I52. Fish is the support of the earth.

.11.14.16.17.21.-.30.32.-.38.42. (.52.)

The world rests on a fish or fish-like creature, or the earth itself is a similar creature or originated from fish. See I8B motif.

Swahili, Arabs in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Germans (South Tyrol), Arabic writing tradition (One Thousand and One Nights), Palestinians, Tibetans, Tibetans (Ham), Lepcha, Kirati, Kachin, Hampti, Rin, Shans, Barela-bhilala, Muslim Bengalis, Malays, Minangkabau, Atayal, Chuan Miao, Lahu, Ancient China, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, Bosnians, Slovenes, Hungarians, Romanians, Gagauz, Poles, Russians written tradition, Russians (Arkhangelsk, Oryol, Saratov), Belarusians, Ukrainians (Transcarpathia, Volyn, Kiev, Kherson), Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Nogais, Terek Cossacks, Abkhazians, Ingush, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Talysh, Turks, Persians, (Avesta?) , Tajiks, Uzbeks, Udmurts, Mordovians, Mari, Chuvash, Kazan Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Shors, Altaians, Chulym Turks, Khakas, Siberian Tatars, Tofalars, Buryats, Mongols, Tundra Nenets, Mansi, Oriental Khanty, Northern Selkups, Evenks (southeastern?) , Yakuts, Orochi, Udege, Nivkhs, Manchus, Ainu, Japanese, Nootka.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Swahili [Chewa fish swims in the world's oceans, a stone on it, a god's ox on a stone, a disk of the earth rests on one of its horns; when an ox shifts it to another horn, it happens earthquake]: Struck 1909a: 88.

North Africa. The Arabs of Morocco [the land stands on the horn of a bull, the bull on the fish, the fish on the water, the water in the wind, the wind in the void, and what is empty, only God knows; when a bull moves a burden from one horn to another, earthquakes occur]: Westermark 1926 (1): 114 in Wieschhoff 1939:42; Tunisian Arabs [first the earth swayed on the waves; God helped to support her angel; put a rock from under his feet the red hyacinth, which has thousands of holes, of which water gushes; to support the rock was put by the bull Keyoutha, which has 40 thousand eyes and the same number of ears, noses, tongues and legs; to overcome the distance between the two legs, you have to move 500 years; support the bull created al-noun fish, which cannot be seen because of its gigantic size and the sparkling of its eyes; the fish is in the water, the water keeps the air lower water again, and abysses under it]: Ayadi 2008, No. 79:181-182; Arabs of Egypt [the earth rests on the horns of a bull, a bull stands on a fish or a whale]: El-Shamy 1995:45.

Western Europe. Germans (South Tyrol) [the land stands on four pillars; shudders if one of them moves]: Menghin 1884, No. 3:111.

Western Asia. One thousand and one nights [an angel explains to the hero the structure of the world; seven lands are one above the other, supported by an angel, an angel on a rock, a bull under a rock, a fish under a bull, a sea under the fish]: Salle 2010 (2), night 496:61; Palestinians: Hanauer 1977 [First Allah created the Tables of Destiny recording everything that was and will be; created a giant Pen, told him to write; when the tables were full, A. placed them and the pen to an unknown place; then A. created water and a huge pearl the size of heaven and earth; A.'s voice spread to the first waters, they began to boil, then everything subsided; then A. created his throne, placing he was created by a winged Wind, telling him to support the waters; a snake lying in a ring around the Throne; his head was a white pearl, his body was gold, his eyes were sapphires; then A. told the Wind to stir up the sea; foam formed land on the surface of the water, splashes and steam became clouds; frozen waves formed mountains; mountains prevent the earth from floating on the waters, their roots go to Mount Kaf, which encircles the world and holds its contents; A. turned surface waters into seven concentric seas, separated by the same number of continents, but connected by straits and bays; at first the earth swayed, A. ordered the angel hold it; he wrapped one hand around the world from the east, the other from the west, and so holds it; with the support of angel A. made an emerald rock, placing it on the horns (var.: on the back) of a bull named Behemoth; when the bull shifts the rock from one horn to another, the ground shakes; a bull looking into its ferocious red eyes will immediately go blind; a bull stands on a whale swimming in the ocean created for it; below the ocean and around the world - air resting in darkness, through which the sun, moon, and stars created to illuminate the world move]: 3-5; Meyouhas 1928 [the beginning is about like Hanauer; the purpose of mountains is to hold everything on land, from sliding into the abyss; Allah divided the waters, creating seven seas separated by land; first the earth swayed on the waters; A. ordered the angel to support it by placing an emerald rock for him under his feet; A. told the River Horse with sparkling eyes to hold the rock on one of the horns; when this Beast gets tired, he throws the rock to the other horn, the earth shudders; this creature is born swimming in waters by Leviathan; A. created the sun, moon and stars to illuminate the land and sea]: 7-11 (apparently, according to the same sources, Gryaznevich, Basilov 1982 (Muslim mythology) [1) the earth rests on the shoulders of an angel, leaning on a rock supported by a bull standing on swimming fish; 2) the ground rests on the horn of a bull, a bull on fish, a fish on the water, water in the air, air on humidity; earthquakes from a bull throws the earth from one horn to another]: Gryaznevich, Basilov 1982:184).

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Tibet [The Himalayan and eastern zones of Tibet are characterized by the idea of the universe in the form of a continent floating on the back of a turtle, or a fish crushed for greater stability by a mountain ( Lepcha, Mount Kanchenjunga), at the base of which is the Begsha snake; "In Kham, which, according to legend, is above the head of the fish, there are frequent earthquakes due to the fact that the fish, tired of killing the ground, turns its head "]: Ogneva 1982b: 508; Tibetans (Ham) [giant fish live in the waters that carry the earth; earthquakes occur in Kham Province when it moves its tail]: Cassis 1956:12 in Dzharylgasinova, Kryukov 1989:279; lepcha [Rum created the ocean, then ngo fish; three pairs of deities (Rug-lu and Rug-lom, Mon-li and Röng-gul, Pö-ril and Pö-dong) were placed crosswise on her back and the first pair of people (Sön-li and Söm-nag-Mön-mu); they began to support the plate-shaped land; when the fish moved, the ground shook; then Rum created the main mountain and four more mountains, two big rivers]: Hermanns 1954:30-31; kirati (rai or limbu) [Porokmi Yomphami, on behalf of another deity, creates the land: he creates several huge fish in the empty ocean, puts stones on them who he covers with clay, sand and earth; plants plants on the created land; he does not like the flat landscape, he creates ever higher mountains; then he populates the earth with insects and creates flowers for them]: Streltsova 2017:156; Kachin: Chesnov 1982j [fish swam in the ocean, Mutum poured earth on it, the female spirit laid an egg on the ground, the lower half of the egg remained on the ground, the upper half became heavenly var.: the earth is filled on a crab or Shirutru crocodile; earthquakes occur when S. tosses and turns]: 188; Elwin 1958a, No. 12 [water below the ground, Palang-Ananda fish lives in it; grew out of her back a flower resting on the surface of the waters; peace rests on it; when a king is born, the fish laughs, and when it dies, it cries, in both cases the earth shudders]: 90 (=1958b, No. 12); ranks [giant Macon keeps the world; the foundation of the world is a flat stone, the world's oceans are spilled on it; Ngazalon fish swims in the ocean, carries a flat rock earth; when M. shifts the load from one shoulder to another, it happens earthquake]: Chesnov 1982k:91.

Burma - Indochina. Shany: Milne 1910 [Mount Meru rests on a huge fish; each of its scales is 88 "views" long (distances you can see)]: 204: Chesnov 1982c [Mount Loisaomong rests on a huge fish, arose from a lotus flower brought to the ground by the gods; leaves formed 4 inhabited continents of the earth]: 66; khamti [at first, water is everywhere; Phra put land on the back of the fish, ordered lay an egg for the female, cut it, put one half on the ground, made the other in the sky; the first man and woman came out of the tree flower; the Rajas came out of the first egg]: Elwin 1958a, No. 11:17.

South Asia. Muslim Bengalis (Sylhet County) [the earth rests on the horns of a bull, a bull on a fish, a fish in water, water in chaos; when a bull shakes its head, earthquakes occur; but the bull is immediately bitten by a mosquito and the bull freezes]: Bhattacharya 1930:122-123; barela-bhilala [Pini meher decided to make land, rolled dirt off his chest, created a dove, gave him a letter, sent him to the Ocean (Dhuda sanat), he slept, the dove buried a letter in the sand, a plant with six or seven branches has grown, it is a woman, a wasp became her husband, 5 fruits appeared; including 1) grains (seeds), 2) wild and pets, 3) metals, 4) Kala nag (black snakes), 5) Welu bai (Earth); Bhagwan told her to mold the ground on a potter's wheel; two frogs hit her tooth to make an ax and a shovel, she dug up ores to make the circle itself, the bird helped to make it, but broke its beak; Duli raja made six or seven pellets of earth, the wasp carried them away; he made a snare out of her hair, the wasp was caught, so she had a narrow waist; but let go, giving them five pellets for Welu bai; she made the land and the earth grew; Kala nag couldn't hold it, the bull couldn't either, so Bhagwan put the ground on 6 pillars; Ram and Lakshman swayed the pillars, the ground staggered; then Welu bai placed fish below; there was cancer on the fish's tail, sometimes bites him; during the famine, the ocean dried up, the fish was naked; people cut off pieces from it; only brother and sister were against eating fish alive; the fish told them to sit in the basket and sent the flood; all drowned, brother and sister to the wretched man (they rose above the waters with the mountain woman, but the man was taller); he asked who they were, they said brother and sister; turned them in opposite directions I asked again, they said that husband and wife; their excrement, urine and saliva had become a multitude of people of all castes]: Stiglmayr 1970:161-163.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Malays [the ground rests on buffalo horns; when one horn gets tired, the buffalo throws its burden less than in the western and eastern United States and the other, an earthquake occurs; the buffalo itself stands on an island in the middle of the sea, on a turtle or on a Nun fish]: Skeat, Blagden 1900:5-6; minangkabau [a flat disk of the earth rests on a bull's horns; a bull stands on an egg, an egg on a fish that swims in the sea; if an insect sits on a bull's ear, which tugs its head, causing earthquakes]: Loeb 1935:129; (cf. tetum [the crocodile climbed ashore, was in the sun; the man carried it into the water; the grateful crocodile began to carry it, but then decided to eat it; the fish and the monkey shamed him; out of shame and Thanks, it has become an island of Timor where people can live; central Timor is the belly of a crocodile]: Sá 196:16-20; Dos Santos 1967 [same]: 19-22; Pascoal 1967 [same]: 258-260).

Taiwan - Philippines. Atayal [the ground shudders when a wasp bites an underground carp]: Yamada 2002:71

China - Korea. Chuan Miao [when King P'an Ku separated heaven from earth, Hu Hsi's sister descended from heaven to earth, King Shen Lung descended to control five grains, Emperor Hsuen Yuen went down to make people clothes; he created 44 big fish to use in setting the 4 corners of the world; he made 48 pegs out of mutton antlers, using them to make the world strong in four directions; he's solid established heaven and earth and there was yellow gold in the middle of the earth]: Graham 1954:18; lahu [at first only G'ui-sha in the center of the world is like a spider in a web; he scraped off the dirt from his hands and feet, made it out of it four fish: gold, silver, copper and iron; put them on a pole; laid 4 beams of heaven and 4 earth; made poutrelles from the same scraped mud, creating heaven and earth, but earth wobbled; G. rolled 70,000 balls out of the same mud, filling the cells (mailles) of the earth; from the bones of his hands he made the bones of the sky, and from the bones of his legs he made the bones of the earth; to find out how thick and thick the earth was the sky, created two ants out of the mud; one climbed through the sky, the other through the earth; when they returned, they said that the thickness was the same; G. had two assistants: Ca Law, the man he told to make the sky, and Na Law, a woman told to make earth; NL worked day and night, and KL drank tea, so heaven and earth were not the same in size: the sky was like a large canopy and the earth was narrow, wrinkled; that the earth was compressed, valleys and mountains appeared; to prevent the earth from swell, G. put a rock on it, but it slipped; the bulbul bird (Hypsipetes mcclellandii) told it not to slide; G. placed fire in the Sun, fireflies in the moon; but they do not go to heaven, they are afraid of people; then G. gave them needles {obviously rays that pierce their eyes}; tiger to the Sun: you are too bright; he bit him, hence the eclipses; Frog Moon: you're too cold; she tried to swallow it, so there are spots on the moon; by letting a tiger and a frog into the sky, G. made the sun go east and the moon west, otherwise they were constantly in the sky; from the mud scraped off his hands and feet, G. created stars, as well as a chicken and a rooster; the rooster sang three times and the east lit up; this is how the light separated from the darkness; G. moon: it will be 12 months in the year]: Coyaud 2009, No. 1:9-12; Ancient China (Western Han, 168 BC, Mawangdui, Prov. Hunan, depicted on a painted silk banner placed face down on the lid of the inner coffin from Princess Dai's tomb [apparently a cosmological scheme; nude at the very bottom an anthropomorphic character with a plump mustachioed face with very slanted eyes stands on two fish intertwined with bodies and supports a horizontal surface with both hands; characters and vessels sitting on it under a canopy; according to the gods, water turtles holding something in their mouths, dragons; above is another surface, under it two tigers (?) , it has hunched characters, probably buried herself and accompanying her; above is a winged creature; above it an object with two peacocks on the sides; anthropomorphic figures sitting above; galloping up deer; dragons; moon sickle with a toad at the top left, a sun disk with a crow silhouette on the right]: Kravtsova 2004:250; Kryukov et al. 1983:257-259; Chekmarev 1998:147-148; Yanshina 1984, Figure 15; Scott 1993:25; Chinese (Shanxi, Wu. Pingdin) [Pangu separated the sky from the ground; the sky was held on the four legs of a sea turtle, and the earth rested on the back of the carp; immortals lived in the sky, and there was no one on earth; the Jade Lord sent Nuiwu on earth to create life; the first day is the Day of the Tree, N. created for flowers, herbs, trees; the second is Water Day, N. populated rivers and lakes with fish, turtles, crayfish; the third is Metal Day, N. populated mountains with wild animals and birds; the fourth is the day of Fire, N. populated the plains with cattle; the fifth is the day of Earth; N. began to crumple a ball of clay; the Golden Boy appeared in front of her; said that Mother Vanma sent him, she she is afraid that N. will become lazy; N. said, so she does not know what to do next; he promised to report to Mother; N., got angry and sculpted a figure of Youth, 50 of them out of clay; on the sixth day, the day of the Moon, N. wanted to lie down, but the Jade Maiden called her a lazy person; N. got angry again, sculpted 50 Virgo figures; laid out male and female figures in pairs and fell asleep; on the seventh day, the day of the Sun, she wanted return to the Sky Palace, I saw that the figures came to life; gave names to everyone, and called the couple who looked most like those Boy and Virgo Fusi brother and sister; they asked what to eat, what to eat, what dress where to live; N.: wild herbs and animals, dress in leaves and skins, live in caves; N. returned to heaven; wolves, tigers and leopards and ate 10 pairs of siblings; supportive the ground is carp, part of the earth collapsed, and with it 10 more pairs; the turtle supporting the sky was tired, jerked its foot, the NW corner of the sky collapsed, 10 more pairs died under the rubble; Wangmu found out, told N. to return to the earth to help people; N. tied the carp with dragon veins, smelted five-colored stones on Mount Fushan and patched the sky, cut off the turtle's paws and made supports for the sky, drove wild birds and animals away, returned to heaven; but wild animals and birds returned, ate 5 more pairs; the carp blinked an eye, the ground staggered, the mountains shook, volcanoes woke, 5 more pairs died; the turtle that had lost its paws began to cry pain, her tears turned into ice and snow, rains and glaciers killed 5 more pairs; it kept raining, the snow cover was getting thicker, the carp was getting heavier; the ground sank, the turtle's legs trembled, the sky and the land staggered, the ice and snow melted, the seas overflowed; N. sent Vanmu again; she threw her hairpin into the water, it turned into a boat, only Brother and Sister Fusi escaped; the flood was over, but the land is empty; Mount Fushan, where N. melted stones, was the highest, N. took her brother and sister there - let them multiply; they were embarrassed; N. gave everyone a millstone, ordered them to roll down the mountain; when the millstones rolled down, they lay on top of each other; the eastern and western Millstones in the Changshigou Ravine are those millstones; shame will pass, and if you want to call each other brother and sister, please; newlyweds are still called that]: Zhou Yang et al. 1999, No. 9:12-14.

The Balkans. Bulgarians: Georgieva 1983 [in Razumnik, land on water, water on a flat stone, stone on 4 golden whales, whales on a river of fire, a river on another fire, that fire on an iron oak planted before any other, and the oak is on God's power]: 132; Gura 1997 [the earth rests on the horns of an ox or buffalo, it stands on fish]: 758; Stoynev 2006 [the earth rests on fish]: 270; South Slavic apocrypha ( ~Bogomily Bulgarians) [before the earth was Lord Almighty in three cells (comarekh) in the air; he rejected and gave birth to his beloved son Jesus Christ and let the Spirit out of his mouth in the form of a dove; and said that the sky was crystal on seventy thousand myriads of iron pillars and there would be lakes and clouds and stars and light and wind; he planted paradise in the east; frost in the presence of the Lord, thunder from his voice in the fiery chariot, lightning is the word from his mouth; the sun is from his lower robe, because he... her to his face; and the Lord said, Let there be darkness of the pillars in the air. He said, let the Sea of Tiberias be, the water was salty; and the Lord descended to the Sea of Tiberias and saw Gogol floating on it and asked who he was; he said that he was Satan; the Lord told Satan he descended into the sea, took out land and stone, the Lord broke it by two, gave half of it to Satan with his left hand, hit the stone with a rod, the archangels Michael and Gabriel arose from the sparks and soared up; Satan created made of stone, countless demonic power of the gods; and the Lord said, let there be thirty-three whales on the Sea of Tiberias and on those whales the land]: Badalanova Geller 2011:24; Macedonians [first one water, in Fish swims in it; one side of the fish is burned by the heat of the Sun, separated, fell down, split in two; from the rest above came the Month, from which the earth fell completely down]: Tsenev 2004:12; Hungarians [animals hold the ground: bull, buffalo, bear and whale; when they move, the earth shudders]: Sebők: 107; Hungarians [land rests on fish]: Moshkov 1901:70 (note 34); Romanians : Brille, Ispas 2005 [God, seeing that the earth is collecting water, supported it with four fish - one on each side of the world; when fish hit their tails, an earthquake occurs]: 123; Ciauşanu 2001 [ the ground rests on the back of a big fish, and when the fish moves, an earthquake occurs]: 21; Müller 1857, No. 209 (Transylvania) [the land rested on four fish; during the flood, one was missing, in this where the land descended, the sea formed]: 162-163; Rusu 2009 [the Red Apple Tree is at the edge of the world; all rivers flow from there, go around the world and return under the Apple Tree; under it is one of the four fish, who hold the land]: 90; Ana Chelariu, personal report, 12/10/2011 [land on four pillars with fish under each]; Serbs [land rests on fish]: Janković 1951:9; Bosnians [land standing on an ox, an ox on a fish]: Janković 1951:9; Slovenes [the ground rests on fish; when the fish moves, an earthquake occurs; or the ground floats in the water surrounded by two fish; when they touch the ground with its tail, the earth shudders]: Kropej 2003:121-123 (=2012:19); Gagauz people [the earth stands on the horn of a yellow (sara) bull; when he throws it from fatigue to another horn, it happens earthquake; others say the ground is on fish, and fish turn its tail during an earthquake]: Moshkov 1901:58.

Central Europe. Poles: Belova 2004a (Lublin Voivodeship) [flat land supported by fish is attached to clouds with ropes]: 110; Veselovsky 1890 [land lies in the middle of the sea on two large fish; first the earth was flat; while God was creating the world, the devil persuaded the duck to steal the land; God sent a hawk to chase her, who strangled her; the duck opened its beak to scream, dropped the ground, and mountains came out of it ]: 33-34; Belarusians [the earth rests on fish]: Jankovich 1951:9; Russian written tradition [according to book legends, the earth rests on the "great fish", on the "fire whale", on the "snake" Eleatham, on the Iron Pillar (J. M. N.Prosv., 1863, April, p. 14)]: Potanin 1883:737; Russians (Arkhangelskaya): Efimenko 1874:171 (Pinega) [land on three pillars, one of them has already died], 185 (Shengursky district) [the earth rests on seven large and six small whales; when they move their tail or ridge, they make an earthquake; on the east side of the earth there is a warm side where they live closer to us Orthodox Christians, followed by Arabs, followed by small (dwarfs) and one-legged people, and in the west, the cold side is the same as in the north, where all non-chryst lives - Germans, British, French]; Russians (Pigeon Book, Orel Gubernia) [The Pigeon Book falls out of the cloud; Prince Vladimir asks the wise Tsar Davyd Yevseich to read it; then V. asks questions, D. answers them without reading, from memory; the white light "conceived" from the holy spirit, Christ himself; the sun from his face, the month from his breasts, the night from his hair, the morning dawn from the reese, the stars from the eyes, the wind from the breath, the rain from tears; above all kings the king is the white king, the mother of all cities - Jerusalem, mother to all churches, is a church in Jerusalem, with the relics of Christ; mother to all mountains is Fangor Mountain, mother to all rivers is Jordan, mother to all seas is Kiyon Seas, mother to all fish is a whale, because it has a whale all the white world is based, mother cheese is the earth; the Strafil bird keeps all the white light under its right wing when it hits, the storm on the sea; Vyndrik the beast walks through the dungeon like the sun across the sky; Cypress to everyone mother to trees (Christ is crucified on him), weeping grass - mother to all herbs (arose from the tear of the Virgin)]: Vlasova 1986, No. 5:10-16; Russians: Kuznetsova 1998 [in the northern (Russian) version of the cosmogonic legends, the earth is established on fish, four fish, three, seven whales]: 68; Potanin 1883 [the land stands on seven or three whales; in the verse about Fedor Tyron, instead of a whale, Tit-fish and Kytra Ryba; kytr - mammoth]: 737; Russians (Saratov Volga region) [God created heaven and waters, rides on water on a rock, spat, Titan came out of the abyss; says that his name is Titaniel, but you can simply call him Gogol; ready to listen to the order; God tells you to fly to heaven, bring land; he brought it, but hid a pinch by the cheek; God scattered the earth on the water, became dry; to hold it, he created three whales, with a stone slab on them, on her earth; God sees Gogol's swollen cheek, tells him to spit out the earth, a land with valleys and mountains has appeared; out of envy, Gogol rested, squeezed God's land, it also wrinkled; Gogol argues that so more beautiful; a man will remember the Lord when he goes uphill, and a jester when down the mountain; God orders to bring seeds from paradise, gave it to God from his right hand, kept it for himself from his left hand; from what God sowed, has grown useful plants sown by Gogol are useless, prickly, poisonous]: Zavaritsky 1916, No. 1:67-69; Potanin 1883 [the land stands on seven or three pillars; in the verse about Fedor Tyron, instead of a whale, Tit-fish and Kytra- fish; kytr is a mammoth; according to other (book) legends, the earth rests on the "great fish", on the "fire whale", on the "snake" Eleatham, on the "iron pillar" (J. M. N.Prosv., 1863, April, p. 14)]: 737; Ukrainians (Volyn): Abramov 1914 [the round earth meets the sky along the edges; rests on two fish, a male and a female; they keep the ground in turn for three years; when they change, the earth trembles]: 381; Belova et al. 2019 [pike and roach hold the ground alternately; when the ground rests on weak roach, it can be a damp year, because the earth goes deeper into the water, and when pike, the year can be dry]: 355; Kravchenko 1920 [earthquake: the fish will turn around, the ground will rise]: 8; Ukrainians (Volyn): Chubinsky 1872:37 [Lutsk County: the land is kept on the water with big fish; every For seven years, fish go down and then rise, so there are years wet and dry; an earthquake occurs when fish turn over to the other side; or the ground rests on two whales; when it holds male, then summer is dry, because he raises the land above Kharkiv Uyezd: the land rests on whale-fish; Volyn Gubernia, Litinsky Uyezd: the land swims on the water and is supported by two fish, from the movement of which there are earthquakes], 38 (Lutsky district) [the earth rests on two pillars; when the male keeps it, the summer is dry because he raises the land higher; and when the female, the land falls, this causes rivers and lakes to overflow and summers are wet]; Ukrainians (Transcarpathia) [the earth rests on two pillars crosswise]: Gura 1997:757; Ukrainians (Kiev, Vasilkovsky U.) [The land is flat and rests on the sea. There is a fish in the sea that moves a whole light on its ridge; when it moves its tail, an earthquake occurs]: Rulikowski 1853:173; Ukrainians (Kiev region) [the earth rests on three pillars]: Gura 1997:757; Ukrainians [the land rests on fish]: Moshkov 1901:70 (note 34); Yastrebov 1894 (Kherson) [the land stands on three iron pillars, and the pillars on the whale- fish; land stands on whales and whales on water]: 8.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Crimean Tatars (southern coast) [1) wind (if) keeps water, water - fish, fish - bull, land (Kapsychor) has been approved on its horn; 2) the land rests on buffalo, buffalo on fish, fish on water, water on wind, wind in the dark; charter, buffalo moves the earth from one horn to another, causing earthquakes (Alushta)]: Potanin 1883:799; Kalmyks [a huge fish keeps the ground on its back: Buryats. Abarga Zagahan, Mong. Avraga Dzagasan, kalm. Avarga Zagsi]: Neklyudov 1982a: 173; Nogais [God created fire and water, the water was under fire, boiling; the foam that came from the boil formed a layer with an uneven surface; the Lord destroyed fire, made the earth out of foam; mountains formed from the swelling of the foam; the earth rests on fish left under the foam; water on a stone, and the stone is again on the water; what's next is not known]: Aleinikov 1893:2; Terek Cossacks [land on seven whales, if one moves, an earthquake occurs]: Vostrikov 1907:6; Abkhazians (village. Achandara, Gudauta County) [the land rests on the Agulshap dragon, when it moves, an earthquake occurs]: Chursin 1956:157; Dakhkilgov 2003 [the earth gradually formed from the thickening sea foam; A bull was sent to hold the ground; it has 70 horns, 50 of them stick up; the ground has been fortified between two horns; the bull is standing on fish, the fish swims in the sea, the sea is supported by the wind, and it moves according to God's will]: 21- 22; Georgians: Janashvili 1905 [the earth rests on a whale that causes earthquakes]: 175; Stepanov 1893 [the earth rests on the back of a fish lying in the underground sea, holding it in its mouth its tail; when it jumps out of its mouth, the fish moves, the ground shudders]: 142; Armenians: Harutyunyan 1980a [the ground is surrounded by the body of a huge fish (Lekeon or Leviatan); the fish strives catch your tail, her movements cause earthquakes; if she manages to catch her tail, the world will collapse]: 105; Bagriy 1930 (3) [an ox stands on fish in the ocean, keeps the ground on its horns; when angry, shakes its horns, an earthquake occurs]: 128; talysh [the ground stands on the horns of a bull, and the bull stands on the fish. When the fish turns its head, an earthquake occurs, but if the fish suddenly moves, the Earth will finally collapse]: Asatryan 2005:20; Turks: Gordlevsky 1968 [the earth rests on its horns Yellow bull (Sarah Okuse); there is a fish under the bull, the sea even lower; when people's sins overwhelm God's patience, he tells the midge to tickle the bull's nose; the bull waves its head, shaking the ground; if there were a midge in the bull's nose if he lingered, he would throw the earth off his horns; out of compassion for people, God does not allow it]: 74; Serebryakova 1992 [land on one of the red bull's horns; when one horn gets tired, the bull throws the earth to another horn, an earthquake occurs; a bull on a rock, that fish on the back, a fish in water]: 71-72; Furati 1889 [the theological treatise Kyrk Sual by Furati (16th century): After the creation of the seven heavens and lands, God created an angel and ordered him to wear all seven heavens; this angel must keep them around his neck until the day of resurrection; since his legs remained hanging in the air, God ordered the angels to bring from the upper paradise is a red ruby and put it under the feet of an angel holding heaven; since this stone remained in the air without support, a bull with four legs was brought out of paradise; between the shoulder blades of this bull a ruby was laid; since the bull was hanging in the air, God produced one ship, 550 years in size, and ordered the bull to board it; the ship remained in the air, so God created the Labonador fish and ordered angels put the ship on the back of the fish; this is the fish mentioned in the Quran; it supports the ship with its back, and with it everything that is held on it, i.e. seven lands, seven heavens, a vault heavenly, God's throne and his home; since the fish was left without a foothold, God created the sea and placed it in it]: 7-8; Azerbaijanis (Elisavetpol Gubernia) [an angel holds the earth, stands on a rock, a rock on a bull with 4000 eyes and the same number of ears, snouts, tongues and legs; a bull on a fish; at the end of the world, God will take the earth to his left hand, heaven will overturn to his right hand, earth will be different, heaven and hell will be abolished]: Shirakuni 1904:211-212.

Iran - Central Asia. Persians [when Ali was fighting, God sent two powerful angels to hold his hand with a sword in it; otherwise he would not only chop his enemies to pieces, but also destroy his horse, land, bull, holding it on its horns, fish with a bull standing on it, and that's it]: Donaldson 1938:82; Tajiks [at the bottom of the pilaf bowls depict two fish; such a vessel is considered a "Jamshid bowl" in which you can see the whole universe to its foundation, where fish are located]: Steblin-Kamensky, personal report 2006; Uzbeks [Abdullah ibn Masgud, Muhammad's associate, asked him about the structure of the world, received answers; earth on the horn of a bull, which has 500 years of travel from head to tail, 250 years between its horns; Satan invited the bull to relieve the burden; the bull shook his head; the Lord told the fly to crawl into the bull's nose and sting it; the bull roared, since then his name howler is bakar; the fly will sting the bull until resurrection; the bull wants to throw it off, the earth shudders; the bull stands on fish that has 500 years to travel from head to tail; fish on water, water in the wind, wind over hell, hell on a platter, dish in the hand of angel Daryail, angel on a worm under the seventh tier of hell]: Ostroumov 1890:161-162 (retelling without reference to a source in Gornensky 2000:157-159); (cf. Avestan and Middle Persian mythical fish kara, kar; but there is no indication that it holds the land; Blažek 2005:177).

Volga - Perm. Udmurts: Moshkov 1900 [the ground lies on three fish, fish on the water; earthquakes occur when fish shake off]: 199; Perevozchikova 1993 [a black bull lives underground (music uks osh, mu-osh), which stands on the back of a fish swimming in the underground sea; a bull keeps the ground on its horns, earthquakes occur due to the movement of its horns]: 252; Mordovians: Paasonen 1938, No. 6 [land three sturgeon fish keep - stellate sturgeon, beluga, sturgeon]: 13-16; Mokshin 1998 [briefly mentioned]: 99; Harva 1952 [three (or one) fish (whales) support the land in formulas and conspiracies]: 138-139; Moshkov 1900 [land lies on one big fish]: 199; erzya [The earth rests on white fish (beluga) or three fish: stellate sturgeon, sturgeon, beluga, protected by the goddess Rava (Volga); they are located between the sea and ava and protect the people (Evseviev 1963:209-210); these fish swim to three principles, to three abysses, to put their backs underground: the eldest swims east, the middle fish at noon (apparently to the center of the Earth), the youngest - by sunset (archive)]: Devyatkina 1998:34-35 (=Devyatkina 2004:26); Marie (Ufa Cheremis) [there is a huge crab in the ocean, a bull stands on it, keeps the ground on its horns; when it moves, they happen earthquakes]: Holmberg 1927:312; Chuvash [only two pigeons lived on the water, flew above the water; once they dived, raised the ground in their beaks; three whales swam out, asked for soil to be put on their backs; c since then, the earth rests on three pillars, there is a water element around the earth]: Stanyal 2004, No. 22:29; Tatars [the earth rests on the horn of a bull, the bull stands on the fish's mustache; water encircles the earth, rests on the eternal in the dark]: Vorobyov, Khisamutdinov 1967:314; Bashkirs: Barag 1987, No. 12 [the earth stands on a bull, a bull on a fish (or three fish); while the Ox and the Fish were arguing which of them would be the first to see the Year coming to them, the Mouse climbed the bull's horn, was the first to see the rising sun, the year; therefore, the musal (12-year cycle) begins with the year of the mouse]: 37; Nadrshina 1986 [the earth rests on a bull or pike (or just fish); bull movements cause earthquakes (physical exp. 1984)]: 19.

Turkestan. Kazakhs: Potanin 1916, No. 23 [the world stands on a whale mustache and on the horn of a gray or blue bull]: 114; Chuloshnikov 1924 [the earth rests on a huge fish that swims on water supported by force steam and wind; the earth is girded by a dragon (aydagar); on its edge there is a blue bull holding the whole sky on one horn; people in the sky wear a belt under their throats, like the people of the earth wear it on their lower back, and underground people wear it on legs; among the people of the sky there is an old woman of great stature; she eats 40 rams, 40 cakes at once, drinks 40 months (leather vessels) of koumiss; she milks her colorful sheep after the rain; then the sheep are visible in the form rainbows, kempir killer sak; a killer is two rows of sheep tied together to milk, closely headed along a rope stretched across the ground]: 242.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Shors: Khlopina 1978 [the middle land is flat, Mount Pustag is the navel of the earth in the middle; there is water under it, and there is a big, strong, old "ker-balyk" fish; when the fish moves, the earth shakes]: 70; Shtygashev 1894 ("Kuznetsk foreigners") [God strengthened the land on three whales (ker-palyk); when they change places, earthquakes occur]: 1-7; Altaians: Verbitsky 1893 [to strengthen the land of Ulgen put three fish, two along the edges, one in the center; the central one is the main one; directed with his head to the north, picked up under the gills by a hook with an arcana, the end of which is directed to the sky and there is fixed on three pillars; this device is controlled by the hero Mangda Shire; if the lasso on one pillar weakens, the earth will lean north, forming swamps and swamps, if on the other, the earth may sink altogether]: 90 (= 1992:111-112); Ivanov 1954 [Altai paper calendar; in the center there is an orange frog, around a wide light blue stripe - the sea, two fish (apparently pike) swim in it; apparently, fish and a frog support the earth; the earth itself is depicted as a stripe colored green, red, orange and yellow and surrounding the ocean]: 628-629, Figure 72; Surazakov 1979:44-45 [two whales {ker-balyk?} maintain peace with their heads on each other's tails {i.e. like fish on a paper calendar in Ivanov 1954}], 201 [one of the tasks that Kogyudei-Mergen, who marries Altyn-Kyuskyu, receives from her father Ai-Kaana: dive to the whales and bring a fin (KM dives, the whale gives a fin)]; khakas [water is everywhere; Ah-Khudai decided to create the earth; his younger brother Irlik Khan: there is "living clay" under water; becoming pike or duck, reached the bottom, took grains of sand in his mouth and brought them AH, but hid some in his mouth; AH caught three perch (ala pua) and made them float on the surface of the water; scattered grains of sand on their backs, including flat land grew; I. spit out hidden grains of sand from his mouth and mountains and abyss appeared; "Let them call your name out of the blue, and when they meet the mountains and gorges, they will remember me with curses"; when fish wag their tails, earthquakes occur"; (hereinafter about the creation of cow liver, B48A, and humans, H41)]: Sagalaev 1992:39 in Butanayev 2003:109-110; tofalars [four fish keep the ground, theirs movements cause earthquakes]: Prelovsky 2007:50-51; Chulym Turks [mammoths are called ker, ger, gers, sukhers, sukhers, referring to it as aquatic animals (dry -" water"); "according to popular belief, however, the earth could not contain a mammoth, due to its immensity and extraordinary severity, and therefore God... appointed him to maintain the earth"]: Potanin 1883:709-710 (cf. Holmberg 1927 [reference to Potanin and Munkásci, Keleti szemle 9 (3): 293; perhaps the bull has turned into a "horned" mammoth here]: 312); Siberian Tatars: Urazaleev 2007 (Kurgat-Sargat, they are also Ayalin) [the earth is like a cloak draped over a water surface; located on the horns of the Sur-Poga bull; it is attached to the mustache of the fish-like monster Ashtah swimming in the ocean]: 4; Yarzutkina 2012:92 [ Bashirova 1984:87-88; land on the horns of a bull standing on fish that swims in the underground ocean]; Buryats: Khadakhne 1926 [(Obusy River, Osinsky District, Irkutsk Region); Ehe Burkhan (Mother Goddess ); Abarga zaga h an created fish in the sea, the land approved it on its back]: 32-33; Buryats [the earth stands on big fish, when it turns, an earthquake occurs]: Khangalov 1960, No. 13:18-19; the Buryats [were the highest and lowest zambi, at the lowest four happiness; they formed the sea, the golden willow, the human form, the flame of fire; on the very basis of the golden willow Mother Deity appeared; created her son Budar, on the willow branches, the Hunting Bird, from the depths of the sea, Whale fish, and the earth on her back]: Kozin 1946:173-175; Buryats, Mongols [A huge fish holds the ground on its back: the Buryats. Abarga Zagahan, Mong. Avraga Dzagasan, kalm. Avarga Zagsi]: Neklyudov 1982a: 173; Mongols (Khalkha): Benningsen 1912 [the land was created by Burkhan Shagji-Tubi; he threw a pinch of land he had brought from the sky into the ocean; a pinch grew, formed the earth; grass and animals appeared on it; S. brought a man to it; people are gradually degenerating; they will live seven years, as tall as an elbow, horses will be the size of a hare; then 3 suns will appear, everything will be burned, mountains will remain; lead rain will raze them, sand will remain; the wind will sweep it away; then the two whales and the frog on which the earth stands will be free; the Maidari will create a new land by building it for the same whales and a frog]: 13-14; Potanin 1919 [there was only water; two fish came together and formed a ring; grains of sand began to accumulate in it and Mount Sumbur-Ola grew; we live on four tubes outside fences formed by fish]: 49.

Western Siberia. Tundra Nenets: Lar 2001 (Yamal) [Num sculpts the earth, throws it into the water; it is unstable at first; Num puts it on a whale]: 188-205; Lehtisalo 1998 (Obdorsk/Salekhard) [Num suggests Nga prepare the ground; he took sand from the water, but the sand slipped between his fingers; Num took the sand, put the cake on the water; told Nga to bring the whale to establish land on it; but the earth kept moving; then he ordered to bring the stone, the earth stopped; this stone was Ural]: 9; (cf. Khomich 1977 [flat ground is located on the back of a black dog swimming in the ocean; swaying it causes day and night to change]: 15); Mansi [the earth rests on the back of a ruff, so it it's hard to live]: Rombandeeva 1991:43; Eastern Khanty [the land rests on a ruff that lives in the sea]: Kulemzin 1984:170; Northern Selkups: Prokofiev 1976:106 [the land is flat, it is supported by mammoths and "the ground holding fish on weight"], 116 [mammoths were represented as a huge pike with green moss on its head].

Eastern Siberia. The Evenks [beyond the extreme ground of the lower world is water; two perch and two pike swim in it; the universe, the bug, rests on their backs; the giant deer of the lower world has elk antlers and a fish tail]: Anisimov 1959:18; Yakuts: Ksenofontov 1992 [there is a "special luo fish in the lower world", "a source of death and misfortune that has a head and two tails"]: 43; Yemelyanov 1980 [(description of the country of the hero Nyurgun Bögë); mother earth... with a quagmire sea circumference, with a white fish support, with a whale fish support {apparently luo}, with a sturgeon fish clasp, with a ruff fish peg, with taimen fish beams, with whitefish poles, with seal fish support - increasing and increasing... costs]: 319.

Amur - Sakhalin. Orochi: Aurora, Lebedeva 1978 [our continent is an elk; on the sides of our continent there are two more in the shape of a fish (Sakhalin) and a dragon]: 28, 35; Bereznitsky 1999 [the earth is an eight-legged hornless elk; America - Mudur Dragon, Sakhalin - Fish]: 20; (cf. Khorian Udege [Earth is a stretched dragon lying on a floating dragon]: Podmaskin 1991:55 (LOIE Archive, f. 5, op. 6, vol. 1); Ivanov 1954 [ibid. what's in Podmaskin, without reference]: 377-378; Wilta [Sakhalin Island looks like fish. The head is the Schmidt Peninsula, Okha and Moskalvo Peninsula, we live in the middle of the body, and the tail on the south side of Sakhalin is Aniva Bay. One part of the tail is the Bayukla area, where shepherds once lived, looks like the fin of a seal. People now live there - Poronais. This year we went there to celebrate national holidays]: Sem et al. 2012:172; Nivkhi: Kreinovich 1929:90; 1973 [Sakhalin is an animal, lying with its head north, feet south; eats fish, there is more of it where his head is; the forest on it is wool, people are lice; when he moves, earthquakes occur; mud pours on him, he shakes off like a dog]: 33-34; Sternberg 1933 [Sakhalin is a living being lying on the side, head to the north, feet south]: 49); Manchus [The sky has 17 levels, the earth has 9 levels; the heavenly spirit of Abukaenduli controls the seventeen-level sky and the nine-level earth; the earth is not It was, only water and sky; A. created a man and a woman in his own likeness, put them in a stone jug, put the jug in water, the jug began to swim in it; a man and a woman married, gave birth many people, generation after generation, the jug also grew; when there were too many people in the jug, A. built another place for people to live; created a large land out of clay, put it on the surface water, told three fish to support it; also sent the heavenly spirit to bring food to the fish every few days; sometimes the little heavenly spirit was lazy and brought food at the wrong time; fish, hungry, they twitched their bodies, and the earth also swayed, they were earthquakes; there were more and more people, they stopped fitting on the ground; then A. cut down the largest and thickest tree in the sky He put it on the edge of the earth, and humanity has since developed along the branches of this tree; therefore, various peoples have appeared in the world]: Chen, Wang 1989:13-14.

Japan. Ainu: Arutyunov, Shchebenkov (manual) in Spevakovsky 1988 [earthquakes are caused by hungry cramps in the stomach of salmon, on which the creator god created the land]: 75; Batchelor 1927 [the earth lies on trout's back; earthquakes occur when it moves; it swallows and spews water, causing ebbs and flows]: 128; Etter 1949 (Sakhalin Ainu, Kuril Islands, Hokkaido) [two gods hold each hand on trout, to prevent it from moving]: 27; Hitchcock 1890 [the ground rests on the back of a huge trout, aka "the fish that is the backbone of the world"; its movements cause earthquakes; it is the same fish that lives in the deep lakes, swallows people and animals; one swallowed a deer, horns cut through the stomach, the fish died; one day the gods came down to help people; they stuck their claws into the trout, struggled to pull it to the surface, its people killed with swords]: 488; Japanese: Lasch, p. 253 in Krappe 1938 [the earth rests on fish watched by the god Kachima; tries to calm the fish as it moves, shaking the ground]: 192-193; Yamada H. personal report 2006 [catfish (Silurus asotus) is in the lower world; when it moves, an earthquake occurs]; Matsumura 2011 [in folk paintings that are especially popular after the earthquake , depicts a catfish whose movements make the earth swing; the deities try to keep the catfish and prevent it from moving].

NW Coast. Nootka: Carmichael 2006 [the whole universe rests on the back of a huge whale]: 11; Webber 1936 [the world rests on the back of a whale living at the bottom of the sea]: 28.

(Wed. Mesoamerica The Aztecs, Mayans of Guatemala and the Yucatan [God D is connected to both heaven and earth; as God of Earth, he is named Itzam Kab Ain, i.e. "whale". Tzul Taq'a (God of the Earth in the Kekchi myth, see motif A3) has the same title, T'aktani, or Mat'aktani, which means "whale" or "swordfish" in kiche and kakchikel (Braakhuis n.d.). Vladyka Chichen in Verapaz from the B'atz line bore the title Mat'aktani, distorted in early colonial sources to Matal (Estrada Monroy 1979:172). Apparently, B'atz', as the former inhabitants of Rabinal, revered God D, i.e. the Old God of Earth, and the head of the line was his priest. Taube found it difficult to reconcile the translation of "whale" with Thompson's literal translation of Itzam Kab Ain as "Itzam Earth Caiman"; he concluded that the whale appeared on the basis of an archetypal Mesoamerican image land like a caiman floating in the world's oceans; in the case of the Maya, it's Itzamna caiman (Taube 1992:36-7). There are many images of Itsamna as a caiman or crocodile, a personification that became very popular during the Post-Classical period (1992: fig. 15, 16, 69). Zehler already assumed that God D had much in common with the Central Mexican old god Tonacatecuhtli, "Lord of our Sustenance", who, like Itsamen, sat on the upper tier of the sky, but was simultaneously connected to the land]: Van Akkeren 2000:235-236, 258 [Sipakna is apparently related to the Mexican monster Cipactli (Tedlock 1996:240); according to Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, Cipactli has "a big fish called cipacuac that is like a caiman", which is reminiscent of the title Itsamna and God D, (Ma) T'aktani, whale, or swordfish; quoted in Seler 1963 (1): 114]).