A2a1. The moon shone like the sun.

.14.19.21.23.-.26.28.29.32.37.55.56.67.

At first the moon was as bright and hot as the sun.

Berbers of Morocco, San Cristobal, Karen, Drung, Lepcha, Minyong, Lhoba, Pasi, Barela-Bhilala, Kelabit, Solor and Alor, Atayal, Tsou, Paiwan, Saysya, Bunun, Kanabu, Yao, Russians (Smolensk, Gzhatsk district), Belarusians (Smolensk), Tabasarans, Bashkirs, Udege, Yupa, Kuiva, Sikuani, Eseeha.

North Africa. Berbers of Morocco (Nador) [first God made two suns, they began to argue about which of them was stronger; God ordered Gabriel to cover one sun with his wings, it became the moon; the trace left by Gabriel's wings is visible on the moon]: Thay Thay 2001, no. 2: 8.

Melanesia. San Cristobal [The Moon was an enemy of men, it shone like the Sun, the earth was unbearably hot; the Sun gnawed the trees with its teeth, made a bridge across the sea, invited the Moon to cross it; the bridge fell apart, the Moon fell into the water, became cold; there was much water, many trees, night appeared]: Fox 1924: 338.

Tibet - Northeast India. Karen [the supreme god created a male being Tha-lu to rule the sky, and a female Tha-lu to rule the earth; the earth was at first the size of a spindle whorl; by means of an earthworm it grew; at first the earth was covered with water; God compressed it with iron and silk, the water came down, forming rivers; a spider in the sky could descend to the earth and rise back; God created two suns, a man and a woman; they lived in a closed palace, they were not visible; a pangolin gnawed a hole, losing all its teeth; both suns came out, it became unbearably hot; God permitted man to kill one sun; he struck it with an arrow from a bow and arrow, and it became the moon]: Mason 1865: 175; Drung (Yunnan) [there were two suns, a husband and a wife; children die from the heat, plants wither; The hunter climbed the mountain, shot down the sun-man with a bow, the sun-woman hid in horror; 9 days of darkness, everyone is afraid of monsters and spirits; on the tenth morning it dawned a little; the rooster began to crow, "Miss, Sun, give me my earrings"; a green earring fell from the sky; the rooster promised to crow three times in the morning, after that the sun should come out; the sun-woman came out; and the sun-man became the moon, since then they come out in turns; after death, the hunter found himself on the moon, his shadow is visible there]: Miller 1994: 61-62; Lepcha [two Sun-brothers rose in turns, the heat was unbearable; Toad (edible species) volunteered to kill the Sun, made an arrow from a cockscomb (Celosia L. , amaranth), killed the elder brother with it; the younger covered himself with a black blanket, it became dark; black pestles turned into snakes, wooden mortars into tigers; fireflies and a tree with white undersides tried to light the world, it turned them inside out; but it was not enough; half of the people died from snakes and tigers; people and animals unsuccessfully asked the Sun to return; only when the Bat, hanging himself from the ends of a bow by his legs and nose, shouted through his nose that the world would perish from the cold, the Sun looked out, because no one had ever spoken to him through his nose; seeing the Bat, he smiled; it immediately became hot and the Bat fell, breaking his bones; that is why his legs are neither like a bird's nor an animal's, and his nose is turned inside out; They decided to punish the Toad, otherwise the Sun would not shine; they cut off his limbs, placed him in a cold place; the killed Sun became the Moon; in the seventh, eighth and ninth months the current Sun sets earlier, says that he is tired; but in fact the red cockscomb at this time grows to its full height and the Sun fears being shot]: Stocks 1925 in Yamada 2009a: 34-36 (very briefly in Elwin 1949: 54); minyong: Elwin 1958a, no. 13 [two Sun brothers shone in turns for 12 hours a day; a frog shot one with an arrow, his light went out, he became the Moon, the fragments from the impact became stars; out of revenge, both brothers send their arrows to the earth, bringing death to the children of people; a frog hides from the Sun in the water], 14 [Kayum-Sedi-Sedi-Irkong-Komi-Manne died, his body decomposed, but his eyes remained; Sedi-Digir-Irkong-Komong-Yongmo threw them into the sky, they became two suns, scorched the earth; the Wiyus (gods, ancestors) gathered, decided to destroy one sun; the rainbow maker Silling-Pai struck him with a poisoned arrow; his light went out, he became the month Pollo; Silling-Pai was afraid of what he had done, hid in the Siang River, became a frog; his bow and arrows the master of the waters gave to the insect Go-Eng; he shoots at people when they begin to clear the forest for crops, at this time people get sick]: 47, 47-48; lhoba [there were two brother suns; the younger one scorched the entire earth, people could not stand the heat; the gods, led by Anya (the second most important deity after the supreme Ennidai), sent gifts to the elder sun (a pig, a chicken, birds) and complained about the younger one; the elder threw him into a pond, the younger one turned into the moon]: Riftin MS; pasi [there were two Suns; to reduce the heat, the god shot an arrow at one, its light faded, it became the Moon; the remaining Sun hid underground, it became dark; agreed to return if they gave it the daughter of the gods to eat; the Bat explained to the people that the Sun did not demand the daughter of the gods, but the daughter of people; they gave him a girl, it ate her, it shone; thus people became mortal]: Elwin 1958a, no. 22: 53-54 (=Elwin 1958b: 57-58).

South Asia. Barela-bhilala [in the east, the women Kassi raiya and Bari raiya are barren; a sadhu tells them to swallow bubbles from a spring, they conceived the Sun and Moon; at first they did not want to give them up, then they agreed, the Sun and Moon rose to the sky; at first they shone equally brightly and hotly (the Moon was even hotter), the earth burned; the Moon struck Bessa in the west, his blood is the red sunset; Bhagwan tells the Moon to be immersed in oil, it became dark, began to shine at night]: Stiglmayr 1970: 156-157.

Malaysia – Indonesia. Kelabit [two suns were shining, the earth was hot; Boune married Da'oune, she was pregnant; various omens indicate that misfortune awaits the spouses; B. lost her child and died from the heat; D. decided to take revenge on the suns; he hit one with a dart from a calabash; he would have shot the other, but his eyes were tired; the suns stopped shining together, the wounded one became the moon]: Villard 2013: 26–34; Solor , Alor , and/or neighboring islands [the moon was brighter and hotter than the sun; a man named Keleramatan first hid from the heat in a calabash, then shot down the hot luminary with an arrow, it became the moon]: Vatter 1932 in Maaβ 1933: 375.

Taiwan – Philippines. Atayal (Maboala) [when one sun was setting in the west, another was rising in the east, the heat was unbearable; three young men were sent to kill one sun; when they got halfway there, they grew old; one returned to ask for help; the other three were sent out, each with a boy on his shoulder; along the way they planted oranges, sowed millet; they found the two old men, who soon died; three of the second group also grew old, died, but the boys grew up, reached sunrise, killed the rising sun with an arrow; the sun's blood flowed onto one, and he died from it; the wounded sun became the moon; the spots on it are the marks of the arrow; the stars were formed from drops of the sun's blood; on the way back, the two heroes ate the fruits they had planted, returned as old men]: Ho 1967, no. 1: 210-211; tsou : Nevsky 1935: 64 [the sky was low, two suns were shining, people were dying from the heat; Oadzymy struck one sun with an arrow; its blood became like a sea, the sky rose, both suns hid; the second sun began to come out, at first briefly, then became as it is now; the wounded sun became the moon; the blackness in its center is the place where the arrow hit], 66 [the moon was close, its light and heat were strong; the oayїmї bird, when he was a man, shot at the moon, it lost its shine; the dark spots are the trace of the wound]; paivan: Egli 1989, No. 6 [two suns were shining alternately, people could not leave their houses because of the heat, they sowed millet only under the canopy of the house; two brothers, the elder Kulele and the younger Pulaluyan, went to the sunrise, shot at the first sun, blinding it in one eye, it became the moon, night appeared; the brothers did not return home, but after death they turned into two mountains in the middle of the plain], 17 [two suns were shining alternately, people could not leave their houses because of the heat; two brothers Kulele and Pulaluyan went to the sunrise to the sea, one threw a spear, the other shot out the sun's eye with an arrow, this sun became the moon, night appeared; the Sun is the elder sister, the Moon is the younger brother]: 32-33, 43; Ho 1967, No. 8 [the sky was low, the two suns were burning unbearably; two women pounding millet on the roof with pestles; pushed the suns with the pestles, one went blind, became the moon; the sky rose up with the other sun]: 215; Whitehorn, Earle 2003, #8 [two women pounding grain on the roof; the sky was low, and the two suns were burning unbearably; the women pushed one sun with a pestle, the sun went blind and became the moon, and the sky moved away from the earth; Kidadaw cried out, the women fled, K. caught one and carried her home, setting her on a whetstone, which he placed on his shoulder; woman: I am afraid of your needles; but K. brought her home and made her his wife; one day she went to do the washing, caught some fish, cooked it at home, after which she got a stomach ache; she asked K. to go with her - she needed to relieve herself; when he got tired of going with her, she ordered the shit to answer for her, ran away; when K. heard the vague, "Ah," for the third time, he went and saw only shit; he hit a stone with his erect penis and thus struck fire]; sai sya (Sairaks) [two suns shone alternately, it was hot, people covered themselves with goatskins, but they quickly burned up; the youth Tarotahorai went to kill the sun, planting oranges and bamboo along the way; killed one sun at sunrise, it became the moon]: Ho 1967, no. 3: 212; bunun (Ivaho) [when one sun was setting, the other was rising, a child died of the heat; his father went to kill the sun, having stuck four millet grains under his fingernails; knocked out the sun's eye with an arrow, this sun became the moon]: Ho 1967, no. 4: 212-213; bunun [two suns shone, a child died of the heat; a father and his eldest son went to shoot the sun; but the sun always rose from the wrong side; finally, when it rose there, they shot it in the eye with an arrow; the wounded sun is the present moon; once a month we honor the moon so that it will not start emitting heat again; the one who shot the sun with an arrow was still a teenager, and came home a gray-haired old man]: Yin Jian-Zhong 1994 in Shih Jian Shen 2024; kanab[the combination of this legend (motif A26: about a girl who caught a piece of wood in the river and gave birth to a hairy man in the morning) with the tale of a campaign against two suns, recorded among the small tribe of Kanabu, which the Japanese classify as belonging to the Tsou tribe, although both the language and customs of the two tribes differ greatly from each other is interesting; in this legend, the hero Napaarama, also born from a girl who caught a piece of wood, when he grew up, sets out on a campaign against two suns, which caused much suffering to the human race, and succeeds in this, killing one of the luminaries, which then becomes the moon]: Nevsky 1935: 71.

China – Korea. Yao [a hot octagonal moon like the sun appeared in the sky; crops perished from the heat; Nie, Yala’s wife, gave him her hair to make a trap; Ya caught a tiger and a deer, ate their meat and became strong, knocked off the corners of the moon with arrows, the fragments became stars; N. embroidered a blanket with an image of a cinnamon tree, lambs, a hare, and herself; Ya launched it at the moon, moderating the heat; N. took off, merged with her image; N. rose to her]: Riftin 1993: 317-320.

Central Europe. Russians (Smolensk, Gzhatsk district) [The Lord God began to create the earth, and all was well, and there was earth, and water, and all kinds of blessings. God sits and admires his creation (so!), so he became joyful and happy, and his soul was light. His adversary, the poor Satan, was writhing in agony, from anger, it seems, that God was creating this creation. This devil-Satan writhed, writhed, sat down and thought. And in his soul he was wondering how to crush God's creation. One day he sits and thinks, and another day he sits and thinks, the third day came, also sitting and thinking. And he came to his senses on the fourth day, and as soon as he came to his senses, he jumped up and ran away God knows where. And the Lord God at that time wanted to rest from his labors, and he fell into a deep sleep and slept for three days, three nights, exactly three days. He woke up, and lo and behold, there was a red circle in the sky, and it was shining and warming, wasn’t it? “Oh, but the devil is no fool,” he says, “he’s arranged something important, this sun.” And from that time on, the grass began to grow, and trees, and bushes, and all sorts of reptiles and creatures, clean and unclean, visible and invisible. The selfless Satan (sic!) became even more angry. He thought, therefore, that he would burn the earth with the sun, but instead, look, he helped God. “Wait,” he says, “I’ll arrange for you (for God) a Vantilon (sic!) feast, you’ll remember what my name is,” and he ran off again God knows where. And the Lord God at that time again fell into a deep sleep and slept for three days, three nights, exactly three days, and woke up on the fourth day. "And what is this," he thought, "this heat?" Look, and his opponent, opposite the first sun, produced another one and began to fry the earth on both sides. God saw that things were bad. All the grass was burnt out, and the water began to dry up. And he began to flood this other sun with water: he poured and poured and finally flooded it. And although he flooded it, it soon caught fire again, and again God extinguished it. And since then, every month God pours water on this sun, the moon, so that it does not catch fire and knock down our universal earth]: Ivanovsky 1891b: 239-240 (=Belova, Kabakova 2014, No. 77: 78-79); Belarusians (Smolensk province) [God became angry with one of the two Suns, sent a snake, which sucked it out, and it became the Moon]: Dobrovolsky 1891, No. 13: 235.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Tabasarans [in the beginning there were two suns, eternal summer, everything bloomed, but people worked without rest, died early from diseases; Umchar turned one sun into the moon, night and day began to alternate, people began to revere Umchar]: Khalidova 2012, No. 12: 40.

Volga – Perm. Bashkirs [two suns shone, when one set, the other rose; people suffered from the light; a bai promised a daughter to the one who would hit one of the suns; Ural-batyr split one sun with an arrow; from one part the moon was formed, the other fell, turned into the treasure-rich Ural-tau mountains; when the arrow hit the target, the people cried out, Ai ; this is what the moon is now called]: Barag 1987, No. 2: 31.

Amur – Sakhalin. Udege : Lebedeva et al. 1998, no. 5 [two suns were shining too hot; the hunter Egdyga hit one with an arrow, it became the moon]: 81; Podmaskin 1991, no. 2 [the sky was low, two suns were shining, it was very hot; a strong man shot one with a bow, it became the moon], 3 [two suns were shining, it was very hot; the man Gangta had a son Namika , he grew up, killed the second sun, hitting it with the thirty-third arrow; the moon appeared in place of the dead one; the sky rose; people multiplied; the flood began; only N. and her sister were saved on the mountain; N. agreed to take his sister as his wife if she could hit the needle’s eye with the thread seven times while throwing the needle; the sister hit the mark; they gave birth to the ancestors of the twelve Udege clans]: 118.

Northern Andes. Yupa [there were two Suns, when one set, the other rose; a Kopecho woman invited one of them to a festival, began to entice him with her dance in front of a pit with hot coals; the Sun fell into the pit, his body turned white, his eyes became like hot coals; he climbed out, threw K. into the water, she became a frog; he himself rose to the sky, losing his brightness and becoming the Moon; the Sun and the Moon are brothers; the Stars are the people of the Sun, they do not like the Moon, because he refused to give the Star one of his many daughters as a wife; every month the Stars attack him, the Moon becomes small; the son of the Moon is a star that is not visible; the daughters of the Moon are also not visible, they are always at home; the Milky Way is the road of the Sun and the Moon]: Wilbert 1974a, no. 2: 76-77.

Llanos. Cuiva [The Sun and his wife the Moon lived on earth; the Moon ate the brains of her nephews (or daughters-in-law); two boys and two girls died in this way; the Morning Star wove a fish trap (like a basket), invited the son and daughter of the Sun to climb into it; {they call him "uncle", apparently he is the brother of the Sun or the Moon}; they were thrown into the river, they turned into the mythical caiman mereika; first the Moon, then the Sun rose to the sky; at first both are equally hot, people sit in the water, on the ground there is unbearable heat ; the Sun invited the Moon to moderate the heat, so that there would be night; people were at first afraid; one dawn bird sang, another, finally dawn broke; at first people slept with their wives {in daylight}, now they are ashamed]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1991b, no. 3: 24-26; Sicuani : Wilbert, Simoneau 1992, #1 [The Sun is married to the Moon; they live on earth with their children; every time the Sun goes hunting, he takes his wife's brother or sister with him, kills them, brings the meat back in a basket and eats it at home with the Moon; the only brother left is the wife's brother; he knows what to expect from the Sun, so he took a spear with him; the Sun told him to climb a tree, became a jaguar; the young man thrust the spear into his belly, came home, told his sister that her husband had climbed into the sky; the Sun brought two capybaras, said that he had run into a branch, they were cooked, the Sun and the Moon and their children ate them, and the Moon's parents were not given a cape; one of their sons, the Morning Star, has boils on his body; the parents decided to leave secretly; the boy stayed with the Moon's parents and his uncle (the one who had wounded the Sun); the uncle carried him because the boy had difficulty walking; but at night he becomes a jaguar to protect his uncle; they came to their parents; the Moon is at home, she hid her brother; the Sun with his other children returned from hunting; they became jaguars, the Morning Star too; he turned out to be stronger than the others, they again took human form; they were invited to drink guarapo in the village where the Moon's parents were, having mixed fish poison into it; but it does not work on the Sun and Moon; then they tied them to a tree and began to burn them at the stake; also does not work: the Sun only turned red, and the Moon's belly was burned, now these are spots on the lunar disk; the Moon threw herself into the water and cooled down, therefore does not give off heat; holding hands, the Sun and the Moon rose to the sky; the Moon's parents gave wives to all her children; the girl destined for the Morning Star rejected her because of his illness; he left, and when he returned, he turned out to be a handsome man; now the girl wants him, but he rejected her, went to heaven, became the Morning Star], 3 [each time Kuliwakua invites her brother's son or daughter to look for them in their head, sucks out the blood, the child dies, K. then digs the corpse out of the grave and eats it; she made necklaces from her nails and teeth; her brother drove her away with her husband, her son stayed with his uncle; while hunting, the uncle sees his nephew temporarily turn into a jaguar to kill a deer; the nephew returns to his cannibal mother; the brother prepares an intoxicating drink with fish poison, calls his sister and her husband; they get drunk, dance, showing off necklaces of teeth and nails; the brother pushed them into the fire; K. jumped into the water, but her husband did not; both rose to heaven, became the Sun and the Moon], 4 [The Sun is married to the Moon, both are cannibals, equally bright; The Sun killed boys in the forest (apparently, the sons of his sister); people poured boiling water on the Sun and the Moon; the wife jumped into the water, so she became dim], 5 [The Sun killed the children of his four sisters; every day he was given a boy or a girl in turn; only the son of the last sister remained; the husbands of the sisters poured boiling water on the Sun and the Moon; the Moon jumped into the water, lost her former heat; both climbed up the rope to the sky]: 25-29, 32-35, 36-37, 37-38.

Montagna – Jurua. Eseeha [at first the moon shone brightly as the sun; one man threw a genipa fruit in its face; spots appeared on it and it faded]: Hissink, Hahn 1988, no. 2: 179.