H56. Forbidden fruit: humans become mortal, C621.

.11.-.13.17.19.-.21. (.25.) .26.

After eating certain foods, the first people become mortal or lose their human nature. Cf. Motive F97 (people become sexually mature).

Fang, pygmies aka, ketha, luba, luba-kasai, bena-lulua, bena-koshi, bena-matembo, songe, chagga, kuta, pare, bambara, (bulsa), pygmies efe, acholi, (shilluk), nyimang, Old Testament, Arabs (Muslim mythology), Lifou (Loyalty Islands), Banaba (Ocean), Miri, (Bagobo), Meo, Miao.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Fang [the god Essamnyamaböge has four sons: Mode (human), gorilla, chimpanzee, snake; he leaves M. and the woman, tells them not to eat ebon fruits, not to copulate; sends a Gorilla, then Chimpanzees take them corn, cassava, peanuts, fire, etc., they stop eating, do not inform them; then the Snake, who persuades M. to eat the forbidden fruit; E. came to the village of M., M. and the woman hid behind banana; E. told a woman to give birth, every second child would die]: Tessmann in Abrahamsson 1951:11, 94; Western pygmies (aka) [there was a fruit tree in the middle of the village; the chief forbade eating it fruits; the rest choose a messenger to the Creator to ask permission; Leo, Hippopotamus, Elephant refuse under various pretexts; the Turtle comes to the Creator: everyone wants to eat the fruits to become human; Creator: Let them eat, but they won't become human; the first ancestors ate fruits, became real animals, were speechless]: Trilles 1932:321-322; keta [Fidi Mukullu told the Sun, Month, Man bring wine, told not to drink; ordered everyone to climb into a hole; The sun rose a day later, a month later, a month later, the man died because he drank wine]: Abrahamsson 1951:52-53; luba: Abrahamsson 1951:39 [ Mvidi Mukulu created a man with a woman, the sun, the moon; another invited him to check whether the creations were obedient, try to give them forbidden bananas; the Sun and Moon were asleep, but the dog guard drove away those who came; the dog that guarded people slept; people were given bananas, they ate; MM made them mortal, told them to work, and the Sun and the Moon sent them to heaven; every month the Moon dies for three days, but then revives], 49 [God created the Sun, the Month, a man and a woman; planted two bananas, did not order the fruits to be picked; people picked; God killed, buried the Sun, it rose in the morning, God understood that the Sun was not to blame; the same with the Month (rose on the third day); a man killed and buried did not rise], 50 [Frobenius 1983:116; on the border with Songe, with Ben; Fidi Mukulu called on the Sun, the Month, the Pleiades, a man, tells everyone to bring palm wine, forbiding to drink it; everyone is buried - if he did not drink, he will come to life; the Sun rises the next day, the Month in a month, the Pleiades in a year; the person died forever]; luba (shaba?) [God created the Sun, Moon, Man; made palm wine, left, forbidding it to drink on pain of death; all three drank with their children, their children died, they began to cry; Man lied that cries just like that, and the Sun and Moon confessed to what they did; their children came to life, the child of the Sun rose in the east, the Moon in the west; Man's child did not come to life, people became mortal]: Theuws 1954:69-72 in Studstill 1984:125; luba-kasai [during the dry season, God created Kongolo ka Mukanda ("spiral of law") with a human head, body parts of various animals; then created man and woman, animals; more There used to be God's messenger Maweja and three other spirits; two of them persuaded a man and a woman to eat plants forbidden by God; KM met a woman in front of a man, then told her to copulate man (var.: KM has a hermaphrodite, copulated with both); God told the Sun, Month, Man, Man, Man Star to bring palm wine; sedated them; the Sun woke up the next day, a month later; The man and his Star had to be woken up; they violated the ban not to drink palm wine, became mortal; M. rebelled against God, other spirits, led by his son Tschame and Longbeard, drove God's orders the rebels were driven out of the sky like game; in the west, the four Orion stars forming a quadrangle - the four great spirits of the summer sky; the three stars of the Orion Belt - a dog (Long-bearded), a hunter (son of the spirit Tshame), game (M.); M. and other spirits fell towards the Pleiades ("lightning farmer"); M. - in the lower world in the west; God turned KM into the main swamp serpent, his breath was a rainbow]: Fourche, Morlighem 1973:105-127 at Studstill 1984:127-128; bena-lulua [God tells the Sun, the Month, to carry palm wine to Calebas from east to west, forbid drinking; the Sun carried in a day, Month after a little longer, the person persuaded by the dog drank; God made the Sun and the Month eternal, and the man mortal, drove the dog away, the man no longer drank Malafu]: Abrahamsson 1951:50; Ben Koshi [Fidi Mukullu sent the Sun, the Month, a man to bring Malafu wine, forbid drinking on the way; the man drank; FM dug three holes, told everyone to go down into them; the Sun was supposed to go out every other day , Two months later, man six months later; Sun and Month are out, man rotted]: Abrahamsson 1951:51; bena-matembo and songe [Fidi Mukullu told the Sun, Moon, Man to bring bananas, forbid eating them; tested everyone by telling them to climb into a hole; The sun rose every other day, the Moon in a month, Man did not rise because he ate bananas; became mortal]: Abrahamsson 1951:52; chagga [Ruwa broke the vessel, people came out; he gave them a banana grove, where yams and yams also grew, and he forbade eating yams; a stranger came and told the village elder that R. allowed him to cook the yam, eat it and give to others; messenger R. informed him about what happened, he made people mortal as punishment]: Abrahamsson 1951:95-96; Kuta: Andersson 1974:61-62 [Nzambi gave the first man and woman Bisis and Saule different fruits, but forbade eating a certain type of yam; children B. and S. ate and died; parents were in grief; N. sent a Goat to people to call them to his place, but she began to eat the leaves; sent the Dog, she came, but when they all went to N., the Dog rushed after the antelope, returned to N. alone; N. punished her, obliging her to serve man, taking away her human tongue; punished the Goat, making her stupid, making her food for man; when people came, N. comforted them, saying that not everyone would die at once and that new children would be born instead of dead children; (retelling Abrahamsson 1951:12)]; couple [Kyumbi sculpted people out of clay, left, his the sun god Izuwa took the place; K. gave people cattle and cereals, was close; the snake Kiriamage seduced people to eat forbidden K. eggs; K. punished them by starving them, people ate beetles, died, and a man and a woman remained , they gave birth to new people; people began to build a tower to heaven to go there to war; god K. caused an earthquake, the tower fell, crushed the builders; then K. removed the sky from the ground]: Millroth 1965: 28.

West Africa. Bambara [the god of heaven sent Pemba ("great thing") to create the earth; he visited its four ends in the form of a tornado, created a relief; the god of heaven sent Faro to also equip the sky, set its boundaries in four directions; P. could not finish the work, F. was sent to help, came down with rain that filled the lowlands with water; P. took the image of an acacia, it dried up without rain, turned to dust, he moistened it saliva, creating her female twin Muso Koroni; she created animals, P. became an acacia (Acacia albida), which is the only one that preserves green leaves during the dry season; F. created people they hid under this tree; it taught them crafts; people could not speak and did not die; F. told the heavenly spirit to send people food (oil-rich shea tree nuts); the woman wiped her hands on the tree; P. liked oil, he ordered him to be fed again; told all women to have sex with him, he grew up on a trunk for this purpose; MK was jealous, left, crippled her genitals, causing the first menstruation; P.-tree began to demand that people give him their blood, but rejuvenated them when they grew old; but tired of working for P.; F. defeated him; an old man climbed onto the P.-tree, picked the fruit, in which is the essence of the power given to a tree with blood; the tree has ceased to rejuvenate people; the fruit that plucked ran west but died; it was buried, and then everyone began to die]: Belcher 2005:414-416; (cf. boulsa [people did not work; Sky/God allowed pieces to be cut off and eaten, but forbidden to mix them with spices made from the ash of certain types of millet; the old woman mixed, the sky moved away]: Schott 1989:260).

Sudan-East Africa. Acholi [Lubanga gave all people the same food; but then whites began to eat the fruits they were forbidden to eat; for this, L. made them mortal; var.: After separating from the blacks, the whites had nothing to eat and they became eat forbidden fruits]: Abrahamsson 1951:95; pygmies efe [with the help of the Month, God sculpted the first Baatsi man, covered him with skin, sprinkled him with blood, he came to life; God whispered to him what he would have to produce children; allowed the fruits of trees other than the tahu tree to eat; one day a pregnant woman really wanted this fruit, she asked her husband to give it to her; he picked the fruit, hid the peel in the leaves, this noticed the Month, told God; he made people mortal as punishment]: Schebesta 1936:130 in Abrahamsson 1951:95 (=Beier 1966:63), in Millroth 1965:202, in Kotlyar 2009, No. 416:218, retelling in Scheub 2000: 21, the text is referred to as mbuti); nyimang (ama) [humans and animals did not die; humans and rabbits did not love each other; the rabbit let the man eat the roots of the same tree; he lost consciousness and died two days later ; this is how death appeared]: Scheub 2000:5; (cf. shilluk [people lived with God, where they ate fruits that made them sick; God sent them (to the ground)]: Parrinder 1967:40).

Western Asia. Old Testament [God settled Adam and Eve in Eden; forbid eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; whoever eats will die; the serpent persuaded E. to taste the fruit, she gave A., both realized their nudity; God He drove them out of Eden, made them leather clothes, told them to work]: Gen. 2, 17; 3, 1-19; Arabs (Muslim mythology) [Adam and Havba in paradise did not eat food, but ate smell like angels; then tasted wheat fruit (it grew on a tree, its grain was the size of a melon); seduce A. and H. A snake and a peacock help Satan; violating Allah's prohibition, A. and H. found themselves on earth; giving birth to a son and daughter every year, H. gave birth to 70 pairs of people, they settled the land]: Gryaznevich, Basilov 1982:184.

Melanesia. Lifou (Loyalty Islands) [one of Walelimemë's sons in the form of a rat descended a hole underground; there lived a chief who ate yams; there was no yam or death on the ground; the young man stole some yams, brought them to the ground; next time he went with his brothers and father; they took away the yams; the chief said that then he would eat human meat and people would die; so when good yam harvest, more deaths]: M'Farlane 1873:17-19.

Micronesia-Polynesia. Banaba (Ocean) [when heaven and earth were not yet separated, their friction gave birth to Tabakea and his sister Tituabine; Banaba, many islands, appeared on the upper surface of the sky; on B. sister, they have many children, the elder Nakaa; these people did not know sex, T.'s sons lived in the northwest in Bouru, daughters in the southeast; the men had an inexhaustible peak and tree of life Tarakaimaiu (you tear it off one coconut, a new one appears, the same with fish); the women had a Karikibai tree, a "woman tree"; N. warned the brothers not to pick flowers with K., but they were attracted by the aroma, they picked the flower and met with the Woman (played with her); N. found flowers in the hair of men and women, said that they would now die; once again suggested choosing between the Tree of Life and the Woman's Tree; they chose Woman, this tree also called the Tarakaimate Death Tree; N. threw insects on the back of people's heads, they will slowly eat life out of them; took the Tree of Life and the inexhaustible peak, went west, where he catches a net in the sky the souls of the dead; if he likes it, lets him go to the tree of Life; if not, throws them into a pile of teeming souls]: Maude, Maude 1994, No. 8:44-46 (=Grimble 1923, No. 1:370-372, quoted in Anell 1964:15-16).

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Miri [Si-Duinye (sun) sculpted a man and a woman; they asked why they were different, S. told them to live together, but they could not get together; the Snake gave sweet fruit to a woman who was ashamed nudity, let the man eat, he also covered himself; S. said that now they would have to work, give birth to children and die; the Snake cut off his arms and legs; although the man and woman wished each other, they still they did not know how to have sexual intercourse; the Apu-Todu bird poked its beak into the genitals of a sleeping woman, the man realized that the couple had children]: Elwin 1958b, No. 5:361-363.

(Wed. Taiwan - Philippines. Bagobo [the first men of Tuglay and Mona could see the gods; the serpent gave them fruit, said that if they ate it, their eyes would be opened; God was angry, people no longer see gods]: Benedict 1913, No. 2: 16).

China - Korea. Meo (North Vietnam) [After reaching the age of 90, people went to the divine garden of Zi Ziang Ka; after 12 days they returned young; mother-in-law did not want to meet her daughter-in-law again, ate a peach forbidden by God and drank from a forbidden key; since then people have not returned]: Karpov, Tkachev 1958:255-256; miao [people ate vegetables in paradise, no one worked; one woman ate a berry, Mr. Heaven condemned people to work for this; the age of people fell to 800-900 years, then became what it is now]: Chesnov 1982o: 193.

(Wed. Central Europe. Russian written tradition (hands. Solovetsky Library; from Palea in the late 16th or early 17th century) [(story on behalf of Eve, whom others ask why their father Adam is sick); God created paradise in the east; Adam and Eve commanded everyone there living beings; God has forbidden them to eat the fruits of the same tree; the devil persuaded the serpent God loved more than all animals to advise Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; she ate it and gave it to Adam; they they saw their nudity, covered them with fig leaves; the angel drove them out of paradise]: Porfiriev 1877:91-92).

(Wed. Volga - Perm. Comey [Yeon did not tell Adam and Eve to open the tueski; Eva opened it, the mouse jumped out of there; A. and E. could not catch her, they planted another one; Yong noticed the substitution, drove A. and E. out of paradise]: Limerov 2005, No. 57:54).

(Wed. NW Amazon. Okaina [amena Kog (oe) n virgin became pregnant from a snake crawling out of a hole in the ground to her, bringing a lot of food; her mother noticed a hole in the floor, poured boiling water into it, the snake died; in his dream the spirit tells her to leave the son she will give birth in the upper reaches of the ravine; four days later there was a giant tree; on its branches there are sweet and bitter cassava, corn, peanuts and other fruits; the girl ate them, and other people ate the land; when I told them, people cut down a tree, planted fruits; where the tree fell, a spring filled up; as punishment for cutting down, people have since died]: Girard 1958:133-134, 137 [ this is the first woman]; 196:130).