μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Journey to upper world. Most references for F0 discuss this motif.

Marvels. · Other world journeys. · The upper world. · Journey to upper world. · view the constellation · filed as F10

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“Then they exchanged arrows, the Sun giving him four arrows of his own. The points of these arrows were made of coal." Now the young man began to climb the mountain. When he came up to the goats, he took one of the arrows, aimed it, and shot. It struck the animals, but fell down without killing it. The same happened with the other arrows. When he had spent all his arrows, they rushed up to him from the four sides, intending to kill him.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 39 · served from our shelf  receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions
On our shelf — the index’s citations, resolved to served chapters
  • generalThe Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK III, ch. VThompson cites: Chauvin VII 54ff. No. 77. Greek: Frazer Apollodorus I 332 n. 2 (Dionysus and Semele)
Scholars’ trail — 7references

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.

  • India*Thompson-Balys, Tawney II 483
  • ChineseWerner 224, 282
  • Eskimo (Bering Strait)Nelson RBAE XVIII 460, 515
  • N. Am. Indian*Thompson Tales 311 n. 118
  • Africa (Gold Coast)Barker and Sinclair 97 No. 18, (Fjort): Dennett 74 No. 16, (Ekoi): Talbot 71, 184, 344, (Congo): Weeks 202 No. 1, 217 No. 12, (Zulu): Callaway 147, (Ila [Rhodesia]): Smith and Dale II 348.
  • general Chauvin VII 54ff. No. 77. Greek: Frazer Apollodorus I 332 n. 2 (Dionysus and Semele) → on our shelf: The Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK III, ch. V
  • general S. Am. Indian (Kariri, Shipaya): Métraux MAFLS XL 25
Within the index
8 finer motifs beneath it
Return from upper worldMan taken to upper world sees all that happens on earthJourney to heaven (upper-world paradise)Journey to see deity. Usually to the upper worldMan admitted into heaven but must not find faultVisit to star-worldVisit to land of moonVisit to land of the sun
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Sun father-in-lawSphinx. Has face of woman, body and tail of lion, wings of birdAnimal bribed with food. (Sop to Cerberus.)Animal as guard of person or houseGuardian animals evadedTabu: killing sacred dragon. (Cf. B11.)Transformation to animal for breaking tabuTransformation: man to dolphinTransformation: man to featherTransformation: oars and masts to serpentsProtean beggar: Person assumes successive forms in order to begTransformation combat. Fight between contestants who strive to outdo each other in successive transformations

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