K45. Sedna (severed fingers). (16.) .39.40.53.58.
A man swims away from the woman chasing him or walks away from her on a sledge; when she tries to grab hold of something, he cuts off her fingers. Usually a woman and/or severed fingers turn into aquatic animals. (The Warrau and the Eskimos first noticed a common motive by O. Cerries [Zerries 1954:346, 376]).
(Scots), Chukchi, Bering Strait Inupiate (and northern Alaska?) , Caribou, Netsilic, Igloolik, Polar, Baffin Land, Labrador Eskimos, Western and Southern Greenland, Kuna, Warrau.
(Wed. Western Europe. Scots (Duncan Bell, Minard, Lochfyneside, 1942) [two unmarried brothers live on a farm, the youngest loves seals, marries a seal woman, disappears at sea during a storm; older envied the younger one because he had a wife, hates seals, refuses to look for a brother, mistreats the widow; she gives birth to a daughter and disappears without a trace; the older brother tells the girl that they are evil the seals kidnapped her parents, but she continues to play with the seals; at night, in a fit of rage, the elder cuts off the girl's arms, which begin to turn into fins so that she cannot swim; the seals take revenge, after biting off his fingers when he was on the boat; he returns to the farm, the girl is not there, he leaves; his younger brother, wife and children return in the guise of seals; the girl's right fins have healed, but the scar remains]: Williamson, Duncan. Tales of the Seal People. Edinburgh: Canongate Classics, 1992:47-59 in Shaw 2012.
SV Asia. Chukchi: Bogoras 1902, No. 18 [kele owns the sun; the raven comes to his house, he swings, he tells him to freeze; the sun, month and stars are sewn into walrus balls; The Raven persuades Kele's youngest daughter to beg her father for a sun ball; he gives stars, the Raven hits the ball, he soars to the sky, bursts, the stars cover the sky; in the same way he gets a month, then the sun; kele furiously hangs her daughter upside down on a rock; the rope breaks, she falls into the sea, turns into a walrus; her fangs are her snot; according to another version, her father throws her out of the boat into the sea, cuts off her fingers when she grabs overboard; daughter turns into a walrus, fangs are her braids; daughter turns over the boat, father sinks]: 627; Bogoraz 1939 [father throws daughter overboard the boat; daughter tries to grab hold of the boat, he cuts her off toes with an oar; girl turns into a walrus, swims away]: 30; Menovshchikov 1974, No. 61 [only daughter dies, old father cries for her at night; her fifth soul puts on her skin, four others tie her a hole in the anus; she comes to her parents; sees a river in front of the house that does not exist; father puts her a wooden beaker as a bridge; daughter becomes a shaman; one day in a dream, a tied place opens, parents understand that there are keles in front of them; they leave on reindeer; daughter kele chases them; the old man throws a coal, a pebble; they turn into a flaming forest, a mountain; the daughter grabs the sledge with her hands; the father cuts them off, kele dies; since then it has been forbidden to cry for the dead at night]: 227-229;.
The Arctic. Bering Strait Inupiate (Port Clarence; West Chicago from the Alaskan Eskimos) [father throws his daughter overboard, she clings to the stern; father consistently cuts off her finger joints; first severed turns into salmon, second into seals, third into walruses, wrist bones into whales]: Boas 1894c: 205; inupiate (northern Alaska? ; the exact place of recording in a publication is not a decree.) [the woman is tired of her son hunting so many animals; she asks evil spirits to blind him; she points his arrow at a polar bear, lies that he missed, eats meat herself; her daughter (the younger sister of a blind man) lays pieces for him, gives them to him when his mother takes her to hunt caribou; Gagara dives with him five times, he sees the light; his mother comes back, he goes with her in a boat, throws her into the water; she grabs side, he cuts off her fingers, she tries to catch her hair, he cuts them off; she turns into a black whale, her severed hair is a whale mustache in a whale's mouth]: Frost 1971:62-67; caribou (western Hudson Bay coast) [According to Captain Comer's notes, Nuliayoq takes Sedna's place among the inhabitants of Hudson Bay's west coast; Lyon's recorded myth related to her is in all major It coincides with the legend of Sednya; he mentions that she is also called Ai -willi -ay -oo (Avilayoq); this name also refers to Sednya (cf. Boas 1901b: 163)]: Boas 1901b: 145-146; netsilic: Rasmussen 1931:225-226 [people raft across the strait; they push an orphan girl Nuliajuk into the water, cut off her fingers; fingers turn into seals, N. becomes the owner of marine animals], 227-228 [the father in anger tells his daughter to marry a dog; his dog in human form sleeps with her, she becomes pregnant; her father takes her to the island; she gives birth to puppies her father brings her and them meat; she asks the children to tear it to pieces; sends it away, they become the ancestors of Indians and whites; she wants to sail away with them, they push her into the water; they cut off her fingers and stumps turn into walruses and seals; she becomes the mistress of sea animals by N. ]; igloolik: Kroeber 1899, No. 25 [the girl rejects the grooms; at night she begins to devour parents; they run away with others in a kayak (umiak); the father pushes his daughter into the water, cuts off her fingers; fingers turn into various seals, walruses, narwhals]: 179; Rasmussen 1930a [girl rejects suitors; her father tells her to marry the dog; takes her to the island; the dog takes her in a kayak meat; she gives birth to children and puppies; father puts stones in the dog's boat, he sinks; she tells her children to tear up her father's boat, he manages to return home; her children become Indian and white ancestors; she returns to her father; Silly comes to pick her up; she discovers that he has ugly eyes; gives birth to him a child; a father comes to pick her up; a silly man sends a storm; a father throws his daughter into the sea; she grabs him boat, he cuts off her fingers; they turn into seals, lahtaks, walruses; she becomes the Mistress of Marine Animals; her father and drowned dog come to live with her]: 63-66; polar [Silly marries a girl, takes her to an island; one day she sees his ugly eyes when he takes off his snow goggles; a woman's brothers take her away; a silly man raises a storm, she is thrown into the water; she clings to the board boats, her father cuts off her fingers with an oar, they turn into commercial animals; her father now lives with her at the bottom of the sea; shamans come to them if animals go missing]: Holtved 1951, No. 9:60-63 (=1967: 147-148; translated into Menovshchikov 1985, No. 267:490-491); Baffin's Land: Boas 1888:583-585 [girl rejects suitors; she marries Stupid; he deceived her by promising a clean, cozy house, lots of meat; father Sails after Sednaya, kills Silly, takes her back; other foolish people cause a storm; a father throws his daughter into the water, cuts off her fingers, they turn into marine animals; foolish people think she drowned, fly away; father takes Sedna back into the boat; at home she tells the dogs to eat his arms and legs; he asks the earth to swallow them and him; now they are all in the world of the dead], 585 [same, but her father and brother; in a boat, her father kills her, gouges out one eye; leaves her at home lying on the shore, covered with dog skin; the sea takes her away; shamans visit her, she has one left eye; her father has three fingers, or just one hand], 637 [the girl rejects the grooms, takes the dog as her husband; she gives birth to children with dog legs and puppies; her father takes them all to the island, tells the dog to supply her with food; puts stones in his boat instead meat, he drowns; daughter tells dog children to eat their father's arms and legs; father sails with her in a boat, throws her overboard, cuts off fingers; they turn into seals, whales; father takes her into a boat; her children become Indian ancestors, puppies become Europeans]; West Greenland ["The woman of the sea is the daughter of the man who pulled Disco Island away from Gothab to where it is now; the father was furious because that the girl refused to marry the intended fiancé; so he threw her into the water and cut off her fingers with which she grabbed the board, and she drowned like the devil without fingers "]: Egede 1788 in Holtved 1967:146; South Greenland [Lytzen 1874; orphan girl Nivigk lives with a hunter who joins her; when everyone went seal hunting, the hunter put N. in umiak with her as a dog, gave her a lamp, sat there himself, not in his kayak; for no apparent reason he threw it into the water with the dog and the lamp, cut off three fingers in his hands, leaving his thumbs and little fingers; she is building a house on under the sea; hides marine animals under the base of a lamp, sometimes releases them; her watchdog lies on the roof of her house]: Lytzen 1874:209 in Holtved 1967:147; Labrador Eskimos: Hawkes 1916 [female takes a dog as her husband; her father is disgraced, takes her to a deserted island; throws her overboard into the sea; she grabs the edges of the boat, he cuts off her fingers; the thumb has become a walrus, the index seal, the middle finger polar bear; (in the previous paragraph: Thornkarsoak (the creator of man) put the puppies in old shoes, let them go on the water; one returned with the Indians; later the other with Europeans; appeared as a man but then became a dog again]: 152; Turner 1894 [the girl lives with strangers, there is some conflict between them; they leave, throwing her into the water; she grabs the edge of the boat, her fingers are cut off, they turn into seals, walruses, whales, polar bears]: 261-262
Honduras-Panama. Kuna [see motive J16; a woman's lover turns out to be her brother, turns into a Month; leaves, she follows him; gets to the stream, her sons eat a woman; in the womb, an old woman finds eight boys; tells them that she is their mother; they are surprised that she is so different from them, ugly and without a nose; an old woman makes a clay nose for herself; woodpecker reports that their real mother has been eaten by fish; brothers they push the old woman into the water, cut off her fingers; she and all her fingers turn into toads and frogs]: Chapin 1989 [the eldest brother hands the old woman his golden rod; she grabs it, he cuts her off fingers with a knife]: 32-42; Wassen 1934b: 7.
Guiana. Varrau: García 1993, No. 90 [Mayacoto fisherman has two wives, each with a son; when he returns home, he always plays the flute; Chebu (forest demon) Jajuba swallowed him, disguised as he came to to his wives, but did not play the flute; fell asleep, snored, then the wives heard the voice of the swallowed flute; the sisters took the children and ran away; the eldest put her hair off her head on the path, the youngest turned it prickly thickets; Guauta did not want to open the door for them at first, they pinched the children, they cried; when she found out that they were boys, G. let him in; invited Khahuba, who ran up, put his head under the door, cut it off with a knife; sent cassava sisters, at that time turned their babies into adult boys, their common name is Jaburi; told them to bring her fatty birds from hunting, and give skinny ones to women after urinating on them; the arrow of one stuck in a tree, he climbed after her; young otters passed under the tree, saw Haburi's bowel movements, said it stinks of crap from those who give mothers bad birds and Guauta good ones; they told the brothers everything story; they described skinny birds, gave it to Guauta; recognized their mothers; one of H. made a boat out of clay, it melted in water; from wax, the same; from the bark, they sailed in it; the supports of the house, the leaves on the roof shouted to Guauta that the women and the boys had run away, she did not understand them; understood the parrot, threw herself into the water, grabbed the boat, H. cut off her fingers with an oar; the women asked to take G. so that she would not drown; H. began to row the end oars, the bird shouted to row with a blade; H. knocked down a tree with a hive in the hollow; G. began to suck honey, H. knocked another tree on this tree, G. stayed in the hollow, called "son Haburi", told the boat to stand a rock when it reaches the sea; this is a rock near Trinidad Island]: 281-287; Wilbert 1970 [two sisters, one of them with baby Haburi, flee from a demon or jaguar; old Wauta kills a stalker; turns baby Haburi into a young man, says she is his mother, his real mother cannot recognize him; Nutria or Otter tells him the truth; taking his mother and aunt, he sails away in a boat; Vauta grabs the boat; Haburi cuts off her fingers with an oar, lures her into a hollow of honey, she gets stuck, turns into a tree frog], No. 140, 144:288, 305.