M4. Careless step .41.43.44.46.52.66.

When crossing a pond or descending from a tree, the character (usually despite a warning) steps at a specific animal or part of the animal's body . As a result, it falls into the water and often sinks.

Subarctic. Koyukon [The porcupine waits by the river, asks to be transported to the other side; refuses the offers of Muskrat, Otter, Bobrenk, agrees to sit on Beaver's tail; makes a fire, puts it on fire pot; The beaver throws her off, but the shore is near and she swims out; the bear tells her to stay away, otherwise it will crush her gallbladder, liver, etc.; she asks every time if she has a gallbladder, etc. .; The bear tries to step on her, she stabs him with needles, he dies]: Attla 1983:67-75.

The coast is the Plateau. Quinolt [see motif J35; the storm takes three seal hunters; two killed; the harpoon is chased by the South Wind; Thunder stretches his leg across the bay after he called him father-in-law; when Y.V. comes, Thunder makes his leg thin; Y.V. drags his boat with him, hurts Thunder, he removes his leg, Y.V. sinks]: Farrand 1902, No. 11:116-120; see J52 motif [Grizzly woman kills Black The bear, chases her sons; the crane stretches his leg across the river, warns him not to step on his knee; the bears cross, the Grizzly comes]; the kalapuya [Grizzly kills the Brown Bear, pursues her daughters; the Crane stretches its leg like a bridge; the Bear's daughters cross the river; the Crane warns him not to step on his knee; the Grizzly steps, he pulls his leg back, the Grizzly falls into the water]: Jacobs 1945 No. 7:115-119; snohomish [falls into the water, continues to chase; the boys' grandfather presses her, slamming the door of his stone house shut]; clackamas [Grizzly sinks]; Vishram: Hines 1998, No. 42 [old cannibal Tuh -Tuh -Nah puts two boys in the basket, carries them to her cave; by the river they scream that her children are burning; she throws the basket, runs home; they put stones in the basket; the old man stretches out his leg like the bridge, the boys cross to the other side; the cannibal follows, steps on the old man's knee, who throws her into the water; downstream she grabs the old fisherman, climbs ashore; the Coyote sees her and frightened; (text is broken)]: 175-177.

The Midwest. Swamp Cree (Albany) [the ogre devours the family, fattens two little boys to eat later; the elder makes a hole in the ground with his mother's awl, walks through it, carrying it on his back the youngest; squeezing into the hole, the youngest injured his cheek; the elder throws a piece of wood, a rag, a stone, which turn into a forest, thickets of rose hips, a huge boulder that blocked the hole; Walrus carries brothers across the lake; tells you to warn if Thunder appears; tells him not to shoot arrows into the water, and if you fall into the water, do not reach it; when transporting an ogre, warns him not to move or touch a sensitive place around his neck; the cannibal moves, the Walrus throws him into the water, he drowns; his older brother's arrow falls into the water; Wemishus invites him to come and pick it up; takes him away in a boat, younger remains on the shore, raised by two polar bears; V. gives his older brother to his daughter's husband; always kills his sons-in-law; V. leads his son-in-law to collect bird eggs; on the way there are cracking rocks; the young man slips, head B . crushed, but he makes it whole again; takes his son-in-law to the island to collect birds' eggs, sails away in a self-propelled boat; the young man puts on the skin of a seagull, flying over the boat, defecates on V.'s head, arrives back before his father-in-law; V. is surprised that his grandchildren shoot arrows feathered by seagulls; his father-in-law leads him to the winter forest; at night he wants to push his moccasins and knee pads into the fire; the young man replaces them in advance; the father-in-law smears his feet with charcoal, as if he is shod, but freezes in the forest, turns into a juniper; the young man finds his younger brother; reminds of a scar on his cheek, the younger believes that the elder is in front of him; lets his servants go bears]: Skinner 1911:88-92; Western Swamp Cree (Stone Cree) [the hunter's wife leaves all day every time, telling the children to cut wood; housework is not done by the time her husband returns; sons answer that the mother meets snakes; the husband goes, cuts off the snake's head, brings it into the house; runs away; gives the sons an awl, flint, a towel (?) , tells me to run; the wife finds the head of a snake, goes to the forest, finds the body of a snake; chases her husband, they go up to the sky, she kills him, he turns into the Big Dipper (that's the way she killed him up in the air, that's where the Dipper now); the husband managed to cut off his wife's head; the head is chasing the children; they throw an awl, thorny thickets appear; the head asks two snake-like creatures, worms to become them wife, if they make a move underground; makes her way, pursues sons again, they throw flint, fire behind; she promises marriage again, overcomes the barrier; Wisahkicahk throws a third the object, it falls in front, turns into a river; the Swan carries them, tells them not to touch her neck; the head touches her neck, the Swan throws it off, she turns into a sturgeon]: Brightman 1989:9-13; northern Ojibwa (Sandy Lake) [see motive L36; wife cheats on her husband, he cuts off her head; throws her body into heaven; Head kills him, stalks sons; they throw their father's bone awl, a sharp stone , flint, beaver tooth, stone chisel; objects turn into obstacles, chisel into river; Toadstool agrees to transport the Skull across the river, tells you not to touch the sore spot on the neck; The skull touches, thrown into water; sons break it with a stone, he drowns]: Ray, Stevens 1971:48-52; northern solto [see motif L5; wife cheats on her husband, he cuts off her head, leaves; head chases sons; elder throws a needle, the comb; the head stays at the needle, the comb turns into a mountain; the Swan carries the brothers across the river, warns him not to sit on his neck, there is an ulcer; the head promises the Swan to be his sexual partner, if he carries it; she grabs his neck, he dumps it into the water; it sinks, turns into a sturgeon]: Skinner 1911:168-169; ojibwa? (The origin of the text is not specified, but it mentions Lake. Upper) [two brothers finally decide to tell their father that a lover has been coming to their mother for many years; the father kills her, buries her in the ashes of the hearth; the mother's skull pursues her sons; the crane puts its neck like bridge over the waterfall; tells you not to step on a sore spot at the back of his head; young men cross, the Skull steps on the back of the Crane's head, which dumps the Skull into the water; the brains turn into sturgeon caviar ( the origin of sturgeon)]: Schoolcraft 1999:237-239; Steppe Ojibwa [see motive L5; his wife has a snake lover, her husband kills him, cuts off his wife's head; the head chases his two sons; they throw an awl, a needle , thread, knife; they turn into a mountain, thorny thickets, a Horned Serpent, a river; The head asks the Pelican to transport her for the right to have sex with her through the occipital foramen; the Pelican warns not to touch a certain place on his neck; the ban is broken, he throws his Head into the river; the eldest son breaks his Head with a stone]: Skinner 1919, No. 2:291-292; Steppe Cree [see motive L5; wife cheats on her husband, he cuts her off head; tells the eldest son to take the youngest on his back and run; gives them an awl, flint, a beaver tooth; runs away to heaven, her Body pursues him; head chases sons running west; objects they throw turn into a barbed fence, a mountain (a huge worm gnaws through a gorge for the Head), a wall of fire, a river; two old bitters stretch their necks like a bridge, brothers cross it; Head steps, causing If you drink the pain, they throw it into the river; the older brother throws a stone at it, the head turns into a sturgeon]: Ahenakew 1929:309-313.

Plains. Mandan [see motif M1]: Bowers 1950:262-264 [The wind carries two brothers to the island; the Immortal Woman lives there; she tells them to sit on a sea serpent; when they arrive, the brothers ask him to put his head ashore ; he does not put it; the clever brother jumps off; the stupid snake gets on his nose, is swallowed; the clever lures the snake with corn, pulls out his brother and its mouth; lightning kills the snake], 289-291 [man sent overseas to bring the head of the ogre; the deer woman teaches him to call a snake carrier; throw corn into the water in front of its mouth; if he puts it in his mouth, he will swallow it; the snake carries it back and forth].

Mesoamerica See the M2 motive. Kekchi, mopan [the hero goes down the backs of a koati, steps on a pregnant female, the koati want to throw him off].

Montagna â€" Jurua. See M1 motif. Shipibo [younger brother steps on the nose of a caiman boat, which bites off his leg].