Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

M75D. Vulture knife. 40.41.48.59.61.72.

The character takes away the vulture's hunting weapons or amulets.

Asian Eskimos, Bering Strait Inupiat, Central Yupik (Unalit), Koyukon, Yurok, Waiwai, Shuar, Aguaruna, Nivakle.

The Arctic. Asian Eskimos: Rubtsova, Vakhtin 2019, No. 42 [an unmarried shaman went to the mountain at night, dug a grave, undressed, crushed his clothes with a stone, lay down in the grave; when the Pleiades ascended, a raven flew in, followed by him others; decided to wait for the foreman; this is the little crow Utiguk; he put his sharpener on the man's forehead, he grabbed it, W. asks for his return; the man returned in exchange for the ability to create, by hitting the snow a seal or lahtaka; a man's cousin, married, decided to do the same; the sharpener stuck to his forehead, and he himself to the ground; the crows ate him], 61 [the orphan came to the storehouse, undressed, pretended to be dead; crows gathered, the last to arrive was the foreman - a little one with beads; pecked, took out a knife to cut off his nose, the orphan grabbed a knife; refused the promise to make him strong, fast-footed, rich, returned the knife for a promise make him a shaman; got rich; another person decided to repeat everything; crows stuck him to the ground, cut him alive, ate him]: 576-581, 756-763; Bering Strait Inupiate (village. Shishmaref) [the loser hunter decides to commit suicide; lies naked in the snow; the snow under him melts; Voronikha doubts, but Voronikha says that the man is dead and the foxes seem to have stolen his clothes; Raven takes out the knife to pick his eyes; the man jumps up, grabs the knife; returns the Raven for promising to make him a good hunter; he tells the hunter to always pick out the eyes of the dead Caribou; he does so , The Raven bites his eyes; then the hunter forgets the promise, loses his luck; decides to catch the Raven again in the same way, but freezes to death]: Keithahn 1958:25-27; central yupik (unalit, hall. St. Michael) [man can't get anything; goes to die; Crows are going to peck out his eyes; he pulls out the Raven's knife (his beak); on the way home he becomes old, dies]: Nelson 1899:467-470.

Subarctic. Koyukon [a man sails in a boat down the river; pretends to be dead, the Seagull and the Raven come to eat it; he grabs their knives; returns in exchange for chasing a caribou group at him; kills two caribou]: De Laguna 1995, No. 38:272-273

California. Yurok [a man pretends to be dead; a raven comes down, then a condor; a man takes the condor's eye wand; a condor comes for it; brings a man to a beach full of shells dentalium (money shells)]: Kroeber 1976, No. B4, M2:170-174, 346-348.

Guiana. Waiwai [the boy is missing; father dreams that he was stolen by vultures (Kurum-yenna); smeared with Brazil nut liquid, he pretends to be dead; the two-headed one is the last to descend a vulture; a man grabs him when he takes a knife to cut his prey; the Vulture says that if he is killed, the sky will fall; the man lets the Vulture go with his knife, water vessel, and feather clothes ; in the absence of a person, Vulture in human form comes to his child, who gives a knife, feathers, Vulture flies away with his knife]: Fock 1963:86-89.

Western Amazon. Shuar: Rueda 1987, No. 37 [after a raid by enemies, a man hides among corpses; vultures flock, he jumps up, they fly away, leaving their hunting amulets; without them they will die; taking human appearance, Vulture comes to the hunter's children, asks them to show amulets, grabs them, flies away; so vultures don't die], 37A [as in (37); amulets are magic weapons; if you shake them, game falls dead]: 158-159; Aguaruna [Huambis attacked Aguaruna, everyone was killed, their heads were cut off, carried away; one woman was left alive; she was lying among the corpses, hugging her husband's body; flocked vultures, a woman pretended to be dead; the vulture leader put his amulets (stones found in animal entrails; they help hunt and contribute to the fertility of the fields ); the woman jumped up, closed the doors, killed all the vultures, only the leader escaped; her husband's head grew, but was soft as smoke; vultures, without their amulets, began to lose weight and die everywhere; The vulture leader took on a human form, came to the woman's sons; the eldest tried to hide the amulets, and the youngest naivety showed that the vulture took them away]: Guallart 1958:79.

Chaco. Nivakle [Itôclônaj asks his wife to weave a rope, rubs it with ash; she turns around and drags him game; once caught Cò (antbird); I. teaches him to make the same rope ; she works; I. warned not to write on ash, but Cō's wife wrote, the rope was no longer valid; then Cò pretended to be dead; the Hawk saw the corpse, told Vulture, then the Royal A vulture; he has different knives for fresh or rotten meat; he tells a fly to go into his nose, get out of the corpse's anus; then he believes; Cò grabs a knife from him; he gives another one in return, for very fresh meat He tells him not to leave him; one day his wife threw him a knife, he flew to his former owner]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1987b, No. 152:362-363.