μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Sky-rope. Access to upper world by means of a rope.

Marvels. · Other world journeys. · The upper world. · Access to upper world. · view the constellation · filed as F51

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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
Scholars’ trail — 11references

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
  • ChineseGraham
  • JapaneseIkeda
  • KoreanZong in-Sob 24, 227
  • N. Am. IndianHatt Asiatic Influences 48ff., *Thompson Tales 283 n. 48, (California): Gayton and Newman 78
  • MayaAlexander Lat. Am. 153
  • S. Am. Indian (Warrau)Kirchoff BBAE CXLIII (3) 880, Alexander Lat. Am. 271, (Toba, Mataco): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 448, MAFLS XL 101–103
  • Cape Verde IslandsParsons MAFLS XV (1) 10, 12.
  • general BP II 511 (Gr. No. 112)
  • general Fb "reb" III 25b. Icelandic: Gering Islensk Æventyri II 166f.
  • general Oceanic (Indonesia, Melanesia, Polynesia): Dixon 66, 156f, 160, Beckwith Myth 255, (Tonga): Gifford 20
Within the index

Filed under Access to upper world.

4 finer motifs beneath it
Sky-rope shot by means of arrowFour sky-ropesSpecial kinds of sky-ropeSky-basket. Ascent to or descent from upper world in a basket
Filed beside it
Ladder to upper worldAscent to upper world on arrow chain. Hero shoots arrows which join one another in the air to form a chainTree to upper worldMountain reaches to skySky-window. An opening into the sky gives access to upper worldRoad to heavenTower (column) to upper worldAccess to upper world – miscellaneous
Travels with
Murderer escapes to sky on sky rope. (Cf. F51.)
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Hierarchy of worlds. A series of worlds, one above the otherWorld-tree. Tree extending from lowest to highest world. (Cf. A878.)World-columns. Four (two, etc.) columns or supports sustain the earthAtlas. A man supports the earth on his shouldersDeluge. Inundation of whole world or sectionFlood from fluids of the bodyFlood from belly. It flows from pierced belly of monsterWorld-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 worldCreation of manConfusion of tongues. Originally all men speak same language. Because of a sin they come to speak different languagesOrigin of deathDistribution of tribes

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