I20c2. Dwarfs in the country on the horizon. .11.13.14.27.29.31.52.55.

The inhabitants of the country on the horizon (where the sky meets the earth) are dwarfs.

Luba, Lamba, Shilluk, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ukrainians (Hutsuls, northern Kyiv), Russians (Arkhangelsk: Shenkursky u.), Ingush, Kumyks, Finns, Estonians, Tarahumara, mountain Totonacs, Mazatecs, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, mestizos Soconusco, Nonama.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Luba [in the evening the sun sinks into the waters of Lake Endelende far to the west; on its shores, in empty termite mounds, live little big-headed men with big beards; they are called Tumandwa twa maseba ("little vanquished ones of the bare plateau")]: Colle 1913: 715; Lamba [where the dome of heaven touches the earth, dwarfs ("little cloud-eaters" cut off pieces of clouds, bring them home, cook them and eat them, this is their main food; or pieces of clouds fall off of their own accord when the clouds rub against the sharp edge of the earth, and the dwarfs pick them up, dry them in the sun, pound them and make porridge]: Doke 1931: 222-223.

Sudan - East Africa. Shilluk [at night the sun passes from west to east along the bed of the Nile; whoever is lucky enough to be there in the morning where it emerges from the waters will see little red people; to secure their favor, it is good to bury beads and a burnt smoking pipe (gebrannter Pfeifenkopf) for them by the river]: Hofmayr 1925: 364.

North Africa. Ancient Egypt [The autobiography of Khufhor (c. 23rd century BC) describes the circumstances of four expeditions to the land of Yam. The main achievement of the fourth expedition was the delivery to the court of a pygmy "for the dances of the god, for the amusement, for the entertainment of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkare." There are textual correspondences between Pepi II's letter to Khufhor and verse 517 of the Pyramid Texts. Since mythological ideas about the structure of the world and its inhabitants could influence the perception and interpretation of real events, persistent descriptions of pygmies as "divine dancers" and references to their origin from the "land of the inhabitants of the horizon" can be considered a reflection of mythological ideas. A few monuments from the late 3rd - early 2nd millennia BC have brought to us the ancient Egyptian perception of "border zones" to which expeditions were sent from time to time to obtain special valuables. Khufhor's delivery of a pygmy from the "country of the horizon dwellers" can be considered the earliest recording of the "underground dwarfs" motif and an example of how mythological ideas can be preserved in a primarily historical source]: Aleksandrova 2019: 175-186.

China - Korea. Chuan Miao : Graham 1954: 166 [a man descended through a cave into the underworld; there is a different earth and a different sky; the houses of the natives are 1 foot high; the people are small, but there are many more of them than people on the earth; the man returned to the earth], 245-246 [a youth married the emperor's daughter; having stepped on a forbidden carpet, he fell into the nether world; there are dwarfs there as tall as a broom (2 feet); their vessels are the size of eggshells; they spend the whole day chopping grass stalks with axes the size of a fingernail; the youth helps them dig the earth, accidentally knocks down a boundary line, soldiers are sent against him, he easily kills them; after three years he comes out on the earth through a crack formed during a drought]; 1961 [underground live dwarfs, who are called broom people, because they are as tall as a Chinese broom (2 feet)]: 74; Schotter 1911 [the sky was low, they touched it with a load of brushwood, a rice husker pestle; great-grandfather raised it, setting up supports of fragrant wood at the four corners; stretched out colored canvases, from them multi-colored clouds and multi-colored stones were made; made the sun from gold, the moon from silver, stars from colored stones; dwarfs live under the earth, for whom eggshells serve as vessels; giants live in the sky]: 326.

The Balkans. Ancient Greece ["Pictures" by Philostratus of Lemnos (c. 190-230 AD): "When Hercules was sleeping in Libya after his victory over Antaeus, the pygmies attacked him, saying that they wanted to avenge Antaeus; they claim that they are Antaeus's brothers, of the same birth; they are not athletes, they are not equal to him in wrestling, but, like him, they are born of the earth and in general they are strong creatures: when they emerge from the earth, the sand from the very bottom is agitated like waves. The pygmies live in the earth, like ants, and there they prepare provisions for themselves; they eat not anything imported, but local and what they themselves produce; they sow, reap and ride in the same "pygmy" harnesses; "They say that they use axes to cut down the ears of corn, considering them to be trees. But what courage they have! They have decided to attack Hercules and kill him while he sleeps, whereas they should have been afraid of him even when he is not awake. Hercules sleeps on the soft sand, for weariness has seized him, and he breathes with his whole chest during sleep with his mouth open, completely filled with sleep. Sleep himself stands near him in human form, considering it a great honor for himself to have struck down Hercules. Antaeus also lies here, but the artist's art has succeeded in depicting Hercules as alive and warm, while Antaeus is dead and frozen, showing that only in this form was he given up to the earth" (trans. S. P. Kondratyev)]: Philostr. Maj. Im. II. 22.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Hutsuls) [basic data according to Kaindl 2003: 105-106; Rakhmans are a blessed people somewhere underground, near the great waters into which all rivers flow, or beyond the seas ; they are relatives of the living; Christians who fast all year round; they have no time, they learn about the coming of Easter from people; on Holy Saturday or on the first day of Easter, Christians send eggshells down the river; when they reach the Rakhmans, they begin to celebrate Easter; by this time the shell is filled with an egg again, each one is enough for 12 Rakhmans; if on Rakhman Easter (Thomas Sunday or Mid-Pentecost) you put your ear to the ground, the righteous can hear the ringing of a bell; if you work the land at this time, the Rakhmans will reap the harvest from this place for seven years, but people will get nothing; analogies in the north of Ukraine; in the Kiev region they threw a red eggshell into the water, it would float to the Navas living overseas, they would learn about Easter; in northern Romania and Moldova, the Rohmans, the Blazhins – inhabitants of the afterlife, they would lower the eggshell to them, in 4 weeks or 40 days the egg would become whole; terms from "Alexandria" and from the apocrypha, the lowering of the eggshell has no literary prototypes]: Agapkina 2002: 281-283; Russians (Arkhangelsk, Shenkursk district) [the earth rests on seven large and six small whales; when they move their tail or spine, they cause an earthquake; On the eastern side of the earth is the warm side, in which, closer to us, live Orthodox Christians, behind them are the Arabs, behind them are the little (dwarfs) and one-legged people, and in the west is the cold side, the same as in the north, in which live all the non-Christians – Germans, English, French]: Efimenko 1874: 185.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Ingush [ on the outskirts of the earth live the black people of Adjudzh and Madjudzh; they are so short that they milk cows standing up; they strive to get to the surface and from morning till night they dig the earth with their long claws; when there is very little left, they go to sleep and the earth is restored; if they pronounced the name of God, they would finish digging right away; once they guess to pronounce it, they will fill the universe, drink all the water and eat every living thing down to the last blade of grass]: Dakhkilgov 2006: 315-32; Kumyks [where the sky meets the earth behind Mount Kaf live dwarfs who hang their guns on wormwood; from morning till night since the day of the creation of the world they dig a passage through the mountain; when it is almost ready, evening comes and the dwarfs go to rest, and during the night the mountain is restored; if they say “Insha Allah” when leaving, they will dig a passage through and the end of the world will come]: Khalidova 2012, No. 34: 54.

Baltoscandia. Finns : Toivonen 1937: 95 [after Fellman, p.126; there is a huge whirlpool in the sea that pulls ships into the lower world; the water rushes into it for 7 years, and comes out again for 7 years; if you take enough food for 7 years, you can visit that world; the Ääreläiset (" edge dwellers ") live there, they feed only on birds' eggs; the same stories are told about them as about the lintukotolaiset ("bird-land dwellers")], 103 (Mittelpohjanmaa) [the lintukotalaiset lived in Finland, hunted mice and frogs; one day in late summer a flock of cranes came down there; l. and the cranes began to fight, the cranes defeated them and ate them, but some of the l. flew away with them on the wings of the cranes to the country where they now live]; Estonians [(ERA); the people at the edge of the world are so small that 2, 3 or 8 men roll one egg, a man is light as a feather and a woman as a mosquito]: Toivonen 1937: 100.

Mesoamerica. Mountain Totonacs [dwarfs in the east and west of the world hide underground from the heat of the passing sun]: Harvey, Kelly 1969: 671; Kelly 1966: 399; Mazatecs [small, dark, curly-haired people live in the lower world at sunrise; their skin is darkened by the heat because the sun passes close to them at night; they wear no clothes and are rich because the sun gives them gold]: Incháustegui 1977: 34, 39; Tzotzil : Laughlin 1977 (Chamula), no. 24 [the dwarfs load their loads on a rabbit like a mule, which slides down its back; if it stays on its back, the world will turn upside down; when the sun passes by the dwarfs, they wear hats made of clay; want to go out into our world], 80 [in the lower world the Sun is very hot; when it passes there, the dwarfs put on clay hats to save themselves]: 151, 254; Vogt 1969 [underground live dwarfs - former inhabitants of the earth who perished during the flood; the Sun passes close to them and they protect their heads from the heat with clay hats]: 298; 1970 [at midday the Sun stops to see how things are in Zinacantan; at sunset it passes close to the sea and the water in it boils; at night it passes between our world and the lower world; the dwarfs are hot there, they cover their heads with clay hats]: 4; Tzeltal : Hermitte 1970 [dark-skinned dwarfs live on the other side of the earth; they wear clay hats to protect themselves from the heat of the sun passing close to them]: 32; Ventur 1982 [pulling the chariot of the sun]: xvi; mestizos of Soconusco [a man wants to see the sun, flies to the sunrise in the form of an eagle; there the dwarves invite him to their cave in the center of the earth; they help him gather the gold of the sun on the seashore; a greedy man coughs on them, they fall, he carries all the gold alone; the load is too heavy, he turns into a vulture; the dwarves bring part of the gold to his poor wife and children; underground they place part in the roots of the corn; that is why the ears are golden]: Navarrete 1966, no. 5: 426-427.

Northern Andes. Nonama : Lotero Villa sa [a man gave birth to two sons from his leg, died; they ask who killed the father; Snake ; killed the snakes; Jaguar ; etc.; finally, the Moon ; wanted to get to her, a woodpecker cut the vine; one brother was eaten by a snake, the second continues to ask about his father; killed the Sun; where the Sun sets, people without anuses ]: 22-23; Raul González in Pinto García 1978 [without mouth or anus; bodies filled with sand]: 123.