i35A2. Thunder - rocks and vessels are rolling. .16.21.29. (.31.) .33.
Thunder is heard when stones or large vessels are rolled, dragged, knocked over in the sky.
Rengma, French, Walloons, Abazins, Ossetians, Ingush, Swans, (Estonians), Kazakhs (Syr-Darya).
Western Europe. The French [thunderstorm because huge stones are rolling across the sky; lightning flashes when they collide; God throws nuts at Poitou (brasse des noix)]: Sébillot 1902:85; wallons [thunderstorm because God plays skittles in the sky]: Sébillot 1902:85; Germans: Meier 1852, No. 290.1 (Black Forest) [rocks roll across the sky like balls when playing skittles and when one of them falls into a hole and falls to the ground, thunder strikes], 290.2 (Upper Swabia) [thunder - St. Peter (or angel) playing with pins]: 259, 260.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Rengma [thunder thunders when large vessels are dragged across the roof of the sky to rain their contents on the ground]: Mills 1937:245.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Abazins [Prince Sarym ordered to decorate the sky above the village with boards, roll barrels of water on them; one day he went swimming, dived, found himself in an old man's house; he says that pregnant cook S. will give birth son, who marries daughter S.; S. orders to take the cook to the forest and rip her stomach open; the hunter picked up and raised the fallen baby; when he learned that the young man had grown up, S. came to the hunter, pretended to forget money - let the owner's son take a letter asking for money; in a letter he ordered the applicant to be killed; near the target, the young man fell asleep, the paper fell out; daughter S. replaced her with an order to pass her off as submitter; since then Prince S. has stopped mocking people]: Tugov 1985, No. 42:108-110; Ossetians (Western 1870) [from a conversation on a village hill (a place of public gatherings): "How does the sky work?" - the same curious person asked {the old man}. "There are five heavens: the first is ice, the second is copper, the third is silver, the fourth is gold, and the 5th is pure diamond." "Why doesn't the icy sky melt from the sun?" - the same person questioned me. "And that's how God arranged it," another expert explained with importance. "Why does the thunder happen?" - "It's hard to explain... They say that rocks are rolling across the sky, but this is hardly the case... But have you heard about this miracle: where thunder strikes, there is often a steel chain"]: Kanukov 1875:16; Ingush: Dalgat 1972 [Pirya was at odds with God over the throne. He built a kind of sky out of brass and rolled barrels over it (imitation of thunder), poured water on top (imitation of rain) and said: "Am I not god, don't I make thunder rattle, don't I send rain?" But God tolerated him, because he had three virtues: he respected old people, loved children, appreciated bread, and even picked up crumbs. But Satan played an insidious joke on him, and Piraa gave up these three virtues (it is not said how it happened). Then God punished him at the 500th year of his life]: 423; Malsagov 1983, No. 176 [Pieron argued with God. At the edge of the universe, he made bronze awnings like the sky. He noisily rolled barrels on them, poured water out of them (i.e. simulated thunder and rain), and boasted that he was a thunder. P. lived for 500 years. Although he quarreled with God, he forgave him everything, because Piryon had three virtues: he considered his elders, caressed children, and took care of bread. Piryona has decided to kill din. She came to him and said: Do you know that people laugh at you? - Why? - Because you respect unfit old people who belong in the cemetery. - I won't respect them anymore. - People also laugh at you because you caress dirty, snotty children. I'll caress them more." They still laugh because of your greed, you take too much care of bread, even collect crumbs. "I won't do that anymore," said P., and immediately gave up his breath]: 307-308; swans [thunder happens when devils roll copper boilers in the sky]: Janashvili 1893:148 (same in Virsaladze 1973, No. 7:50).
(Wed. Baltoscandia. Estonians (Põlva) [during a drought, three men climb a spruce tree in a sacred forest; one hits a pot with a hammer, the other hits two burning smut against each other to make sparks fly, the third sprinkles water from the bucket with a broom]: Hurt 1863:7 in Mannhardt 1905:342 (hereinafter Abercromby 1892:336 refers to Mannhardt's first edition).
Turkestan. Kazakhs (Tashkent District) [Grandmother produces thunder by rolling two large stones across the sky; or divas roll millstones]: Tolstov 1931:339.