Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

K27T. Competition: climb a pole .40.43.46.48.

Competition: climb a pole. See motive K27.

The Arctic. Northern Alaska Inupiate.

The coast is the Plateau. Shuswap [Woodchuck, Arctomys monax) lives in a house between the rocks; when a guest enters, the rocks crush him; Tlees inserts a spear between them, enters, kills the owner, turns him him in woodchuck; The bear offers to compete in pole climbing; kills three T. brothers when they climb in; T. kills the Bear; the hare invites him to his house to eat meat; pierces those who come to his house ( spicy?) with his foot, hitting them in the chest; T. ties a stone to his chest in advance; kills the Hare, makes a hare; The elk stands in the river, swallows boats; T. lets himself be swallowed, makes a fire in the Moose's stomach; cuts off the heart, when the Moose swims to the shore; tells the brothers not to touch it when they start to fresh the carcass; the Eagle takes people away; T. allows himself to be carried away, sprinkles red and white paints, the Eagle takes them for blood and brain; T. kills the Eagle, descends on the eagle's back]: Boas 2002, No. I.1:61-67 (=1895:1-4); quinalt [five seal hunters give little meat to Hazel Grouse; he makes a seal out of cedar, he drags away a hunting boat at sea; they reach an unknown land, are summoned to compete; 1) climb a pole (Blue Jay hits Squirrel on the head with a bone, she falls off a pole); 2) sit underwater (Blue Jay breathes under an inverted boat; hits the Seal on the head with a hammer, it pops up); 3) withstand a hot bath (Beaver and Otter dig a passage to the river; rivals almost cooked); 4) spend five days without sleep ( hunters leave rotten decks instead of eyes, run away); pursuers drown, hunters return home]: Farrand 1902, No. 3:102-105; Puget Sound; puyallup; upper chehalis; cowlitz; lower chinook; clackamas; tillamook; ne perse.

Plains. Omaha and ponka [villains offer to compete; older brothers die; younger 1) climbs onto a pole (killing an opponent), 2) does not break into a swing whose rope is cut (gently lands on his magic pen), 3) wins the running competition; the last villain stays alive, turns into a woman, puts his head on the hero's lap, steals his pen, turns him into a black dog, marries the chief's daughter; her sister in the steam room restores the hero to his former appearance; he marries her, takes his pen back, turns the villain himself into a black dog; crows pecked their eyes the hero's parents; the older sister (the ex-wife of the imaginary hero) restores their eyesight; as a reward, the hero agrees to marry her]: Dorsey 1888b:74.

California. Karok; nomlaki; gabrielino [remove the pen from a high pole]; chumash [young people compete to see who will climb to the top of the pole faster; The centipede brags that he is will always win; when he climbed, the Coyote made the pole grow to the sky; The centipede reached the hole in the sky and climbed into the sky; he was attacked by huge mosquitoes, leaving only bones; feeling his guilt, the Coyote went to save the Centipede; when he climbed into the sky, the pole shrunk again and the way back was cut off; the Coyote revived the Centipede, but the brightly colored one now turned brown; the Eagle agreed carry them back, but not directly to the ground, but to a pole; The centipede clung to the pole and tears, and the Coyote fell and crashed; and then came back to life]: Sanger 1983:1-4.