M121. Spy insects. .48.52.53.55.68.
Alouse or other similar creatures (flea, tick, firefly) are sent to follow a specific character.
Chumash, mom, tsutukhil, ishil, kuna, kamsa, umotina.
California. Chumash [Fox and Wildcat are the brides of the hawk Xelex 'a and his uncle Eagle Slo'v; sail from the island to the grooms; the Coyote takes the form of K., turns his hut into a beautiful home; keeps his wives in the house all the time; people shout that they brought him fish demand; he says that they joke with him, takes the demand, turns him into fish and venison, gives it to his wives; K. and S. send gopher, then Mukha, Louse find out what kind of women Coyote has; after finding out the truth, they send the Puma to break the door of the house; he finds women giving birth, each with twelve sons; wives go to K. and S., Coyote brings up sons]: Blackburn 1975, No. 29:194-197.
Mesoamerica Mom [there was no corn, people ate txetxina root, the "mother of corn," it had a large root and a single stem; they found corn in the Wild Cat litter; they sent Louse to see she fell to the ground; the flea also fell, but climbed back; corn was inside a rock on Mount Paxil; the woodpecker made a hole, people got corn, no longer ate txetxina]: Valladares 1957 in Thompson 1977:422; tsutuhil [a poor young man turns into a hummingbird, enters the king's garden; one of them tells her father she would like to use the hummingbird as a model for her fabric; going out buy fruit, both sisters meet the same young man as a man, fall in love, invite him to their place for the night; when he hears laughter at night, the king sends a bug to explore (the young man kills him), a louse (blind and not sees), a flea (girls kill), a firefly (sees and reports everything); one of the sisters gives birth to a son; the king tells the young man 1) to prepare the plot (zompopos work instead of him); 2) sow in a day (young man throws red scarves, they turn into peppers; the whole field is sown from the seeds thrown in the middle of the field); 3) peel the bag of rice (ants do this), 4) bring cachos de los animals (animal bones?) , the young man brings, it turns out that the king calls firewood; the young man and both wives run away; the king asks the angel to strike them with lightning; the young man turns his wives into dolls, hides them among cachos de ganados, but lightning incinerates both; the young man brings a vessel of ashes to his mother, tells him not to open it; in his absence, she hears a noise inside, removes the lid, two doves fly out; wives are lost forever ]: Petrich 1997:161-166; ishil [god Oev Akchi falls in love with Maria Markaao, daughter of Mataktani; turns into a hummingbird; MM wants a bird as a model for drawing on fabric; lovers spend the night together; in the morning M. finds the door locked; sends a louse, she drinks blood, gets drunk, does not return; for this she is left to live on the street, drink blood; dies; sends a flea, the same (M. makes it useless, preventing people from sleeping); the firefly is told to break through the roof, light up the room; he says that the hummingbird has turned into a man, sleeps with MM; the firefly is given the light to shine at night; MO marries MM, father-in-law tells 1) immediately sow corn, ayotes, chilacayotes, beans (M. tells her husband to measure the field, leave a machete on it, go to bed; an insect like an ant does all the work; AO brings father-in-law a crop); 2) build a house (there are no trees around; MM lets AO spray his breast milk on the hill, leave machetes on the ground; when AO wakes up, there are trees around; he builds a house); 3) build temazcal (steam bath) and collect firewood (there is no dry wood around; MM tells MM to leave the machete on a hill with lots of stones; AO wakes up around firewood); 4) M tells MM and AO to be the first to steam in the bath, closes all holes; the mole digs the passage, the lovers run away; come to the narrow aisle, MM gets stuck, her father strikes her with a zipper; AO collects her bones in a handkerchief, comes to his aunt, puts the bones in a vessel, closes it, tells her aunt not to touch it; she opens to see what's inside; the bones turn into deer, rabbits, wild pigs, and other animals; see motif B30]: Colby, Colby 1981:181-183.
Honduras - Panama. Kuna: Chapin 1989 [Olotvaligipileler secretly visits his sister Magiryay; she tells her lice, a tick, a sand flea to wake herself up; the flea wakes up, M. smears her lover's face with a genip, dries up the rivers; sees his brother's face in the morning; he runs away in shame; M. runs after him, returns to get his baskets, loses his way; on the way he copulates with many animals; brother rises to the sky for a Month, spots are visible on her face; on the river bank, old woman Mu Quelopunayai invites her into the house, hides her in a vessel; her sons are iguanas, wild pigs, tapirs, fish; they say they smell pineapple; the next on the third day, Mu hides M. under the roof; on the third day he turns it into a part of a loom; the sons of the old woman find it, devour it on the river bank; Mu cooks giblets; the boiling pot splits, pops up a cockerel and seven other birds; the cockerel sings to Ibelele (the sun); eight brothers grow up, the old woman says she is their mother; while hunting, the bird tells them that the fish swallowed their mother's bones; an old woman tells them to kill birds; brothers wonder why they are so beautiful, and their frog mother is ugly, noseless; Moo makes his nose out of clay; brothers push Mu into the river, Y. hands her out his golden staff; cuts off her fingers when she clings to it, they fall into the water, turn into frogs and toads; the old woman stays in the water, turns into a toad; brothers fish, get her mother, eight once they try to revive, but she turns into different animals; brothers bury bones]: 33-42; Holmer 1951 [see motif J16; the young man sleeps with his sister; she tells lice first, then the tick, the flea to wake her up; the flea wakes them up on time, she smears her lover's face with genipa juice; asks the Master of the Rivers to dry them; in the morning, the brother cannot wash off the paint, leaves in shame; the sister follows him; returns three times for his fan for fanning the fire and other objects, loses his way; goes to the sound of his brother's flute, then stops hearing it; asks the cockerel and four other species of birds about the road; each points the way after she agrees to sleep with him; brother goes up to heaven, becomes a Month; spots are still visible; children are told it is a rabbit]: 145-151; Wassen 1934b: 5-7.
The Northern Andes. Kamsa [Our Master lived alone; someone cooks; he leaves lice to guard; the wardrobe fell asleep, the head saw a girl coming out of the hearth; Our Master is underground went to the girl's mother; this is a Snow woman trying to kill him, deprives her eye; later turns into a pile of bones]: Chindoy 1987:42-43.
Southern Amazon. Umotina [young man Hári (Month) told the forest mite to find out which girl had a bigger vagina; it turned out that his sister Barukolotó had; when everyone went fishing, B.'s mother left B. at home, After telling her to make cassava cakes, she did not want the coloring on her body to be washed away; H. stayed, led her sister to the river separately; she saw that there was no fish on the river, and a rainbow was approaching her; I realized it was a brother; she started yelling at him, both went up to heaven; when the mother returned and did not find her children at home, she looked up to the sky, saw that her son had become the Month, the daughter became Morning Venus]: Schultz 1962, No. m : 244-246.