I8C. Suspended ground.

.17.18.21.22.24.25.28.31.34.35.42.44.47.-.50.52.55.68.

The ground is kept from falling or swaying because it is tied to ropes.

Western Asia. Babylonia [to strengthen the earth, it was tied to the sky with ropes and pegs; these rope ropes are the Milky Way]: Afanasieva 1982b: 653.

Australia. Rubak Bey [after his death, the warrior Emu rose to the sky, became a constellation near the Milky Way; holds two ropes to which the earth is tied; if they break, the sky will fall to the ground]: Peggs 1903: 362; yualarai [Wan (raven) suggests that Ball (month) not make new children, but revive the dead; he refuses; V. invites him to climb a tree to collect caterpillars, makes the tree grow to heaven; B. remains in heaven; he previously refused to marry Sun-Yi; at Yi's direction, the spirits that support the sky at the edges prevent B. from returning to earth; if allowed, Yi will kill the spirit that keeps the sky in the center the ends of the ropes on which the ground hangs; B. slipped past the spirits, taking the form of an emu; went with his wives to collect the caterpillars, leaving the log where he slept and covered it with skin; Brother B. tried to kill him, but only hit the log; when the B. brothers were approaching, B. again turned into an emu, slipped away from them; B. and the Lizard began to make children, send them to spirits that sent them to their earthly mothers; the children hid in the branches eucalyptus; the woman who passed under them becomes pregnant; if B. rises late, he makes girls (it takes longer to do them than boys); Van (the raven) turns girls into women]: Parker 1965:49-54; euachline [Yhi is a sunny woman; she is in love with Bahloo, she is a month-old man; he has no feelings for her and tries to avoid meeting him; the sun is chasing him and threatening the spirits that support the sky, which if they let the month run away, it will force the heavenly spirits to let go of the ropes on which the sky rests; then the world will sink into darkness; sometimes the sun obscures the month and tries to kill it, but supportive the sky's spirits tear it out of the sun's hands]: Hamacher 2011:133.

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Garo [the ground is flat, square, hung in the corners by ropes to the sky; on each of the four ropes there is a squirrel trying to gnaw it; four blind men stand side by side, driving away squirrels with bamboo sticks; when one of them falls asleep, the squirrel manages to loosen the rope, an earthquake occurs; var: the ground is like a four-legged table; a mouse runs along its legs and the ground shudders]: Playfair 1909:88; Golaghat [the world is suspended at four ends by ropes; squirrels run on them and bite them, causing earthquakes]: Lewison, 365 f in Elwin 1949:14.

Burma - Indochina. Ahom [the sky was woven from gold threads by a spider, the earth appeared from its excrement; Phatuvchung lowered thousands of sparkling threads to connect heaven and earth; the souls of living beings fell to the ground along the threads]: Chesnov 1982f: 354.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Semangs (batek) [from the top of the Batu Kenyam stone pillar, seven ropes of wind, rain and lightning stretch in all directions to the horizon that hold the ground; hala spirits on their upper tier of the sky guarded; if the ropes break, the world would end]: Endicott 1979:45; bataks (Karo) [the heavenly god Batara Guru and the woman of the lower world have no children, they settled in a hut by the sea; they got out of the water the serpent, told me to put his hand in his mouth, BG took out the wish-making ring; the wife gave birth to three sons and three daughters; one of the sons took these handfuls of land sent by the father, created the land, hanging it on seven silk ropes; the earth separated the lower world from the light; one of three sons lived in the lower world, destroyed the earth; so seven times; then BG put an iron pole to support four beams, on which the ground lies; the underground brother is still shaking the ground]: Dixon 1916:162-163.

Taiwan - Philippines. Paywan [Salakats hung the ground on rattan and vines; from time to time he replaces rotten ropes and then the ground shudders]: Whitehorn, Earle 2003, No. 22:132.

Central Europe. Poles (Lublin Voivodeship) [flat land supported by fish is attached to clouds with ropes]: Belova 2004:110; Ukrainians [the land is tied to the sky by "matuzki"]: Belova 2004: 110.

Baltoscandia. Estonians (Väike-Maarja) [four steel ropes hold the earth from four sides from the sky]: ERA E 44686 (1).

Western Siberia. Mansi [Yoli-Torum-xian (Earth's Mother, Num-Torum's elder sister; aka Kaltas-ekva) and Winged Kalm (God's messenger, daughter of Torum) descended to earth ; J. asks K. to go up to the NT to say that the earth is swaying and people will not be able to live on it; NT agrees to encircle the ground; his belt was decorated with heavy buttons; the ground settled in the water, became motionless; the belt is the Ural Range, runs in the middle of the earth]: Lukina 1990, No. 112:297-298 (according to Chernetsov 1935:25-26); northern Khanty [the northern Ostyaks have a fairy tale about strengthening the land with the help of a belt heavenly god; from the first belt there was a hill on the right bank of the Ob River, but the earth did not stop; the Urals grew from the second "shirt belt", and he secured the land]: Karjalainen 1995:197; the Kets [see motive K56A; in the cold, the Calbes sends her daughter to Usesya to give warmth; she does everything wrong, dies; the grandmother sends her daughter, she becomes W.'s wife, it becomes warm; W. and his wife go down, is visiting his wife's parents; K. asks why W. did not bring her gifts; he follows W., he sees a cloud rising behind him; behind the plague, ropes are tied to the ears of the wolves, with which the ground is pulled; wife ears she pulled it out, wrapped the ropes around her ears, held the ground; the wolves freed themselves, tore K.; they returned back, she put her ears in again, tied the ropes with which the ground was pulled together]: Alekseenko 2001, No. 41:98-100.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. The Altaians [there was water, ak-en lived in it, Ulgen rushed higher; a.-e. ordered W. to create the earth, then the sky (tengri); to strengthen the land, W. put three fish, two by edges, one in the center; the central one is the main one; directed with the 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 The hero Mangda Shire controls; if the lasso on one pillar weakens, the earth will slope to the north, forming swamps and swamps, if on the other, the land may sink altogether]: Dyakonova 1976:269.

NW Coast. Bellacula: Boas 1898 [Our world is an island in the vast sea; far to the east is giant Alep! alaxtnaix sits with his legs apart; holds a stone strip with outstretched arms; the ground is tied to it with two stone ropes; when the giant gets tired and moves his arms to get better, they happen earthquakes; when the earth moves to the west, epidemics spread; when to the east, diseases go away]: 37; McIlwraith 1948 (1): 23 [Sinia lives in the north amid the ice; keeps tied to a rope on the ground, pulling it tightly to keep the earth in place]; 1948 (2): 237 [slightly pulling up or releasing the ground S. causes earthquakes].

The Midwest. Kickapoo [when he finished creating the world, Visaka asked the spider to weave a web with which he then attached the world to the north so that it would not fall; so the kickapoo does not kill spiders]: Latorre, Latorre 1976: 262.

Southeast USA. Chirokee: Erdoes, Ortiz 1984 [as in Mooney, the ground is hung from leather belts; narrated at the Chirokee Tribal Convention in 1975. {it seems that the story comes from Mooney}]: 105; Mooney 1900, No. 1 [at four corners the earth is suspended from the sky on ropes attached to a stone sky; when they break off, the earth will sink into the sea]: 239.

California. Yuki [The thunder twins break off the leashes of the sky; their mother Krotiha holds the sky with her hand, tells him to stay in place; her hand has been twisted ever since]: Kroeber 1932b: 929; Maidu [on the water The Creator of the Earth and the Coyote; on the water, a bird's nest; the Creator of the Earth tied it with ropes to B, U, Z, NW, C; Malinovka sang, then Coyote, then himself; stretched the ground with his foot; created people; ropes stretched, so the earth does not hesitate; the Creator of the Earth stayed in the house in the middle of the world]: Dixon 1912, No. 1:4-27; Maidu, Konkov [The creator fixes the earth with ropes; the Maidu believed that theirs five (sacred number) stretching for C, Y, B, Z and NW; the horses had a common Kuksu cult, where the sacred number was four; accordingly, their ropes stretched to C, U, B, Z]: Dixon 1905 in Riddel 1978:383; achomavi: Merriam 1992:1-8 [water, darkness everywhere; Apponahah (Silkworm) sees a piece of foam in the east, tells it to swim towards it, stands on it; the foam hardens and thickens on his feet; he rips her toenails off his feet, she falls off, turns into a triangular island; A. turns corners east, west, south; the earth grows; A. finds a boy, this is Annikadel; he finds a boy him three times in three corners of the earth, not realizing that the boy is still the same; Annicadel says that he is the same age as him, that Apponahah would not have made the earth without him; that there is also a Coyote, Silver Fox and Frog (Alleum); the earth is still hesitating; Annicadel inspires Apponahah to tell Coyote to place rainbow pillars on C, B, Y and Z; Silver Fox advises Coyote to place pillars from the rainbow on C, B, Y and Z there are strong short pillars in the east and west, they will withstand the course of the sun; in the north and south they are high, they will melt], 111-113 [the pillars first placed by Coyote have loosened, our world has begun to move; Annicadel attaches or supports the ground with reeds from the north, east, south, and west]; cahuilla: Curtis 1976 (15) [two creatures have sprung up from red and white lightning in the primary darkness; they began to feel parts of their bodies, naming them from crown to toe; Múkat reached the smoking pipe easily, and Témayawut had difficulty; everyone said he was older; they took out two (red and white) crickets, pupae, lizards, mudhen, told them to push back the night; they pushed them back a little; the brothers took out a rod, made a pole out of it, told all the snakes to wrap around it, attach all the spiders to a web for him; they climbed up a pole; the bottom from which they got out was menstrual blood; from their hearts they created earth, sky and water; created stars; the earth rotated, they sent into it ants, it froze; M. created the sun and T. the moon; the people created by T. had membranes on their fingers, too many eyes and ears, noses and mouths out of place; T. wanted death, and M. wanted the dead came to life; T. decided to leave, taking his creations; the Moon woman stayed with M., taught people how to shoot bows and dance]: 106-110; Strong 1929 (Palm Spring) [darkness at first; Feminine and Masculine principles gave rise two embryos in the placenta; they were born prematurely, soon grew up, spoke to each other, named themselves Mukat and Tamayawit; each claims to be older than the other, to be the first to hear the sounds out of the darkness; they begin to extract various objects and objects from their hearts; each time M. pulls black (connected to the west) and T. pulls white (east); pipes, tobacco, they smoke, create a central pillar the world, they climb it, put the earth on it, take out the sky, the sea; everything swings, they tell spiders and ants to keep everything; two Vortices are told to hold the sky around the edges; compete in the creation of people; T. took the Coyote out of his heart, made him his assistant; M. took out the Owl; M. sculpts people from dark clay, T. from white clay; people have a second person on the back of the head, the abdomen in front and back, the feet are directed to both sides, hands are like the paws of a dog; he says that everything will pass through his fingers and grab it well with his paws; M. objects that they can't take anything; T. takes his creations and falls into the ground; T.: there is no death will be; M.: People will die. - But come back. - With a terrible smell. - We'll smoke, wash it off. - There's not enough space for them. - Let's expand the world. - There's not enough food. - Let them eat the land. - And they'll eat everything. - We'll do more earth; T. is angry, falls into the lower world, taking his creation; tries to drag the earth and sky, but M. rests; mountains and rivers formed during a terrible earthquake]: 130-135.

The Big Pool. Northern Payutes [during the flood, the Duck (Mallard Duck) began to scatter the earth on the water; gradually the earth became large; the Duck tied it with reeds to keep it from parting]: Steward 1936, No. 3:364.

The Great Southwest. Pima [Earth Doctor) takes some dust from his chest, makes a cake out of it, grows a bush on it; creates a termite that makes the earth as big as it is now; first it trembles; The Creator makes a gray Spider, which cobwebs the edges of the earth and the sky, the earth ceases to fluctuate; the Creator makes water, mountains, plants; pours water into a bowl, it freezes, he throws this piece of ice to the west, north, south; it slides down every time; thrown to the east, it turns into the sun, it begins to move as it should; the month is similarly created; taking water in its mouth and spraying it into the sky, The creator makes stars; the Milky Way is his staff, at the ends of which he put ash]: Russel 1908:206-208 (paraphrased in Judson 1994:29-31); papago [arises from the friction of darkness, air, and water Firstborn; he makes earthworms out of foam bubbles; they collect grains of earth; it swims, swings; he sends Spiders to fix it with webs]: Kroeber 1912:96; (Western?) Apache [a yellow and white disc appeared in the dark, with the Creator (Living Above) on it; his gaze spread light; he wiped the sweat off his face, rubbed his hands, and the Parentless Girl appeared on the cloud; asked where he came from; he replied that from the east, where is the light; asked Where is the earth, he asked Where is the sky; the Creator wiped his sweat and rubbed his hands twice more, the Sun God and the Little Boy appeared; then created Tarantula, the constellation Ursa Major, the Wind, the Lightning Worker; all the gods wiped off their sweat, the Creator rubbed his hands, fell a ball the size of a bean, became earth; the Creator, followed by the first three gods he created, kicked him, he grew up; Tarantula stretched four threads from the ground in different directions, stretched the ground; the Creator rubbed his chest, rubbed his fingers, created a Hummingbird, ordered him to fly in four directions for reconnaissance; the Hummingbird returned, saying that the earth is beautiful and the water is in the west; the earth continued to swing; to secure it, the Creator made four pillars (like the threads, they are of different colors: black, blue, yellow, white), put it under in four directions of the world; the earth froze; the Creator sent the Lightning Worker, who found two girls and a young man in a turquoise shell, they had no eyes, ears, mouths, noses, hair, teeth, fingers; they were placed in the steam room, sang witch doctors, they became normal people; the Creator made the young man the leader of heaven, the girl the guardian of the land and the harvest; called the second girl Pollen, responsible for the treatment people; the Creator sent the Dove, who came back four days later, said that the water on the other side of the earth would flood the earth; the Parentless Girl put everyone in a ball, 12 days later they came out; flowing down water created valleys and mountains; the Creator and his assistants waited out the flood in the sky; when the creation was finished, the gods took to heaven in a column of smoke]: Curtis 1976 (1): 23-35 in Edmonds, Clark 1989:101-104.

Mesoamerica Southern lacandons [Our Father hung the earth to the sky]: Boremanse 1986:276; lacandons [(by Christian Rätsch, K'ayum Ma'ax 1984:44-46); the world consists of seven disc-shaped tiers; from top to bottom: 1) "Wandering Deities" (planets); 2) the tier where Kak'och ("two monkeys") lives; Hachäkyum put the sun here, but this tier already had the sun that K. made for H., the heat of both too strong, so the sun that illuminates our world has been placed on a special tier; 3) the third tier is suspended from the second, and T'uup ("Baby") lives here, an arachnid monkey, master of the sun {in the text is confused; apparently, this is the fourth tier - allocated for our sun}; 5) the sky of vultures is suspended from the fourth tier; 6) the earth; 7) the underworld where Sukunkyum is located is suspended from the stone to pillars on the ground]: Milbrath 1999:20.

The Northern Andes. Muisky [Chibchachum floods the earth; Bochica appears on the rainbow, makes an outlet to the waters with his golden rod, creating the Tekendama waterfall; punishes C. to maintain the land; his movements cause earthquakes; before that, the earth was kept suspended from vines]: Simon 1882-1892 (2) [1627], ch. 4:289-290.

Southern Amazon. Paresi: Pereira 1986, No. 1 [first there was water and a mound of earth; Miore (one of the heavenly men) dug a hole in it, entered it and carried a mound; he began to grow; M. walked at four directions, marking the boundaries of the earth; hung it on ropes to the sky]: 22-23; Pereira 1987:620 (note 208) [the ground is suspended from the neck of Grandfather the Vultures (DS), the other end is fixed to the ground to hold it ; if DS falls, and the earth falls, people will die].