they had already heard from the serpent; the chameleon and the serpent began to fight and came to God to judge between them; when God learned of the deception, he told people to kill snakes. People also hate chameleons for wasting time spent decorating their heads]: Siebert 1921, No. 2:57-60 (summary in Abrahamsson 1951:9-10 and Lembezat 196:236); eve [rain-causing heavenly humans don't age, but they change their skin like snakes]: Baumann 1936:213; kono [Man and Snake went to the river; there the Frog and Toad both wanted to move Man to the other side; the Toad persuaded the man to sit on her, fell into the river, the man drowned; the Frog jumped safely with the Snake across the river; so the person dies, and the snake changes its skin and revives]: Holas 1975:127; kone (kone) (Sierra Leone) [ God told the husband, wife and their child that they would change their skin and rejuvenate in old age; sent new skins with the Dog; the dog was invited by other animals to eat rice and pumpkins; at this time the Serpent stole the package, distributed skin to snakes; Man and Dog came to God, but it was too late; snakes were punished by driving them out of settlements, people are killing them]: Parrinder 1967:54 (=Scheub 2000:268-269); tangale [The lizard dug up from eggs of the land, let them hatch; answered Chameleon that they were all his children; he called the celestials, they told the Lizard to hatch the eggs; snakes, flies, insects, lizards came out of them; soon after being bitten the serpent died a child; the Lizard replied that the Chameleon had brought eggs; it was said that people would not die, but the Lizard said they would; people went to the sorcerer, who told the Lizard and the Chameleon to climb on tree; whoever falls first did it {got eggs}; The lizard said that if the first one who fell from the tree gets up, people will die; fell and got up; the Chameleon died; the lizard brought the girl, gave Chameleon to as ransom]: Jungraithmayr 2002:207-214; Dogon [the deceased old man was waiting for his soul to go into the world of Yéban spirits (p. 55, 61-62: to become a snake, then human again); but he was met his son, spoke to him; ashamed that he was caught (in the process of renewal), the old man returned to the village because he could not go to Yéban afterwards; he died, this is his first death]: Griaule 1938:70; isoko and Urhobo [Oghene created people immortal, old people shed their skin like snakes, became young; the earth overflowed; the dog, as man's companion, wanted people to live forever, and W. expanded the world; the toad wanted the dead to die forever; decided that O. would agree with whoever would come to him first; the dog first overtook the toad but decided to sleep; the toad came first, people became mortal]: Scheub 2000:198-199.
Sudan - East Africa. Oromo; konso; guji, darasa [God sent to find out who deserves immortality, humans or snakes, offered to race; on the way, a man met a woman and stood with her chatter, the snake was the first to reach God, he gave the snakes immortality]: Abrahamsson 1951:16; tsamai [God called a snake and man to him, asked what they wanted; the snake wanted to be like a yellow bolo fruit ( Solanum), and let man be like a lump of earth; threw fruit into the water twice, both times it surfaced; threw a lump of earth, he drowned; snake: if people were like a bolo fruit, they would multiply so much that they would destroy each other; and the snake always comes to life; if it is killed and buried, it will swell and crawl out alive in 4 days; to kill a snake, it must be cut to pieces]: Jensen 1969:380; sidamo [creator of Magāno disguised as a mere mortal, she asked for water from a woman; she decided to be hospitable: instead of honoring the guest, she gave him milk rather than water; M. goes on, asks the Snake for water, she gives him exactly water; so M. gave immortality to snakes, not humans]: Hamer 2008:207; mehen [The Snake and the Turtle raced; the Snake easily overtook the Turtle, but began to eat berries (Carissa edulis), as a result The turtle came first; that's why everyone is mortal; if the Snake won, everyone would shed their skin and rejuvenate]: Jensen 1959, No. 3:413-414; malgashi (Bezanozano, Sakalava) [Ratanimasina ("sacred earth") made human figures out of clay, and Zanaharibe (the "great god") revived them; Z. asked R. whether he wanted people to be like trees or snakes; he replied that like trees (snakes are ugly); snakes change skin and get younger, and trees and people grow old and die]: Abrahamsson 1951:122; female [the dead turn into snakes; if a snake crawls into the house, they give it milk, meat, and tobacco]: Beech 191:20
North Africa. Ancient Egypt [the patient asks to be likened to a snake: "I am like the Sata serpent, whose years are numerous; I am dying and being reborn again; I am the Sata serpent living in the farthest edge of the earth; I am dying and reviving myself, renewing myself, getting young again every time]: Book of the Dead, Ch. 87 in Briffault 1927:649.
Southern Europe. The Portuguese [donkey brought people eternal youth; stopped drinking by the river; the snake: if you don't give me what you're carrying, I won't let them drink; the donkey gave it back, the snake changed its skin and rejuvenated, and people were to blame donkeys grow old (and die)]: Correia 2018, No. 43; Italy: Krappe 1930:256 [the idea that snakes rejuvenate by shedding their old skin is recorded in Greater Greece], 261 (note 25) [ Italian expression "to be older than a snake"].
Western Asia. The Phoenicians [(Sanhunyaton in Philon Biblsky's paraphrase); this animal {dragons and snakes} is very durable, and by nature, having lost its old age, it not only grows younger, but also receives an increase in size and, when it reaches a certain size, it finally collapses in itself;... This animal does not die by ordinary death unless it is struck by some force]: Turaev 1999:80-81; Tsirkin 2000 [it was believed that snakes did not die, but change their skin and return to a new life; {Sanhunyaton lived in the 12th-11th centuries BC and was translated by Philo of Bibles (50-138 AD, Phoenician History in Greek), excerpts from Philo's text by Eusebius, 260-340 AD; this passage is briefly quoted and Frazer 1919:50}]: 75; Old Testament [God forbids Adam and Eve to eat fruit from a tree "which is in the midst of paradise" so as not to die; at the instigation of the serpent Eve, Eve eva eats fruit and gives it to Adam, they understand that nagas; God curses the serpent, which must now crawl and feed on ashes, he will be the enemy of people, he will sting them; God expels Adam and Eve from paradise so that they do not also taste the fruits of immortality ]: Gen. ,3; Mesopotamia [the idea that snakes rejuvenate by shedding their old skin is recorded in Mesopotamia, Greater Greece, Attica]: Krappe 1930:256; Babylonia (first 11 tablets of the Akkadian poem) [King Gilgamesh is cruel to his subjects; the gods create a wild man Enkidu to defeat G.; E. leaves animals and goes to people after he has been seduced by a harlot Shamkhat; G. and E. fight and become friends, kill Humbaba cedar forest guards; the gods want to punish them, E. dies; G. wants to understand the mystery of death; goes gorge through the ridge of mountains surrounding the world, persuading a scorpion man to let him pass; visits a garden where gems grow on trees; Siduri, who lives by the sea, shows him the way; Urshanabi transports him through the waters of death to the island where she lives the immortal Ut-Napishti; he tells G. the story of the flood, helps to get a flower of eternal youth from the bottom of the sea; while G. was sleeping, the snake stole the flower, returning to its hole, shed its skin; G. laments that I got the ability to rejuvenate not for myself (and all people), but for snakes]: Deacons 196:7-82.
Australia. Unknown group; karajari; murinbata; nungaburra (=yualarai) [The month asked people to carry his three dogs (i.e. snakes) across the river; threw bark into the water; if humans if they carry "dogs", they will respawn after death, just as bark floats in the water; if he threw a stone, it drowned; if people refuse, they will die like a stone thrown into the water; he had to Carry dogs on his own; he said that now people will not be reborn like him but die forever; people kill snakes, but the Month sends others]: Parker 1965:85-88 (=Waterman 1987, No. 2870:84).
Melanesia. Abelam [the snake died; the rat said that her husband died, destroyed all provisions; but the snake took off its skin and came to life; the rat also decided to die to come to life, but did not come to life, her corpse decomposed; the snake took another wife, children with her; people followed the example of a rat]: Huber-Greub 1988, No. 8. 8:281; mountain arapeche [1) The snake took off its skin while the Rat was in the forest; the rat smelled its skin, went into the water and died; if the Rat took off the skin and the Snake smelled, people would live forever and snakes would die; 2) The Snake persuaded the Rat to jump first into the abyss, the Rat crashed, so people are mortal; if the Snake jumped first, it would not die and people would live forever; they would only have to change their skin]: Mead 1940, No. 4:362; manam [an old woman rejuvenated in the river, came back, her granddaughter did not recognize her, cried; she came back took her old body, said snakes and sea creatures would now change bodies and humans would die forever]: Franks 1979:110-111 in Yost 1988:88; Marind-anim: Wirtz, Neverman 1981, No. 10-12 [snake gave birth to a boy Yavi; two girls kidnapped him; a snake followed her, but the old woman drove her away with burning smut; the snake began to swallow people; a pregnant woman was stuck in her throat; the snake's stomach was cut, they removed the swallowed ones, but only the fetus survived, the boy Bugau, from him comes from the Bugau River family; Dema Aramembe kidnapped Yavi; he grew up, seduced his wife A.; A. called the sorcerers, they killed Yavi, he was in time to bury it; A. brought the juice of the grass to revive it, but it was too late; he poured it into the snake's mouth; it shed its skin, since then the snakes have not died; if the drug was given to Yavi, people would not die either, but shed their skin; A coconut palm grew out of Yavi's head], 18 [the snake gave birth to a boy Yavi, three girls found him and carried him away; the snake crawled along the trail, brought down the house, but the woman drove her away with burning smut; began to swallow people, she was killed; Yavi kidnapped the fire demo Aramembe {he plays the role of a trickster}; Yavi slept with his wife; A. called sorcerers, Yavi died of witchcraft; A. repented, asked the sorcerers for a potion against the spell, but Yavi has already been buried; A. poured the potion on the ground, the snake licked it, since then the snakes do not die, but change their skin; the first coconut palm grew out of Yavi's head; his braided bast braids have become roots the head to the lower part of the trunk, the body into the trunk itself, the legs into the leaf tails; coconuts have three recesses - Yavi's eyes and mouth]: 43-48, 224-225; kiwai [see motif H4; Sído was the first dead; still in human form, tried to get out of his skin to change it like a snake; but children saw him, and people have been dying ever since]: Landtman 1927:285; dugum dani [the snake said after death and cremation, a person must come to life; this is called "my skin is your skin"; the little songbird objected that the dead should remain dead, and it, the bird, will be smeared as a sign of mourning clay; the first person Nakmatugi said he does not like snakes, so the bird won the argument; for other tribute groups, the bird and the snake race; the snake symbolizes immortality because it drops the old skin]: Heider 1970:144; daribi [like dougum dani, snake and bird]: Wagner 1967:40 in Heider 1970:144; kukukuku [the snake seems to have died; the rat believed it, died too, her corpse decomposed; the snake changed its skin and came to life; people die like a rat before the snake comes to life]: Fischer 1968, No. 36:394; Dobu [Sinebomatu, SV Wind's wife took her granddaughter, went swimming; went downstream , took off her old skin, returned to her granddaughter; she did not recognize the young woman as her grandmother, cried; the grandmother found the skin shed, put it on again, people are no longer getting younger; while the skin was lying around, snakes, lizards, crabs, lobsters ate it; now they shed their skin and renew themselves]: Fortune 1932:186; the Trobrians [grandmother and granddaughter go swimming; the grandmother steps aside, takes off her skin, turns into a girl; granddaughter does not recognize drives her away; in anger, the grandmother promises that from now on the young will grow old and die; only the "lower creatures" living underground, i.e. snakes, crabs, iguanas and lizards, have retained the ability to shed their skin and renew; this is because humans used to live underground; if they lived upstairs, the "upper creatures" - birds, flying foxes and insects - would shed their skin and become younger]: Malinowski 1926:81-83; 1948: 104; Bining (New Britain) [first there was a Sun man and a Moon woman; they gave birth to stones (they became men) and birds (became women); the Sun called those who want to live forever; stones and snakes came people didn't listen; if they came, they would change their skin like snakes]: Bley 1914:198; Tolay: Janssen et al. 2012, No. 1 [mother To Kabinana and To Karvuvu shed her skin and became a young girl; Then Karvuva didn't I found it and asked me to put it back on, found it in the river and brought it to his mother; Then Cabinana was furious: now it was not humans, but snakes, who would shed their skin], 2 (Fr. Watom) [the saw fish told the brothers to bring fire, they refused; she said that lizards and snakes would now change their skin and humans would die forever], 5 [To Kabinana sent the child to go for fire; but he told bring fire to the snake; TC: now the snake will shed its skin and renew itself, and the person will die forever]: 39, 39, 40; Batom Islands (near New Britain) [That Konkonomiang told two young men to come with with fire in his hands, promised to give immortality; they did not come; T. said that only people's souls would be immortal, and the lizard, monitor lizard and snake would shed their skin, live forever]: Isis 1998:30; Gazelle Peninsula [That Karvuva roasted the fruits of the breadfruit; That Kabinana told him to share it with his mother; his mother changed her skin, To Karvuva said he liked it better in the old one; found the old one and put it on it; To Kabinana said that now only snakes will change skin, and people will grow old and die; stepped on the snake's head, flattening it, for it was she who took the skin]: Permyakov 1970, No. 44:120-121; Guadalcanal [(Oceania 8:88 ); at first, both humans and snakes changed their skin and became younger; the woman left her mother's child, went to the garden; when the child fell asleep, the grandmother went to the river to change her skin; the child woke up, did not recognize her grandmother; she returned put on discarded skin, said that from now on, only snakes will rejuvenate by shedding their skin]: Anell 1964:4; Both (New Hebrides) [the woman argued with crab; said that crabs are better than humans because they change their shells and rejuvenate; a woman reproached Tagar for doing people wrong]: Codrington 1891:283; Banks Islands: Codrington 1881 [people changed their skin and grew younger like snakes and crabs; the old woman returned from the river young, the child did not recognize her; she came back, put on old leather, since then people have been mortal]: 274; 1891 [=1881; according to another version, this woman is the wife of Mate, Death]: 265; Coombe 1911 (Mota) [people changed their skin like snakes and rejuvenated; the child did not recognize the young mother, she put her old skin back on, since then people have died forever; this woman became the guardian of the Panoi afterlife; watches whether the nasal bridge is pierced; if not, it breaks a bamboo vessel on the head of the person who came]: 85; Fox, Drew 1915 [Iroul returned from the river young, changing her skin; her daughter (this is the mother of the Qat hero) did not recognize her, I. put on old skin again; now snakes change skin]: 238:238; Ambrym [God of Light Barkokol and God of Darkness Bugliam discuss the fate of created man; the former wants to be removed from aged people their wrinkled skin is like an eel and they would respawn like snakes; the second would be for the dead to be buried in the ground; that's what happened]: Suas 1911:907 in Dixon 1916:118, in Fischer 1932:242; kanaka [so as not to to grow old, a person went to a puddle, changed his skin, as cancers do; another advised to put the skin back on, because it is not known whether he will become sick or old in the new one; this second one, to loosen the ground, only ran his horn slightly on the ground; the first said he would be lazy, advised him to dig with an effort]: Leenhardt 1932:448.
Micronesia-Polynesia. Ontong Java: Anell 1989:24 [The lizard and the Rat are arguing which of them eats more; decide to jump off the tree; the lizard jumped, stayed motionless; the Rat jumped and crashed to death; then the Lizard got up, its descendants were given eternal life, and the rats and all other creatures die forever; 2) The Lizard and the Rat quarreled, the Lizard jumped from the high pole of the temple, froze; the Rat called people to witness their victory; then the Lizard jumped up, killed the Rat, called her friends, wildworms (virmin); so Rat's friends die, but Lizard's friends don't], 29 [on Ontong Java, snakes are not they are found, but lizards are considered immortal, changing their skin regularly]; Nukumanu [the green Lizard and the Rat decided to jump off the tree on a bet; the lizard jumped, remained motionless, but did not die; The rat jumped and crashed to death; so people die and lizards change their skin and rejuvenate]: Sarfert, Damm 1931:458; Samoa [the gods are going to decide man's fate; someone suggested that man shed his old skin like a mollusk and become young again; god Palsy suggested that mollusks shed their skin and renew themselves, but people should not; at this time it began to rain, everyone ran to the shelter and quickly accepted P.'s offer]: Frazer, p.68 in Wassen 1933:130; Tuamotu: Beckwith 1970:234 [Ataraga sees Huahega bathing, marrying her, their son Maui-Tikitiki catches the sun in a snare; recognized father; kills Mahuika; fishes Tahiti and Little Tahiti; takes Hina away from Tuna's eel; T. sends a flood, M. stops the water by exposing his fall; kills T., the first coconut grows out of T.'s head palm tree; Peka takes Hina; M. in the form of a golden pheasant flies to P.; P.'s mother warns not to take the bird, but P. takes it; M. cuts off his head, returns with Hina; turns his lover into a dog Hina Ri; a friend goes for revenge, is also turned into a dog; M. sees that his mother's hair Huahega has turned gray; decides to exchange stomachs with the sea slug Rori, then people would not die; at this time, the brothers M. screams, M. regurgitates his stomach, people remain mortal], 234-235 (Anaa) [Maui-tikitiki is the fifth son of Ataranga and Huahega (daughter of fire master Mahuike); seeks father's recognition, competes with Mahuike and kills him, catches the Sun in a snare out of her mother's hair Huahega; with the help of her brothers, she fishes Havaiki's country from the sea; marries Tiki's daughter; she's Tuna's wife, Maui kills Tuna, from his A coconut palm grows head; Peka-nui (The Great Bat) takes Hina; Maui turns into a snipe, kills Peka, returns his wife; gets sick; he is advised to climb into the shell of a Tupa crab to change skin and continue to live like a crab; to do this, it must swallow Rori-tau's insides; at this moment the Maui brothers come in, he regurgitates his insides]; Hawaii [Kepelino data; man was it is like a crab: it lived in its peel until it turned hard and yellow, grew old; then it grew younger again, and so many times]: Beckwith 1970:236.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Tibetans (Ham) [humans did not die, the earth was overflowing, so Heaven made people mortal and snakes immortal, at first it was the opposite; snakes should not be killed]: Lhamo 2012:182; moklum [ humans and animals did not die; Rang gave death to the Rooster, ordered it to be brought to people; the Rooster gave death to the Snake, she died; Boa did not like it, he handed death to people; since then people have died and snakes change skin]: Elwin 1958a, No. 11:293; Burma's Naga: Zapadova 1977 [humans lived until old age and snakes changed their skin and were immortal; nat asked people if they wanted to live forever like snakes; the chief refused him listen, said people would do without his advice; so people don't respawn by shedding their skin like snakes]: 237-238; angami {presumably: Nagaland, the band is not listed, so they can be not chin-naga, but northern naga} [humans and animals changed their skin, rejuvenated; the Toad and the Lizard agreed that only two creatures that suddenly came to their mind would change their skin; the Lizard said that a snake and a lizard, a Toad are like a man and a toad; but the Toad hesitated and lost; now only snakes and lizards change their skin and rejuvenate]: Borgohain, Roy Chaudhury 1975, No. 1:18 (translated to Kudinova, Kudinov 1995:89); best (Kumi) [God made a man and a woman out of clay, did not go to bed, at which time the snake ate the figures; as happened several times, the snake still carries people away when they die; God sculpted a dog, it drove the snake away, so dogs howl when a person dies; if God hadn't slept, there would be no illness and death]: Shakespear 1909:399 (=Lewin 1870:224-226 in Frazer 1919:18).
Burma - Indochina. Zhuang (Guangxi) [Soroka confused the order of the heavenly deity: instead of "People shed their skin when they are old, and snakes die when they are old" reported "People die when they are old, and snakes, when they are old, they shed their skin"]: Yang 2013:460; thai (Vietnam) [people changed their skin like snakes now and lived a long time; but had no offspring and wanted to change everything; they began to destroy frogs and snakes, those cried out to Then, who opened seven roads to sunlight, closed ten roads of rain; everything burned down; Lang Ai Lang and Nhi survived; continued to kill snakes, etc., T. sent a flood, all died; then a few more cycles; the new Linigi ancestors sent by T. inhabited the earth; put 8 brass poles to support the sky]: Dang Nghiem Van 1993:324-326; Laos's black thai [people changed their skin like snakes, and multiplied in this way (the skin turned into a new person); there were too many people, the heavenly god Thén sent rain, a flood; a girl Kap saved in one pumpkin, and a boy Ké in the other; persuaded T. not to kill them because they would grow rice; after the flood, the spirit (same T.?) said that in old age people would renew themselves and snakes would die (a play on words in Thai); the snake threatened to bite him, he said the opposite; Cap and Ke gave birth to humans]: Bourlet 1907:921-922; Viets [ Ngoc Hoang wanted the dying people to shed their skin and come to life, but the snakes did not; he sent a messenger from heaven to carry out this plan, but he told the snakes about it; the snakes made him agree to say on the contrary; snakes are now shedding their skin and getting younger; the guilty messenger has been worn to the ground, turned into a dung beetle]: Knorozova 2000:28 (same text in Fraser 1985:47; Frazer 1913:69-70); Zyaray [a snake, if not killed, does not die on its own; a word for snakes and arthropods of the same root as for "giving birth" (about animals), turning from a pupa to a butterfly, etc. (about insects) dress up and pack (about warriors going on a campaign)]: Dournes 1977:128.
South Asia. Mahabharata, book 1 [Garuda Winata's mother was enslaved to her sister Kadru, the mother of naga snakes; they promised to release her and G. if G. obtained the drink of immortality for them Amrita; G. flew to the gods, eating an elephant and a huge turtle along the way; scattered the gods guarding Amrita and flew up to the bowl; a rotating wheel lined with blades prevented him from taking it; G. turned into a bird slipped between the blades, took the bowl; threw sand into the eyes of the two dragons guarding it; Indra caught up with G., who promised to return Amrita to him, deceive him; while the nagas were bathing, getting ready for a drink drink, G. took the bowl back; snakes became immortality when they licked the grass on which the bowl stood, since then their tongues have doubled]: Erman, Temkin 1975, No. 14:35-38; Rajastans [king for a long time talks to his beloved parrot; a flock of parrots flies over the palace; one envies the happiness of the royal parrot, but others consider him an unhappy prisoner; the parrot asks the king to let him go for two years; returning, brings a mango seed, the fruits of which are rejuvenated; when the fruit is almost ripe, the wife tells the gardener to visit relatives, and she goes to bed under the tree; the fruit has fallen, the cobra has sucked the juice, rejuvenated, and poison was injected into the fetus; one of the courtiers advises to give the first fruit to the brahmana as a mercy; he bit him and fell dead; the courtiers strangled the parrot; the old despised laundress decided to finish life, ate mango, became young; the king and courtiers also ate and rejuvenated; the king bitterly repented of killing a parrot]: Mathur 1995:40-42; Varley [Mahadeva and Ganga Gauri created the world; M. called the gods, no one came, then he flooded the earth with a flood for 12 years; then asked Naranadeva and Brahmadeva {then Barham is the same?} bring land from the world of Gunderideva (ghunderi is a fly that collects clay and makes it a nest on the corner of the house; they brought clay, painted on it, made cakes, they began to grow, they made heaven and land; only Bhimabali was able to lift the sky off the ground; the earth was unstable; to secure it, Mahadeva ordered Naran and Barham to bring stones from the world of patheri (a species of small rat, always at her hole many stones); hills and mountains were made of stones; to create vegetation, M. sent N. and B. to the world of squirrels and ants for seeds; they brought them, but not enough; he sent them to King Lakhapati to bring more; M. and The Gauri dug a hole to get water at the foot of the date palm tree, got drunk; G.: let no one do that; M. created dense forests, G. created trees in savannas; two children were saved in the tree during the flood; M.: who are you ? - Brother and sister; the gods separated them, brought them together - the same thing; so 7 times, but then did not recognize each other and said that husband and wife; people from them; gods created animals; animals and plants multiplied, the earth became it was impossible to bear such a burden; she turned to her brother King Pandu ("white" in Sanskrit and Marathi), but he picked it up and threw it; M. and G. returned, the land complained to them, they called the gods; M. punished Panda by making him master of the lower world; a bull in this world told the cow: Our world will now be the realm of death; Jum Joshi (the god of death) sent messengers to P., but P. put them in prison; disappeared; JJ sent him poisoned berries and he died; after that, people began to die and the earth felt better ; before that, people were like snakes - they changed their skin and renewed themselves]: Dalmia 1988:25-30; Marathi [Raja has a son; the goddess of fate, Vidatha, came to draw his life line, but the pen and pen accidentally fell out of her hand; when Raja's son is 18 years old, he will be torn to pieces on his wedding day lion; the king surrounded the palace with the guards, but the lion came off the image on the jug and killed the young man; the king ordered his body to be preserved for six months; a snake saved him from the fire in the forest; the serpent's wife offered to fulfill any wish of the Raja; brought amrita, he revived her son]: Kudinova, Kudinova 1995:148-150; dhanwar [previously, the messenger of Death carried away not souls, but people's skin; once fell in love with the daughter of a snake; at the request of her uncle, asked the Master Dead people to take their skins from snakes and move on and humans die; this is what happened]: Elwin 1949, No. 8:417; baiga [Baiga and Baigin are a couple of ancestors; at first humans did not die; Bhagavan sent Baiga was itchy; he began to itch, tore his skin into rags, but could not reach his back; he took a stick, Bhagavan turned it into a snake, Baiga was bitten, died; this is how death appeared; his the sons began to cook the corpse to eat; Bhagavan did not order this to be done, only one son ate a piece, shamans came from it; the brew was poured into the river; three women tried it downstream, and became witches]: Elwin 1949:329; sora (Lanjhia Saora) [brothers Bhimo and Ramo survived the flood; B. began to live in heaven, R. on earth; B. sprayed the water of immortality into lakes and rivers, people drank and did not die; he was tired, he asked R. to take a vessel of water and distribute it himself; R. sent Leech, who drank everything herself on the way back, said that B. did not give water; B. found out, burned the Leech, but she still had the drops in the stomach and it came to life; and for people there was no water of immortality left, they began to die]: Elwin 1948, No. 21:425; bondo [people did not die, Mahaprabhu was afraid that the earth would overflow, asked Vladyka Goigecko did something about the dead; he sent a messenger, but the man shot him; then the tiger did the same; then Sita-Mahalakshmi made a snake out of his hair, it bit the child, he died; this is how death appeared; the child's mother killed, fried, ate a snake, became a sorceress]: Elwin 1949, No. 7:416-417 (=1950:201); juang [people did not die; the poor brahmana took out food, began to cook; the poisonous centipede asked what he was doing; he replied that he was dead hungry, and she prevented him from asking meaningless questions; the centipede asked if he knew what death was, he said no, asked him to show him; the centipede fell apart to pieces; he tried to repeat the trick, but she came to life, bit him and he died; this is how death appeared]: Elwin 1949, No. 14:421-422; Tamils (Thiruvarur) [the earth rests on the immortal snake Ananta-Ādiš eşa, which has no beginning or end; when he grows old, he is reborn every time; through this ritual, snakes overcome death, crawl out of their old skin]: Shulman 1978:124.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Nias: Chatelin 1881 [while creating the earth, a divine character stretched it and shaped it, then fasting for many days; then he received nine plates of different types of food; he began to eat ripe banana, not crayfish, so humans are prone to decay rapidly like a banana; the snake has eaten discarded crayfish and is immortal]: 114 in Dixon 1916:182; Sundermann 1884 [Lamonia came down to earth, should have been a month to fast; could not, returned to heaven; Si uto gaé also could not, and chose bananas from all types of food; if he ate crayfish, people would change their skin like crayfish and renew themselves]: 451 in Fischer 1932: 223; mentawai: Kruyt 1923:148-149 in Fischer 1932 [a spirit from heaven warned people to eat yams with prawns first and then bananas with chicken; then they will change their skin and renew themselves, like shrimp, creeping shoots like yams; people did the opposite, so they are mortal like a banana whose old trunk dies off when it bears fruit]: 225; Schefold 1988 [Pageta Sabbau shaman suggested people could choose bananas with fish or yams with shrimp; they chose the former; PS said that now people would die forever like bananas and fish; choosing the latter, they would change their skin and become younger like shrimp and they planted new shoots like yam tubers cut into pieces]: 73-75; dusun: Dixon 1916 [(according to Evans 1913:478); having created everything, Kenharingan announced that those who would replace skin would become immortal; Only a snake heard this, promised to change their skin; now snakes don't die unless a person kills them; dusun did not hear K., otherwise they would also change their skin]: 182; Evans 1913 [Kenharingan offered everyone rice torment; asked who would change the skin; the snake just pretended to eat, replied that it was; the rest of their mouths were full of flour, they kept silent; since then, snakes have not died unless killed by humans]: 426; Williams 1961 [After sculpting the earth and man, the Creator asked the man, the snake and the lizard which of them would shed their skin in old age; the lizard and the snake immediately answered, but the man kept silent, for his mouth was full of rice flour ; people are now mortal]: 69; Eastern Toraja [The creator proclaims that anyone who wants to change their skin and live forever must come to him; the evil spirit woman Lise became so loud at this time crush corn that people did not hear these words; snakes, crickets and other insects heard, came and have been renewed ever since]: Adriani, Kruyt 1951, No. 7:12; balantak [first man and woman lowered from the sky on rattan in a box or vessel to a mountain towering in the water; the man climbed back the rattan, got everything people needed for their lives; when he returned, he cut off rattan; people did not die, but they changed their skin, they became numerous, they kidnapped their wives, God sent a flood; the ark with the survivors surfaced to the sky; Pilogot mola offered them shrimp, they refused; agreed to eat bananas; so people no longer change skin like shrimp but die]: Kruyt 1932:331-334 in Fischer 1932:214-215; tetum [people renewed like snakes; the old woman became young, but her children did not recognize her, did not want to let her in house; then she took on her former form in anger; told the children to cook the cobs in the pot; he cooked himself, but the child broke the pot; the old woman cut off the ivy that connected heaven and earth, the sky rose; it happened in Fatumea Talama]: Vroklage 1952:129; East Timor [Frog: People Will Die Like Me; Snake: People Will Be Immortal Like Me, Will Shed Their Skin; Decided That The Wish of Someone Who Would Come True will be the first to get to the opposite bank of the stream; the Frog jumped, it was the first; if the Serpent were the first, people would not die]: Anonimo 1955a: 38; Kai Islands [old people bathed, dropping the old skin, and became young; when old Miminggung returned home as a young girl, her grandson did not recognize her, continued to cry; she went back to the river in anger, put on old skin; M. said that locusts will shed their skin and renew themselves, and people will die, die on their own; at first they died in a very old age, but prematurely after the advent of witchcraft]: Anell 1964:2.
China - Korea. Chinese (Sichuan): Zhou Yang et al. 1998b, No. 25 (u. Zhongjiang) [In ancient times, humans and animals communicated in the same language, helped each other, and even made close friends. People were most closely associated with dragons. Dragons helped people protect fields and homes, and people shared food with them. Then people and dragons began to live together and thus became relatives. At that time, dragons lived for a hundred years, and humans were immortal. People changed their skin every year. At this time, they lost consciousness and experienced severe pain, and this process lasted from 49 to 81 days. So people were jealous of dragons and thought that not having to change their skin was worth giving up immortality for it, and that it was better to live happily ever after 100 years. Dragons, on the other hand, envied people's immortality. Then they conspired and decided that dragons would change their skin and live forever, and people would enjoy happiness for a hundred years. The Jade Lord heard about this, became very angry and ordered Father Thunder and Mother Lightning to destroy both dragons and humans. When other spirits heard this, they prayed to His Eminence for mercy, and he had mercy, and decided to make dragons become snakes and live in the seas, and people would stop understanding the language of animals and suffer from diseases and misfortunes. A strong wind blew, thunder sounded, lightning flashed, the mountains collapsed, the ground cracked, and the dragons were driven into the sea. Since then, humans and dragons have lived separately, humans have lived no more than a hundred years, suffer, get sick and miserable all their lives. Dragons have become snakes, they change their skin every year, but they live for a thousand years. People, mindful of their friendship with dragons, often use the word "dragon" (moon) as a name for children, but dragons also remember people and often help them catch mice and insects], 25a (y. Baxian) [People did not die before, but when they were more than forty years old, they suddenly developed a fever, so they fell into a stupor for 49 days. When they woke up, they changed their skin, and then they looked like 17-18 years old again. At that time, snakes did not shed their skin, but lived, like today's people, for a number of years, and then died. People suffered a lot when changing their skin. One day, a man was particularly tormented and shouted that it was better to die, and people around him prayed for his suffering to end as soon as possible. This is how heavenly spirits learned how painful it is for people to change their skin and asked the Jade Lord for help. He asked who, if not a person, would shed his skin, and the perfume said it could be a snake. That's what they decided. Since then, the snake has changed its skin and people have died]: 46, 46-47; the Chinese (Hubei) [the deity responsible for snakes and the deity responsible for humans have agreed on their lifespan: snakes will only live 10 years old, and people, when they reach the age of 60, will shed their skin and become young again; as a result, there were too many dead snakes, the stench of their decaying bodies intoxicated people, and between them enmity; then the deities decided to transfer the ability to shed skin from humans to snakes, as humans had companions who could bury them; snakes began to shed their skin every year]: Wang 2016:1608-1610; Chinese (Fujian, Wu. Ninghua) [After Pangu separated heaven from earth, the Jade Lord (NV) sent humans and animals into the world. Humans ruled over all living creatures, and each of the animals had their own duties: tigers guarded mountains, bulls and horses did hard work, and rats ate up waste. Fearing that if each creature was left to its own devices, riots would break out, NV made sure that all animals would control others: hares ate grass, leopards and wolves ate hares, the tiger was afraid of little ones birds and so on. They became dependent on each other, and the world was at peace. NV loved people who were so useful and hated evil and poisonous snakes. Therefore, he ruled that snakes, after living their lives, will die, and humans will live forever, and when they grow old, shed their skin and become young again. After a while, NV decided to find out how people live and sent Taishan Lao-Jun (=Lao Tzu) to the world, giving him special powers and a Golden Spell. When he went down to the ground, he found that there was a mess: the mountains were empty, the rivers were dry, none of the animals were doing their duty, the rats were eating up to the size of elephants and chasing cats, and fetid piles of dead snakes are everywhere. Lao-jun asked the old bull how it happened. The bull said it was NV's own fault. The snakes died, and the rats bred, and people began to behave inappropriately, and there are too many of them - there are not enough fields, no grain, no clothes for everyone. Then Lao-jun, using the Golden Spell, made people die and snakes shed their skin. But those who were virtuous could live longer and become immortal celestials, and snakes that harm people can be slaughtered to death with bamboo sticks, so snakes are afraid bamboo. Peace reigns again in the world]: Zhou Yang et al. 1998c, No. 6:10-11; Chinese (Guangdong, Fujian) [before humans, when they reached 60, renewed themselves like snakes by changing their skin; a woman or a man decides better die than suffer from skin change]: Eberhard 1937, No. 71:115-116; Chinese (Guangdong, Wu. Deqing) [People used to be friends with snakes and also knew how to shed their skin. An old woman once told a snake that she was in great pain and would not shed her skin and would rather live to gray hair and die. Since then, people have been getting old and dying]: Wang 2016:1756; Chinese (Zhejiang, Wu. Yuhan) [Soroka confused the order of the heavenly deity: instead of "People shed their skin when they are old, and snakes die when they are old", she reported "People die when old, and snakes, when old, shed their skin "]: Yang 2013:460; Naxi (Yunnan, Wu. Lijiang) [W2896.0.2: The deity Luhese secretly tells settled people the secret art of changing skin; WC2896.0.3: People were jealous of snakes that could change old skin for new ones and learned how to do it imitating them; W2896.1: Because Luhese taught people the secret art of changing their skin, old people shed their skin and become young again; thus, people gain the secret of gaining immortality and eternal youth], 1755 [man passes on the secret art of changing skin that gives eternal life to his snake brother, humanity loses it and then begins to die generation after generation]: Wang 2016:1605-1607; Yi: Wang 2016:1607 (Yunnan, Wu. Mile) [people grow old and shed their skin while sunbathing and getting younger], 1729-1730 [an old man named Syly sees a dragon shed its skin, sheds its clothes and becomes young], 1735 [a person loses his ability to rejuvenate after a snake steals his skin, so people hate snakes]; miao (Yunnan, wu. Xuanwei) [people are made of clay; when they shed their old skin, they become young again and live forever; one woman, changing her skin, lost a lot of blood and was in severe pain. At this time, Heavenly Grandfather came down to earth, and she begged him, saying that he would rather die than shed her skin; the heavenly grandfather promised the woman to fulfill her desire not to change her skin again and said that people will now grow old, get sick and die but will not change their skin; however, they will have to give birth to sons and daughters in order to reproduce; since then people no longer change their skin; snakes begin to shed skin instead of people, and humans die instead of snakes]: Wang 2016:1607, 1609-1610, 1755; tuja (Hunan, wu. Yongshun, and Sichuan, wu. Qianjiang) [humans started dying because they passed on their ability to change skin to a snake or dragon]: Young 2013:460.
The Balkans. I. Ancient Greece: Elian, Animal History, VI. 51 [(due to the existence of snakes that are terribly thirsty to bite); Rumor states that Prometheus stole the fire, and the myth says that Zeus got angry and gave a cure for old age to those who caught the thief. So as far as I know, those who received this product put it on a donkey. And he set off, carrying the load, it was spring, and the donkey, feeling thirsty, went to the spring in need of a drink. But the snake guarding the spring did not let him in and drove him away, and he, thirsty, gave her the medicine he had been carrying as payment for the health cup. Thus, gifts were exchanged: the donkey received a drink, and the snake took off its old age, in addition, as history says, a thirst for a donkey]; Aesop's fables [Perry 1952, No. 458; Zeus prescribes a potion longevity as a reward for catching Prometheus; the potion is loaded onto a donkey; the donkey gives part of the drug to the snake in exchange for drinking]: Gasparov 1968, No. 397:182.
II. Ancient Greece: Turaev 1999 [(commentary to Philo Biblsky's story about the immortality of snakes); probably referring to the same thing as Horapollo (Hierogl. I, 2): "Every year, by delaying old age, it {the snake} removes its skin, just as the world changes its annual time"]: 115; Elian, 9, 16 [When a snake loses its old age {old skin} (and she does this in early spring), at the same time it gets rid of the veil in front of her eyes and from dull vision, as if from the "old age" of the eyes, and it sharpens her eyesight by shaking her eyes against dill, and so on is cured of this disease. The snake is also hard to see after hiding in a deep and dark hole all winter. But even in this case, the warmth of dill clears the animal's vision, which is weakened by the cold, and makes it even sharper].
III. Ancient Greece. 1) Eurydice, the wife of singer Orpheus, was the first to die from a snake bite. Oh went down to Hades to get her. Pluto allowed her to come back after O., but he wouldn't turn around until they reached the ground. Oh turned around, E. disappeared. O. ceased to be interested in women, and he was torn to pieces for this by the bacchae, Dionysus's companion. 2) The first son of King Priam Esak of Trojan married Asterop, daughter of the Kebrena River. She died from a snake bite. Esak missed and was turned into a bird living by the water. 3) The soothsayer Pug died in Libya from a snake bite. He had his own sanctuary and oracle there (Myth 2:176). 4) Orestes (who killed his mother Clytemnestra in avenging the death of his father, King Mycenae Agamemnon) was acquitted by a court in Athens. He died from a snake bite in Arcadia. His remains were kept in the city of Tegea and were transferred to Sparta in the 6th century BC (Myth 2:261);
Central Europe. Belarusians (Gomel district) [the son is Ivan, the father is a drunkard; the neighbor took I. as an employee; he grew up, went on; hired a serpent; this is the serpent Chavolay; after 6 years I. left, C. gave him a book, ordered him not to open it, otherwise he would eat it; I. got lost, opened the book, cattle flowed out of it; C. appeared: eat; agreed that C. put the cattle in the book back, and I. promised not to marry; at home I. refuses matchmakers; still others say that they have two good dogs will fight off C.; during the wedding, C. appears; I. jumps away; the horse has fallen; the hut: turn your back to the forest; Baba Yaga fed her, put her to bed, gave bread with her, showed the way to her sister; she has the same thing, the oldest sister has the same; every dog, from afar, senses C.; every pernet and food appears; the third baba yaga gave a handkerchief to wave at the sea - a bridge appeared; when on the C. Bridge, wave again - the bridge disappeared, C. fell into the sea; I. woke up, three dogs nearby: Lomigor, Lomikamen, Lomizhelen; two kingdoms ate a 12-headed serpent, in the third he was led to eat a princess; I. and his dogs killed him, The princess tied her wounds with a handkerchief; the servant cut off I.'s head, ordered the princess to say that he had killed the snake; the dogs grabbed the viper, forced the viper to bring water growing and living; revived I.; the princess's wedding with her servant is being prepared; I. sends dogs, the princess recognized them; at the feast, the tsar sees the princess's handkerchief on I.'s hand; the servant was beheaded; wedding]: Romanov 1886, No. 9:73-77.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Armenians [the snake had wings; God told her to fly to the deceased, say: "Wear the shroud, come home." The snake said, "Wear the stone, come home." God cursed the snake, told us to eat the earth and crawl]: Harutyunyan 2007:37; (cf. Armenians (Turkish Armenia) [when killing a snake, its body is buried; if the snake remains unburied, it will count the stars and return to life]: Khachatryants 1933:114).
Iran - Central Asia. Pamirans (Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Humanities N. Kurbonkhonova in 2000 from Sayyorai Sulton, a resident of Khorog, 35 years old) [Saint Muso herds of Shuayab; marrying daughter Sh. Safure, M. goes to Mount Tour, where he saw the Almighty; then he lets go of his flock; mountain goats in those places from the flock of M.]: Yusufbekov 2009.
Turkestan. Kazakhs: Basilov 1982a [Korkut is the first shaman, inventor of the kobyz string instrument; in genealogical legends, a patriarch who lived 300 years; began to have a recurring dream as if he were dies; thinking that death awaits him on earth, he spread a blanket on the surface of the Syr Darya, began to play the mare; when he fell asleep, death in the form of a poisonous snake stung him]: 5; Zhirmunsky 1974 (genus tama, north -central Kazakhstan, Akmola region) [Korkut's mother gave birth to a shapeless bag, pulled off the shell, and a little man under it; the child was given the name Korkt ("fright"); at the age of 20, K. had a dream: he was told that he would live until the age of 40; K. began to look immortality, rode his fast camel Yellow; returns to the Syr Darya; sacrificing J., took off his skin, made the upper deck of a mare out of it; puts the carpet on the surface of the water and, sitting on it , plays the kobyz; while playing the "song of life", death cannot come; charter, K. fell asleep; then death took the form of a snake Kairak-Zhyldan and bit K.; he died]: 551-552 (=2007:161-163); Sidelnikov 1958 (1): 237-239.
(Wed. Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Khakas [in autumn, a person changes his code; it is filmed as a snake crawler and is invisible to humans; the skin removed is only visible to a snake, just as a snake crawler is visible only to humans; no one realizes its skin change]: Butanayev 2003:79; Altaians [when a snake sheds, its skin remains intact; a person has the same, only invisible skin]: Butanayev 2003:79; Buryats [man sheds like a snake, but does not notice it; if the snake finds lost skin, it rejoices and takes it for itself]: Khangalov 1960, No. 51:57).
Amur - Sakhalin. The Nanais [see motive A2; three people Shanwai, Shankoa, Shanka made a Kado man and a Julcha woman, Mamilji's maiden; the people multiplied; M. decided that too many people died to show them the way to the afterlife; chipmunk, tumna (?) , the snake sleeps in winter, does not die; the rest are mortal]: Laufer 1899:749-750 in Okladnikov 1968:163-164.
Japan. Miyako Islands: Nevsky 1996:269-270 [The month gives Akariyazagama a tub of living water and a tub of dead water, sends him to the ground, orders him to pour living water on a person, a dead one - a snake; the earth, A. falls asleep, the serpent splashes living water on himself; frightened A. waters the dead man, returns to heaven; the Month punishes him, telling him to stand on the moon from now on with a tub in his hands], 271 [on the night of the feast of sitsa man poured rejuvenating water before the snake, rejuvenated; the next year he gave way to the snake, drenched after it; the snake rejuvenated, the person has not rejuvenated since then; people are younger, dropping skin like snakes; var.: the man washed only his hands and feet, so his nails grow back]; Okinawa [13 entries; the Moon and the Sun sent a lark to bring people living water, but threw a lark along the way water and began to peck strawberries. Meanwhile, the snake drenched in live water, began to change its skin and live forever. They poured the leftovers of water that the Skylark brought to people onto their nails, which began to grow back. The lark reported this to the Moon and the Sun, they tied him with a rope, making his body smaller and his legs thinner]: Naono Fukasawa 2015 (Tsukan, No. 487); Amami Islands [Bird (or Kobodaishi Priest) poured live water on the snake (and dead water on the person); the snake began to change its skin and the person died]: Naono Fukasawa 2015; Ainu [a huge snake turns into a woman; a man rejects her love; she tells him to live for a thousand years; every hundred years he sheds his skin, hair, teeth into a child; one man killed this snake; wasps and burning ants emerged from the corpse]: Batchelor 1927:146.
(Wed. The Arctic. Baffin's Land [people migrate, leave mother and daughter alone; they collect insects to eat; so feel sorry for them, they ask the ermine to tear the old woman's skin; under the old woman is a new one, the old woman gets young; both women refuse to return to people, take insects as husbands; a year later, women return to people, tell their story]: Boas 1901b, No. 43:226; Western Greenland (Saqqaq) [people leave an exhausted old woman, leaving her only insects to eat; she feels sorry for them, prefers to die than eat them; a fox comes as if biting her skin, old falls down, a new one under her, the old woman becomes young; grateful insects taught the fox to do this; the woman went to the insects, married the Fly]: Millman 2004:184).
The coast is the Plateau. Klamath.
The Midwest. Northern Solto [The Rattlesnake and the Horned Serpent bite the two sons of two leaders; the one bitten by the Horned Serpent dies (first death); the father sees the Rainbow Serpent on the grave, then the Horned Serpent; grabs him by the horns; he teaches him rituals; he soon has a new son]: Skinner 1911:157-159.
Southeast USA. Chirokee: Mooney 1900, note 5:436 [the creators wanted to make man immortal; the Sun, looking at the earth, decided that there were too many people and they should die; the Sun's daughter was bitten by a snake, she died; the Sun agreed that people should live forever, gave people a box to bring their daughter's soul into it, not open it on the way; they opened it, the soul disappeared, people remained mortal], 436-437 [shortly after The creations of members of the same family were bitten by a snake, they died; therefore, all people are doomed to death and suffering], 437 [shortly after creation, a young woman died from a snake bite; people were told that if they if her soul was returned, others would escape death; several young men came to the dead, grabbed the dancing woman, put her in a box; on the way back, she asked her to be released; they opened the lid, her soul flew away.]
California. It bites a young man or girl (a Coyote child, if not otherwise). See motive H1. Yana; patvin; pomo [Lark's son; Chief's daughter]; miwok; nisenan; maidu; cahuilla [people offend a defenseless rattlesnake; the Creator gives it poisonous teeth; does it bite a person (first person to die?)] : Hooper 1920:322; cupeño [like Cahuilla]: Strong 1929:269.
The Great Southwest. Pima: Olmos Aguilera 2005 [The Rattlesnake was defenseless, the Rabbit often scratched her; Big Brother agreed to give her poison; she bit the Rabbit, he died; this is the world's first death; lest Coyote should he ate the corpse, they decided to burn the Rabbit's body; behind the fire for the funeral fire, the Coyote was sent to the Sun, while the Fly made a fire drill; when he saw the fire, the Coyote returned, jumped over the circle around him a fire, grabbed Rabbit's heart, ran into the mountains across the Gila River, fat from his heart was dripping, which is why they are now called Montaña Grasosa]: 182-184; Russel 1908 [see motive i75; quail in Judson 1994: 175-177; The Elder Brother created humans; stung the rattlesnake, it bit the Rabbit, he died; the Coyote was sent away, the Fly made the first fire drill, the Rabbit's body was put on the fire; the Coyote broke through, took his heart The rabbit, ate it; the food began to fall through the Coyote, the Wolf and the Puma sewed him; he pretended to be sick, asked Puma's wife to carry him, began to copulate; the sorcerers hid all the ungulates in the cave; The coyote released the animals, ran away; one young man was told to close the deer passage, and he began to build a fence from hill to hill; shoot a pregnant woman (deer) - he killed a woman; an old man (horned male) - killed an old man]: 216-218.
Mesoamerica Tricky [wife died; husband came to the village of the dead to ask her where she hid the money; there she is married to a fox; promised to come to show her; husband returned; a snake crawled, her husband hit her, she crawled away; he came back to the village of the dead; his wife said she came, but he hit her; she reappeared in the guise of a snake, indicated where to dig, and returned to the dead; so it is said that snakes and foxes are the souls of the dead]: Hollenbach 1980, no. 8.5:456-457; lacandons (northern) [Mensabäk (master of the dead) turned his loincloth into a snake, threw it on the trail; a snake bit one man, then another, they died; M. took their souls, he gave them bee nectar; Ah K'in Chob (Our Father) asked why souls are so thin, gave them atole and cakes; M. noticed that atole was too much for souls sweet; A. threw it at M. The morning star, a fire broke out, a lake formed; M. was killed, but came to life, asked not to leave again]: Boremanse 1986:64-65.
Honduras vs Panama. Hikake [a man bitten by a snake, despite the ban, sleeps with his wife, dies]: Chapman 1982, No. 12:75-76; (cf. Paya [the older brother is angry and dangerous; the youngest pulls out his niece's pubic hair, turns it into a snake, she bites his older brother; he asks to be buried to the waist; the niece leaves only above the ground little finger; when the buried one moves, the ground trembles]: Flores 1989:49-50, 81-82); bribri: Bozzoli 1977:176-177 [sister is pregnant with her brother; dies from a snake bite; this is the first death], 189 [because brother copulates with his sister, the snake bites and devours her; God kills the snake so that it does not destroy all people]; the bag [{snakes are mentioned indirectly - "everyone who changes skin"}; the girl became pregnant with Lightning, was taken by her husband to heaven; asked him to send their son to the ground to warn him of the flood; the boy called out to his grandfather from the tree, saying pikwa; ordered him to make a dolblenka; when the waters came down, warned not to sleep when the dump with the gifts of heaven arrives; disappeared, and the bird, which has been screaming since then pikwa, screamed at night; people were sleeping; a European boy woke up, receiving money and its skill use, and black, who received sailboats and became the ancestor of the Caribbean {carifuna}; also heard all animals periodically shedding their old skin {and renewing}; when he woke up crazy, he I only got bark to make a tap and a pole, control the dump]: Viner 1928, No. 2:167-169.
The Northern Andes. Amber; yupa.
Llanos. Sicuani; guayabero: Schindler 1977a: 221-222 [water is everywhere at first; Wamek burns wax, it spreads through the water, forms earth; V. makes plants and animals; Laman lazy; V. sends him for water; he sees the reflection of two women sitting on a branch; they spit, he brought them home; they like V., they went to him; V. plays ball with his wives; L. brings a snake parrot, that takes the form of a ball; V. is bitten in the back of the head; three days later he comes to life; his grandmother is unhappy, refused to warm the water to rinse his mouth; V. goes to heaven, followed by his grandmother; L. goes underground with oinyu perfume], 222-223 [mother-in-law refuses to take back her son-in-law, who died from a snake bite and was resurrected].
Southern Venezuela. Sanema; yanomami.
Guiana. Warrau; tamanak; lokono; kariña of Guyana; kalinya; aparai; hishkaryana [The month comes to my sister at night, she smears her lover with a genipa, he makes a chain of arrows, climbs into heaven; from there he said, Who dies will come back in a short time; people didn't hear, crickets heard]: Derbyshire 1965:26-27; Kashuyan: Frikel 1970 [people made of soft, hard wood snakes]: 14-15, 17; Kruse 1955, No. 15 (arikena) [Purá wanted people not to die, ordered them to dive into a hot liquid vessel (orinóimo) so that they changed their skin; people did not dare, and the snake, kakerlak and the spider swam and change their skin]: 409; emerillon [after the flood, people gathered on the caumou palm tree, no land can be seen from the top; they regularly threw seeds palm trees, listening to whether they fall into the water or to the ground; when the seeds began to fall to the ground, people tied leaves to their heads, arms and legs, descended to the ground, but became jaguars, bakers, and other animals; only one man remained human; in the village he found a capuchin monkey (Cetus apella) tied to an empty pot; brought cassava; when he returned next time, the kashiri was ready; the man pretended to leaves, found and married a girl; she gave birth to a child the size of a small capuchin; asked her uncle not to kill her: howler monkeys (Atouatta seniculus) and ateles (arachnids, Ateles panicus); when the husband killed the howler, the child became a monkey, ran into the forest, the wife also disappeared; Wilakalo came down from the sky, ordered three hammocks to be hung, killed the anaconda, cut into as many pieces as there were peoples in the land, put the pieces in hammocks, left for a few days; the meat became wormy; when the man lay down in the hammock, the worms became human; W. told everyone to dive into the boiling water, people were scared, did not, W. bought the spider; white the man swam, turned white; followed by an Indian, the last black man, turned black with dirty water; W. gave the Indian shoes, he did not take it, took a European, sailed on a ship; W. taught Indian shamans how to do shamanic maraku rattle; W. told the snake to bite a tree, it bit a man, who hit it with a stick; the same with a mosquito, a jaguar; a man threw ash on agami, her back turned white; atele painted her face red uruku, capuchin - body, howler rubbed its roots, turned yellow; men poured sperm into calebasses to have children; women did not have genitals; cul jaune pierced the woman, her beak turned red; W. attached a piece of wood to the man, he met a woman]: Renault-Lescure et al. 1987, No. 1:129-141.
Western Amazon. Sekoya; Mayhuna [when a gray-haired old woman came to the river to clean the fish that Ñukečik ("grand caiman", "father of corn", "making earthquakes") gave her, he touched her, her old skin came off, the old woman became young; her daughter came to her, her house was full of fish; Ñ. tells the woman's daughter not to sleep before dawn; calls her, but she sleeps, and snakes, lizards and trees respond; they have since changed skin or bark and rejuvenated, but humans don't]: Bellier 1991b, No. 12:232-233; shuar.
NW Amazon. Ufaina; letuama; makuna; barasana; yukuna [land was born, humans were born from the big egg; some eggs remain intact, and humans will come out of them at the end of the world; Tupana He told people to say: I'm like the sun, like water and like stone; but only snakes said, so they change their skin and don't die]: Hammen 1992:11; tucano; Vaupes; chikuna; yagua: Chaumeil 1983 [God brought fire, invited people to enter it to become immortal; people were scared, only one old woman came in; she passes from world to world after the destruction of the previous one; also entered snakes and trees that drop, they became immortal]: 90; Powlison 1993, No. 13 [The sun tells people to go through fire and become immortal; but only snakes, trees, and other creatures that have passed updated periodically; some old woman has passed]: 47; carijona [heroes cannot revive their father because a snake steals his skull]: Schindler 1979, No. 1:37; macuna [see J55 motif; contrary warning the eldest of Aywa's four brothers, the youngest Bokanea brought a snake, began to grow; she bit B. while swimming, he died, she swam away; the deceased B. said that people will always die from snake bite, elder A. - what won't; brothers became frogs to lure that snake]: Århem et al. 2004:467-470.
Bolivia - Guaporé. Tupari [the hero's son was bitten by a snake; he comes from the realm of death at night, wakes his parents up; his father's brother woke up and told him not to come again]: Caspar 1975:191.
Central Amazon. Arua; Maue; Middle Amazon; katawishi.
Eastern Amazon. Spiking; tenetehara; spiking [Indians overslept the arrival of a character who was about to speak to them; he was greeted by Christians (=snakes); therefore, Indians do not understand the language white ( Central Andes. Huanca. Montagna - Jurua. Amahuaca; cachinahua; amuesha [(Yompor A'penerr (Our Father the Milky Way) wanted to take people to heaven, but they refused to let at least one child go; instead of God's Indians Europeans listen {Europeans are probably replacing snakes}; these people are stars; the Milky Way are hand in hand; the change in the position of the Milky Way in the sky is the movement of these dancers]: Santos-Granero 1991, No. 4:68; 1992:116-117. Southern Amazon. Kayabi; nambikwara; trumai; kamayura; kuikuro [{Europeans seem to correspond to snakes}; Avinhocá gathered people by the river; told them to swim in the lake, full of piranhas; the Indians only soaked their hands and wiped them on the tree - it turned white; those who received not bows, but guns, swam, became Europeans; a tree screamed from the forest, the Indians answered; A.: the trees will die too; there was a cry of stone - the Europeans answered that they would not die; A. did not allow their sons to rub baking oil and smoke tobacco; only old people do this, whoever does will grow old]: Villas Boas, Villas Boas 1973:211; Iranshe [heavenly spirits resurrect a snake, people can't resurrect a girl]: Pereira 1985, No. 17:97; bororo [young man Kuiéje Kúri bathes, leaving her stone lip insert on the riverbank; Meriródo likes it, she secretly picks up jewelry, hides it under her belt, conceives a child, hides it from others who the father is; to find out men decide to compete in shooting in the air, hoping that the boy will pick up his father's arrow; so it happened; other men want to shame KK, offer 1) get hawk and eagle feathers, 2) a puma tooth and a jaguar (he turns leaves into feathers, deadwood with mushrooms on it into a puma and a jaguar), 3) grow corn (he grows huge cobs); the young man's grandmother teaches him what to do every time; M. was bitten by a snake, she died; during the memorial ceremonies, the person who came in stumbled; some laughed, others smiled, some kept crying; this is reminiscent of the face painting under the eyes of members of individual family groups of bororo birds (in myths, people are synonymous with birds); so vertical stripes under the eyes are traces of tears; a person from the genus Íno came up with songs that have since been sung at funerals]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1983, No. 48:102-105 Araguaia. Karazha [trees, animals, fish, but not humans hear instructions on how to become immortal (the essence of the instructions is unknown)]: Aytai 1979 [see motif D7; Ioloni catches the vulture, the owner of the sun, to make the days longer; I.'s wife tells him to ask him about the secret of the immortality of celestials; the owner of the sun screams the answer as he flies away; some animals (snakes?) hear him , trees now shedding old bark; people don't hear, remain mortal]: 10-11; Krause 1911:345. Chaco. Matako.