I4A. Thunder in trouble: it falls to the ground.
.11.19.20.24.-.26. (.27.) .35.38. (.39.42.) .52.53.59.68.72.
Thethunder falls to the ground and can't rise. Usually a person helps him return to heaven.
Pangwa, Lamba, Tsonga, Sio, Yap, Java, Ifugao, Chinese (Guangxi, Guangdong, Anhui, Shaanxi), (Hainan - Lee, Miao?) , (Bulgarians), Kalmyks, Kets, Japanese, Okinawa, (coastal Koryaks, eyak), chatino, tequistlatecs, zapotecs, triques, chinantecs, soke, Eastern Panama, pemon, nambikwara, ayoreo, chamacoco, kaduveo, matako, toba.
Bantu-speaking Africa. Pangwa [animals wanted to eat the first tree (see G6 motif), people did not allow them, a war between humans and animals began, pets are captured wild animals; pieces of land during the battle flew off, became the sun, moon, stars; the sheep became a god, fought trees, once stuck in a trunk, struggled to free itself; since then, lightning has not hit trees of one particular species]: Beier 1966:44-46; lamp [when lightning strikes, an animal that looks like a goat descends into the ground, but with its hind legs and the tail of a crocodile; goes down a rope that looks like a web, and returns back along it; if the web breaks off, the animal screams, people gather to kill and burn it; at the same time, you have to take the drug, because it is dangerous to approach a lightning animal]: Werner 1933:226 (retelling in Kotlyar 2009, No. 101:100-101); tsonga [lightning is a bird of four colors (green, red, black, white), lives in the mountains; sorcerers used to find its eggs floating in a nest on the river; when it falls to the ground, sometimes cannot take off, it can be caught; leaves its urine in the ground, a gelatin-like substance that later hardens; sorcerers collect it]: Junod 1927:313-314.
Melanesia. Sio [after a long downpour, the elderly couple came by boat from the island to the mainland, where they have a vegetable garden; they saw a black man on a tree branch, but the man approached him; he went down got them to their island; he was a thunder; the clouds cracked, he fell and could not return to heaven; he had something like a gun in his hands; when he shot, there was thunder; the old woman gave him yams; he had long fingers, crooked legs, some teeth long, others short; the couple hid Thunder for three months so that his fellow villagers would not kill him; to return to heaven, they had to light a huge fire; When the smoke reaches the sky, it rains, the clouds will thunder, and the Thunder will rise; and it happened; before rising, the thunder promised old people to send rain or dry weather, depending on what they needed; that's what happened; people on the island no longer suffered from heavy rains or droughts and didn't tell others about it]: Slone 2009:78-80.
Micronesia-Polynesia. Yap: Christian 1899 [people baked yams in the sun; asked the heavenly god Yalafath for help; Dessra thunder fell from the sky, stuck in a pandanus; Guaretin was just baking yams, rescued D.; he taught to produce fire by friction (by rotating the fire sticks under her arms), making and burning clay pots; (quoted in Frazer 1930:90)]: 320; Müller 1917-1918 [a woman baked a tarot in the sun; The thunder in the guise of a dog fell and got stuck in the breadtree; the woman freed him; he baked a tarot under her arms; made chopsticks to make fire, taught her how to sculpt and burn pots; people spied on as a woman, they took the fire; they began to pay her for the dishes, but refused to pay for the fire]: 604-607 in Frazer 1930:90-91.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Java [when Sesela was working in the garden, lightning struck; S. grabbed Old Thunder, brought Demak to the Sultan of the region; he put Thunder in an iron cage, S. ordered not to give a drop water; an old woman came, she was Thunder's wife, gave him coconut milk, he melted the cage, and returned to heaven with his wife]: Knappert 1977b, No. 14:51.
Taiwan - Philippines. Ifugao [the Lumawig and Magiwa brothers have many enemies in the village, they go to the forest; there the bird teases Thunder, he gets stuck in a tree; the brothers agree to release him; he gives them one first, then two of their teeth; in the village they yell at their enemies, thunder them]: Barton 1956, No. 13:158-159.
China - Korea. Chinese: Eberhard 1968 (mostly Guangxi, Guangdong, generally southern China; also Shaanxi) [stories of Thunder falling to the ground; he has a pig's head, two fingers and toes each; looks like a big monkey; looks like a "pig bear" with fleshy wings; whoever eats pork with goldfish meat will kill Thunder; Thunder has red hair, an animal body, a monkey's head, he's horned and a winged dog; fell to the roof of a woman in labor and could not go up (Thunder is afraid of women in labor); Shaanxi: a man beat Thunder, whose eyes are like mirrors, red lips, a soft horn 10 cm tall, a monkey's face; Anhui: The thunder fell into the house, he was doused with urine to prevent him from getting up anymore, he cried like a bull; the thunder fell from the sky in the form of a cat (Hainan)]: 253-255; Yuan Mei 1977 [The thunder has sharp beaks and claws (apparently he has the appearance of a rooster), holds an awl in his hands; in the summer he got into the woman in labor's room, got dirty, could not fly to the sky, climbed to the top of the tree; while sleeping, the man stole his awl, it easily cut the stone; the attempt to forge turned into blue smoke, evaporated - heavenly fire cannot come into contact with the earth], No. 195:208-209; Werner 1922 [Yeh Ch'en-Chao woodcutter from Hsin Chou on Mount Chien-Ch'ang Shan heard thunder; Lei Kung's thunder told him he was stuck in a tree, asked him to be released; the next day he brought a book to summon him and his four brothers (he himself is the fifth, youngest); Since then, thunders have helped to avoid drought and crop failure; when Y.C. fell asleep in the temple and was arrested, there was a thunder, arrested in fear was released]: 200-201.
(Wed. The Balkans. Bulgarians [after the storm, a snake fell from a cloud in the field, the man carried him milk and food for a long time]: Nenov 2004:78).
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Kalmyks: Basayev 2004, No. 18 [during a thunderstorm, Lou's dragon rushes noisily across the sky, firing fire arrows at white sky doves; power is given to him by a talisman (mirda) in the form of a wand with precious stones; when he loses it, he falls to the ground, looks like a camel with kind eyes and a long neck], 51 [during a thunderstorm, the merkit drove the horse, felt that the dragon was throwing at it arrows; after a powerful blow, the thunder will stop, saw a helpless camel on the ground: the dragon did not calculate his strength, fell to the ground; asked Merkit to help him rise to heaven; he helped, since then the dragon He does not touch the Merkits; only a member of the Merkit tribe can be touched first by a member of the Lightning tribe], 176 [Erlik Nomin Khan sends the Shulmus to destroy the Merkit Mazan Batyr; he pretends to be sleeping in a yurt, throws a boiling pot over the shulmus; next time he lies down in the steppe, putting grass in his ass, a cake under his arm; the shulmus do not hear a heartbeat, M. undress, decide that the corpse is already overgrown with grass, leave; E. asks for help from the dragon Lou; S. beats him off, breaks his lightning arrows, Lou crashes into a mountain, falls, appears as a camel; M. whips him three times so that he remembers him, returns him the amulet- Mirda]: 49, 102-103, 288-294.
Western Siberia. Kets [people lived in one horde, began to starve; Thunder fell from the sky into the forest, like a horse (the image of a horse, in other words, an elk, is associated with the idea of Thunder as a winged creature with hooves and swan head); people ate that horse, became pregnant; men died from this, women gave birth; children were divided into two exogamous halves, occupying different territories (known since the 17th century)]: Alekseyenko 2001, No. 14:74, 264 (note).
Japan. Japanese: Mescheryakov 1984 [Echigo Thunder destroyed a pagoda on the mountain every time; Saint Jinyu began to pray, clouds gathered, a terribly looking young man fell to the ground, began to ask him let go; D. told him to leave the pagoda alone and bring water to the monks]: 78-80; 1995 [in Owari land, during a thunderstorm, a boy falls into the field in front of a peasant; the peasant agrees not to kill him with a hoe, make him a camphor boat, fill it with water, put a bamboo leaf on top; Thunder rises to heaven in it; a peasant gives birth to a coveted son, becomes a guardian of moisture in the fields]: 153-155; Isis 1998 [The thunder fell into the well, covered it with a lid; released, promising not to fall in the area]: 52-53; Okinawa [The thunder fell into the fork in the mulberry tree, got stuck, died; since then fears mulberry trees]: Isis 1998:54.
Wed. SV Asia. Wed. coastal Koryaks ["Zakhar Stepanovich is an excellent storyteller and knows traditional culture well. She wrote down interesting vivid information about shamans, sacrifices, spells for all occasions, divination (including on her own leg), methods and cases of harmful magic. He told a legend according to which the Koryaks Yaganov "seem to be connected with thunder" and come from him: "Once thunder came down from the sky. We saw him - he is like a man, flying on a birch board. The board broke off and he was here all summer..." I heard the same legend from one of the Lesnovsky Yaganovs in 1985" (Z.S. Yaganova was 74 years old at the time of recording, in 1995)]: Batyanova 2014:171).
(Wed. NW Coast. Eyak [eyak doesn't know that lightning hits trees, they attribute it to another character; sometimes you can find an animal with transparent skin in a split (lightning) tree; if you bring it home, good luck]: Birket-Smith, De Laguna 1938:223-224).
Mesoamerica Chatino [Thunder gets stuck in a split tree; the hunter finds it; the Forest Master gives the hunter an ax to split the tree; Thunder and the Forest Master give corn and beans]: Bartolome 1979:27; tequistlateca [A thunder child gets stuck in a tree; a woman finds her husband cut down a tree, freed the boy; Thunder gives a "thunder knife"; if you stab him on the site, it will rain even in a drought in the field; the knife disappears when a person shares a secret with neighbors]: Carrasco 1960:107; Zapotecs [The thunder child fell when the rainy season is over; sits like a lizard on a tree; the boy finds it, puts it in the fire, he rises with smoke; the thunder's parents decided to thank him; four Gromov came to the boy's mother's house, giving gifts; since then, Yayalag has been celebrating on April 1]: Parsons 1936: 335-336; Tricky: Hollenbach 1980, No. 10.6 [The thunder was swimming in the sea, the crocodile snake was about to swallow it; the man gave him his explosive belt; the thunder smashed the snake to pieces]: 470-471; 1988 [ The thunder man lived in the mountains and Thunder Woman lived on the coast; the man's corn did not grow well; the woman helps him, but he only grows on the tops of his cobs; the harvests are better on the coast; he hit a tree for a year stuck; the rains have stopped; a hunter comes to the tree, Thunder asks for his ax; gets, frees himself, it rains; one day Thunder hits the coast, swims, the crocodile snake tries it swallow, it gets stuck in her throat; asks a man to give him his explosives; kills a snake with an explosion; now lives only in the sky]: 15-17; chinantecs: Weitlaner 1977 [thunder baby gets stuck in tree, man frees him]: 99; Weitlaner, Castro 1973 [peasants hear a call for help; he is called by a thunder stuck in a tree; a peasant gives him his fallen axe, walks away, thunder sounds, The thunder is released; Thunder's father meets a peasant, calls him, treats him]: 211-212; juice [Thunder looks like a boy, sits on a tree, cannot fly away without his snake whip and is unable to fly away without his snake whip and is unable to do it himself pick up]: Cordry 1952b, No. 1:501-502
Honduras-Panama. Eastern Panama (kuna?) [The thunder is stuck in the blackberry bushes; hunters release him, bring him home; he produces thunder with split cane; he was asked to show the flints he carries in his purse and eats; he came to rabies, flames and one flint came out of his mouth, many died; disappearing]: Adrian de Ufelde 1908:127-128 in Casimir de Brizuela 1972:127-128.
Guiana. Pemon [during the downpour, the Thunders came down to replenish their gunpowder; the downpour is their clothes, boat, and river at the same time; a flying termite bit one of them; for Thunder it it's like a snake bite; he fell behind comrades, remained sitting on the ground; the man easily cured him with a jam; Thunder gave him his gun, told him not to put much gunpowder; the man put a lot, threw him into the air by the explosion, he himself became one of the Thunders; Thunders are red-faced dwarfs with curly hair]: Artmellada 1988, No. 2:19-20.
Southern Amazon. Nambiquara [when lightning strikes a tree but falls by, Thunder leaves his daughter on the ground; a passerby must give her all the honey he has with him; whoever does not leave, the girl will tell her father he'll kill this man]: Pereira 1983, #93:119.
Chaco. If not otherwise: a person finds a thunder child in a hollow or split tree, brings him home; Thunder helps people, but returns to heaven when children begin to offend him; see H30B motif. Ayoreo [Lightning Boy (=Cloud Boy) is picked up by a man; makes a flood when children offend him, but saves those who have been kind to him]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1989b, No. 26-30:49-65; chamacoco [Thunder boy gets stuck in a tree]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1987a, No. 31-33:99-110; caduveo [honey collectors find an ugly pot-bellied boy with huge eyelashes in the hollow; bring him to the village; children they play with him, pull out his eyelashes; then lightning flies out, thunder sounds, all children die]: Ribeiro 1950, No. 7:140; Wilbert, Simoneau 1990a, No. 20 [English translation]: 41-42; matako [Thunder is like a lamb ; asks a person to make a fire to rise to the sky with smoke]: Alvarsson MS, No. 311:146; Toba (Argentinian): Wilbert, Simoneau 1982b, No. 14 [(Lehmann-Nitsche); lightning is a Kaso-ganga man with small head and body, covered with hair like an anteater; if he likes a person, he comes to him; came to a fisherman, said that during the storm he fell and got stuck in a tree, ordered him to build a fire, send him in the smoke into the sky; let the man come home right away because it will rain; since then the man has been lucky to hunt], 15 [Kasogonagá - Mr. Lightning, looks like a small animal; fell to the ground; asked the man to make a fire, went up to the sky with smoke, immediately began to rain; K. made the Indian a shaman], 16 [(Lehmann-Nitsche); the rain does not end, the man tells the anteater that he will soon flood everything ground; he asks to be put in a fire, rises into the sky on a column of smoke, the rain stops]: 62-63, 64, 65; 1989a, No. 45 [sometimes Kasogonaga falls to the ground and cannot return; he looks like a pig; asked the man to put him on the fire, got up with smoke, told him to run home right away because it would rain; another time the lake dried up and the rainbow snake was on land; the man took it to the river, she promised him abundant fishing; each time the water spilled ashore, leaving the fish], 46 [Kasonaga looks like an anteater; a man put it on the fire, helped him return to heaven with smoke; the storm immediately began], 47 [ Kasonaga fell to the ground, looking like an animal; asked the man to put it on the fire, got up with smoke]: 71-72, 73-74, 74.