μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Theft of sun. The sun, which is kept by a monster, is stolen and brought to earth.

Mythological motifs. · Cosmogony and cosmology. · The heavens. · The sun. · Nature and condition of the sun. · view the constellation · filed as A721.1

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On our shelf — the index’s citations, resolved to served chapters
  • FinnishThe Kalevala, Rune XLVIIThompson cites: Kalevala runes 47, 49. – Eskimo (Bering Strait): Nelson RBAE XVIII 483
The motif on our shelf — written from the served texts; every claim cited  receipt

Thompson's Finnish entry names runes 47 and 49, and both are served, so theft and recovery stand on one page. Louhi, "Northland’s old and toothless wizard", lures Sun and Moon down with harp-music, "Makes the Sun and Moon her captives", and hides the Sun "In the iron-banded mountain" [The Kalevala, Rune XLVII]. The label's "kept by a monster" is exact, and the cost is total: "Night was king and reigned unbroken, / Darkness ruled in Kalevala" [ibid.]. Recovery fails first as craft: Ilmarinen sets out to "Forge from gold the Moon for Northland, / Forge anew the Sun from silver", and Wainamoinen delivers the verdict — "Silver will not gleam as sunshine, / Not of gold is born the moonlight!" [The Kalevala, Rune XLIX]. What works is dread of the smith: told that the forge is shaping a collar "For the neck of wicked Louhi", the thief herself "unlocked the massive portals / Where the Sun and Moon were hidden" [ibid.]. One divergence from the label, which has the captive sun "stolen and brought to earth": in the Finnish form the recovery is no counter-theft but a coerced release — the monster turns her own key.

Witnesses: The Kalevala, Rune XLVII · The Kalevala, Rune XLIX

Scholars’ trail — 5references

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.

  • FinnishKalevala runes 47, 49. – Eskimo (Bering Strait): Nelson RBAE XVIII 483 → on our shelf: The Kalevala, Rune XLVII
  • Calif. IndianGayton and Newman 60
  • S. Am. Indian (Cashinawa)Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 683.
  • general BP III 288
  • general Dh I 136ff., III 113ff. – Cf. Kaffir: Kidd 238 No. 7
Within the index

Filed under Sun kept in box.

Filed beside it
Sun and moon kept in pots when they do not shineSun shut up in pitSun kept in a caseSun swallowed and spit out. In theft of sun, the raven (or devil) thus succeedsStolen sun restored to skyPale sun made right again by using egg, yellow grass, etcSun falls but is lifted back to sky and tied to it
Travels with
Jackal carries sun in bag on back; burns his back black. (Cf. A721.1, A2356.3.2.)
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Eclipse caused by monster devouring sun or moonTheft of moon. Moon is kept by a monster. It is stolen and brought to earthTheft of light. Light originally absent is stolen by culture heroTheft of fire. Mankind is without fire. A culture hero steals it from the owner

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