H9B. Children are like plant shoots .13.24.25.38.69.72.

People are like plants that, although mortal, live in their descendants (shoots).

Malgashi (Tanala, Betsileo, Bara, Sakalawa, Tsimikheti), Aboriginal Malays (Kenya), Southern Palawan, Western and Eastern Toraja, Vemale (West Seram), Tboli, Ainu Hokkaido, bororo, aioreo.

Sudan - East Africa. Malgashi (Tanala) [God created man and woman; offered to choose to be like the moon (to be reborn but not to have children) or a banana (to have descendants but die); people chose the latter]: Richardson, v. 2:100 in Briffault 1927:655, in Abrahamsson 1951:120-121; Malgashi (Betsileo) [the first man Andriambahomanana and his wife have many children; god Andriananahary has decided it is necessary death; asked if people wanted 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 like the moon; was sent to the moon, where it dies and respawns 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 (Bara) [people chose to die like a banana that leaves offspring, not like a moon]: Abrahamsson 1951:122; malgashi (Sakalava, Tsimihety) [god created man and woman, they chose to die like a banana that leaves offspring not like the moon]: Abrahamsson 1951:122.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Temuan (mantra} [people did not die at first, but lost weight when the moon aged and got fat as it grew up; To' Entah (the eldest son of Mertang's first man), who was the first chief, reported this to his father he replied that so be it; Belo's youngest son said that people should die like a banana, leaving their shoots; the owner of the afterlife, Tyhan Dibawah, agreed with him; people have been dying ever since, but leave children behind]: Hervey 1883:190 (quoted in Skeat, Blagen 1906 (2) :337-338, in Frazer 1913:73, in Briffault 1927:636); kenya [gods confer on what people's lives should be; some say like a banana; they object that a banana bears too much fruit, the earth will overflow, and parents will die when they have children; others like the moon, but then people will die for a while and always be reborn; decided it was like a tree; like man, it grows upward and deathly]: Elshout 1923:217 in Fischer 1932:220-221; South Palawan: MacDonald 1981:108-109 [instead of lime for chewing betel, man gave excrement to the spirit; the next day he gave ash; the spirit asked him to say something, he said, "The banana is dying, only the process will replace it," the spirit said, "The moon is decreasing, disappears and then reappears"; therefore, children of spirits are reborn on the new moon, and people die forever and are replaced by children], 109-110 [Sapäd invites Chameleon to repeat after her what she will say when she takes sugarcane in her mouth; says, "The moon dies, disappears and revives"; the chameleon stumbles, "Dies, dies... "; the bird then tells him to say, "A banana dies, only a new process replaces"; the chameleon says this, so fathers are born only in children], 111 [people have buried a child, and he actually was alive; the chameleon began to cry because of this; the sapäd bird screamed why they had buried a living child; people should have answered, but did not answer, so they are mortal; only a banana shoot grows like how children replace parents]; Western Toraja [1) Oriolus galbula: Live like a stone; 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, periodically old and younger (they died for a month, then reborn); the earth overflowed, people decided to become like a banana so that the old people would die, children took their place]: Kruyt 1938, No. 8:435-437; Eastern Torajas [the grandmother wants people to live like a stone; the grandson objects, says they should live like a banana whose trunk dies, and the root shoots a new shoot; everyone repeats their words, but in the morning the old woman dozed off, confused the words; therefore, people die after giving birth to children]: 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 people will now be mortal; when a banana gives a new shoot, the old trunk dries up; children will appear, parents will die]: Kruijt 1894:339-345 in Fischer 1932:205, in Frazer 1913:72-73; 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 to have a full body and have children; Stone Banana crushed several times, but new shoots grew at the site the next day; Stone agreed that people should be like Banana but die; D. creates 9 pairs of men and women on Mount Nunusaku; from The tenth unripe banana is created by the maiden Mulua Satene to control people]: Jensen 1939:39-41 in Prager 2005:106.

Taiwan - Philippines. Tboli [the supreme god d'Wata's wife Hyu We and Sedek We; H. wanted to place the figures on the moon so that they would always remain 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.

Japan. Ainu [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; because people are made of willow, they bend like a willow in old age]: Chiri 197:196 c Mashiko 2002:4.

Southern Amazon. Bororo: Wilbert, Simoneau 1983, No. 34 [The stone argues with Bamboo about who a person's life should be like; Bamboo prevails, says people will live in their children and have one like cane, light, tender skin], 35 [Bamboo and Stone argue about who to look after a person; Bamboo prevails, saying that people will die like him but will have as many children how many kidneys does he have]: 80, 81.

Chaco. Ayoreo [The month revives every month, the Toko tree (rubber) sheds its bark and gets younger, but people choose tapir as an example, so they are mortal; the Katade tree (produces many shoots) advises them to be like it and have lots of children; people followed his advice]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1989, No. 72:121-122.