μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Old woman helper.

Chance and fate. · Helpers. · Human helpers. · view the constellation · filed as N825.3

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“Thereupon the hostess Louhi, Harnessed quick a dappled courser, Hitched him to her sledge of birch-wood, Placed within it Wainamoinen, Placed the hero on the cross-bench, Made him ready for his journey; Then addressed the ancient minstrel, These the words that Louhi uttered: “Do not raise thine eyes to heaven, Look not upward on thy journey, While thy steed is fresh and frisky, While the day-star lights thy pathway, Ere the evening…”

— The Kalevala, Rune VII · served from our shelf

On our shelf — the index’s citations, resolved to served chapters
  • FinnishThe Kalevala, Rune VIIThompson cites: Kalevala rune 7
In our texts — keyword-matched, unreviewed
Scholars’ trail — 21references

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.

  • Icelandic*Boberg
  • FinnishKalevala rune 7 → on our shelf: The Kalevala, Rune VII
  • BretonSébillot Incidents s. v. "vieille"
  • Missouri FrenchCarrière
  • ItalianBasile Pentamerone V No. 9, Rotunda
  • SpanishEspinosa II Nos. 99–103, 126–132, Espinosa Jr. Nos. 107, 109
  • India*Thompson-Balys
  • KoreanZong in-Sob 63, 166
  • Hawaiiibid. 257–264, 491
  • Tahitiibid. 251
  • TongaGifford 156
  • MaoriDixon 59
  • Eskimo (Greenland)Rasmussen II 162
  • N. Am. Indian*Thompson Tales 327 n. 180
  • AfricaWerner African 233, (Ekoi): Talbot 18, 207, 235, 364, (Basuto): Jacottet 118 No. 17, 142 No. 20, 204 No. 30, 226 No. 33, (Kaffir): Theal 48ff., 82, 145, (Zanzibar): Bateman 128 No. 7, (Angola): Chatelain 47 No. 1, 57 No. 2, 93 No. 5, (Zulu): Callaway 217.
  • general *Types 316, 400, 480, 707
  • general *BP II 380ff., 466
  • general *Cosquin Études 563
  • general Hdwb. d. Märchens I s. v. "Alte im Walde"
  • general Roberts 150. Irish myth: *Cross
  • general Polynesia (general): Beckwith Myth chapt. 17 passim
Within the index

Filed under Old person as helper.

3 finer motifs beneath it
Help from old beggar womanOld woman by spring as helperHelp from grandmother
Filed beside it
Childless old couple adopt heroOld man helper
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Helpful eagle. See references in B322.1Eagle carries man to safetyTabu: looking upTasks assigned suitors. Bride as prize for accomplishment. (For nature of tasks see H1000ff.)
Carried in tale types

wander