Yuri E.Berezkin
AMERINDIAN MYTHOLOGY with parallels in the Old World
Classification and Areal Distribution of Motifs. The Analytical Catalogue
38. The Demon's Trap. .39.-.42.47.55.-.59.61.-.64.66.-.68.
Young hero or his brother is caught in a trap by demon. The hero makes free himself or his brother, the demon is unable to catch him again.
NE Asia.
Chukchi [five brothers disappear; the youngest boy gets into evil spirit's trap; shams dead; spirit brings him to his home; he makes his body stiff (or his body is warm), so spirit's wife decides to butcher him in the morning; spirit lets his excrements to be on guard; boy defecates into the same pot making the guardin's voice weak; kills spirit and his family with a knife; brings their drum to his mother]: Bogoras 1928, no.12: 336-338; Koryak (Chavchuven dialect) [Dabro comes across singing mushroom; kicks him, beats with his hands, bites; his body members stick to the muchroom one after the other; Giant carries him to his home, fattens to eat him up;
D. digs a tunnel, escapes; giant sticks in the tunnel,
D. cuts his head off; returns home]: Zhukova 1988, no.8: 27.
Arctic.
Asiatic Eskimo [Ahahanaurak falls into ogre's trap; ogre carries him to his home,
A. tries to catch branches by his feet; shams dead; at night kills sleeping ogre and his family; returns home]: Rubtsova 1954, no.5: 92-93 Bering Strait Inupiaq [boy travels in his kayak, sees a big shining ulu, hishand is caught when he touches it; he pretends to be dead; strange man bounds the boy's hands and feet with a rope, carries him toward his house; catching hold of some of the willows on the way boy tries to pull himself loose from his captor; in the house a girl says that her father has brought her a new bedfellow but the man asks his wife to butcher his prey; boy makes his body hard, woman thinks it is frozen; at night the girl and her little sister play, cry that the boy has his eyes open; at night boy runs away, cannibal pursues him, boy rides away in his kayak, returns home]: Garber 1940, no.11: 97-101; North Alaska Inupiaq: Keithahn 1958 (Kobuk river) [brothers one by one go down Kobuk, disappear; the youngest Oo-goon-gor-o-seok gets amulets from his parents; father attempts to kill him, it proves to be impossible; he believes that his son is strong;
O. rides down the river, kills mean women who have been killing travellers (throws seal head into the lodge, it kills the woman; exchanges girl's hair and his own fur-crown, old woman who was a bear kills his daughter); O.'s paddle sticks to a round object, man carries him to his boys, falls asleep,
O. kills him, sees a dead bear and two cubs instead of people; wounds a man who attacks him; kills old woman, puts on her skin, comes to cure the wounded man, asks people to put off the lights and sing, kills him, runs away; reaching the sea marries a girl; kills two fierce dogs, they are his father-in-law's hunters, father-in-law decides to kill him; 1) to get wood for canoe frame (log springs at him, he breaks it); 2) to get skin for canoe (he kills a walrus, storm begins, he makes the sea quite); 3) father-in-law closes the lodge door, pours pitch on fire (
O. turns into ermine, hides under the sod);
O. rides with his wife and child to his home, storm is not over before he throws them into waves; he returns to his father-in-law, finds his wife and child there; burns father-in-law to death in the lodge; brings his family home; on his way upriver animals dens are in place of the mean people lodges]: 52-61; Lucier 1958, no.18 (Noatagmiut) [Kayakturangniktuaq leaves his parents, travels in search of people; gets stuck in cannibal's trap; shams dead; cannibal carries him to his home, he grabs willows on the way; cannibal's children see him open his eyes; cannibal decides to cook him in the morning; at night he kills them all with a knife; kills spotted seal, comes to two women; one has a right, another a left part of a man in her trap; the first one invites him to bed; he puts the alive seal head between her legs; the head fights with her toothed vulva;
K. kills the woman with her knife; tells another woman that she is sleeping]: 106-108; Ostermann 1952 [four brothers disappear one by one; husband makes sparks throw into his wife's vagina before conceiving the fifth child, lets the baby swallow hot stones making him invulnerable; the boy travels, meets strange people; touches a ball suspended from a rope fasten between two trees; his limbs are stuck one by one; ogre carries him to his home; he wishes him put an adze under his head; at night kills with it the ogre, his wife and children]: 242-243.
Subarctic.
Tanana: De Laguna 1995, no.5 [Ch'etitalqani makes canoe of grouse breastbone and birchbark, travel down Yukon, comes to different animal people; two rocks are opening and closing, it is Wolverine's trap; Ch. shoots an arrow, it hits the trap a little bit; he himself is caught by his shirt; pretends to be dead; Wolverine brings him to his kids; one of them sees him open his eye; Wolverine sharpens his knife, Ch. graps stone axe, kills him; kids climb a tree, he kills them; Wolverine girl is in seclusion hut, climbs a tree, he cannot kill her; she turns into wolverine who now rob people's caches], 9 [as in (4); Ch. kills Wolverine and his wife; they have one daughter, she escapes in a tree]: 98-103, 128-129; Chipewyan [hunter falls into giant's snare made of sunbeams; shams dead, giant brings him to his home; hunter throws ashes into the mouths of giant's children, escape; giant pursues him]: Goddard 1912, no.4: 53-54.
NW Coast.
Haida [lad gets into demon's snare; is carried to demon's home; finds his brothers cut up and hung up in the house; revives them, escapes with them]: Swanton 1905: 260-261.
The Southeast.
Biloxi [see motif K1; Tuhe's uncle abandons him on the other side of the sea;
T. marries ogress' daughters; she tries to kill him, he falls into her trap; she asks what is his vulnerable place; he answers it is his head, she does not believe, thinks it is his ankle; he hits her himself with her axe, boils her body; she revives; her daughters insert a hot iron into a hole in her head killing her]: Dorsey, Swanton 1912, no.28: 99-107.
Northern Andes.
Kogi [female bush spirit plants her bag on hero's way; carries him in this bag to her home; he makes a hole in a bag, escapes]: Preuss 1926, no.9: 200-201; Yupa [men hunt wild pigs, one loses his way, gets into Jaguar's trap; Jaguar's son releases him; man comes to Sun who carries him to his home to eat; Son's brother Moon takes him away, hides in a cave where Moon's daughters menstruate; Son does not dare to enter; Moon lets the man marry one of his daughters, to copulate with all of them; man is homesick, Moon gives him manioc and sweet potatoes, instructs how to grow them; man brings them to earth (origin of agriculture); is warned not to eat anything warm; drinks hot chicha, dies]: Wilbert 1974, no.42: 131-135.
Llanos.
Sicuani [Furna in form of turtle falls into Kwemeini's trap; Kwemeini carries him in a basket, abandons on a path, sends daughter to bring the catch; she does not find any turtle (afterwards hero marries her, kills his father-in-law)]: WS 1992, no.10-11: 62-65.
Southern Venezuela.
Makiritare [father-in-law sends his son-in-law to control the fish trap; hero is caught; jaguar comes to eat him, otter swallows the hero up, then defecates; hero ascends to sky and rejuvenates in a lake of shamans; father-in-law is eaten by ants, turns into jaguars]: Civrieux 1980: 97-99
Orinoco Delta.
Warao [hero falls into bush spirits' trap like a fish; covers himself with his excrements; bush spirits abandon him at the river bank to wash their prey up; hero jumps into river, escapes]: Wilbert 1970, no.187, 204: 428, 472-473.
Guiana.
Taulipang [bush spirit catches hero with his noose, puts him into basket; hero commands the basket to open its mouth, escapes; bush spirit eats wax from the quiver left by the hero]: Koch-Grunberg 1924, no.9: 47-48; Karina [hero falls in a trap, bush spirit carries him in a basket, hero escapes, hides in a tree]: Gillen 1936, no.7: 196-197; Wapishana [a man or his brother falls into bush spirit's noose; bush spirit puts him into his bag]: Farabee 1918 [almost getting home, bush spirit puts his bag on a ground for a time; man comes, saves his brother; bush spirits eat not a man but his quiver with poisonous arrows]: 114-116; Wirth 1950: 176 [man kicks a trap with one leg, it sticks; thei way all his limbs stick one after another; Kurupira puts him in his bag, carries home; man commands the bag to open its mouth, escapes], 178 [bush spirit Kwaskai puts two brothers into his bag; they command it to open its mouth; K.'s wife finds no prey], 178-179 [younger brother is caught in K.' noose; older brother shams dead; commands the bag to open its mouth, escapes; comes K.'s house, revives his brother, kills K.'s wife;
K. eats her by mistake]; Wayapi [bush spirit carries hero in a basket; reaching home, leaves it on a ground; hero escapes; bush spirits find in a basket excrements and a log]: Grenand 1982, no.63: 373.
Western Amazonia.
[Father-in-law (future tapir) sends hero (future Moon) to control the trap; hero is caught in it as a bird]. Mai Huna [ducks make him free, put partridge into the trap]: Bellier 1991, no.4c: 188-189; Secoya [ants bring peices of his flesh, squirrel lets the bones fall, puts body pieces together]: Cipolletti 1988, no.3: 37-38.
NW Amazonia.
Karijona [Racaike is caught into Dung-beetle noose; shams dead; Dung-beetle tries to cut his head off, strikes a tree by mistake; juice drips, he mixes it with excrements, take to eat with the meat; carries
R. in a basket; puts basket on a ground, sends his wife to bring the prey;
R. escapes taking Dung-beetl's axe with him; Dung-beetle takes chief's guise, comes to
R. to ask an axe, receives it, acquires his real guise, flies away]: Schindler 1979, no.15: 128-132; Yucuna [hero falls into ogre's trap, hangs by the leg; shams death, smears himself with his excrements; ogre eats excrements; his daughter interchanges hero with a deer on a roasting platform, takes the hero to her house; ogre puts forest ablaze, hero turns in a little insect, hides in a leave filled with water; escapes, comes to Dragonfly spirit; kills him piercing his anus; lives with his widow]: Jacopins 1981: 135-140; Letuama [as in Yucuna; ogre brings prey to his daughter; she hides the hero turning him into cricket]: Palma 1984: 199; Kabiyari [in form of a forest hen, hero falls into cricket's(?) trap; the latter believes that hero's excrements is the egg; brings it to his children; hero escapes]: Correa 1989: 76-77; Witoto [cannibal father-in-law sends hero to control a trap for fish; jaguar emerges from it but the hero turns himself into jaguar, escapes]: Rodriguez de Montes 1981, no.19: 150-151; Tucuna [hero's brother falls into bush spirit's trap; hero turns him into deer; while bush spirit is making strap to carry his prey, hero revives brother in human form; both escape]: Nimuendaju 1952: 127.
Central Amazonia.
Mundurucu [Akainoatpo's uncle Karujuribo turns into animals to fool him; A.'s grandmother tells him that he should put his arm into tapir's anus to kill him;
K. turns into tapir, feignes asleep,
A. inserts his arm, tapir drags him till they cross Tapajos river; released
A. by defecating; since then
A. gets the name Perisuat;
K. warns
P. that he should cross the river on the back of the third alligator who has trees on his back;
P. rejects two smaller alligators, the third one ferries him;
P. tells him that his breath smells nice; safe on dry land, tells that his stench is bad; spends night with Inambu who speaks too much not letting him sleep; breaks most of her eggs (why inambu lays but three eggs); kills a monkey, spends night in a tree hollow that is Jaguar's den; Jaguar asks to give him one by one his body members,
P. cuts off and gives monkey's limbs, liver; leaves his excrements to answer for him, climbs the tree; Jaguar devours the excrements;
P. spends a night with a man whose legs are bare of flesh and sharpend; he thrusts his pointed leg through the wood;
P. ties the leg with a bowstring, releases the man in the morning; copulates with Jaguar's wife; Jaguar chases him,
P. turns into Amadillo, tears out Jaguar's eyes; Jaguar makes new eyes of tree sap, now they shine;
P. spends night with Inambu who has fire; refuses to lie with her in her hammock; she flies away taking her fire with her;
P. gets with both hands and feet into hunter's snare; hunter leaves an old woman to guard the pray; she falls asleep; ant, bee, wasp, squirrel monkey free P.; angry hunter beats the woman, she turns into curuja bird;
P. returns to his grandmother; dies when she rubs urucu on his body]: Kruse 1946-1949, no.33: 645; Murphy 1958, no.29: 95-102.
Eastern Amazonia.
[Hero inserts his hand into a hole that proves to be trap of the Sun; Sun puts him into a basket with ants; reaching home, Sun goes to call for his son; hero escapes]. Shipaya [Sun puts basket on a ground]: Nimuendaju 1921-1922: 390-391; Juruna [hangs basket on a branch]: VB 1973: 94-95.
Montana.
Shipibo [a group of men walk along Nisho's trap; one of them touches it, gets stuck, rope turns into poisonous snake;
N. comes, carries him to his home, roasts alive; the man urinates extinguishing fire;
N. thinks it is fat, adds urine to his manioc meal, goes away to bring firewood; the man tells N.'s son that he needs to defecate, is released by him, runs away; a woman hides him; when
N. comes she sends wasps which bite him; the man gets home]: Gebhaert-Sayer 1987: 356; Cashinahua [see motif F18B; Naimbo builds a ladder, top touches the sky; storm breaks it down, carries him to a far away village; he accompanies the hunters, is afraid of stepping over the stingig ants, goes another way, gets into Sparrow cannibal's trap first his one foot, then another, one hand, another, his head (=tar-baby); Sparrow has huge testicles and a snake-like penis which he carries in a bag; puts
N. into his bag, brings home; while he goes to bring firewood, his wife who is the former N.'s bride abducted by Sparrow, hides him under a vessel; Sparrow asks their pet parrot what happened; woman has promised to kill him if he speaks; since then parrots are able to repeat only several words; Sparrow sends his ants, wasps, serpents to search but the woman every time tells to take them off or crashes them; every night Sparrow's penis crawls to his wife copulating between her knees; now
N. visits her too, she bears a boy;
N. goes to the forest, climbs up genipa tree; Sparrow finds him, tells to go down;
N. first throws him fruits, lets them fall as far as possible; runs away to the river bank; some animals fish there, hide him in the sand covering his face with a basket; Sparrow breaks poisonous wind but
N. gets not to tough; Sparrow returns home; animals show
N. the path to his mother's home; several times he loses his way but gets home after all]: d'Ans 1975: 214-232.
Bolivia-Guapore.
Ese'ejja [Docuei'ai's animal form is guazo (coati, deer?); his father is Edosiquiana, the master of animals; Anteater people cut with
D. forest to clean garden plots; put fire around him;
E. saves him, brings to a far away place;
D. comes to old woman who boils water; she answers that she is going to boil guazo;
D. pushes her herself into the boiling pot; Anteaters put a trap,
D. falls into it, gets his limbs and head caught (now guazos have few meat); Vultures come to eat him; he revives, transforms Vultures into vultures, grasps the biggest one, releases after Vulture gives him his prettiest daughter in marriage; see motif J16]: Verna 1985: 69-71.
Southern Amazonia.
Rikbaktsa [hunter inserts hand into jaguar's trap; jaguar leaves owl to roast him; hunter defecates and escapes; jaguar punishes owl]: Duas Lendas 1982: 71-72; HP 1973, no.6: 40; 1994, no.5: 67-70; Paresi: HP 1986, no.7 [first one, then another brother falls into ogre's noose; ogre brings his prey home; ogre's two daughters make love with the man; first brother falls asleep, ogre eats him up; second brother marrie the girls, kills their father; both wives chase the hero], 91 [hunter falls into snake's trap; defecates when snakes extracts him from the trap; when snake steps away to call other snakes, hero escapes; other snakes kill this one for letting prey go]: 131-136, 560-561.