μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif
Filed across the traditions
  • Jewish Neuman
  • Irish myth Cross. – India: Thompson-Balys
  • Siberian Holmberg Siberian 365. – N. Am. Indian: *Thompson Tales 285 n. 53
  • Maya Alexander Lat. Am. 132.
  • general *Frazer Old Testament I 384ff.
  • general Chin (Indo-China): Scott 266f.
Within the index

Filed under Beginnings of trouble for man.

1 finer motif beneath it
Confusion of tongues partly due to lack of understanding of difference between the word for "stick" and the word for "stone."
Filed beside it
Paradise lost. Original happy state forfeited because of one sin Origin of death Origin of murder Origin of disease Origin of physical defects. Wicked people entering heaven on rope fall to earth and are injured. St. Peter misunderstands what God says and lets them fall Origin of blindness Origin of war among men Origin of quarrelling Origin of lying Origin of tears and sighs Origin of hunger Man to earn bread by sweat of his brow. (Cf. A1331.1.) Mankind's escape from trouble
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Hierarchy of worlds. A series of worlds, one above the other World-tree. Tree extending from lowest to highest world. (Cf. A878.) World-columns. Four (two, etc.) columns or supports sustain the earth Atlas. A man supports the earth on his shoulders Deluge. Inundation of whole world or section Flood from fluids of the body Flood from belly. It flows from pierced belly of monster World-fire. A conflagration destroys the earth. Sometimes (as with the flood legends) the tradition is somewhat local and does not refer to an actual destruction of the whole earth; sometimes the fire marks the end of the world Creation of man Origin of death Distribution of tribes Birds cling to sky in flood: cause of tail colors. (Cf. A2412.2.)

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