According to an incident in an Eskimo legend, a father, from feelings of revenge, threw his daughter overboard out of a boat, and, when she clung to the gunwale, cut off her fingers, which were then transformed into seals and whales.[1] The Navajo Indians relate that the first human pair were formed from two ears of corn ; the yellow ear became a woman, the white one a man. The Wind-god gave them life, the god of the white crystal rock gave them minds, the goddess of grasshoppers gave them voices.[2]
11. S. or L. S. originated from O. No external likeness. The evil or disgusting character of O. is reflected in (L.) S. Sometimes descriptive remarks in the narrative hint at the nature, character, or habitat of L. S.
The evil and disgusting nature of the spittle or the mucus of a Hiisi, a Juutas, or an Ogress, is reflected in the character of the snake (11a, b, c, d), and the wolf (10b), to which it gave birth. Rickets or atrophy is born from the blood that dropped from the beak of Hiisi's evil-omened bird the raven (32b), and a snake from the blood that spirted from a distaff, while the Death-god's iron-toothed old wife was spinning (11g). Other examples are the Cow-house Snake (41d), Sharp Frost (49c).
The latter part of the Icelandic legend above, in which the jellyfish owes its origin to the Devil's saliva, belongs to this category. The South Slavonians relate that lice and fleas originated from the white and black scales of a snake which Father Noah threw into the fire to punish it for having taken a bite out of a swallow's tail.[3] The Mongol Diurbiuts say that the Tangnu Uryankaits (a Tartar people) are descended from a stone, because they have no noma books, and call themselves black Uryankai.[4] In other words, they were regarded as blockheads, and it seems uncertain in this instance whether their alleged descent from
