Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

H9. Strong and brittle .11.-.13.19.-.21.24.25.35.36.38.40.-.42.44.46.55.57.59.61.66.68.-.70.

People are mortal (sick, old) because they are compared to something weak, fragile, easy to die or decay (upper tanana: people are not extinct because they are not made of ephemeral, but made of durable material).

Isanzu, Chagga, Sukuma, (Nyamwezi), Nupe, Acholi, Malgashi, Jupta Valleys, Urawe, Bining, Tolai, Palau, Rai, Limbu, Semangi, Mentawai, Nias, Ngaju, Bahau, Kenya, Dusun, Iban, Toraja, Mori, Balantak, Vemale, Tboli, (s), Mansi, Western Evenks, Japanese, Ainu, Chugach, Ingalic, Koyukon, Upper Tanana, Atna, Inner Tlingit, Taltan, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haida, Steppe Ojibwa, Sheena, Embera, Sanema, Yanomam, Kashuyan, Cariña Guiana, Trio, Shuar, Aguaruna, (Napo, Yukuna), Ashaninka, Machigenga, Cuikuro, Kamayura, Bororo, Karazha, Apinaye

Bantu-speaking Africa. Isanzu [The sun went down to earth, brought a jug, his wife Luna a basket; decided to find out who was wiser on earth; the woman chose the jug and the snake chose the basket; they had to throw the selected items to the ground; the pitcher 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; chagga: Abrahamsson 1951:46-47 [a woman asked the children if they wanted to die and crash like an easy to repair calebas or as a ceramic vessel; they preferred the latter, so people die forever] 59 [parents sent their children to fetch water with bast bags; the bags were leaking, but the third time the children entered the house before the parents finished changing their skin; the father asked if it should break like a pot or like a calebass that can be repaired; son chose first, father fell apart and died]; sukuma: Millroth 1965:199-200 [After a quarrel with her husband, the wife threw a clay vessel on the ground, he shattered; husband regretted not throwing the basket; now people must die], 200 [mother-in-law told her daughter-in-law, when she went to get water, to fill a clay vessel and a small basket with water, but bring only one of these vessels; the daughter-in-law broke the pot, brought the basket, then the people began to die; went to the rich man to ask him to punish his daughter-in-law; he told them not to open the vascular, time has passed; people discovered it, a bird flew out of it, flew away; the owner returned, saying that they were all as responsible for the death as that young woman]; (cf. Nyamwezi or Sukuma [Kilya Matunda is the creator, he has wives Nabashindi and Nashingo; Nab. woven a basket, Ours made a vessel, KM must decide whose job is more skillful; he threw the basket and the vessel on the floor, the vessel broke, Nab. became his beloved wife; died; he buried her in the house, watered the grave, the plant grew; while KM left to bring firewood, Ours came in, tore off the plant with a hoe, blood flowed]: Scheub 2000:126-127).

West Africa. Nupe [the god Soko created the Turtle, humans and stones; when they grew old, humans and turtles became young again; the turtle asked for fertility; S. replied that then people and turtles would die; humans agreed; rocks chose not to give birth or die]: Frobenius in Abrahamsson 1951:68, in Beier 1966:58.

Sudan-East Africa. Acholi [Lubanga told people to be as eternal as grass (growing again after a steppe fire), like mountains and rocks; but now people are dying because of the Chameleon smoking pipe; L. gave people fertility, mountains don't give birth or die]: Abrahamsson 1951:71; malgashi (Masinandraina?) [God created man and woman; offered to choose to be like the moon (reborn but have no children) or a banana (have descendants but die); people chose the latter]: Abrahamsson 1951:120-121; malgashi (all of Madagascar) [God asked people if they wanted to be like the moon or like a banana, they chose the latter; so people die, they are replaced by their children]: Renel in Abrahamsson 1951:121; the Malgashi [the divine couple Zanaharindahy and Zanaharimbavy created heaven and earth; made the Sun the ruler of heaven and the first human couple rulers of the earth; asked who prefers what type of death; people wanted to be like a banana, and the Sun wanted to be like the moon]: Abrahamsson 1951:121; Malgashi (Betsileo) [the first man Andriambahomanana and his wife have many children; god Andriananahary decided that death is necessary; asked if people want to die like the moon or like a banana; the first man's companion Andriamahilala (that's the first woman's name, but in this case it's a male character) chose to die as moon; was sent to the moon, where it dies and is reborn every month; on the full moon it is visible on the lunar disk; the first person chose a banana with children]: Abrahamsson 1951:121; malgashi (Bezanozano, Sakalava) [Ratanimasina ("sacred ground") 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; malgashi (Bara) [people chose to die like a banana leaving offspring, not like the moon]: Abrahamsson 1951:122; Malgashi (Sakalava, Tsimihety) [God created man and woman, they chose to die like a banana that leaves offspring rather than a moon]: Abrahamsson 1951:122; Malgashi (Farafangana) [first woman came from the east, first man from the west, stayed overnight in the same hut; it got cold and they lay down together; Zanahary asked how they wanted die and they chose to die like a banana]: Abrahamsson 1951:122.

Melanesia. Jupta Valley [the old man told the boy to go to a particular tree and shoot a rhinoceros bird there; the old man himself took the form of that bird; when the arrow was taken out of the bird he had brought, into the vessel blood gushed; the old man ordered the bamboo vessels to be filled with it, put them on fire; the boy tried to put stones in the bamboo, but the old man heard the sound of stones hitting each other; blood vessels burst, a human couple came out of each; they were mortal, and if a boy managed to put stones in bamboo, humans wouldn't die]: Schmitz 1960:241-243 in Anell 1964:113, in Yamada 2002:69; Urawa Valley [stone was the first to get pregnant but couldn't give birth; then bamboo gave birth to the first humans; if humans were born out of stone they would live forever]: Schmitz 1960:241-243 in Yamada 2002:69; bining (New Britain) [To Kabinana told To Karvuvu to bring green branches for the fire, he also brought dry ones; That Kabinana said that people would now die, and if Toh Karvuva brought green ones, people would live forever ]: Meier 1909, No. 9:39-41; tolay [like bining]: Janssen et al. 2012, No. 7:40-41.

Micronesia-Polynesia. Palau [Obagat wanted to put a stone in people's breasts to make them strong and not in need of food; however, Tariit (water shepherdess aka coot, Rallus pectoralis) advised it is better to give people breath, but O. did not agree; sent his son to water the man and make him immortal; T. arranged that the Hibiscus populneus tree quietly pierced the vessel from a tarot leaf containing water; the woman lost her immortality, and the hibiscus became tenacious, any branch, if planted, grows; O. hit T. on the head with a stick, now it is red striped with blood] : Kubary 1873:222-223 (probably the same text, but from a different edition, quoted in Anell 1964:21, in Frazer 1924:259-260).

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Limbu [the gods first created man from precious metals, but he did not answer their call; then they mixed yellowish earth, droppings of several species of birds, and the ash of bamboo that grows with water high in the mountains, and sculpted the figure; the man came to life and began to answer; they were outraged and cursed him; accidentally spit on him, after which the man died; so people are mortal]: Tumbahang 2013:80-81, 90-91, 97-98; limbu and/or rai [Ninvaphu came out of emptiness; he gave birth to two creator gods Poromibhu and Yambhamiphu and told them to build land; they prepared dishes decorated with the sun and moon; they pulled the white and black nagas out of the void, wrapped them around the vessel and began to pull back and forth, smelling emptiness; the water element appeared, then the sky and clay at the bottom; N. created a worm to turn clay into the soil; created stars and planets, told the sun and moon to go out one by one; created vegetation; created a bird, a fish, a snake; the bird flew away, the fish dived into the water, the snake crawled into the gap; then N. created various animals; created man from diamond, but could not put his soul into him and make him speak; then P. and Y. brought moss from the south, and ash from the north, mixed, sculpted two human figures; N. breathed into their soul, they came to life, they spoke; N. was angry: let them be short-lived as moss and ash]: Shrestha 2019:467-469.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Semangi (batek de) [Allah's older brother and younger Ta' Allah descended to earth; A. sculpted a man in the east, TA a woman in the west; named their body parts; figures are inanimate; A. went to Tohan, who lived at sunset, persuaded him to give him the soul of a long life (water life-soul); on the way back he stumbled, dropped, Tohan no longer gave him; I had to take the soul of a short life (wind life-soul) from a banana; people came to life but became mortal; some say that Tohan first took the soul-life for people from a perennial tree, i.e. a long life from a tree, a short life from a banana]: Endicott 1979:83-85; temoan (mantra) [at first people did not die, but lost weight when the moon aged and got fat when it grew up; the eldest son reported this to the first person, who replied that so be it; the youngest son said that people must die like a banana, leaving sprouts; the owner of the afterlife agreed with him; since then people have not renewed like the moon, but they die]: Skeat, Blagden 1906 (2): 337-338; ngaju [Lahatala all created, in addition to land and people; Ramjing Pahatara found seven earth eggs, made them into figures of a man and a woman, went to bring them stone breaths and bones; at this time, Andin Bamban came to his wife the spirit of disease Peres (Raats 1970, p.40-41: pe - "good", res - "bad"; associated with the lower world), said that people with a stone breath will live forever, the earth will overflow, we must take a breath from winds, wood bones, blood from water; AB agreed, Angoi, Uncle Rangang Tingang, carved the bones out of wood; when he returned, RP found people alive, made only their hair, teeth and nails out of the stone they had brought ; people first hung in the air, RP caught a sea serpent, put people on it, the serpent became earth; var: RP poured earth on the snake, when it moves, it shakes]: Schärer 1966:144-146; kenya [Bungan Malam thinks about what people's lives should be like, asking the Rat for advice every time; first suggests what a banana is like; The rat objects that the banana bears too much fruit, earth will overflow, and parents will die when they have children; then like the moon, but then people will die for a while and will always be reborn; it is decided that like a tree; like man, it grows up and mortal]: Elshout 1923:217 in Fischer 1932:220-221, 241; Bahau [a spider came down from the sky, weaved a web; a pebble fell into it, grew to the horizon; a lichen fell on the stone, a worm, his excrement made up the soil; then the tree fell, grew, then the crab cut through valleys and mountains with claws; a vine wrapped around the tree, they gave birth to a child without arms and legs, it gave birth to a pair of the same creatures, but Then came the normal anthropomorphic gods Awe and Buring Une; they ripped off pieces of bark from the tree, making them humans, pigs, chickens, dogs; humans are mortal because the bark is short-lived]: Nieuwenhuis 1904 (1): 129, 1917:55-56 in Stöhr, Zoetmulder 1965:39-40; Iban [Salampandai, by order of the gods (Petara), made a man out of stone, he did not speak, he was rejected; the same was made of iron; then out of clay, this one spoke; the gods ordered them to do the same]: Gomes 1911:197; dusun (Tempasuk) [the gods made people out of stone, but these people did not speak; then out of wood; the wooden ones spoke, but were exposed rotting; then out of the ground; they talked and lived longer, they are what the current ones come from]: Evans 1953:15-20, 372-387 in Stöhr, Zoetmulder 1965:43; mentawai: Kruyt 1923:148-149 in Fischer 1932 [spirit with heaven warned people that they should first eat yams with shrimp, then bananas and chicken; then they would change their skin and renew themselves like shrimps, produce creeping shoots like yams; people did on the contrary, they are mortal like a banana whose old trunk dies off after bearing fruit]: 225; Schefold 1988 [the shaman Pageta Sabbau offered people a choice of bananas with fish or yams with shrimp; they chose first; PS said people would now die forever like bananas and fish; choosing the latter, they would change their skin and grow younger like shrimp and shoot new shoots like yam tubers cut into pieces]: 73-75; Nias: Chatelin 1881 [while creating the land, the divine character stretched it and shaped it, after which he fasted 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; Western Torajas [1) Oriolus galbula: Live like a rock; Toad: Live like a banana; i.e. old people must die, children must come to their place; 2) (Banawa, Kaili band); People used to be like the moon, from time to time they became old and younger (they died for a month, then they were reborn); the earth overflowed, people decided to become like a banana, so that old people would die, children would take their place; 3) the heavenly god invited people to choose between a banana and a stone; they chose a banana, so they are mortal; 4) the timid tomoemboe bird wants people to have stone breath and be reborn; assertive tangkaoemboe wants people to breathe like flowing water and for them to die]: Kruyt 1938, No. 8:435-437; Eastern Toraja [1) grandma wants people to live like stone; the grandson objects, says that they should live like a banana, whose trunk dies and the root shoots again; everyone repeats their words, but in the morning the old woman dozed off, confused the words; so people, after giving birth to children, they die; 2) the grandmother and grandson argue about what to take; the grandmother wants a stone, the grandson wants a banana; the grandson ran faster, grabbed a banana, the dispute was resolved in his favor]: Adriani, Kruyt 1951, No. 7:11, 11-12; eastern toraja (poso) [the sky was close to the ground; the Creator lowered a stone from the sky on a rope; the first man and woman asked for something else; the Creator picked up the stone back, lowered the banana; The creator said that humans would now be mortal; when a banana shoots a new shoot, the old trunk dries up; children would appear, parents would die]: Kruijt 1894:339-345 in Fischer 1932:205, in Frazer 1913:72-73; mori [it's time for the old woman to change her skin; her daughter began to cry as if her mother was dead; the old woman began to repeat, Live like a stone; daughter, Live like a banana, the children will replace; the last the word is left for her]: Kruyt 1924 in Fischer 1932:213; balantak [the first man and woman were lowered from the sky on rattan in a box or vessel onto a mountain towering in the middle of the waters; a man climbed a rattan back, got everything they needed for people's lives; when he returned, he cut off rattan; people did not die, but changed their skin and rejuvenated, there were many of them, they kidnapped 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 their skin like shrimp but die]: Kruyt 1932:331-334 in Fischer 1932:214-215; vemale (Seram) [Tuniai created the world, decided what people should look like; Stone wanted them to be like him and have only the right side of their bodies; Banana wanted them to have a full body and have children ; The stone crushed Banana several times, but new shoots grew on the site the next day; The stone agreed that people should be like Banana but die; D. creates 9 pairs of men on Mount Nunusaku and women; from the tenth unripe banana, she creates the maiden Mulua Satene to control people]: Jensen 1939:39-41 in Prager 2005:106.

Taiwan - Philippines. Tboli [d'Wata, son of the supreme god, has two wives, Hyu We and Sedek We; D.'s sons dug holes for the pillars of his house; D.'s wives sculpted human figures from this land; H. did the right thing, and S.'s nostrils were opened upwards, the genitals were on their knees; S. began to destroy the rice, hit the sky with a pestle, it moved away from the ground; S. and H. quarreled, H. hit the figures sculpted by S., their noses and genitals ended up where now; H. wanted to place the figures on the moon so that they would always be children; S. wanted to place them on a stone to be hard as stone; H. disagreed, turned away, then S. put it on a banana; so people multiply like bananas and die; D. revived the figures by blowing on them]: Eugenio 1994, No. 182:307-308; (cf. ami (without reference to the source) [when the earth was young, two male deities appeared, one made of stone, the other made of bamboo; from their tribes, the male and female first ancestor deities were born]: Ôbayashi 1976:12; yami ["the main anthropogenetic myth of yami is based on a story of origin from stone and bamboo"; the stone fell from the sky in Ipaptok; another ancestor came from grown bamboo; an ancestor from the stone went to Iratay, the bamboo ancestor went to Ivarino; they began to make boats; the one who came out of bamboo placed the boat's ribs outside, it fell apart; the one who came out of the stone put it inside, it swam]: Benedek 1991) .

Western Siberia. Muncie (village. Vejacors on the river. Ob) [Yoli-Torum-xian (Mother of Earth, the elder sister of Num-Torum, the "upper god") tells Winged Calm (God's messenger, daughter of Torum) to ask her father to make people; he promised, but others must revive people; Topal-Oike (son of Num-Torum, guardian of places along the Pelym River) ordered people to be made; he cut down seven figures from larch; Hul-Otyr (Num-Torum antagonist associated with the lower world) sculpted seven of clay; T.-o. . agreed to change with him, because H.-O. would revive the figures; H.-O. took the wooden ones to T., he blew, they scattered, so he could not catch them; took the clay ones to K.-E., she revived them, telling him not watch (so men can't see childbirth); because people are made of clay, their eyelids are short, they drown in water, sweat protrudes from the heat; larch people would be stronger and would not drown in water; H.-O. should have become menquas (apparently, they were larch people)]: Lukina 1990, No. 113A: 298-299 (similar version in Chernetsov 1935:26-28); Mansi (Upper Sosva) [starting as in Lukina; old man Tapel carved seven larch figures; Shul-Atyr made his own from clay; offered to change, he agreed; SHO's wooden men became menquami; only Mother Earth (the creator's sister) managed to revive clay ones ; that is why men are not present at childbirth now; humans easily break their limbs; if people were made of wood, they would be strong and would not sink]: Munkácsi 1908:228-230; (cf. Mansi [husbands Porne and Mosne went to the forest; both have a boy; P. offers M. twice to eat her children, she refuses; hides her son in a drawer; husbands return, M.'s son runs out to his father; P. makes a clay child (she obviously ate her own), he does not run, falls; if he ran, with the onset of a long human life, a person would have to sculpt children out of clay, and no woman suffered would]: Rombandeeva 2005, No. 3:63-65).

Eastern Siberia. Evenki (Evenkiysky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai) [Seveki made people out of clay, a friend advised to make bones out of iron; c. suggested hiding, if he could not find it, he would make them from clay; c. found a friend (he turned into fur), but his friend did not find him; so they make further out of clay, people are sick; with. left people's uniforms to dry, told the dog to guard; hargi gave it clothes, spit on the Evenks, now they are ill]: Vasilevich 1959:175-176; (cf. Evenki Podkamennaya Tunguska (b. Katanga) [God (shovoki) cultivated the stone and earth; put it on the board to dry, said that let the person have a strong soul, left the Dog to watch; Satan gave the Dog a caftan, for which she allowed him to people's souls, he spit on them; God returned, cried, people began to die from Satan's spit]: Vasilevich 1936, No. 31:30-31).

Japan. Kojiki 1994, ch. 32 [Goddess Amaterasu sent the god Amatsuhiko-hikoho no ninigi-no from heaven to earth; he met the Virgin of the Flower Blossoms in the Trees, her father Ooyama-tsumi-no kami, gladly agreed to marry, giving the groom and her older sister the Virgin of the Longevity of the Rocks; she was ugly and the fiancé sent her back; her father said that because of this, the life of a descendant of the heavenly gods would be short-lived as flowers on trees, not eternal, like a rock]: 88-89; Nihon Shoki 1996, scroll 2 [the grandson of the goddess Amaterasu descends from heaven; chooses the Virgin of Blooming Flowers on Trees as his wife; rejects her ugly older sister Eternal Rock; if he chose otherwise, people would live forever]: 158-159; Ainu: Etter 1949 [The creator sends a Sparrow to the god of Heaven to ask how to make people; Out of wood (willows); later God changes his mind, sends the Otter to say it's made of stone; the Otter loses time fishing; wooden people are mortal; the god of Heaven punishes the Otter by stepping on its face]: 22-23; Chiri 1973:196 in Mashiko 2002 [Kotan-kar-kamuy sent a sparrow to the god of heaven to ask what to make people out of; he replied that it was made of wood; after changing his mind, he sent an otter to say it was made of stone; but she stopped fishing and I'm late; so people are mortal, but they grow and multiply; the god of heaven stepped on the otter's head in anger, it has become flat; since people were made of willow, they bend like a willow in old age]: 4.

The Arctic. Chugach [north of Kayak Island on the mainland in Kilkak, a mighty old man created a man and a woman; first made it out of stone, but putting the ready man on his feet, he accidentally broke his left leg; then made out of the earth; so people die, and people out of stone would live forever; people multiplied, decided to settle; man made a boat out of sand, the old man, if he wanted, turned it into a real one, they sailed first to Kodiak]: Doroshin 1866:369.

Subarctic. Inhalic [Denato first makes men and women out of stone, but they only moo; then it sculpts from mud (not clay); now they speak but are mortal; if they were out of stone, they wouldn't die]: Osgood 1959 : 103; koyukon: Attla 1983 [huge animals enter the sea, water floods the land; animal people flee on a raft; Raven and Seagull fly in different directions, find no land; many dive, but only The muskrat pulls clay from the bottom, the Beaver helps to put it on the raft; when enough land has been piled up, the land reappeared; vegetation appeared; the Raven drew the channels, the water in them flowed in both directions at the same time; then decided that it would be too easy for people to let rivers flow only downstream; made a man out of stone; decided that he would live forever and would not be smart enough (his mind would not be right); then he made it out of clay; this man knew how to think, was able to reproduce his own kind; made a woman; at first people died and reborn, but Raven decided that people should only live once; he was about to marry, others tried to take this woman away from him; then Raven brought rotten willow, sprayed dust, it turned into mosquitoes (to bite rivals); then animal people became animals]: 129-137 (=Ruppert, Bernet 2001:84-89; narrated in Smelcer 1992:124-125); Nelson 1983:20; upper tanana [The creator makes people out of green leaves; they fall and die in autumn; then he makes people out of stone; people still live]: McKennan 1959:213; atna [The raven makes people out of stone; they are too heavy, the earth bends; they make wood; they are light, they die quickly]: Rooth 1971:343; inner tlingits [The raven makes people out of stone; they don't work, they are slow, but they eat; they make new ones from leaves; they move but are short-lived and die just like leaves they fall in autumn; but they are also hungry]: McClennan 2007 (3), No. 114a: 484-485; taltan [Tree woman and stone woman give birth; Raven is late, does not have time to help them; the son of the Stone dies; if it were On the contrary, humans would live forever; like trees, some people age faster than others]: Teit 1919, no. 1:21 :216.

NW Coast. Tlingit: Boas 1895, № XXV.1.20 [(=2002:623); Ravens consistently make people out of stone, clay, wood, grass; herbal people are alive, but grow and wither like grass]: 319; Swanton 1909, No. 1 [The Raven turned the first people who escaped the flood into stones; makes new ones from leaves], 31 [The creator makes people out of stone and leaves; he fuss with stones, makes a lot of fuss with leaves quickly; people would not die if they were made of stone]: 18, 81; Tsimshian: Boas 1895, No. XXIII.2 [(=2002:561); Stone and Bush give birth; if the Stone gave birth first, people would be covered as hard as stone and would not die; first Bush gives birth, so humans are mortal, but a strong coating remains on their nails]: 278; 1902 [Elderberry and Stone give birth; Elderberry gave birth first, so people do not live long]: 72; Deans 1891 [Raven copulates with with stone and elderberry; if the Stone gave birth first, people would be covered with hard scales and would not die; Elderberry gives birth first, so people are mortal, but a strong coating remains on their nails]: 34; haida ( Kaigani) [The raven tells the stones to stand up and help him; they move but cannot stand; the raven says they will lie forever; the maple shakes, leaves fall off it, turn into people; therefore people die]: Swanton 1905 (Contributions to the Ethnology of Haida): 236 in Boas 1916:664; Haida (Masset) [Raven found a lot of herring in the backwater left after low tide; began to carry fish into the forest; told the stones to stand up and help him; they tried, could not stand upright, the Raven told them to remain stones; asked salmon-berry grass and bushes (Rubus spectabilis, Raspberries are excellent); they turned into people have begun to help; so people are short-lived, like grass and bushes]: Swanton 1908a: 319.

The Midwest. Steppe Ojibwa (Lake. Winnipeg) [Weese-ke-Jak makes a human figure out of stone, goes to admire it; the angry Bear gets out of the den, rubs against the figure, it falls, breaks; V. makes a new one out of clay, so people weak]: Simms 1906:338-339.

Plains. Sheena [the chief invites the hero to choose one of the men sitting in the tipi; the one sitting to the left of the entrance is chosen; men turn into black and white stones and two types of grass; the chosen one turned out to be grass; If the hero chose a stone, old people would get younger]: Grinnell 1908:279.

(Wed. Honduras vs Panama. Eastern Panama [god said, Strong, man answered, Weak, became a bird]: Casimir de Brizuela 1972:62).

The Northern Andes. Embera: Rochereau 1929 (katio) [Karagabi makes people out of stone, Tutruika from clay; only Tutruika's people came to life; Karagabi asked for a piece of clay, made him alive humans; Tutruika predicts that they, like everyone else in the Karagabi world, will be mortal]: 86-87; Wassen 1933 [recorded by Nordenskiöld in 1927; The devil wanted half of the people made by Karagabi; decided to compete, the devil made bitter reeds out of the stick, and K. sweet; so the devil did not get people; K. made men in San Juan and women at the mouth of the Rio Baudo; made immortal people out of wood, but they went to the lower world, they have no anus, they feed on the smell of food; after cutting his hand, K. does not want to use wood anymore, sculpts people from clay, they are mortal; if they were not from clay, they would change skin like snakes and crustaceans]: 110.

Southern Venezuela. Sanema: Wilbert 1963:232-233; Wilbert, Simoneau 1990b, No. 49 [(Colchster 1981:75; {insert at the beginning of a long text about the origin of fire}); Omao wanted to make people out of solid wood, asked Soawe for help, he made it out of bad wood, so people are weak], 190 [(Colchster 1981:37-38); Omao began to look for solid wood to make people, asked his younger brother Soawe to look for too, that he brought soft wood, so people are weak; O. wanted to make people younger by changing their skin, and snakes from soft wood so that they would die shortly after their children were born; angry O. left S. for heaven; O. decided to make anacondas die as soon as they give birth to young, and people shed their old skin and become young; this would be possible if humans were made of solid wood]: 111, 375-376; yanomam [Omamë wanted to tie Tëbërësikë's daughter's hammock to a hardwood pole that changes bark; Yoasi hurried, put up a pole of soft wood, cleared it of its soft bark; therefore, people do not change their skin, do not get younger, but die]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1990b, No. 191:376-377.

Guiana. Kashuyan: Frikel 1970:12-17 [Purá and Murrá made people; P. left hardwood bows in the house, they turned into people; put them in a boat, told them to live downstream; a boat the snake Marmaru-imó swallowed; P. sent people in several small boats, M. swallowed them all again; the japu bird warned her of the near prey every time; no more hardwood onions turned into people; P. and M. began to be made from different breeds, but they turned out wild pigs, bakers, snakes; bows made of soft wood came to life, so now people are mortal; P. and M. got into the boat themselves, gave swallow themselves, they cut M. inside with knives - P. on the right, M. on the left; when they went out, they saw snakes - M.'s children; they saved their lives; the skin removed from M. was covered in patterns; P. ornamented baskets, bags for cassava push-ups, etc.], 19 {addition explaining the origin of the snake} [the great shaman found a snake, the son of a big snake from the lower reaches of the river; dug a hole of water for him, grew it in it, then dug a canal in river; this serpent turned into marmaru-imó, which was then killed by Purá and Murrá]; carinha (Guyana) [people answer the call of wood, not stone]: Brett 1880:108-109; trio: Koelewijn, Riviere 1987, No. 7 [Akaraman's child vulture grew up among a trio; told his adoptive father that his real father would first throw death from heaven, then disease, rotten tree; they should not answer ; when he drops the rock, we must answer; but people answered earlier, so they die like trees; A. said that all is not lost, the dead will be reborn; the child died, returned, the parents are not believed, did not go to meet him, the child is gone, people are no longer reborn]: 45; Magaña 1987, No. 40 [the acalaman vulture tells the pëlëpëlëwa toad that it will throw a tree from the sky and stone; people do not have to answer to a tree, otherwise their lives will be short; people forget in what order the dropped will fall, and they respond not to the stone, but to the tree]: 139.

Western Amazon. Shuar: Pelizzaro 1990:169 [=1993:169; to make a man, Ayumpúm sent Hummingbird to bring clay, Cricket a tree, a Beetle (Sesenk) a stone; Hummingbird and Cricket brought, but the Beetle did not returned; A. created a man out of clay and wood, breathing life into him, but without a stone, man became mortal, dies at any age], 172-173 [the person fell ill; Ayumpúm ordered to call the shaman Stone and did not call the shaman Langust; Sesenk was sent for the Stone, who walked slowly, skirting obstacles; then Cricket was sent for the Lobster, who quickly got there and brought him; Langust told people to be sick in any age and even before birth; then the Stone came in, turned into a mysterious Namur stone; A. said that only shamans who knew how to find this stone would be able to heal a little; people trampled the beetle, lobster and cricket, giving them their current shape]; Rueda 1987, No. 5 [Etsa (The Sun) ordered the Sesenk to bring the stone, he lingered, so people are not made of stone and are mortal; Bat E. ordered to bring a bundle with a woman, a duck with gray hair; the first opened the bundle when he smelled a woman, the second out of curiosity; the first turned into a bat, the second into a duck whose feathers resemble gray hair], 6 [to make a man, Etsa (Sun) sent Cricket to bring the stone, but Sesenk volunteered to do so; he walked slowly, and Cricket quickly brought clay; E. made man out of clay, so He is mortal; the man met the Beetle dragging the stone and crushed it with it]: 60, 61; Aguaruna [The cricket was sent to bring a tree that dies quickly, the Beetle (Sesen) to bring the stone; the Beetle went for a long time, A cricket brought a tree, man is made of rotten wood and is therefore mortal]: Chumap Lucía, García-Rendueles 1979, No. 247-251; (cf. napo [God sent the pauhil bird to bring stones to make people teeth, but he brings corn kernels; the trompetero bird brings stones when God makes teeth for wild pigs]: Mercier 1975:64).

(Wed. NW Amazon. Yukuna [earth was born, people were born from the big egg; some eggs remained intact, and people would come out of them at the end of the world; Tupana told people to say: I am like the sun, like water, and like stone; but they said only snakes, so they change their skin and don't die]: Hammen 1992:11).

Montagna - Jurua. Ashaninka (river campas) [Aviveri consistently asks hard wood, stone, and wood that sheds bark, but gets no answer; then he makes people out of clay; so they are mortal ]: Weiss 1975:407-408; Machigenga: Baer 1984:188, 242 and 244 (=1994:159) [Tasotintsi made people out of soft balsa; says they won't die; after seeing what they're made of, people responded that they want to be mortal; some spirits are made of hard wood, so they are immortal], 425 [people made of soft wood die soon; from hard wood, they live longer].

Southern Amazon. Kuikuro [Avinhocá gathered people to give them weapons; kuikuro came first and received white bows; others received black bows; other firearms; A. told everyone to swim in the lake , infested with caimans, piranhas, snakes; the Indians were frightened, only soaked their hands, wiped them against a tree whose trunk has since been white (pau-de-leite); others boldly swam, turned white, they received firearms; a tree shouted from the forest, the Indians responded; A. said that the trees would die and the Indians too; there was a rock scream, answered by Europeans; A. said that the stone would not die and Europeans would not die will never disappear]: Villas Boas, Villas Boas 1973:211; kamayura: Münzel 1973:52-53 [people were supposed to be hard as rock], 149 [Kwat (The Sun) told people to answer the call stone, they kept silent; ordered not to answer the call of the tree, people answered; therefore people are mortal]; bororo: Wilbert, Simoneau 1983, No. 34 [The stone argues with Bamboo, who life should be like human; Bamboo prevails, says people will live in their children and have the same light, delicate skin as reeds], 35 [Bamboo and Stone argue who should look after a person; Bamboo prevails by saying that people will die like him but will have as many children as he has kidneys]: 80, 81.

Araguaia. Karazha [Karazh Kaboi's ancestor lived with his people underground; there's a day when we're at night; walking to the cry of the Seriema bird, K. and several companions came to the hole that led to the surface; people got up, and K., because of its large size, could only stick his head out; people brought him various fruits, wild honey, but also rotten wood; K. said that the land was fertile, but people would become die; those who remain underground are immortal]: Ehrenreich 1891, No. 1:39.

Eastern Brazil. Apinaye [Nimuendaju 1939:154-158; see motif K1; Jaguar saves a boy left on a high cliff; sends him home with grilled meat; warns to respond to the call of the stone or a solid tree, not to respond to the call of a rotten tree; the boy responds to a stone, a solid tree, but also rotten; therefore, people's lives are short; then he falls into an evil spirit, runs away from it; cf. L41 motive]: Wilbert 1978, No. 61:174.

(Wed. Chaco. Chorote [A Dove, not a Hummingbird (a stronger shaman) conceives the first baby]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1985, No. 13:32; Toba [The Dove, Not the Hawk, conceives the first baby]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1982b, No. 55:121-122.)