L14. Raised snake. .11.-.16.19.-.23.26.27.29.
.30.38.-.43.48.50.52.53.55.56.58.59.61.-.64.67.68.
People bring a small creature (usually a worm or reptile) into their homes and raise them, or they start themselves in a man-made water tank. The creature turns into something scary or great. See motif L13 (a raised monster attacks humans).
Bantu-speaking Africa. Maragoli [the man found a little kitten, began to feed; his name is Nunda, he is growing up; asks what to eat; the owner: all the cows in the world; ate; the answer and goats are the same; ate the owner (and others people), went to the forest; one woman hid, gave birth to a boy; he asks where people are; she talks about N., he has 12 heads; they go to the forest; the young man cuts off all 12 heads, rips open his stomach, swallowed came out alive]: Kavaji 2005, No. 13:230-232.
West Africa. Bambara [the boy brings a lion cub, the father tells him to place it with the goats; the lion cub grows up, first devours sheep, goats, then horses, donkeys, then eats his father, mother, himself boy, runs away into the forest]: Görög 1979:104-105; dan [only the chief's 21st wife gave birth to him a son; he is disobedient and willful; demands to bring him a child to play; the leader after the warriors, they they caught a little spirit, either a man or a crocodile, fire from his mouth; put him in a cage; the spirit was growing; first he was fed chicken a day, then five chickens, then rams, oxen, horses, people; he was the last to eat the leader; the chief's son ran; the mouse agrees to hide him, but when he sees a huge monster (coming with rain and thunder, fire from his mouth), hid in a hole; the same rat; hare ; buffalo; elephant; panther; all others; lizard tells you to calm down; stabs: the fire in the monster's mouth goes out, its roar no longer looks like thunder; the lizard put a long sword in the way of the monster, he ran into him and the sword cut it; swallowed people and animals came out of the belly alive; that's why children should be well raised]: Tiémoko 2019:6-11.
Sudan - East Africa. Moru [the girl Kuba found no roots, picked up a caterpillar on the trail, put it in a pot, named Ndila, told her to grow; it became the size of a rat, then ate chickens, became a buffalo, ate people became like an elephant like Neil, ate Cuba and other people; pregnant Kiden hid in a hole; Kenny's son grew up, forged a sword and spear, hit N. from the platform, all swallowed came out of his ripped belly; people said that now all the girls are sisters Kenny, he has gone to marry in a distant land]: Evans Pritchard, Mynors 1941, No. 30:77-78 (translated to Katznelson 1968:309-311).
Western Europe. The British [Lord Robert's son caught a snake, his sister calls him home, on the way he throws a snake into the well; soon leaves for war with his father, returns 5 years later; the serpent grew up in a well, crawled away back into the river, became a fire-breathing dragon; R. cuts it, but the pieces grow together; on the advice of the thing, a young man cuts a snake in the river, the water carries away pieces, the snake dies]: Kharitonov 2008:253-257 (=Dennys 1876:114).
Melanesia. Kamoro; mono; Wanguna; Maewo; Siwai (Bougainville) [people caught an eel, cut it, began to cook it; the eel crawled into a larger vessel; so several times at all larger vessels; moved into the river, but it is small for him; created a lake in its size]: Oliver 1955:61; Goodinaf [the girl found a snake, put it in a vessel, said it was her pig; not went to bury her father; mother; the snake grew up, tore the vessel, stretched across the house; the girl got scared and ran, the snake followed her; the girl: will you eat me? snake: decide for yourself, I can just become a man; the serpent became a man and they lived happily ever after.]: Jenness, Ballantyne 1928, No. 7:60
Micronesia-Polynesia. Gilbert Islands; Samoa; Bellona and Rennel; Pukapuka [Lingutaimoa woman caught a fish, put it in a coconut shell, began to feed it; the fish grew, she placed her in a larger vessel, in a hole of water, in a lagoon, finally in the sea; the fish swam, L. fed her; the fair-haired people of the sky (Fair-People-of-the-Sky) pulled the hook from the sky, fished; L. asked the wave to take it to the horizon; the first two waves were not good, the third one brought it, L. climbed into the sky, asked everyone if he ate its fish, killed everyone who ate it, returned home the same way; the blood of the fish causes eclipses of the sun and moon]: Beaglehole, Beaglehole 1938; Taku [Asina's girlfriend decided to have a homemade fish; she caught an eel, put it in a vessel; he grew up, put it in a pond; parents left, telling A. feed the eel; she went to the pond, and the eel rushed at her; she runs, calls for help First Maui, who cannot help; the same is the eight others; the tenth Maui tells the eel to open its mouth, throws it there three hot stones, the eel dies]: Moyle 2003:9-23; Palau [Calornis drank water from a tree hollow, got pregnant, gave birth to a fish, it began to swim in the hollow; people picked it up, put it in shell; the fish grew, it was placed in the tridacna shell, then let into the sea, it became giant, gave birth to a girl Ardilgun; during the day she played on the beach; mother fish agreed to leave A. with humans; A. quickly She grew up as an adult giantess, people became afraid of her, she decided to leave; she was pregnant with ritual money, gave some of it to her foster parents, and took the rest with them into the ocean; so there is little money; fish the mother formed Nroth land on her back, along the perimeter of which there was money; the daughter began to live there, gave birth to many children; one of them, a bird, flew to where the woman's adoptive parents lived, regurgitated money ; died there, he had that money in his stomach too]: Kubary 1873:89-91 in Ferreira 1987:27-28.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Lushey; khasi.
Burma - Indochina. Burmese; sre; Viets [elderly spouses alone; wife found two eggs, brought them home, snakes hatched from them; gradually grew; when they became as thick as a leg, the couple released them; snakes returned as men, brought wealth and gratitude from their father; these snakes became patrons of two neighboring villages]: Landes 1886, No. 88:215-316; Thais [princess finds a crocodile egg, keeps, the crocodile was born, grew up, went into the river, kills people; people tell the king to sacrifice the royal daughter; the king sends his daughter to the river; she takes her beloved cat with her; rushes into the water and stays on the lotus flower; the crocodile wants to grab it, but attacks the thorns on the stem and dies; the cat does not advise the princess to return home; the rakshasa grabs the princess, does his daughter; the neighboring king hunts, chases the golden deer (Indra took his form), who brings the king to the Rakshasa house and disappears; the king brings the princess to him and marries him; when the princess gives birth, the former wife says she gave birth to a log; but it all ends well]: Low 1836:348; Thai Vietnam [the girl catches a strange-shaped egg from the river, throws it away; so several times; brings home; the vessel in which he was placed is filled with water, and there is a snake in it; it grows, gradually turns into a dragon; it guards the house, taking care of the children; one day he goes into the river; finds water to irrigate the field; the king put the dragon master in prison; he came there, the guards were frightened, freed the master; fights hostile dragons, tells the master not to worry; but he is worried, so the dragon died, but two hostile ones remained]: Degeorge 1925:977-978; the Viets [during the Chan Dynasty (1225-1400), a chaste widow picked up two snake eggs, laid a hen; two snakes with red hatched with a scallop on her head: white and black; they all split up, the woman released them into the river; when she called, they helped her get to the other side; once she accidentally cut off one tail, so one snake became call long and the other short; when the woman died, the river overflowed its banks and carried away the coffin; the next day, dead fish were found in the fields, people were happy; but then the cattle began to wither away; then people they built a temple where images of snakes were placed, and prosperity reigned for a long time]: Knorozova 2020:340-342.
South Asia. Mahabharata (Mhb.3.185) [ascetic Manu stood on one leg for 10,000 years with his hands up; a little fish asked her for help, save her from the big ones; M. placed her in a jug, she was all grew up, he took it to the pond, then to the Ganges, to the ocean; the fish tells you to make a boat, take seven holy sages with them, seeds; the flood will begin, the fish will appear, there will be a horn on its head, and you must tie it to it rope; during the flood, the fish pulled the boat by the rope for many years, led it to the top of Himavan, ordered the boat to be tied there; admits that it is Brahma; M. recreated life]: Vasilkov, Neveleva 1987:378- 381; Grinzer 1982 [(Satapatha Brahman I 8:1); Manu (man; cf. English man; in the Vedic tradition, the son of the solar deity Vivasvata and Yama's brother) caught a fish in the spring; she tells it to grow, she will save him in the impending flood; M. raised a big fish, let it into the ocean; on her instructions, he made a ship; when the waters rose, tied it to the horn of the fish, it dragged it to the mountain Himalaya, where M. survived the flood; he sacrificed by throwing butter and cottage cheese into the water; from which the girl Ila arose; they gave birth to people]: 106; Miller 1913 [(translation of the text from Shatapatha-Brahmana and from the Mahabharata)]: 47-57.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Simalur [the fisherman catches the fish, lets his daughter play; she feeds her, the fish grows; the girl's parents die; after eating all the rice supplies, the fish is going to swallow the girl; she suggests looking for a judge; fish swims with a girl on her head; a banana, a tree, cancer say people are unfair, they offer a girl to swallow; the Raja tells her to jump ashore, marries her]: Koehler 1964:69-72.
China - Korea. Ancient China (Sichuan? beginning of the 4th century A.D.) [a lonely old woman in Qiundu fed a horned snake; she grew up, stung the county chief's horse to death, who killed the old woman; after that, the storm lasted 40 days, the land fell through, forming a lake, only a house the old women stayed, fishermen still spend the night there]: Gan Bao 2004, No. XX.463:282-283; the Chinese (Shanxi, Datongcheng District, the northernmost of the province) [the peddler Peak gave the children money and they let go of the snake; put it in a box, began to fatten it; the snake became huge, he released it; people began to disappear in the mountains; Pin found a snake, it disappeared into the crevice; he covered it with his body; a temple was built on this place]: Riftin 1957:167-170; Southern China: Isis 1998:143 [1) Tao Qian, "Additional Notes on the Search for Perfume": a girl washed silk on the river, became pregnant, gave birth to three fish; put it in a basin, became feed; in three days they grew up, became dragons, flew away during a thunderstorm; 2) Hou Han shu: Sha-tai from Mount Laoshan (Shandong) tried to catch a fish, conceived, gave birth to 10 boys; they turned into dragons, swam away on the water], 144 [old Duanxi was fishing in a mountain stream, caught an egg, put it in a bowl, and 10 days later a creature that looked like a gecko hatched; it kept growing, catching in old woman fish river]; Chinese (Jiangsu) [the top of the now-destroyed porcelain pagoda in Nanjing was decorated with an iron cauldron; there was rainwater in it; the bird dropped the fish there; it grew and became a dragon that terrified the surroundings; the god of thunder struck him with lightning, partially destroying the pagoda]: Dennys 1876:114.
The Balkans. Moldovans [a childless old woman asks her husband to find a child to raise; he brings a snake found in a wheat field; it is placed in increasingly large vessels, he has been growing on milk for 7 years; asks him to take him to study; on the way, he drives away the wolf eating the old man's goats, the old man sends him to the magician; a year later, two, the father cannot identify his son among three pigeons, three dogs; in the third year that old goat herd teaches that the son will be the middle of three horses; the son turns into a greyhound, into a horse, tells his father to sell him without a bridle, returns; the boyar buys with a bridle, his daughter unties the horse, he flies away like a dove, turns into a wheat field, into a loaf; the boyar into a falcon, a reaper, a poker, pulls the loaf out of the oven; poppy seeds are a lark, the cat swallows a lark, the feather remains into a wolf, rushes at the cat, into the golden rings of the innkeeper's daughter, people drove the wolf away; the ring is at the young man, he is back in the snake, the girl asks to throw off the snakeskin, he throws off the palace from it; wedding]: Botezatu 1981:300-304.
Iran - Central Asia. Shah-name.
Baltoscandia. Icelanders [mother gave her daughter a gold ring; replied that there would be more gold if the ring was placed under the Hearth Snake; the snake grows up, breaks the box, the girl is afraid throws the box into the lake; the snake attacks people and animals; two Sami were asked to kill the snake, get gold; they dived but came back with nothing, the snake is stronger; but they managed to tie it; when the snake sticks his back out of the water, it portends disaster]: Simpson 1972:116-117; Scandinavians [Herrud is a Jarl in Gautland, he has a beloved daughter, Thor. H. sent her something to play with every day, and one day he sent her a snake. T. put it in a casket and put gold under it. The serpent grew quickly, as did the gold underneath it. He lay outside around the casket, then around the house, and no one dared to approach him except for one person who brought him food. H. promised to marry T. to a man who would kill a snake, and the gold under him would be a dowry. At that time, Sigurd Koltso ruled Denmark and had a son, Ragnar. R. told him to make him fur pants and a fur coat and bathe them. Wearing these clothes, he rolled on the sand, took a spear and pulled out the nail that attached the tip to the shaft. When he went to the fence where the serpent was, he hit it twice with a spear, pressed it, and the tip jumped off the flagpole. A stream of blood hit Ragnar between his shoulder blades, but he was protected by the clothes he made. He said to hang, left the tip in the wound, and took the shaft with him. When she was in Thor's house, when she heard him hang, she understood how old he was and what he had done. H. had a hard time pulling out the tip. Tora advised us to call everyone to the ting. Whoever inflicts a mortal wound on the snake will take a spear shaft that fits the tip. Ragnar's spear came up, married T., had two sons and then died]: The Ragnar Saga <
https://norse.ulver.com/src/forn/ragnar/ru.html >.
Japan. Hitachi-fudoki [brother goes to his sister secretly, she gives birth to a snake, he grows, she keeps him in an increasingly large vessel of water; tells him to go to his father; he agrees if with him a child will go; the mother says that there are no other people in the house but her brother; a serpent kills her uncle with lightning, wants to go up to heaven; the mother throws a hiraka vessel at him, the serpent loses its strength, stays on Kurefushi Hill; his descendants worship him in the temple]: Popov 1969:53-54; Japanese: Ishida 1998:121 (Iwate Prefecture) [childless spouses picked up and raised the snake; it kept growing; neighbors she was afraid, her parents asked her to leave the house; the snake began to block the dam; the villages downstream were unable to carry out agricultural work; when people began to feed their elderly spouses, water problems have stopped], 143 (prov. Kai) [the couple prayed to the gods for a child, the wife gave birth to a boy; he kept growing up, they built him a kind of bird cage; he became a snake, continued to grow; he was left on the mountain].
SV Asia. Reindeer Koryaks (Mount Palpal) [Big Raven Kuikynnyaku and his wife left their two daughters Yinanevt and Čan. a'i-ña'ut in the tundra; they carved a whale out of the pole, put it in a bucket, it grew up, they carried it to a lake, a large lake, into a river; told them to take them home]: Jochelson 1904, No. 69:232.
The Arctic. Northern Alaska Inupiate; McKenzie estuary.
Subarctic. Taltan [a little girl finds a snail, counts it as her child, feeds fish oil, which grows rapidly; devours all the fat reserves in the village; people find it, kill it with spears; a girl, and then and other people mourn the death of a snail; people have been waking ever since]: Teit 1921a, No. 36:229-230.
NW Coast. The Tlingits [the chief's daughter finds a tree worm; feeds him fish oil, he grows fast; she calls him son; people fear that he will destroy everyone; they lure the girl out of the house, kill the worm; the girl predicts that he will become a symbol of a great family; her father wakes him like a person]: Swanton 1909, No. 31:151-152; Haida; Tsimshian.
The coast is the Plateau. Upper coquil; cous [girl bathes naked; a snake as thick as her hair swims up to her; she brings her home, keeps her in moist moss; the snake grows, has horns, they do not fit in home; he crawls into the forest, brings deer, moose; brings whales from the sea; says he goes to sea forever but will continue to send whales]: Frachtenberg 1913, No. 15:85-91.
Northeast. Hurons; Seneca; Onondaga; Delaware.
California. Yurok [in the river, a young man catches a horned snake, raises; snakes eat moose and deer; domestic boys are disturbed by a snake, it disappears]: Kroeber 1976, № A11 [grandmother throws hot coals at the snake; young man finds it in the sky; sits on a horn, a serpent descends with it to the ground], B2 [the young brothers' wives harm the snake; the owner finds him lying on trees; sets fire to the forest, the serpent burns], U3 [=A11; the serpent disappears]: 65 -68, 165-167, 410; yurok; karok.
The Great Southwest. Hopi [see motif K27; a girl catches a green insect in a spring; keeps her houses in a water connection; an insect leaves the house with a stream of water; the girl follows him, the insect turns into a man brings her to the mountains where kachina spirits live; a spider helps a woman complete the difficult tasks of a mother of spirits; a woman and her husband return to people; her husband defeats neighbors in competitions; their two sons throw lightning at other children; they want to kill her husband; during a thunderstorm, he takes his wife and sons back to the world of Kachin]: Titiev 1948:32-37; Western Ceres (Laguna) [ (Boas considers the story to be borrowed from the Spaniards, but this does not apply to the initial motives); the girl finds a worm, puts it in a hole with water; it grows, makes the reservoir bigger, turns into a horned snake, brings her into her underwater world, makes gems fall off the girl's hair while washing; she gets married; while her husband is hunting, another woman drowns her, takes her place; but from her hair stones do not fall; the husband sees a real wife in the river, returns her, kills the false wife]: Gunn 1917:269 in Boas 1928a: 269.
Mesoamerica Nahuatl; Maya Yucatana.
Honduras-Panama. The frame.
The Northern Andes. Embera; nonama; yupa; paes; guajiro.
Llanos. Guajibo.
Guiana. Warrau; pemon; vapishana; waiwai; hishkaryana; kashuyana.
Western Amazon. Coreguaje; Canelo; Shuar; Aguaruna.
NW Amazon. Ufaina; witoto.
Central Amazon. Katawishi (Lake Teffe) [anaconda; an old woman copies ceramic paintings from her skin]: Tastevin 1926:196.
Eastern Amazon. Hissing [people catch a very small Pai (thunder) in the river; they put him in a kalebasa with water, give kashiri; he splits the calebasa, thunder is heard; the water did not spill, but like a ball dragged around his body; his they put it in a big one, everything repeats itself; they put him in a boat on the shore; during a storm, he splits the boat, goes into the river]: Nimuendaju 1920:1030-1031.
Bolivia - Guaporé. Moseten; chimane [the sky was low; a woman catches a male iguana, keeps him in the house like a son; he grows up, she transfers him to larger vessels; one day, when she falls asleep, he rises to the sky, moving it away from the ground, turns into the Milky Way]: Hissink, Hahn 1989, No. 6:64.
Southern Amazon. Kamayura; paresi; bororo [a person catches a creature like a tadpole in the water; feeds it, transferring it to larger vessels; it turns into an aije monster ; people let him go, create dances and decorations in his honor]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1983, No. 58 [the voice and appearance of aije are conveyed by whistles], 59:118-119.