Confusion of tongues. Originally all men speak same language. Because of a sin they come to speak different languages

Motif

Confusion of tongues. Originally all men speak same language. Because of a sin they come to speak different languages.

Mythological motifs. · Creation and ordering of human life. · Ordering of human life. · Beginnings of trouble for man. · view the constellation · filed as A1333

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“Then he went out and along the course that the racers were to go over, and hid himself, leaving his head just sticking out of a hole. By this time all the racers had started, and among them Coyote’s son. He was Coyote’s only child, and was very quick. He soon began to outstrip all the runners, and was in the lead. As he passed the spot where Rattlesnake had hidden himself, however, Rattlesnake raised oe en and bit the boy in the ankle.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 8 · served from our shelf receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions

North American IndigenousTales of the North American Indians, Tale 8 receipt
North American IndigenousTales of the North American Indians, Tale 9 receipt

Scholars’ trail — 6references

The index’s own references — the collections where scholars sighted this story-shape, tradition by tradition. Titles on our shelf are live links; the rest is the frontier, not yet shelved.

JewishNeuman
Irish mythCross. – India: Thompson-Balys
SiberianHolmberg Siberian 365. – N. Am. Indian: *Thompson Tales 285 n. 53
MayaAlexander 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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