D4a1. Fire luring. .19.48.-.50.52.55.-.57.59.63.74.
A certain character possesses or steals fire. His attention is attracted or distracted by singing, music, dancing, unusual gifts, obscene or strange behavior, offers of sex, food and/or alcohol.
Loyalty Islands, Sinkiong, Kato, Yuki, Coastal Yuki, Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mazatec, Chatino, Kamsa, Sanema, Yanomami, Yanomami.
Melanesia. Loyalty Islands (Lifu) [a widow and her daughter lived at a distance from the village; they did not know how to make fire by friction; one day the fire went out; the girl climbed a tree and saw smoke to the south; the women of Lifu are proud of their long emou (a tuft of hair that is not cut); the girl's reached the ground; on the way back the children cut her emou and blood flowed from it; to punish the offenders, the mother caught one of the sisi birds, which are the first to sing at dawn, tied its beak; she came to those children, covered the bird with a mat, it became dark; the chief from Uvea offered flying fox wool as ransom, the chief from Gaica - a bunch of cowries, the chief from Ukenzo - a string of jasper beads, the chief from Mu - bracelets made of conus shells; the girl refused them all, she only wanted her emou; a man on the way caught a red bird and fished a red calabash out of the sea; his little son began to play with them in front of the girl; she asked him to give them to her and allowed her mother to release the bird sissy; day came again]: Hadfield 1920, No. 32: 304-309.
California. Spider keeps fire; to get it, animal-men dance obscenely before him, making him laugh. Sinkyon [child cries, says he is afraid of fire ; animal-men learn that Spider keeps fire in his body; they try to make him laugh; Skunk dances with his tail in the air; everyone, including Spider, laughs; people are ready to set fire to the resin; eel-tail sets fire first; runners carry off the fire; Vulture flies zigzagging over dry grass]: Kroeber 1919, no. 4: 347; kato [orphan notices fire in the distance; chief sends runners to fetch it; Spider has clasped the fire in both hands; he begins to laugh when Coyote, dancing before him, licks his genitals; Hummingbird seizes and carries away fire]: Goddard 1909, no. 5: 195-197; yuki : Curtis 1976(14) [beginning as in Kroeber; Mouse and Skunk dance, dragging their guts on the floor; Spider laughed, the fire blazed, Dove stuck a stick in the fire, set the grass on fire, they all ran away; Spider could not pursue them over the burning grass]: 170; Kroeber 1932b [people live in the dark, eat meat raw; Spider controls fire by sitting on it; people chase an orphan Rabbit out into the street; he notices the reflection of the fire; Coyote leads his people to Spider; they dance to make him laugh; Mouse scratches his butt; The Spider laughs, rises, The Dove thrusts a rotten piece of wood under him, carries away the fire, sets fire to the vegetation; The Spider burns in the world fire; the people save themselves in the lake; many are scorched; since then the Woodpecker has a red head, the Coyote has yellowish fur, etc.]: 918-919; coastal Yuki [a small Salamander cries, his parents throw him out of the house; Coyote discerns in his cry the words, The fire is there on the other side ; the people come to the Spider, who hides the fire in his body; everyone dances, moves funny; finally, Coyote does something very funny; The Spider laughs, fire falls out of his mouth, Coyote seizes the fire; thus the people find fire; the parents take the child back]: Gifford 1937, No. 8: 121.
Great Basin. See motif D4A. As in Southeastern U.S.; kidnapper Coyote if not otherwise. Northern Paiute ; Northern and Western Shoshone ; Gosiute ; Uintah Ute ; Southern Ute [Hummingbird for Coyote].
Great Southwest. Western Apache : Goddard 1918 [Martens win fire; invited to dance; Coyote steals fire]: 41-43; Russell 1898 [Fox invites Fireflies to dance, steals their fire]: 261-262; Chiricahua [Coyote alone has tobacco; people promise him a wife in return; dress man up as a woman; Coyote discovers wife has penis; tobacco is not given back to him]: Opler 1942, no. 41: 61-62.
Mesoamerica. Mazatec (Ohitek) [a woman-cannibal had a fire; all the animals came to her for a feast, only the rabbit refused; the moon was more stupid than the sun and was eaten at the feast; a dog stole the bones and gave them to the sun; the head of the moon was in a pot; the animals tried to make the woman dance, but she did not want to, afraid that the moon would be stolen from her; but the opossum amused her so much that she began to dance and the dog carried off the pot with the moon; and the opossum ran to the fire and carried off the fire on his tail; since then his tail is bald; the moon and the sun are brothers; the sun revived the moon, but a piece of the bone disappeared, therefore the moon is pale; before the moon was brighter than the sun, but now the sun has become brighter; the cannibal pursues the sun to take the moon; sometimes it catches, but the sun gradually creeps away from it]: Portal 1986: 56-57: 56-57; chatino [the hero waits until the owners of the fire get drunk at the party]: Bartolomé 1979, no. 14.3: 28.
Northern Andes. Kamsa [a Weasel woman dances before a male fire owner, then steals the fire]: McDowell 1989: 108-109.
Llanos. Sicuani [Caiman swallowed fire; Tsamani sent rain, one boy turned into a frog, began to sing with other frogs; Caiman approached, was killed with harpoons, fire was taken from his belly]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1992, No. 51: 228.
Southern Venezuela. An ugly dance involving baring the bottom and throwing excrement in front of a Caiman to make it laugh and spit fire. Sanema : Barandiaran 1968 [the Ibarame caiman has fire in its mouth, the people eat its meat raw; a boy finds a charred leaf in I.'s cave; the boy's father throws a feast; a Tinamou hen, then a Dog, defecate on the dancers, everyone laughs except I.; a fire-red bird defecates in I.'s mouth; he laughs, spitting fire from his mouth; his tongue is burnt, now the caimans have no tongue; a black and white bird carries off the spoils in its beak, hides it in a tree; I.'s wife tries in vain to flood the tree with urine]: 4-7; Wilbert, Simoneau 1990, #49 [(reprinted from Colchester 1981: 75-78); people eat raw caterpillars, only Caiman roasts them; people dance funny in front of him; Anteater is the classification mother of a small boy (he is a Bat); the boy complains that his hammock is smoky; he climbs up to Anteater; she tells him to lie down with his jack, he says that there are ants at his end; he copulates with her; they are invited to dance; his large penis causes general laughter, but Caiman is silent; he laughs when Thrush defecates in the faces of those present; Nuthatch grabs the fire, Caiman's wife Frog tries to put out the fire with urine; Oropendola manages to carry him into the trees; Caiman tells the bird-people that they will be boiled over a fire], 55 and 59 [approximately as in Barandiaran]: 111-115, 126-127, 132-133; Yanomami [only Caiman and his wife Frog control fire; they roast caterpillars, while others are given raw ones to eat; the bird-people find the roasted ones under Caiman's hammock; they paint themselves, dance in front of Caiman; he laughs when Wren lifts his backside up and swings; hot coals pour out of Caiman's mouth; Frog pours urine on them, but the Oropendolas manage to place the coals in the trees]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1990, no. 50: 116-119; Yanomami : Wilbert, Simoneau 1990, no. 51 [people eat raw caterpillars, the caiman Ivariwö secretly roasts one; an old woman finds a roasted caterpillar under I.'s hammock; people try in vain to make him laugh; Tohomamorivö defecates on those around him; I. laughs, fire falls out of his mouth; his wife Preyoma tries to put out the fire with her urine, but the bird Kanapororrivö manages to put it in a tree; I. predicts that husbands will punish their wives by burning them; the dead will also be burned; I. and P. turn into a caiman and a frog], 52-53 [as in (51), less details], 56-57 [as in (51); a thrush defecates in the mouth of the caiman]: 120-124, 130-133.
Central Amazonia. (Exact place of recording unknown.) [The frog girls make Cayman drunk; in order to extract fire from his body, Cayman is killed]: Amorim 1928: 371-373 in Zeller 1983: 35-36.