H44A. Heaven and Earth divide the children. .13.20.21.23.25.

Two characters, one connected with the sky or water, and the other with the earth or with the world of spirits and the world of people, share the child they have born or the people they have created. Usually the sky (Water, spirit) takes the incorruptible part, the Earth (man) – the corruptible.

Malgash, Cook Islands (Southern?), Limbu, Ancient India, Maldives, Igorot (Nabaloi, Kankanaey), Ifugao, Saisya.

Sudan - East Africa. Malagasy (Betsimisaraka): Abrahamsson 1951: 115-116 [earth-Ratany made a human figure out of wood, asked heaven-Ralanitra to bring it to life; after a while R. sent the son of the gods for the man; B. agreed to give only the soul, and let the body remain with the earth], 116 [1) the first couple made human figures out of wood and clay; the son of Zanahary agreed to bring them to life, but received no payment; therefore he takes the soul, and the ashes remain; 2) the daughter of the heavenly Zanahary married the earthly Z. (the first man); they made human figures; the wife breathed a soul into them; the spouses divorced, each took his own; 3) the six Zanahary created the sky so that there would be a place to live; the first three also created the earth so that they could walk; one of them, Ratsivalanorama, was sent to live on the earth, but he decided to live in the depths of the earth; created a man and a woman from clay, could not bring them to life; the heavenly Z. visited him, he asked to bring the figures to life; they agreed, asked him to also make birds and animals; they dropped a grain of rice, rice was only in heaven, R. now grew it on earth for people; envious, the heavenly Z. sent misfortunes and death to earth; R. told people that he would keep at least what he had made - bodies], 116-117 (prov. Vohémar) [the earthly Zanahary made figures of people and animals from clay; the heavenly Z. made the sun, received animals and birds in exchange; but he wanted women, in payment for them he brought the figures to life; but the earthly one also demanded people's ability to reproduce; the earthly and heavenly quarreled, the heavenly one tries to harm, to take life]; Malagasy (Betsileo) [Andriamanitra created flesh and form, Andriananahary – bones and blood, Ingahina – breathed life into the first human couple; people were told to call upon all three gods for help, but they forgot about I., who began to take away his gift – life]: Abrahamsson 1951: 117; Malagasy (Antanala) [the first man Raondiana made figures from wood and clay, Zanajanahary breathed life into them; they quarreled over who owned the creation, Z. began to take away his gift]: Abrahamsson 1951: 117; Malagasy (Antaimoro): Abrahamsson 1951: 117-118 [the son of heavenly Zanahary came to earth, where Matiaho and Irira made human figures; promised to revive them if he received half; went to heaven to his father for blood and life, revived; people began to reproduce themselves; Z.'s son came for his share, but M. asked him to wait, since I. had gone somewhere; the next time both disappeared; Z. advised his son to take his gift], 118 [the lord of the earth Rahorohoro made figures of people; the daughter of the god of the sky put blood and life into them; asked R. to allow her to taste a person, R. refused; began to kill people, taking the soul and giving R. the body]; Malagasy(Bara) [1) God intercourse with the Earth, they have a child; God refused to perform a legal marriage ceremony, so the Earth kept the child; they fought, God threw stones at the Earth, the Earth settled, the child died; God gave the Earth the body, took the soul for himself; 2) God and the Earth got married; they decided to divide the rights to the inhabitants of the earth, God takes the breath, the Earth takes the bodies; 3) Ndriyanakatakati revived a man on the condition that he would receive a gift from Ikutuvului, who owned the man; he did not pay, so N. began to take the soul, and I. the body]: Abrahamsson 1951: 118; Malagasy (Sakalava) [Zanahart created an empty earth, returned to heaven; Ratovoantany came out of the earth, molded figures of people and animals from clay; Z. agreed to revive them, but wanted to take them to heaven; made a bet with R., agreed that he would take souls, and R. would leave the bodies; man dies like a tree, for he is made of wood]: Abrahamsson 1951: 118-119; Malagasy (Sihanaka) [the first man and woman on earth made a boy and a girl out of clay; the woman could not bring them to life, asked Zanahary; he brought them to life, the children grew up, got married; Z. came for a reward, the old couple did not give it, he killed them; the same with the young ones; since then he has been killing people]: Abrahamsson 1951: 119; Malagasy [The Earth was the daughter of God; while playing, she made human figurines out of clay, God brought them to life; people multiplied, the Earth prospered; God, out of envy, demanded half of the people for himself, the Earth refused; then God began to take their breath]: Parrinder 1967: 59; malgash [Zatuvu, who had only half a body (vertically) was not created by Zanahari, but grew out of the ground like a plant; he had zebu and rams that did not eat Zanahari's grass; Zatuvu lit a fire, Zanahari sent an ambassador to find out what was going on, got angry, doused the fire with rain; this is how seas and lakes appeared; Zanahari created a mountain, sat out the rest in a cave; Zanahari tells Zatuvu to determine who is a cow, who is a heifer (the mother moos), where the bottom of a stick is (he threw it, it stuck in with the bottom end); Zanahari's daughter went for water, saw Zatuvu's reflection, decided that it was her own, was upset; the next time Zatuvu became a fat man, took Zanahari's daughter as a wife; made clay figurines of people and animals, could not revive them; Zanahari revived them, people ate everything, famine came; Zatuwu acknowledged the superiority of Zanahari, who sent rain and rice; made women give birth; allowed Zatuwu to take the bodies of the dead, hide them in the ground from which he himself had grown]: Korneev 1962: 70-74.

Micronesia – Polynesia. Cook Islands (southern?) [Vatea and Tonga-iti (var. Tangaroa) both claimed to be the father of the first child born of Earth-Papa; they cut it up; Vatea took the upper half, threw it into the sky, it became the sun; Tonga-iti received the lower half, it remained on the earth; later, imitating Vatea, he also threw it into the sky; this half had already partly decomposed, the blood had flowed out of it, so that what was thrown became the pale moon]: Dixon 1916: 37.

Tibet - Northeast India. Limbu [The first man was a woman Mujingna Kheyangna; she became pregnant from the wind; her son Susuwenglalaweng became a good hunter; from two women he had a boy Sutchoro Suhampheba and a girl Tetlara Lahadongna; the women knew about each other's existence and out of jealousy stopped cooking for her husband; he died of hunger while hunting; his mother threw herself off a cliff out of grief; blood brother and sister did not know about each other; having met, they began to live as husband and wife, gave birth to 17 children; having learned of the depravity of their relationship, they decided to separate, dividing the children; in order to determine which of the children would go with whom, they began to sift them through a wicker basket-sieve; 8 fell to the ground and went with the mother, and 8 remained in the basket-sieve and went with the father; one daughter got stuck in a cell, her parents pulled her back and forth and tore off her arms and legs; falling to the ground, they turned into evil spirits; Sutchoro Sukhampheba with his part of the children rose to the upper world, taking the name Sodhunggen Lepmuhanga; the children who went with him became shamans; those who remained with their mother on earth – the founders of the Limbu clans]: Streltsova 2023: 49, 51-52.

South Asia. Ancient India (Rigveda) [having given birth to seven children, Aditi then gave birth to another, or rather twin boys; while still in the womb, the twin promised to take the kingdom away from the brothers; they succeeded in having A. abort the child; one of the twins became Indra; the other half was a "dead egg"; on their own initiative or at the request of their mother, the brothers decided to keep it; this is Mārtānda ("from the dead egg"), from which the ancestor of people Vivasvant was born; or the egg was a lump of flesh, which the brothers cut into two halves, living and dead; the version in the Rigveda suggests that the mother left Mārtānda on earth, and she herself ascended to heaven with the divine twin]: {see in RV; retelling in Eijirō Dōyama. How to be a hero in ancient India // IACM 12th ^Annual International Conference, June 1-4, 2018, Tohoku University}; Maldives [a carpenter Don Amahadu met a girl in the forest; she agreed to become his wife on the condition that he would not ask about her origin and would not spy on her as she took fish out of the pond and cooked food in the kitchen; they have three children and have been living together for 12 years; an old friend of DA came and asked to see his wife; he understood everything at once; he gave her a potion to drive out spirits and advised him to spy on his wife; DA saw how she became scary and took out fish with her teeth, and in the kitchen she made a fire under the cauldron, using her feet instead of firewood; the wife admitted that she was a spirit, but did not take revenge on DA, but only divided the children: she took one for herself, gave the other to her husband, and divided the third in half vertically; the portion intended for the husband died immediately, and the portion intended for the wife, as if nothing had happened, went to sea with her mother and sister]: Romero-Frias 2012, no. 57: 212-219.

Taiwan - Philippines. Igorot : Eugenio 1994, no. 14 [Kabunian descended to earth, married Bangan, she gave birth to a son Kabigat, a daughter Daungen and another child; Kabunian returned to heaven taking his son, leaving his wife with a daughter; to divide the third child, he cut it in half; from one part arose a girl Bugan, remained on earth with her mother; from the other, a son Lumawig, ascended to his father], 146 [Dumagid descended to earth, married Dugai, she gave birth to a son Ovug; returning to heaven, he warned that his wife would not be able to accompany him because of the heat; the people told her to go with her husband, she died; then Dumagid went after his son; the people did not let him; Dumagit cut him in half, took half to heaven, revived; the half on earth began to decompose, Dumagid revived it too; the one taken to heaven became Thunder, having a sharp sound, and the second youth became a rolling Thunder]: 48, 260-261; (cf. nabaloi [Kabunian got married; other women tied a goat under the house so that it would decide that his wife smelled bad; K. guessed, went to heaven with his wife; she gave birth; he cannot get over the rock; K. chopped the child in half, turned his half into lightning, his wife's half into thunder; sends Lightning and Thunder to earth to see what people are doing and to scold them]: Moss 1924, no. 6: 237-239; trans. in Rybkin 1975, no. 14: 46; kankanai [A star steals sugar cane, the owner grabs her; she finds the clothes he hid, flies away; one of their children dies, the mother comes down to the other at night; she argues with her husband about who will get him; she divides him in half, takes one to heaven; the father cannot revive his own, the mother does it herself, tells him to answer the call of the other half, but his body has already decomposed, so the voice is weak; these two halves are the greater and lesser thunder]: Moss 1920: 382 in Lessa 1961: 153-154; (cf. Kankanaey [Lumawig married an earthly girl; her sisters, out of jealousy, put garlic under their bed; L. returned to heaven, taking his son's head, making a body for it; the son became Thunder; he attached a head to the remaining body, this became the Lightning woman, she married Thunder]: Eugenio 1994, no. 148: 262); Ifugao[Bugan, the daughter of the supreme deity, consistently refuses to marry the inhabitants of various tiers of heaven, including Lightning; descends to earth, marries a poor young man, gives birth to a son; people envy her, she decides to return to heaven, but her husband cannot follow her; she cuts up their son, takes half with her, revives him in the form of a new boy; what was left on earth begins to decompose, since the husband is unable to revive it; she turns a rotting head into an owl, the ears into a tree mushroom, the nose into the shell of a tree snail, some of the excrement into the beak of the ido bird, the tongue into a typun on people's tongues, the heart into a rainbow, the chest bones into a poisonous snake, the fingers into long shells, the hair into worms and larvae, the skin into a red bird, the blood into small bats, the liver into a chest disease, the intestines into animals like hares or rats, the bones of the hands into rotten branches falling on passers-by]: Eugenio 1994, no. 10: 33-37; saysya [the water woman Kateteru teaches people weaving; marries a man, gives birth to a son, decides to return; they agree to share the child, throw the head into the water, the body remains with the husband; 6 days later K. returns to show their living son, and the body left on the ground has decomposed]: Macdonald 2005: 91.