Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

L35. A severed arm. .26.38.43.61.62.68.

A

shaman or spirit comes at night and puts his hand inside the hut to steal food or disturb the woman. A man in the hut cuts off or tears off his hand.

China - Korea. Lisa [husband and wife live in a hut on the property; husband went to the village to buy groceries; at night a hairy hand sticks into the hut and tells the woman to scratch it; the wife told her husband; he cooked hot mites and a sword; grabs his hand with ticks, the spirit calls for help; others ask: cooked or raw? the spirit replies that it is cooked; others shout that there is nothing to be done then, run away; the husband pierces his sword into his hand, the spirit runs away; in the morning the husband finds a sword that has pierced a neighboring banyan; since then, lightning has often struck banyan]: Dessaint, Ngwâma 1994:570-571.

Japan. Japanese: Morris 1964:131 in Boronina 1998 [in 974, people began to disappear from the capital; a young man named Watanabe no Tsuna spent the night at Rasyomon Gate; a girl came up to him and took her to her place a horse, she began to turn into a demon, he cut off her hand, she disappeared into the sky; many years later, an elderly woman came to W. disguised as an old nanny; he took his hand out of the chest, showed her, she grabbed it and soared up; did not appear again]: 113-114; Sadokova 1998 [fighting the kappa, the man tore off his arm; he came to his house for three nights asking for his hand, because he would not be able to take it later; man gave his hand, Kappa promised not to harm the villagers anymore]: 87.

The coast is the Plateau. Tillamook [A wild woman steals dried fish; the owner grabs her hand; she runs away with her hand; comes and begs for it back; the man returns his hand, he is no longer bothered]: Jacobs, Jacobs 1959, No. 40:147-148; Vasco [the boy cries, people fall asleep, leaving him alone at the hearth; a striped painted hand stretches out of the smoke hole, he tears it off; the Coyote orders to dance; five At are coming! at! a'lias, one of them without an arm; with them two girls-A.; Coyote asks the Bat, Groundhog, Squirrel to cover the house with brushwood and dry grass; the boy gives his hand, A. dance, burn in the house; two girls stayed on street, gone]: Sapir: 281-282 in Hines 1996, No. 37:138-139.

Western Amazon. Satisfies a woman; the cannibal returns for his hand; finds only children at home, tears off their hands. Shuar: Pelizzaro 1980:84-101; 1993:246-247; Rueda 1987, No. 50 [at night, Iwianch puts his hand inside the house, satisfies the woman with her finger; she told her husband; the husband tears off his hand, she looks like monkey, they smoke it; I. comes for his hand, it does not grow; he tears off the child's hand - it's not good; then the second, third; this one came up, I. left]: 217-219; Aguaruna: Chumap Lucía , García-Rendueles 1979, No. 80:644; Guallart 1958 [The evil spirit Iguanchi came to the house, put his hand between the poles of the wall, satisfied the sleeping woman with his hand; the husband tried to stay awake the next night , but fell asleep; then he took tobacco, grabbed his hand, tore it off; smoked his hand; the parents went to the garden, I. came, asked the children to return his hand; the eldest kept silent, the youngest replied that there was a hand; I. wanted pull out the elder's hand, but saw the boys' father approaching, pulled out the youngest's hand, ran away; people drove the spirits into the cave, threw tobacco and termite nests into the fire, giving suffocating smoke; first flew out a morpho butterfly, then I. came out; he was tied naked in the sun to be bitten by insects, forced to lick women's urine; he asked him to let him go, did not touch people anymore]: 84-85.

NW Amazon. Chikuna [hunter Choe loses prey; he guards, cuts off his leg reaching for meat with a jaguar; brings him to the village, shows everyone; among the audience is the Royal Vulture, which was a thief; taking his paw, he puts it to his body, flies away, pulling out C.'s eyes; in his house in the sky, he hangs a bundle of eyes from the ceiling beam; a grasshopper and one type of termites cannot gnaw through the vine; others termites gnaw, a bundle with eyes falls to the ground, C. puts her eyes back; the old vulture gives a boat to escape from the Royal Vulture; C. pushes off so hard that she falls under land; there he meets strange creatures; the Blind have a lot of food; C. steals it, the Blind can't catch it; dwarfs are incredibly strong, throw C. like a ball; people without anuses feed on steam from prepared food; C. marries, his wife eats with him, he cuts through her anus, she dies; C. returns to earth]: Nimuendaju 1952:118-119.

Southern Amazon. People find the owner of the hand on the trail of blood and kill him. Vaura [lover satisfies a woman (with his hand?) ; the husband takes off his hand, finds the culprit in the morning, he dies]: Schultz 1966:102-103; nambikwara [the forest spirit steals meat; a man hits the hand with a club; in the morning people follow in the footsteps of the spirit; kill him, him wife and children]: Pereira 1983, No. 35:53-54; Iranian woman [man was fishing; saw a blond boy and girl Neykyú come out of the water; the girl got her hair entangled in a trap, the boy disappeared into water; the fisherman, his wife and N. are losing weight because they only eat fish broth and the meat goes somewhere; at night, the fisherman saw that the thief was Wanali, he had a second mouth on his hand; he ate with his hand, throwing it to the fish through the wall at home; the next night the man left Owl to guard, who signaled that the man cut off his ugly hand; Marten promises to find V.'s house on a bloody trail, instead collects honey; V.'s house finds Maned Wolf; Parrot, Tukan, Mutum and other birds kill V., dye them with his blood; Parrot and Arara make beaks for themselves from his axes]: Pereira 1985, No. 30:138-142; paresi [the first menstruation was in Cocotero, Zatiamara's wife; he leaves a large supply of meat in her menstrual hut, but his wife is losing weight; Z. notices a hand stealing meat, cuts it off; follows a bloody trail, various people- animals follow him; they come to the shaman Vanare's house, kill him; birds smear his blood, take on color; animals dismantle his property]: Pereira 1986, No. 3:102-112.