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

M39B. He attacks his own plague. .35.36.39.

A person does not notice that he turned and swam back on the way, so he takes his home for enemies, kills his own relatives.

Nganasans, Nenets, Dolgans, Turukhan and Ilimpic Evenks, Evens, Forest and Tundra Yukaghirs, Markovo.

Western Siberia. Nganasana [Dyaiku goes by boat with the men of the camp. They stop and spend the night on the boat. At night, Dyaiku turns the boat in the opposite direction. They sail back to their camp, Dyaika passes him off as a stranger. Men kill residents of an "alien" camp]: MAE archive? (Momzikova 2017); Nenets (tundra?) [the fox grabbed the crow by the wing; he told her to eat it whole and offered to go to the mountain; there he told the fox to open its mouth and wait for it to fly; the fox opened its mouth, the raven made a circle, flew into the fox and hit it with its beak; the fox fell into the river; saw the Ostyaks sailing in the boat; the Ostyaks said they were going to fight; the fox sat down with them, and when the Ostyaks fell asleep, turned the boat in the opposite direction; found birch bark bodies began to eat food; one ostyak raised his head and asked what kind of river; fox: "Birch bark body!" ; the ostyak fell asleep, the fox crept up to the arrows and gnawed at all the places at the iron and bone inserts, all the ends of the arrows; another Ostyak asked what river; the fox: "Arrow!" ; the ostyak fell asleep, the fox crept up to the bows and gnawed through them in the middle; the third ostyak asked what river; the fox: "The Luk River"; late at night the boat sailed to the plague; the fox woke people up; each took his bow and arrows; attacked sleeping people; they woke up, the battle began; those who slept in the plague won, then recognized their relatives as dead; one of those who came survived, ran to the fox with an ax; she told him to pick him up the axe was higher for her to put her head on his knee; the Ostyak cut his leg; the fox ran away; the other Ostyaks wanted to shoot, but all the bows and arrows were unusable]: Startsev 1930:30-31.

Eastern Siberia. Dolgans [The fox convinces Myselov's bird that the deer and the camp are strangers; he kills a deer from his own herd, kills his wife and children; later he sees that Lisa did not kill her children, only bit their ears; the Mouselov lures the Fox onto thin ice; she falls through, gets to the fish mother, promises to heal, acting as a shaman, tells her to put a stick and then get up on the ice; says that the patient will scream; she ate the fish and ran away; sits on the woman's sledges, eats a bag of meat, replies that the area is called Polsumy, Donyshko; the bear wants to eat it, she promises to get fat, after sleeping; both lie down on the edge of the mountain; at night, the Fox lies down on the other side of the Bear, asks him to move, he falls; tells the man that he eats his penis; he cuts off his own, dies; the fox comes to his two wives, hides their face; in the dark, they try to cut the Fox with an ax, but cut the pregnant woman's belly; tells the Wolf that he gets fat by lowering his tail into the ice-hole; the wolf tail freezes, is torn off; other Wolves they say that Lisa came, breaking her tooth on a sharp deer stomach; a lot of Fox was sitting around the fire; the Wolf smeared his ass in ash, began to dance ridiculously; everyone laughed, closed her mouth alone, the Wolf tore her to pieces]: Popov 1937:28-33; Turukhan Evenks: Vasilevich 1936, No. 2 (Ingarigda - Podkamennaya Tunguska) [The fox offers Wolverine to get his deer, eats it; explains to Wolverine's wife that her husband tells Wolverine to the reward is to tie a bell to her tail; the fox invites Kuksha to sail and attack other people's plague; while Kuksha sleeps, Lisa leads the boat up and then down again to their own plague; without understanding, Kuksha kills her own children; Lisa fell through the ice, tells Kuksha to give snags, he foolishly gave it, Lisa got out, Kuksha failed, drowned], 17 (Yerbogochen) [Lisa suggests that Kuksha swim to kill people, tells me to sleep at the bottom of the boat for now; if the plague shouts "father", let him shoot anyway; brings the boat to where they sailed from, Kushka kills his own children; invites Lisa to jump on the ice, she fails; says she is a shaman, offers to cure the mother of fish, for this you need to put a pole up; climbs it to the ground, runs away]: 9, 19; Ilimpic Evenks (West 1907) [The fox and the bird Kovshichan went up the river; at night the Fox turns the shuttles, K. does not notice that they are now swimming down; they see the herd, K. does not understand that he is cutting his own deer; when he learns about this, Lures the Fox to the fragile ice; the fox sinks to the bottom to the ulcers, they say that their mother is sick; the fox undertakes to shamanize, treat, says that the disease will scream; eats eggs, runs away; is hired as a shepherd, kills deer; the old man shouts to his wife to beat the Fox; she hears poorly, the Fox explains that her husband tells her to tie a bubble of fat to the Fox's tail; runs away; tells the Wolves that he caught fat in the river with his tail down; wolf tails freeze, Wolves tear them off; Fox gnaws bones, breaks a tooth; Wolves in the plague will make people laugh, one hoots an owl, mutters a hare; the Fox covers his mouth, Wolves beat him; the Fox invites the Bear to lie on on a cliff ledge, closer to the wall; at night he lies between him and the wall, asks him to move, the Bear falls; the fox eats bear meat; the girls carry supplies, the Fox calls to show the way, eats everything on the way; hides on larch, girls make a fire; the Fox asks the Fire not to burn it to the end, becomes small as it is now]: Vasiliev 1936, No. 5:258-262 (quail in Bulatova 1985:154-160); Evens [Kuksha has a good wife and children; Sobol offers to board a boat, sail down the river, attack enemies, take away their property; while Kuksha is sleeping, Sobol turned the boat around, swam up past Kuksha's house, again sent the boat down; Sobol convinced Kuksha that it was not his yurt; they killed people and deer; Sobol ran away, and Kuksha saw his relatives killed, began to cry; he lost, since then the kuksha has been thin]: Bolakova, Tchaikova 2015:57-59.

SV Asia. Tundra Yukaghirs (p. Andryushkino, Verkhnekolymsky District) [Yongochiliken and Angachiliken decide to rob their neighbors; they get into a boat, each row with their oar in different directions; they think they have sailed to their neighbors, do not recognize their own chum, they kill their sleeping wives, share property; realizing their mistake, they fight, kill each other]: Kurilov 2005, No. 45:377-379; forest yukaghirs (p. Ridiculous Verkhnekolymsky District) [Lopcho's elder brother, middle Loshiya, younger Gin; G. comes out of the plague, takes the stars for Koryak enemies; brothers run to the river, sit on a stone, row; in the morning they take their own house for house Russians, they fire with bows, killing their own wives and children; Lopcho and Loshiya kill Gin for deception, fight, kill each other]: Kurilov 2005, No. 49:389-391 (=Zhukova, Chernetsov 1992:85-87; about the same in Iokhelson 1900, No. 16:31-33); Markovo [wild people of the Vants lived in the upper reaches of Anadyr and on the slope to the Kolyma Sea; they built houses without windows and chimneys, tried unsuccessfully to bring light and take out smoke in bags and hem; one takes his reflection in the ice-hole for a woman, throws her property as a gift, then goes down by himself, drowns; if you move the sledges on the contrary at night, the boys they go back, attack their own village; those crossing the river are tied with their feet below a log; the log turns over, they swim, only their feet above the water, they shout from the shore that it is too early to dry their feet; so they all died]: Dyachkov 1992:238-239.