μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Orpheus. Journey to land of dead to bring back person from the dead.

Marvels. · Other world journeys. · The lower world. · Journey to lower world. · view the constellation · filed as F81.1

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“As she came around the second time another touched her with his rod, and then another and another, until at the seventh round she fell out of the ring, and they put her into the box and closed the lid fast. The other ghosts seemed never to notice what had happened. They took up the box and started home toward the east. In a little while the girl came to life again and begged to be let out of the box, but they made no answer and went on.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 55 · 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
  • GreekThe Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK I, ch. IIIThompson cites: Frazer Apollodorus I 17 n. 7, von den Steinen Zs. f. Vksk. XXV 260
Scholars’ trail — 18references

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.

  • EnglandChild I 215ff., Wells 128 (Sir Orfeo)
  • NorseMacCulloch Eddic 130
  • GreekFrazer Apollodorus I 17 n. 7, von den Steinen Zs. f. Vksk. XXV 260 → on our shelf: The Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK I, ch. III
  • BabylonianSpence 125ff. (Ishtar)
  • SiberianHolmberg Siberian 491
  • IndiaThompson-Balys, Keith 161 (Savitri)
  • ChineseEberhard FFC CXX 198f., Graham
  • JapaneseAnesaki 223
  • IndonesiaDe Vries's list No. 160
  • MaoriClark III
  • Eskimo (Greenland)Rink 269, 298, Rasmussen III 59, 167
  • N. Am. Indian*Thompson Tales 337 n. 215, Hatt Asiatic Influences 65ff., **Gayton The Orpheus Myth in North America (JAFL XLVIII 263–293), E. W. Voegelin JAFL LX 52–58, (California): Gayton and Newman 99
  • SurinamAlexander Lat. Am. 275
  • AfricaWerner African *138ff., 196.
  • general **E. Maass Orpheus (München, 1895)
  • general Frazer Pausanias V 154
  • general Cosquin Études 188ff. Irish myth: *Cross
  • general Oceanic (New Zealand, Mangaia, Hawaii, Samoa, New Hebrides, Bankes Island, German New Guinea): Dixon 72–78
Within the index

Filed under Descent to lower world of dead (Hell, Hades).

2 finer motifs beneath it
Wife goes to land of dead to procure dead husband's heartJourney to land of dead to visit deceased
Filed beside it
Journey to hell to recover devil's contractJourney to hell to circumcize childJourney to hell to retrieve soul of motherJourney to lower world to get treasuresSouls redeemed from hell in shape of sheep
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Siren. Bird with woman's headTabu: profanely calling up spirit (devil, etc.)Tabu: rivaling the godsTabu: eating in other worldTabu: drinkingLooking tabuTransformation to escape loverMagic musicRocks moved by magicReincarnation. Return from the dead in another formFlower from grave bears letters. These commemorate the buried personDescent to lower world of dead (Hell, Hades)

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