B124. Notch on the foot. .27.28.

Since part of the human foot was torn away, a hollow has formed between the toe and the heel.

Bosnians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Slovaks, Ukrainians (Kherson).

West Africa. Samo [a woman marries a Lion, has a child and a lion cub; her father's other wife comes, the woman hides her; when the Lion goes hunting again, tells her to go along a narrow and dirty path, and not along the wide one leading to the Lion's field; she does everything; the woman's mother comes; does not want to hide; in the morning she goes along the wide path, the Lion kills her; the woman invites her Leo husband to climb into the barn, sets it on fire, runs away with the children; when meeting different animals, the boy sings that his father killed his grandmother; everyone lets him through, the Monkey tries to stop the fugitives, demanding that they leave the child; another Lion (a relative of the murdered one) suspects something is wrong, runs to the Lion's house, finds his burnt bones; the woman manages to run to the village; for almost two years she does not go beyond its borders (acacia bushes); the Lion waits all this time in the form of a stump; when the woman comes out, the Lion rushes to her, runs his paw along her back, since then people have had a dent along their back]: Platiel 1984: 203-215; Fulani [the girl Diko rejects suitors; a snake in human form proposes to her, D. agrees; the younger sister goes with her; hears how the Snake, having come out of the water, sings about how he will eat them; tells his sister to run away; leaves five pebbles in the house to answer for them, they ride on a horse; the Snake pursues; the sister throws a pebble, a mountain appears; the second is a river; they reach the house, the Snake manages to hit his wife on the back; since then people have had a dent on their back]: Anpetkova-Sharova 2010: 115-119.

Balkans. Bosnians [devils stole the sun; one went to have fun at the sea, left a magpie to keep watch; God sent an angel, the magpie called, the devil chased the angel, managed to tear a piece of flesh from his foot; God cursed the magpie, and now people have a notch on their feet]: Marcović 1893: 483 in Johns 2005: 266; Serbs [God created the sheep, the Devil the goat; God the ox, the Devil the horse, God the dog, the Devil the wolf, and so on with all living things; God created an angel in his own image, and the Devil molded a creature similar to the angel out of earth and water, but was unable to bring it to life; he began to blow into it, the air burst out, forming an anus; the water that flowed down made a furrow in the earth, it became a snake; the Devil could not bring a man to life, God put a soul into him; they agreed that the living would belong to God and the dead to the Devil; all the dead began to go to hell; God heard their groans; began to send different animals to serve the Devil to find out how to break the agreement; the Devil sent them away; The bee served not three years, but nine years; The Devil told her that if God gives birth to a son, he will not be bound by the agreement with the Devil; the bee flew to God, the Devil managed to cut it in half, God folded the halves, but all the insects became thin-waisted; Mary became pregnant after smelling the basil given by the angel Gabriel; gave birth to Jesus; hid from Judas in the hay; the ox and sheep covered the baby, and the horse ate almost all the hay, almost revealing the child to Judas; the Virgin Mary cursed the horse, ordering it to be full only once a year on the eve of St. George's Day; when Christ ascended, the Judases began to throw ropes with hooks, tore off a piece of his leg; that is why people have a dent in their feet; the angel opened the door of hell, the souls came out from there, ascended to heaven]: Vukicevic 1915: 109-114; the Serbs [when the devils were thrown down from heaven to earth, they took the sun with them; their king attached it to a spear and carried it with him; the earth began to complain to God: the sun is on it and everything is burning; God sends Archangel Michael to return the sun; M. pretends to be a friend of the devil, offers to test who will dive deeper; dives to the bottom, brings a handful of dirt; when the devil dives, M. freezes the sea six cubits thick, grabs the sun; however, the devil left a magpie as a watchman, she gives voice; the devil broke the ice with a stone and chased after M.; when he is already standing with one foot in heaven, the devil manages to tear a piece of meat from the other; that is why people have a notch in their feet]: Karadzic 1854, no. 18: 136-138 (=Karadzic 1987: 421-422, =Kuznetsova 1998: 70, =Janković 1951: 15-16); Bulgarians[St. George was still living on earth and was a shepherd; strong as a lion; married; his two brothers envied him; there was a well in the ground near the village; at the bottom were two rams and two doors into the world of darkness and into the world of light; whoever fell on the black ram would end up in the world of darkness, and on the white one - in the world of light; when G. was sleeping, his brothers threw him into the well, he fell on the black ram; in the black world, animals, people and the king himself were black; by the stream there was a cannibal lamia; she gave water in exchange for people whom she ate; it was the turn of the king's daughter; G. laid his head on the princess's lap and fell asleep; the lamia appeared, the princess's tear woke him up; G. offered the lamia to eat him, starting from the knee; and killed him, kicking him in the face; Before returning to her father, the princess smeared G.'s clothes with the lamia's blood so that she could identify him later; G. saw a large nest with chicks on a tree; every year a snake ate them; the birds did not know where the chicks disappeared to; G. killed the snake with a large stick; a bird that flew in decided that it was G. who was killing the chicks; but the chicks explained everything; G. asked to be carried out to the ground; the bird ordered to prepare bread, meat and water; when the king recognized G. by the lamia's blood on his clothes, he offered him his daughter, but he asked for bread, meat and water instead; during the flight there was not enough meat and G. cut off a piece from his foot; since then people have had a notch in their feet; on the ground, G. met his brothers, led them into the forest, asked them to help split the tree trunk; when the brothers stuck their hands in the crack, G. let the halves close; since then people's hands are flat, but at first they were like a fist]: Leskien 1916, No. 18: 73-77; Macedonians [St. John learns from the devils that God will not be able to take what belongs to him (i.e. his soul) until he is incarnated on earth; Peter wants to tell God about this, but the Devil is watching Peter; then Peter suggests to the Devil that they dive, who will be the first to bring something from the bottom; when the Devil dives, the sea is covered with ice; Peter runs, the Devil manages to scratch his heels with his claws; God orders that the flesh from the feet be cut off and thrown away, since then people's feet have indentations]: Johns 2005: 267.

Central Europe. Slovaks [drove "some deities" out of heaven; in response, Lucifer impaled the sun on a pike, threatening to burn all people; Archangel Gabriel stole the sun from him and returned it to heaven; trying to catch up with G., L. tore off a piece of flesh from the sole of his foot; that is why people have a notch in the sole of their shoes]: Gašparíková 1993, no. 141: 96; Ukrainians (Kherson, Elizavetinsky districts) [the devil and God were friends; the devil owned thunder, and God owned heaven; in order to take possession of thunder, God began to walk the earth; the devil had no land of his own, only water, he asks to be taught how to get land; God tells him to dive, take some from the bottom of the earth, squeeze it in his hand, and scatter whatever remains, at least under his nails, over the water; The devil left his thunder on the rocks on the shore and dived; God to Archangel Gabriel: hurry up and grab the thunder, it's on our land, and what's meant for our land is ours; G. hid behind a rock; the devil dived, but surfaced and looked to see if anyone had taken the thunder - he didn't; the same thing a second time; the devil decided that God had forgotten about the thunder and dived to the bottom; G. grabbed the thunder; seeing that the devil was rising to the surface, God froze the sea; the devil broke through the ice with his head only on the third time; he chased after G., already grabbed him by the leg and tore out a piece of flesh - now people have a notch in their feet; God: hit him with thunder; G. broke the devil's wings with thunder, now devils don't fly well; G. gave the thunder to God; then God came down, the devil had already created the earth; God wet his finger, splashed water behind him, a man appeared; the devil tried it too, but his man doesn't speak or walk, but is covered with hard skin; then he spat on him; God: turn him inside out; the devil turned him inside out, the drool and snot remained inside, and that skin was only on the tips of the fingers, these are nails; God returned to heaven, and the devil made people; he is envious that he has a lot of people, but they are all on earth, and God has few, but in heaven; the devil decided to take possession of heaven himself, and overthrow God from there; God to the archangel who holds the sky in his hands: shake it; the devils fell, where someone fell, there he remained; now you can't build a hut everywhere; if you build it on the devil's place, you will work all your life; then God came to the devil again, he is building something, one hut is very big - hell; the devil then had a receipt: after death all people are his; Christ tore up this receipt when he went to hell; God to the devil: show me how to sit in that hell; the devil climbed in, closed the doors; God: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! the exits were completely closed; but one hand of the devil remained free; he asks the other devils to rescue him, otherwise he will perish; the eldest one approached, and the one sitting in hell threw him against the rock; therefore now the eldest devil is crooked, and the first one still sits, cannot get out; on this the friendship of God with the devil ended]: Yastrebov 1894, No. 1: 119-121.