Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

J67. Pebbles in the eye. (.11.) .19.20.43.50.62.

At night, the character puts light pebbles or shells over his eyes. Thinking that the character's eyes are open, the antagonist does not dare to attack him or takes the pebbles instead of pulling out his eyes.

(Tutsi), Santa Cruz, Ontong Java, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, clakamas, yawapai, yukuna.

(Wed. Bantu-speaking Africa. Tutsi [the hyena would like to marry; the hare says that the chief wants to marry and has already seen a hyena; teaches how to be modest as a bride; when they offer food, the hare eats everything himself; when lying down, he lies down on his own; the hyena does not move, looks at the ground, although terribly hungry; at night the hare puts two fireflies in his eyes; the hyena thinks that the hare's eyes are open and does not dare to eat; the same in the morning; the guests were presented with a cow and the hare took her; asks some strength if they both had a cow; Yes? the echo of the hills confirms - Yes! The hyena agrees to the hare's offer to raise sorghum, but for now he gets the cow; he killed the cow and then ate it, and put the scalp and horns in the swamp; tells the hyena that the cow is bogged down, let the hyena try pull it out; she "tore off" her horns; the hare asked her to dig - let her at least pull her head out; the hyena drowned in the swamp, the hare has enough meat]: Pinguilly 1997, No. 15:181-191).

Melanesia. Santa Cruz [Lata's parents left the boy under the vessel, they were carried to sea, L. grew up on his own; began to cut a tree to make a boat, Ginota came at night, put chips back; one fell into a bag L. screamed, L. and G. agreed to cut together; mother (grandmother?) warns L. of dangers; each time he brings her fish, shark, mollusk, bird that were supposed to kill him; the Lavalu sea monster swallows L., who finds a man and a woman inside, starving their clothes and hair; L. roasts laval's liver, he takes them ashore, people go out, L. gives laval to crabs; crabs bite through a huge wave rushing to L. , who tried to destroy him (she puts shells in her eyes at night, they sparkle, the woman thinks her eyes are open); L. lures the cannibal crab to throw himself into the fire to become beautiful]: Codrington 1893:509-511.

Micronesia-Polynesia. Ontong Java [{the second part of one text is mistakenly placed after the first part of another and vice versa; therefore, the page numbers are broken down}; the children went to the island to collect what had been thrown out by the sea; The spirit calls them to its place, feeds them; at night it cuts off the heads of the sleepers, eats them all; the leader's three sons are left; when they arrived on the island, the youngest realized that the spirit was an ogre; prepared white shells in each hole; when the spirit fed the brothers and invited them to sleep, the brothers placed shells over their eyes so that the spirit thought that their eyes were open and lying awake; the spirit did not dare to attack and slept until morning; when he returned home, the chief's sons talked about turtles in the house of the spirit; the chief sent soldiers, the spirit was killed and burned; each took as many skulls as his children were eaten by the spirit; when the skulls were brought home, the children came to life]: Keopo 1981:87 and 95; Marshall Islands (Aeloninae Atoll) [a woman gives birth to 10 sons, each with one arm, one leg, one eye, one ear; they they go to catch lobster; the witch screams, Give me my food; eats them when they fall asleep; the woman gives birth to ten half sons again, everything repeats itself; the third time she gives birth to nine halves , the youngest; others think he is crazy, they do not want to take it with them; when they fall asleep, he comes to the witch, they bake and fry lobster together; he puts pebbles (shells?) over his eyes with an eye pattern, the witch thinks he's awake; he calls her a cannibal, promises to burn her, she leaves; according to one version, he throws a hot stone into her mouth, she dies]: Tobin 2002, No. 48: 207-209; Tuvalu (Niutao Atoll) [Falataitauanga has a wife Sisiaifafa and two twin daughters; Ila from another island decided to marry F.; persuaded her to move to her island, forced S. and her her daughters to do all the work, then tied S. to a tree; with the help of a friend F. built a boat, and they went to sea with his wife and children; the storm carried them to an unfamiliar island; they were warmly welcomed, but alone the woman warned that this was the island of the dead; at night, the fugitives placed bright stones in their eyes; the hosts decided that the guests were awake and did not attack them; the fugitives returned safely; she the woman asked to be thrown into the water three times, and then she was alive again]: Koch 1966:87-88.

The coast is the Plateau. Clackamas [Grizzly woman's heart in her little finger; women dig roots; Grizzly puts them to sleep, kills them with a spear; girl swimmer puts shells over her eyes, doesn't sleep; warns people to swim away in boats; the chief hits the Grizzly in the little finger with the last arrow]: Jacobs 1958, No. 17:156-166.

The Great Southwest. Western yavapai [people live underground; younger brother invites the elder to illuminate the world; he makes a disc, smears ocher, hangs it, but the younger one makes a disc of white lime, smears ocher; it's getting light but too hot; the younger brother asks the elder to raise the sky with a reed pole, he did it; at night, the older brother touches the genitals of his two daughters; they hide on the shore under willow, where he relieves himself and swallows his bowel movements; he begins to lose strength, tells him to be cremated after death; people sent the Coyote to fire, at which time they lit a fire, standing around; the badger was lower others, the Coyote jumped over it, took his heart and ate it; the burnt heart had to be put earth, cultivated plants would grow; and that's how only one stem of corn grew; the best cobs went to the hopi and Navajo, and the worst are yavapai; people decided to go to the upper world; the hummingbird found a hole in the sky; under the guidance of their younger brother, they planted a pine tree and a vine that wrapped around it; they climbed up, but the old man with they were left with two granddaughters; when they got to the ground, water poured out of the hole; the flood was caused by the two daughters of the older brother who turned into frogs; people hollowed out a pine tree, put the girl inside and food supplies were sealed; only the girl escaped, the rest drowned; she lay down with her vagina under the rays of the sun and under drops of water, conceived, gave birth to a daughter; she grew up, tried to repeat everything, but Sun and Water recognized their daughter, conception did not occur; then the mother covered her daughter's body with her body, the Sun and Water did not notice the substitution; the daughter gave birth to a son Matinyaupakaamcha; the eagle took her to its nest and ate her, M. stayed with grandmother; interrupted the bird's leg with a stone; she: if you heal, I'll say something; when I find out that the old woman is not his mother, but his grandmother, killed the eagle, on the advice of the grandmother, heating the tip of his spear; the grandmother sends him to kill the bison (ox) ; the badger and gopher dug an underground passage under the lying bison; the mouse plucked wool from where the heart was, explaining that its children were cold; M. pierced the bison from below; he plunged his horn into the underground passage, but M. dodged; made a cape out of his skin, and under it was bison blood; let the eagle grab himself; blood gushed, the bison thought M. had been killed; the chicks see that the prey was alive, but the eagle did not believe; when it flew away, M. found out where the eagle would fly; becoming a lizard, he smeared with resin the places where the male and female sit; killed the eagle; told the chicks to remain silent, otherwise he would kill; the Bat lowered M. in the basket, telling him to close his eyes; he opened they fell, M. broke the Bat's bones, but cured it; M. looked into the grandmother's house through a hole in the roof; called her; grandmother: the wind whistles; when he saw her grandson, she began to dance with joy; the bald eagle took M. to an island on the lake; there are already many prisoners there; M. ordered the prisoners to eat crushed flint and hide by digging an underground passage; the eagles are dead; the crane stretches its leg across the lake; people cross the lake it's like a bridge; children fall into the water, turn into ducks; M. decides to make a bow; the grandmother warns of dangers every time where to look for bow materials; onion wood where the canyon walls are converge and disperse; M. put a deer horn between them, took out material; reeds for arrows owned by Owl; M.: I propose marriage to my grandmother; Owl is glad, he gave reeds himself; when Owl came, M. ordered grandmother to find out where his heart is; in the sole of his foot; M. shot there, killed Owl; the grandmother straightened her vulva with an arrow; when M. looked, the arrow broke; where the flint for the tips, sparks fly out; M. covered himself with a turtle shell, took out flint; the wood for the front of the arrows was owned by the Bear; M. called him to marry his grandmother; said he was making charcoal tips; the Bear believed shot M. with an arrow with a coal tip, and M. shot him with a flintlock arrow, killed him; grandmother: cut the deer in a clearing, not under a tree; M. began to cut under a tree; from a tree a naked woman came down, chased M. to meet him; the grandmother hid him under the hearth; but the woman began to write there, M. got out; M. made penises out of blue stone, quartz, lava and clay, used every single night, after breaking a woman's vaginal teeth; she became his wife; she was actually a bear; offered to drive game at him; he hung his clothes on a pole; three or four bears rushed at her, M. killed them, pulled out their fangs and claws; the Spider told M. that the Wind took his wife away; let M. compete with him outside, not in his cave; who would chase the ball faster; M. won all the prisoners and the life of the Wind; who longer hair - M. won again, killed Winds with a club; they spent the night in the Wind Cave; his wife became snakes in front of the entrance, M. jumped over them; M. went to look for his father Sun; spent the night with people on the way, who wanted to kill him; at night he covered his eyes with pebbles ("glass eyes"), the owners think he is awake; the wife of the Sun to her husband: your son has come; he wants to test the one who has come, invites you to steam room; M. keeps pairing and says it's cold, the Sun believes he is his son; M. tamed the horse, went home; the Sun and the Cloud began to argue over him; each painted one half of his body; M. went east to the Sun, and Grandma went west into the ocean]: Gifford 1933a: 402-412.

NW Amazon. Yukuna: Folclor 1974 [Lajmuchí built a house with his people; The owner of the Leaves gave a bag of leaves to cover the roof, people opened it on the way, now the leaves are in the forest; it takes night, otherwise people are all it's time to eat; the Master of the Night gave a package, one person opened it on the way, night fell, people fell asleep; the Night Master turned into a bat, ate his sleeping eyes; one put bags over his eyes in advance, Master took them away, not her eyes; L. and her nephews came to the owner of the Yameru water; she gave a little bit of this water from the leaves; also only she has wild pigs in her pen; one person opened the pen, the pigs scattered through the forest; L . watched Hameru swim and eat fish; the water in the tree trunk, they began to cut it down, my aunt overgrown the felling overnight; {apparently they cut down a tree and got water, there is no last page of the text}]: 304-314; Hammen 1992 [The Karipulakena brothers lived with their aunt Amerú; it was not night, they came to the owner of the night; he gave a bag, told them not to open it along the way; Lamuchí (the youngest of the brothers) opened; heard animal voices are animal-turned people caught by the first night; the brothers fell asleep, but L. put pieces of carguero in his eyes; Tapurinami came, took out his brothers' eyes, and L. only took off carguero; L. came to T., took his eyes and put them in to his brothers]: 286-287.