A. Mythological Motifs
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A625.2.2. Why the sky receded upward: it was struck by a woman's pestle. India: Thompson-Balys.
A625.2.3. Raising the sky: striking with broom. Old woman's hump strikes clouds as she sweeps. She strikes at sky with broom and thus raises it. — India: Thompson-Balys.
A625.2.4. Deity clothes his father the sky after he has separated him from earth. Maori: Clark 16.
A625.2.5. After sky is lifted, plants and shrubs begin to grow. Maori: Clark 15.
A630. Series of creations. The present universe is the last of a succession of creations. — Etruscan: Fox 289. — Navaho: Alexander N. Am. 159ff.; Aztec: Alexander Lat. Am. 91.
A651. Hierarchy of worlds. A1101. The four ages of the world. A1220.1. Man created after series of unsuccessful experiments.
A631. Pre-existing world of gods above. Such a world is assumed before the real creation of the universe. Though this belief is not explicitly set forth in many mythologies, it seems to be implied in most of the North American Indian systems. See, for example, motif A31, Creator's grandmother. — Jewish: *Neuman. — Samoa: Dixon 18f.; Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 45.
A632. Succession of creations and cataclysms. From the ruins of each earlier creation a new one is raised. — Jewish: Neuman. — Inca: Alexander Lat. Am. 240; Hawaiian: Dixon 15 n. 24.
A633. Earlier universe opposite of present. Everything in the earlier world was the reverse of the present world. Cf. A855. — California tribes (Capistrano, Luiseño, Diegueño, Mohave): Waterman AA n. s. XI 52.
A636. New creation shouted away. It is unstable and therefore unsatisfactory. — American Indian: Kroeber JAFL XXI 224, (California): Gayton and Newman 56.
A640. Other means of creating the universe.
A641. Cosmic egg. The universe brought forth from an egg. — Lang Myth. I 252; Dh I 19. — Finnish: Kalevala rune 1; Esthonian: Eisen Estnische Mythologie 170, Loorits Grundzüge I 447f.; Hindu: Keith 74; Society Is., Hawaiian, Maori: Dixon 20; Hawaii: Henry 345. — African: Frobenius Atlantis X 119.
A655. World as egg. A701.1. Origin of sky from egg brought from primeval water. A1222. Mankind originates from eggs.
A641.1. Heaven and earth from egg. They are the two halves of an egg shell. Eros escapes as they are separated. — Greek: Fox 5. — Indonesian: L. d. Backer L'Archipel indien 232.
A641.2. Creation from duck's eggs. Upper vault from half shell, lower vault from half shell, moonbeams from whites, sunshine from yellows, starlight from motley parts, clouds from dark parts. — Finnish: Kalevala rune 1.
A642. Universe from body of slain giant. Ymir. See A621.1. — Icel.: *De la Saussaye 341.
A642.1. Primeval woman cut in pieces: houses, etc., made from her body. India: Thompson-Balys.
