Atlas. A man supports the earth on his shoulders

Motif

Atlas. A man supports the earth on his shoulders.

Mythological motifs. · Cosmogony and cosmology. · –A899. The earth. · Support of the earth. · view the constellation · filed as A842

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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 — 3references

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.

GreekFox 88, *Grote I 70
ChibchaAlexander Lat. Am. 203.
general Gaster Oldest Stories 129. – N. Am. Indian: *Thompson Tales 286 n. 56b

Within the index

Filed under Support of the earth.

2 finer motifs beneath it

Goddess standing on her head supports earth Old woman supports earth on her head

Filed beside it

World-columns. Four (two, etc.) columns or supports sustain the earth Earth supported on post. The post has an old woman as guardian. When she is hungry the post shakes, causing earthquakes Earth rests on animal's back Support of the earth – miscellaneous

Travels with

Four maidens as earth-supports. One is at each of the cardinal points. (Cf. A842.)

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 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 Confusion of tongues. Originally all men speak same language. Because of a sin they come to speak different languages Origin of death Distribution of tribes Birds cling to sky in flood: cause of tail colors. (Cf. A2412.2.)

wander