Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue translated by Jon F White

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

L25. The devil sucks brains .29.34.43.55.61.62.66.

By killing demons, people save the life of a child, girl or woman. When she or he stays around, she or he kills people (usually children) left in her or his care.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Kalmyks [a Kalmyk met a woman in the desert who asked him to take her with him; he guessed who she was, but did not refuse; when they stayed for the night, the Kalmyk moved quietly like this that where his head used to be, his legs found himself and pretended to be sleeping; the woman rushed to where his head used to be, trying to strangle him; a struggle began, during which the Kalmyk succeeded tear out the woman's hair; then she became completely exhausted and began to beg for mercy; the Kalmyk did not return her hair and, when she came home, hid it with the Burkhans; the woman could not reach it, for the sanctity of the icon did not let her in; she lived with a Kalmyk for three years, doing hard work; one day she took out her hair with the help of his three-year-old son; after receiving her hair, she threw the child into the boiling milk is gone; "unclean forces" do not go anywhere without their hair, because all power lies in hair; there is a saying: "Why do you stick like an evil spirit from which you took your hair?"] : Dushan 1976:81-82; Abkhazians: Zukhba 1995 [forest man Abnahuayu cuts through prey, pressing against it with a steel ax-shaped protrusion on his chest; in N.M. Albov's record, the forest man's chest does not an ax, and long iron needles; Chitanaa Huhu covered his block of wood with his burka, hid in the bushes; at night, a forest man rushed to the block, CH fatally wounded him with a gun, married his widow; var.: CH killed Abnahuaya's wife, cut off and hid his daughter's braid (her strength is in her), brought her daughter as a maid; she stayed to watch the six-year-old girl, found her braid, found her, threw the girl into the cauldron with boiling water with milk, left, cursing the house]: 163-166; Chursin 1956 [after killing the giant (hell), Mard-ipa Mordso brought his daughter into his house as a maid; to prevent her from leaving, MM measured her and hid her; when they stayed in the house some children, adou persuaded the boy to show where the measure was to sew the dress; threw three children into a cauldron of boiling milk, cursed the family]: 226-227.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Shors [children were missing; people dug a trap hole, Kashkachak cannibals fell into it; they were pulled out of the hole, killed; the guy asked one girl not to kill, married; the guy's parents are happy daughter-in-law, but she is losing weight; then she became fat; they came to their son's house, there is his head under the pillow, the Kashkachak girl ate his body]: Arbachakova 2010, No. 23:311-313; Khakas [decrepit old woman with three She lived as sons, each had a separate churt; her sons went hunting, the old woman began to drive an Araku; she saw a girl on a swing by the river; realized that she was the daughter of mokhsagals (cannibals with cow legs}; warned her daughter-in-law, but the youngest did not want to go to her; the old woman and her two daughters-in-law dug a hole at the door; at midnight, the daughters of the Mokhsagals came, two failed, they were filled with boiling water; the third persuaded her not to kill; the youngest daughter-in-law the Mohsagals killed, burned her mouth with fire, planted hemp; the old woman gave the mohsagal girl to her youngest son; she ate him, told his brothers in the morning that he had already gone hunting; the old woman hears her talking "tasty and tasty"; looking into the crack, she sees her son eating; pretended not to know this, went with the mohsagal girl to her parents; on the way she tied her to a tree; mohsagalov gave araka to drink; I also heard from them that one would fall asleep when his eye was the size of a pot, and the other when she saw that they fell asleep, she entered their house; there was a captive girl who was to be killed tomorrow; the old woman and the girl took the fabrics of the Mokhsagals, covered the house with firewood, burned it; the head of the Mokhsagal girl tied with a mallet was crushed; they began to live well]: Torokova, Sychenko 2014, No. 34:515-519.

The coast is the Plateau. Upper chehalis [the girl has her first period; her parents did not tell her to swim in a certain place on the lake, but she went; a one-legged man came, took her clothes, grabbed her, pointed to various parts of her body, asking what it is; every time she says "my neck", "my chest", etc., he repeats ("my chest, my wife"); when it comes to the genitals, the girl stumbles, the one-legged takes her away ; at night she copulates with her, inserting her big toe into her vagina; each of her 5 brothers goes in search; finds a sister, and on the way back, one-legged catches up with him to supposedly give him skin, swallows; when he returned, after eating the fourth, began to laugh, his wife saw hair in his teeth; by that time she had given birth to a son and a daughter; the woman took her daughter, and the house in which the one-legged and son remained burned with them; playing with other children, the one-legged daughter pulled out another child's eye; the woman's mother and uncle put her in a bucket, threw her into the river; she was picked up in another village, where she also pulled her eye out to a child, she was thrown into the river again; so three more times; she sailed to the giant, who raised her, made her a wife]: Adamson 1934, No. 58:121-124; Koulitz [The cloud takes Samtik's wife (Səmtic; fox?) ; he goes looking for her, the Cloud cuts off his head; in the sky, two sisters Cloud nail their heads to their boat; son S. and brother S. A fishing marten (fisher) step on Lark's leg; he reports that there are grass steps to heaven in the prairie; an uncle and nephew kill the Clouds sisters, put on their clothes; and negotiate with the kidnapped, she tells her husband that she does not feel well, she will spend the night with the girls; they set fire to the house, the Cloud burns down, they bring widow S. back to the ground, bring his head; the widow gives birth to a girl; she bites her mother's chest , scratches the children's eye 5 times, returns to heaven; she is weaker than her father - only the shadow of a cloud]: Adamson 1934, No. 16:196-198.

The Northern Andes. Ambera (chami) [the hunters are gone; others noticed that they were dragged into the hollow; people lit fire around the tree, threw hot pepper at it; cannibals came out, killed; they were the last to leave Jaguar, he was killed, but the pregnant jaguariha ran away, new jaguars were spared from her; the girl was spared, left to look after the baby; she sucked his brain, then ate the man's brain and genitals; then she was killed]: Chaves 1945, No. 8:155-156.

Western Amazon. Sekoya [everyone but the shaman and his sister eat fish from the forest pond (not from the river); the shaman sees spirits weaving fruit baskets (=human eyes); juri-juri spirits are taken out by sleeping eyes, the shaman turns the blind into wild pigs; people make a fire at the huri-khuri hollow, throw pepper at it; all the spirits died except a one-year-old child in the roots of the tree; he was brought to the village; six months later For years he sucked the child's brain; the child's mother wanted to kill him, but huri-khuri climbed onto the roof, the wind clicked and flew away with it]: Cipolletti 1988, No. 14:103-106; coreguahe [the shaman has a skin disease, his wife He does not want to; he hears people saying in the hollow that they like to eat eyes; at home, his wife and all people do not believe the shaman; he takes his daughter, takes shelter above the ground; hears how spirits come at night, take people's eyes out; the spirits tried to reach the shaman and his daughter, brought a pole to climb, but their pole turned out to be a snake and could not be climbed; in the afternoon, the shaman brought people from another village, lit a fire at the hollow, throwing pepper in it; the perfume died, two cubs were brought to the village; they grew up; the woman left the child in the care of one of them, who took out the baby's brains; she pushed him into the fire; the second returned from hunting with the woman's husband; seeing what happened, he ran into the forest]: Jimenez 1989, No. 36:78-80; kofan [two var.; people find a peach palm full of fruit; alone does not eat, hides in a tree; at night First, the animals of the forest come, then their owners are vakho demons (they resemble dogs); they devour sleepers; people burn demons in their hollow; one does not burn, has the appearance of a child; he is adopted, abandoned watch the baby; he eats his eyes, inserts fruits into his eye sockets; he is burned]: Calífano, Gonzalo 1995, No. 51, 52:100-105; Napo: Davila 1920, No. 7 [hunters find a hollow in which juri-juri live; they make a smoky fire around, throwing pepper at it; one girl asks her to be spared, she is brought to the village of people, married to a bachelor; looking for insects in children, she quietly sucks their brains; he also kills her husband, runs away to the forest, gives birth to a son, they are divorced again]: 464; Mercier 1979 [supai takes the form of a woman's little son; at night he cries that an ant bit him in the penis; the mother invites him to lie next to the baby; then lets him beside her; when she falls asleep, he pierces her with a penis whose tip comes out of her mouth; the pet parrot bites off the tip, since then the meat the parrot is black with blood; the woman's husband is on a bloody trail to the cave; people make a fire at the entrance, throw pepper; one girl was spared, told to watch the children; the devil sucked the baby's brain, ran away into the forest]: 126-129; Ortíz de Villalba 1989, No. 66 [people found the hollow of the Khuri-khuri demons, lit a fire, throwing pepper at it; the last huri-khuri took the form of a girl, she was taken to the village; they began to disappear children; people watched the devil suck the children's brains; they rushed to beat her, but she ran away, so the huri-khuri did not disappear]: 129; shuar [the hunters brought a baby monkey, he cries over him they were bullied, killed, eaten with laughter; when there was only one woman in the camp, a man came back with his feet; it was a huri; told the woman to hide in the hollow; when the hunters were sleeping, huri-khuri ate them; people they lit a fire around a hollow huri tree, threw pepper into the fire; one female escaped, one man married her; she does not allow her to look for insects; the husband feels pain in his head, although the wife with his back; she has two knives on the back of her head like a parrot's beak; she ate her husband, ran away, her current huri huri]: Pelizzaro 1993:250.

NW Amazon. Letuama [the girl began swimming when she was in her first period; she was taken over by the Bat; was accepted by her son-in-law; killed his wife's brother while hunting, said he killed a jaguar; killed her second brother on a fish catching; never laughs; third brother tells his sister to sit down and spread her legs; seeing the vagina, the Bat laughs, everyone sees hair on his teeth; people have burned a tree with bats; two children have escaped , people took them home; the Bat girl sucked a child once; his mother threw her into the fire; the reeds that are used to make flutes have grown]: Palma 1984:157-161; macuna [Bat (Murcié lago tigre) married; his wife has three brothers; he goes hunting with one, kills, eats, says that he was killed at night by an animal; the same with his second brother; the wife sits down with her legs apart, the Bat laughs, the wife He sees human hair in his throat and on his teeth; his last brother goes with him to the forest, feeds him with fish, the bone gets stuck in the Bat's throat; pulling it out, his brother sees his hair; hits the Bat with a stone, with which he killed others; the bat turns into a bat; people wooded a tree with bats, burned it; two cubs remained, came to a woman with three adult sons and one baby; they were left to watch the baby, they sucked blood through his fingers, he died; the female was burned, flute reeds grew from her ashes; the male turned into a terrible eagle, killed people, he was killed with arrows]: Århem et al. 2004:509-517; desana [a girl from a foreign tribe is taken to babysit; she sucks their brains out; the children's father burns her alive]: Biocca in Brüzzi 1994:141-142 ; Kumu, Kenhíri 1980:129.

Montagna - Jurua. Machigenga [the shaman does not tell his two wives to go alone into the forest; they go; they find a baby girl; one does not tell her to touch her, the other gives her a breast; she does not let go anymore; a demon comes Corinto, praises her daughter for her good hunting; kills a woman; the second woman runs home; the shaman gives her a knife, they go to K. together, the woman kills him with a knife; brings the baby to the village; the girl is washed with boiling water to be cleansed of the demonic essence; left to watch the child; she eats him; eats other children; it is burned in the house, ash remains]: Baer 1984, No. 16:471-472.