Woman who fell from the sky. – Daughter of the sky-chief falls from the sky, is caught by birds, and lowered to the surface of the water. She becomes the creator

Motif

Woman who fell from the sky. – Daughter of the sky-chief falls from the sky, is caught by birds, and lowered to the surface of the water. She becomes the creator.

Mythological motifs. · Creator. · Origin of the creator. · view the constellation · filed as A21.1

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Attested across traditions

North American IndigenousTales of the North American Indians, Tale 5 receipt

On our shelf — the index’s citations, resolved to served chapters

generalThe Kalevala, Rune IThompson cites: *Iroquois: Thompson Tales n.27. – Cf. Finnish: Kalevala rune 1.

The motif on our shelf — written from the served texts; every claim cited receipt

Thompson's lead authority here is Iroquois and unserved; what our shelf holds is his own cross-reference, "Cf. Finnish: Kalevala rune 1", and the Finnish page carries the motif with one joint reversed. "In primeval times, a maiden, / Beauteous Daughter of the Ether" leaves heaven not by falling but by weariness: "She descended to the ocean" [The Kalevala, Rune I]. Sea and storm-wind get her with child, and "Seven hundred years she wandered", unable to rise above the waters, swimming "as water-mother" [ibid.]. The birds of the Iroquois form arrive inverted: no one catches this sky-woman — she is the catcher, raising her knee from the waves "That the duck might build her dwelling" [ibid.]. But the label's last clause holds exactly: she becomes the creator — "Wheresoe’er her foot she rested, / There she made a hole for fishes", bays where her head pointed landward [ibid.]. One served witness, and Thompson filed it as a Cf.: the address's proper owner, the sky-chief's daughter caught by birds, is still unwired.

Witnesses: The Kalevala, Rune I

In our texts — keyword-matched, unreviewed

Indian / Hindu (Sanskrit epic)The Ramayan of Valmiki (Griffith verse translation), Book 4, Canto 19

Scholars’ trail — 1reference

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.

general *Iroquois: Thompson Tales n.27. – Cf. Finnish: Kalevala rune 1. → on our shelf: The Kalevala, Rune I

Within the index

Filed under Creator from above.

Filed beside it

Old man from sky as creator. – Old man with his wife comes from the sky. Are the first couple on earth. Have seven sons and seven daughters. Each son marries a daughter

Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes

Primeval water: In the beginning everything is covered with water Culture hero snatched from mother's side Cosmic egg. The universe brought forth from an egg Creation from duck's eggs. Upper vault from half shell, lower vault from half shell, moonbeams from whites, sunshine from yellows, starlight from motley parts, clouds from dark parts Earth Diver. From a raft in the primeval sea, the creator sends down animals to try to bring up earth. After a number of animals have failed, one (often the muskrat) succeeds. The earth is made from the bit brought up Earth from turtle's back. Earth erected on back of a turtle floating in primeval water. (Cf. A844.1.)Topographical features caused by experiences of primitive hero (demigod, deity). Footprints of the gods, thoroughfares of heroes, etc Conception from wind. (Cf. A715.2, F611.1.9.)Long pregnancy. Delayed by an enemy who bewitches the mother

wander