L10. A sharp tail. .35.40.41.43.46.48.

The character has a sharp (biting) tail or protrusion on the back. See Motive L9, cf. L9C Motive.

Nenets (northern Yamal), Caribou, Baffin Land, Polar, West Greenland, Angmassalik, Koyukon, Tanana, Atna, Kuchin, Khan, Dogrib, Twana, Teton, Arapaho, Chumash.

Western Siberia. Nenets (northern Yamal) [guys walk on all fours and cannot sit because they have a bone like a tail sticking out behind them]: Golovnev 2004:318.

The Arctic. Caribou [old woman tries to pierce the hero with a sharp tail]; Baffin's Land [old woman tries to pierce the hero with a sharp tail]; polar (Smith Strait) [woman with an iron tail devoured men; when a stranger came to see her, she waited for him to fall asleep, and jumped into the air and fell on the sleeper, piercing him with her tail; one man pretended to fall asleep, but when she jumped, rolled back to the side; the woman fell on a rock and broke her tail; the man ran away in his kayak, she ran after him; when she approached, she shouted: "Oh, if only I could stick mine in it knife!" At her scream, the man almost rolled over with the kayak, that was her strength; the man replied, "Oh, if only I could put my harpoon into it!" Because of his scream, the woman fell on the spot; and she did not kill anyone else - her tail was broken]: Rasmussen 1921:83; West Greenland [a woman's mother pierces her lovers with a sharp tail]; Angmassalik [woman pierces lovers with a sharp tail].

Subarctic. Koyukon [a woman pierces lovers with a sharp protrusion on her back]; tanana [Rabbit with a sharp tail]; atna [Rabbit with a sharp tail]; kuchin [Bear kills with a sharp tail] daughter's suitors]; khan [two Rabbits sit on the sides of the path, killing their sharp long tails; Tsa'Wëzhaa (Beaver) is tied with pieces of strong birch bark, Rabbit tails break]: Mishler 2004, No. 4:152; doghrib [two old women with blades on their backs pierce each other].

The coast is the Plateau. Twana [a man with a sharp tail takes a girl to the lake; pierces her brothers with his tail].

Plains. Teton; arapaho.

California. Chumash [the Sumivovo brothers (son of the Mist, Jr.) and Sixs'usus (son of Thunder, the elder) travel; they are helped by the Coyote; a woman thundering like thunder lures travelers, kills with his biting tail; Six'usus hides an arrow straightener in his headdress; knocks their teeth into their mouths on their tail when a woman tries to bite him; a woman dies]: Blackburn 1975, No. 15:111.