B27A. Transformation into thunder and lightning. .40.48.66.67.

The characters ponder what they would best transform into and decide to become thunder and/or lightning.

Caribou [thunder and lightning], Netsilik [thunder and lightning], Igloolik [thunder], Baffin Island [lightning], Polar [thunder and lightning], Mountain Miwok [thunder], Harakmbet [thunder and sky spirits], Surui [thunder and lightning].

Arctic. Caribou [brother and sister steal caribou skin and tinderbox; fear punishment; reject transformation into caribou, wolves, foxes, and other animals because humans would kill them; transform into thunder and lightning; one rattles dry skin, the other strikes sparks with tinderbox]: Rasmussen 1930b: 80; Netsilik [brother and sister are poor orphans; find tinderbox and piece of caribou skin on garbage heap; sister suggests what they should transform into, brother rejects options; caribou: they will gore us; seals: they will tear us apart; thus reject all animals, decide to become Thunder and Lightning; sister produces lightning with tinderbox, brother thunders by drumming on skin]: Rasmussen 1931: 277-379; Igloolik (Fox Bay) [two girls stay up late; their father scolds them, they run away from the village; the younger suggests turning into bears, caribou, walruses; the older one disagrees; they turn into thunder; now they are always full, they easily kill caribou with lightning]: Rasmussen 1930a: 261-263; Baffin Island [two sisters, Kwitu and Kadlu , play noisily in the evening; their parents tell them to go away; Kv. suggests playing caribou, whales, agdlaq , polar bears, beluga whales; the sister always answers that people will catch them; the girls decide to become lightning; the rain is their urine]: Boas 1901b, no. 11: 175; Polar Eskimo [two variations: a girl and her younger brother play noisily; The stepfather sends them away to play; they find a tinderbox and a piece of caribou skin; the boy wants to go back, the girl reminds him of the stepfather's words; the boy offers to become a seal, a walrus, a beluga whale, a bear, a caribou, a musk ox, a hare, a fox, a bearded seal; he cannot do this; he offers to become thunder; the girl turns into lightning, the boy into thunder; they pee, rising to the sky, this causes a downpour; their mother calls her son to suck milk, but it is too late]: Holtved 1951, No. 5: 40-50.

California. Southern Mountain Miwok [stone giant kills people, leaves two brothers orphaned; debate what to become; younger tells them to gather feathers, they apply them to their bodies, become birds; older refuses to become waterfowl; then become Thunders; fly through hole in sky to other side of sky in summer; return in winter, produce rain and thunder]: Merriam 1993: 173-178.

Montaña – Jurua. Harakmbet [see motif J16; the jaguars kill a woman, her son Marinke kills almost all the jaguars, but one escapes and there are many jaguars again; the people are afraid, wondering what to do; Turn into a tree? – They will cut him down; Hide underground? – They will trample him; Hide in the rocks or the river? – They will find him ; the boy suggests going up to the sky; everyone is happy and tramples him in a hurry, he turns into tobacco; the sky sinks lower, M. and the people climb up there; M. throws an axe to the old woman, but hits her, she turns into a curasso bird, sings before a storm; M. is Thunder, wielding his club in the sky; those who find themselves in the sky are the kurudneri spirits , descending to people during rituals]: Gray 1996: 118-128.

Bolivia – Guaporé. Surui [the spirit of the moradei tree smears an unsuccessful hunter with tree sap, making him lucky; orders him to bring his wife in the morning; the spirits smear her too, copulate with her; the husband and wife bring many killed monkeys to the village; the wife violates the prohibition to talk about what happened, and when the husband falls asleep, he puts his foot on the coals and his foot burns off; he eats all the meat they brought (it is just roasting); thinks about what to turn into to frighten people; 1) into a bird, foreshadowing war; 2) into another such bird; 3) into an arrowhead; 4) becomes lightning and thunder]: Mindlin 1995, no. 3: 10-13.