K23A. Feathers are the weapons of birds. 27. (.35.) .39.42.43.
Birds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover their victims' mouths.
Ancient Greece, Chukchi, Tsimshian, Comox, Skagit, Niscualli, Yakima.
The Balkans. Ancient Greece ["Argonautics" by Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC): "At dusk, the wind subsided and they see/The bird of Ares, the island's resident, suddenly above them./In the air above their heads she soared high, /And, spreading her wings over the ship that was running below, /She threw her sharp feather down. It penetrates Oiley's God-like left muscle. Thrown, /Wounded, he took a paddle from his hands. The heroes were amazed, /Seeing the arrow inspired. Friend Eribot removed it and tied the wound with a bandage, from his owns/Sheath, tearing off the bandage that hung down with the ends. /After the first bird, another appeared under the sky. /Cletius, son of Eurith, managed to preempt her sooner, /When she had time to throw off her arrow, he grabbed the bow, pulled the bowstring, and immediately shot at the bird, /And near the ship it falls into the waves" (trans. N.A. Chistyakova)]: Apoll. Rhod. II. 1025-1039; Apoll. Rhod. II. 1081 [the Argonauts covered themselves with shields, "birds sent their feathers to the heroes in large numbers" (trans. N.A. Chistyakova)]; Hyg. Fab. 20 [Myths attributed to Guy Julius Gigin, who lived at the turn of the eras, but most likely date back to the 1st and 2nd centuries: "When the Argonauts arrived on Diya Island, birds began throwing feathers at them like arrows. They could not resist so many birds, and then, on Phineas's advice, they took shields and spears and, imitating the Kurets, drove them away with a roar" (trans. Torshilova D.O.)]; Hyg. Fab. 30 [Hercules killed the "Stymphalian birds on the island of Mars, which threw their feathers like darts, with arrows" (trans. D.O. Torshilova)].
(Wed. Western Siberia. The Northern Selkups [Kaye is a duck with iron wings, each feather is like an iron arrow, if it falls on someone, kills; the Narym Selkups do not kill or eat ducks; the rest, having killed, they cut off the wings and nail them to the trunk of a pine tree; there is a kaye culture center in the Narym taiga; there is a pine tree with a cut top, it has a large wooden image of a duck; somewhere in the taiga there is a city where only lost hunters come out; in the central square there is an iron duck with an open beak, burning from it]: Pelikh 1998:33).
SV Asia. Chukchi (reindeer) [two options; 1) girls Geese and Chaika take off their feather clothes, swim in the lake; a man steals clothes; returns them to everyone but the most beautiful Seagull; takes her as a wife; y they are two sons; instead of edible roots, she collects unnecessary herbs, her mother-in-law scolds her; when the birds fly south, she asks them to throw her feathers; she flies away with the children; the husband goes in search; the Eagle sends him to an old woodcutter; a country of birds can be seen through his anus; an old man sends a man there in a self-propelled boat; a man comes to his wife; she has a new husband, the Bourgmeister seagull; birds attack him, firing feathers instead of arrows; man maims and kills birds with a club; splashes water, birds freeze to the ground; man returns his wife and children home; 2) as in (1); wife - Goose; the sun's rays penetrate the old man's mouth, shine from his ass; a man penetrates his ass, jumps out of his mouth; an old man makes a boat out of a log, it rushes across the sea like a fish; the son of a man in the land of birds catches it on hook; a man kills the Mayor with a club, the rest of the birds flee]: Bogoras 1928, No. 48:429-432.
NW Coast. Tsimshian [people from the Wolf, Raven, Eagle families catch many sea lions; a man from the Bear family only two; steals lions Wolf; he carves a wooden lion; the Bear harpoons it, tench sticks to his hand, the lion drags his boat to the open sea; he has three companions in the boat; they sail to the dwarfs; they fight ducks, geese, swans, cormorants, cranes; many die because they die. feathers fill their mouths and noses; people easily curl birds' necks; thankful dwarfs take them home]: Boas 1902:108-115.
The coast is the Plateau. Comox (chatloltk) [the eldest of the four brothers makes a boat; the others don't share meat with him; he makes a seal out of cedar; his brothers harpoon it, the seal drags them into the sea; they fall into the sea dwarf village; dwarfs are attacked by birds, their feathers fly like arrows; brothers beat birds with clubs; the younger one pulls feathers out of the bodies of fallen dwarfs, they come to life; a grateful leader puts brothers inside the whale that takes them home]: Boas 1895, No. 16:87-89; skagit [the wife lies that her two brothers do not share food with her; the husband's father turns the log into a seal; he takes the brothers' boat far into the sea , they cannot cut tenches; they get to dwarfs; they are attacked by ducks with feathers; brothers easily kill them with an oar; revive dwarfs by pulling feathers out of their bodies; dwarfs give them dentalia shells, they send home on a whale; people rejoice, food becomes abundant]: Hilbert 1985:73-86; niscually [three younger brothers quarrel with the elder; harpoon (done by him?) a seal, he drags them across the sea, they can't unhook the tench; they see a dwarf in a boat, they steal fish from him; he brings them home; geese attack dwarfs, kill them with feathers; brothers revive dwarfs, pulling feathers out of their bodies; for this, dwarfs send their brothers home on a whale's back; they turn into turtles along the way]: Kane 1859 in Boas 1916:868; yakima [a huge bird carries people and animals; a man quietly climbs on her back, flies to the nest where the female sits on eggs; for several months she quietly feeds on the meat brought by poultry; sees a boat with small people, asks him to pick him up ; these people breathe through a tiny hole, feed by inhaling beads; hordes of geese and ducks attack them every spring; during battle, feathers and fluff clog their breathing holes; man removes feathers, saving many; the attack is repulsed; he is chosen as a leader, given by his wife, he has children; by old age he returns home; now little people are probably all destroyed by birds that regularly trained to fight for the island where they lived; some say this story took place in Puget Sound]: Hines 1992, No. 20:69-76.