μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Man in the moon. A man is said to be seen in the moon. Various explanations are given as to how he came to be there.

Mythological motifs. · Cosmogony and cosmology. · The heavens. · The moon. · Nature and condition of the moon. · view the constellation · filed as A751

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“She called him hard names, such as, “‘slimy-fellow,” “small-eyes,”’ etc. Snake returned, and told his friend of his failure. Next night Beaver went to try, and, crawling up to one of the sisters, he put his hand on her face. She awoke, and, find- ing out who he was, she told him to be gone. She called him names, such as, “‘short-legs,’”’ “big-belly,” “big-buttocks.”’ Beaver felt hurt, and, going home, began to cry.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 17 · served from our shelf  receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions
Scholars’ trail — 17references

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.

  • Estonian*Aarne FFC XXV 140 No. 7, Loorits Grundzüge I 427f.
  • Livonian*Loorits FFC LXVI 81 No. 8
  • SiberianHolmberg Siberian 423
  • ArmenianAnanikian 52
  • Flemish*De Meyer FFC XXXVII 82 No. 8
  • ChineseEberhard FFC CXX 37, 214 No. 163, 221, 250. – Maori: Dixon 88
  • HottentotBleek 72 No. 33: Am. Negro (Georgia): Harris Friends 130 No. 17.
  • general *Dh I 134
  • general *Volksmann Am Urquell V 285, VI 75, 126, 199
  • general *Cornelissen Ons Volksleven VI 168ff., 189ff.
  • general *Köhler-Bolte III 597
  • general *Robinson Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (Boston 1933) 929
  • general *Brown English Lyrics of the Thirteenth Century (Oxford 1932) 234ff.
  • general *Hench JAFL XLVIII 384
  • general *G. de Raille RTP III 129ff.
  • general Basset RTP XXIII 220 and references to earlier volumes. – Breton: *Sébillot Incidents s. v. "homme"
  • general N. Am. Indian (general): *Thompson Tales 291 n. 69, (Haida, Tlingit, Kwakiutl): Alexander N. Am. 257, (Loucheux): Barbeau JAFL XXVIII 255
Within the index

Filed under Nature and condition of the moon. Many motifs in A720 to A739 refer to the moon and are not here repeated.

11 finer motifs beneath it
Man in moon is person thrown or sent there as punishmentMan in the moon a rabbit (hare, other animal)Frog in moonMan in the moon: tarring of the moon. Man sets out to tar the moon and remains with his tar-bucket in the moonMan in the moon from scratches or paintCotton tree and nettles on moonTwo children in moon with yoke and bucketWoman in the moonMiscellaneous images on moonParticular individual is man in the moonOther marks on the moon
Filed beside it
Moon as a personMoon kept in box. (Cf. A755.1)Causes of moon's phasesMoon as sun's representative at nightMoon-boatTheft of moon. Moon is kept by a monster. It is stolen and brought to earthCondition and nature of the moon – miscellaneous. For eclipse of the moon see A737, where both eclipses of the sun and moon are handled
Travels with
Man put in moon for cursing God. He is now the man in the moon. (Cf. A751, Q221.3.)Man in moon lets himself down. (Cf. A751.)
Carried in tale types

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