J41A. A son turns his mother into a bird .44.45.47.

The son returns and finds a mother who was humiliated and tortured in his absence. A son turns his mother (and usually himself as well) into a certain species of bird.

Northern Ojibwa (Sandy Lake), Western Marsh Cree, Eastern Cree (Ruperts House), Nascapi, Montagnier, Biloxi.

The Midwest. Northern Ojibwa (Sandy Lake) [Wai-Mishus has two wives; one scratches her body with raspberry stems, accuses the other's son of attempted rape; the young man's name is Iyas; V. leaves him on the island, tells the seagulls to kill; The seagull carries I. on his back, defecates on V., returns to the island; The green-horned snake transports I. to the other side; asks to let me know if a black cloud appears; I. is silent, The Thunderbird carries the snake, I. manages to jump ashore; revives the snake from pieces of its skin; The fox helps I.; an old man with a huge leg presses the sleepy travelers; The fox bites his leg, pus pours out, the leg becomes normal, the monster dies; ropes hang from the sky between the two rocks; I. throws roots to them, runs through himself; the woman and her three daughters have teeth in their vaginas; I. sticks a stone, breaking their teeth, women grateful; two blind old women with sharp elbows kill travelers; I. throws clothes between them, old women pierce each other; I. revives them, cuts off their tips, heals their eyes; comes to his mother; tells her Throw another wife's child into the fire, who is bullying her; lights the ground with arrows, he and his mother are unharmed, V. burns; I. turns his mother into a robin, himself into a toad]: Ray, Stevens 1971:112-120; western marsh crees (stone crees) [grandfather takes Ayās to the island to collect bird eggs, tells him to move away, sails away in a boat; the Horned Serpent says he is Grandma A., tells him to sit between the horns, drives across the lake, asks me to say if a storm cloud appears; A. denies that the cloud is close, says that it is only the noise of water being cut; he jumps off the shore, lightning strikes the Horned Serpent; in the morning A. collects blood in a birch bark vessel, the Horned Serpent revives, sends it to Grandma A. Frog; she does not repair his moccasins well, the stitches are wide; the next grandmother The mouse repairs well, warns of two blind old women with sharp elbows; A. comes to their house, says he is going to go out he gets out of the teepee in another place, the old women pierce each other; from another old woman A. feeds poisoned food to a fox hidden under her clothes, throws a fox at the old woman, the fox kills her; A. comes to a scabbed woman who cuts wood; a bird tells her that her son has returned, she does not believe it at first; says A. that those people burn her face and hands every night; A. tells her to ask for a baby throw him into the fire, call him; A. says he will burn the earth, his grandfather and his people do not believe; he fires arrows, everything lights up; A. turns into a crow, his mother into a woodpecker; the woodpecker has a black back and a white apron on the chest]: Brightman 1989:105-112; Eastern Cree (Rupert House) [Aioswé has two wives, he is jealous of one of them for his son from the other; noticing her marks of touch (without details), he believes it a sign of treason; swims with a young man to the island to collect bird eggs, throws; a walrus (i.e. a horned monster) transports the young man, asks him to speak if he hears thunder; the young man lies as if they heard a rumble Walrus himself produces; next time he throws the rider into the water, but the shore is near; Thunder kills the Walrus (Var.: he escapes; seagulls carry the young man ashore); the old woman explains what to do on his way to at home and when he returns, gives a skin of caress in a white winter outfit; comes to two old women (obviously blind - they do not see the one who has come), they have sharp elbows; the young man attaches a parcel to the stick, sticks between them , they pierce each other; human bones hang along the path; if touched, they will thunder, dogs will hear and tear; a young man digs an underground passage but touches his bones; dogs scream that it is the son of A.; a young man caresses sticks out his head, people think that the dogs were mistaken, they kill them; at home, the young man fires an arrow, setting fire to the ground, the second makes the water boil; A. asks how to escape, the son advises to sit in a vessel with with bear fat, A. burns; son draws a line, son and mother are safe inside her; son offers to become birds; mother turns into a robin, son turns into a Canadian jay]: Skinner 1911:92-95.

Northeast. Naskapi [Chief Ayashi has two wives; the youngest is afraid that he will make the eldest son heir; asks the young man to shoot the partridge, puts it between her legs, scratched; Ayashi is lucky the son collects the eggs of birds, throws him on the island; his mother expels him, showering her with hot coals; the Seagull is unable to lift the young man; the Horned Serpent (catfish) carries him; he lies as if the sky is clear; jumps off ashore, Thunder hits the Snake; a hook hangs above the path; the fox rises to the sky, pulls up the hook, the young man runs past; two dogs guard the path; the fox turns into a weasel, the dogs bark, Ayashi them kills for unreasonable anxiety; a young man comes to two women; they have toothy wombs; he first introduces flint, breaking their teeth, then copulates; returns home; turns his father into a frog, his mother into robin]: Speck 1915c, No. 1:70-74; Montagnier [like Nascapi; Chief Ayasheu; Raven, two Loons unable to carry a young man, a horned creature transports; a fox digs an underground passage under the lying across the path with his Big Leg; under his clavicles hanging on a rope; a hook crawls after the young man, he throws his caribou leg at him; in the house of two blind old men with sharp elbows, he throws his jacket at the door; old people they pierce each other; a young man sends his mother to hit his father with her head; shoots, the ground lights up, a father and his younger wife die in the fire; a young man turns his mother into a robin, himself into a hawk]: Desbarats 1969:6-12 .

Southeast USA. Biloxi [Uncle Tuche tells him to be in ritual isolation in the house; his uncle's wife asks to shoot her squirrel; T. shoots through a gap in the wall; his sister pulls out the squirrel's claws, alone forgets; uncle's wife scratches his body with it, accuses T.; uncle tells him to bring special arrow poles, white turkey feathers, deer tendons; Rabbit, Deer help T.; he kills the evil Old Man who he unfastened it; the uncle asks the Eagle's chick to play with it; the eagle gives the chick, which devours the baby; the uncle takes T. to the other side of the sea to burn grass, leaves it; the woodpecker lowers T. his tongue like a rope climb a tree when a cannibal approaches; An owl makes a ladder out of tree mushrooms, one mushroom attaches weakly; a cannibal climbs mushrooms, falls, her dogs rush at her, thinking it's T. {this episode on p.103}; they let her go in the morning; T. comes to her, marries her daughters; she tries to kill him; he falls into her trap; she asks where to strike; he replies that head; she does not believe, wants to hit her ankle; he hits her with an ax, cooks her body; she comes to life; her daughters put hot iron into a hole in her head, she dies; T. and his wives swim across the sea to crocodile; T. throws him food, then fires arrows in front of him, then flies ashore with his arrow; tells his sister to throw his uncle's baby into boiling water; kills his uncle's people; turns into thunder, sister - into a snipe; toads sing in the rain as T. told them]: Dorsey, Swanton 1912, No. 28:99-107.