I27B. Carrier dog. .46.52.53.55.65.

A dog carries a man across a river into another world. See motif I27.

Crow, Aztecs, Nahuas and mestizo of Mexico, Otomi, Zapotec, Mazatec, Tzotzil, Lacandon, Jicake, Miskito, Talamanca, Kogi, Yupa, mestizos of the Aritama region, Huaquirca (Ayacucho dep.), Sonco (Cusco dep.), Aymara (Potosi dep.).

Plains.Crow: McCleary 1997: 65-69 [Yellow Greaves climbed into a hole to catch eagles with bait; a stone rolled down and blocked the exit; JN asked a mouse to help, she led him through a hole to another world; there the old man White Owl gave him a single arrow and told him to kill a monstrous elk; JN did not eat the soup that was given to him - there was a human hand in it; the bullfinch advised him to turn to the moles; the mole dug an underground passage under the elk - to where his heart was; JN pierced the elk with an arrow and ran; the elk plowed the ground with its horn, rushed after him, but fell dead; JN brought the tip of the horn to the old man; he asked to bring the head of the Red-Haired One; the bullfinch advised him to turn to the ant-woman; JN swapped bodies with her, she gave her a louse; the Red-Haired Ones and their mother live on an island; the ant gave the dog some corn pemmican, which carried him to the island; while the dog was swimming, JN put the pemmican in his mouth; Red-Haired's mother suspects deception, but her son lay down with the imaginary ant-woman at night; she avoided copulation, and when Red-Haired fell asleep, cut off his head and put a louse in its place; she answered Red-Haired's mother, and when her voice weakened, the mother entered, saw her dead son, and rushed in pursuit; JN managed to swim across to the ant; the pursuer came, on her forehead she had a point like a spear, she began to hammer at the tipi-rock, inside which the ant and JN were, but the ant immediately repaired the damage with her saliva; they opened the door a crack, the pursuer stuck her head in, they slammed the door, cutting off the head; they swapped bodies back, but not their armpits, which is why women's armpits are more muscular than men's; the ant advises to ask the old man for his strength in exchange for the head she brought; JN received the strength of an owl and a fawn; on the way back JN meets three women who turn into an otter, a deer and an elk and run away; the fourth remained a woman - JN's wife; she has seven brothers; JN and his wife came to the youngest; when the others arrived, they began to tease their son-in-law by throwing their limbs at each other; JN summoned an owl, which began to torment the fawn, the brothers felt pain and left JN alone; the younger brother gave his son-in-law his bear, and since then the wife's relatives have been giving her husband gifts; everyone began to think about what to turn into; - Trees? - They die. - Rocks? - They crumble with time. - Water? - They dry up. Into the stars {of the Big Dipper}! The younger brother took his tame puma, it is a star near the handle of the ladle {Alcor}], 69-71 [seven brothers and a younger sister live together; the older brothers disappear one after another; the younger comes to the young man, who reports that his brothers are being kept by an old woman, her strength is in her digging stick; the owner of the next house gives the young man yellow, black, blue, red arrows; the young man shoots them, rushes after them; the kind old woman gives pemmican, explains what to do; at the river the young man feeds the pemmican to the dog, who carries him to the other bank; he takes the brothers, they feed the dog again, cross, with the last arrow they arrive home; the old woman-pursuer places the digging stick across the river; when it reaches the middle, the brothers turn it over,she falls into the water; the brothers ponder what to turn into so that the old woman does not catch up with them; each time the sister says that this object is used by her mother; trees (for firewood), water (to soak skins), stones (to make scrapers for skins); they decide to become what the ends of the tubes point to; -But the stars are falling! – We will hold hands and not fall ; they turn into the Big Dipper; the star at the handle of the ladle is a sister with a puppy].

Mesoamerica. Aztecs; modern Nahua and Mestizos of Mexico; Otomi; Zapotecs; Mazatecs; Tzotzil; Lacandons.

Honduras - Panama. Hikake; Miskito; cabécar and/or bribri.

Northern Andes. Kogi; Yupa; mestizos of the Aritama region.

Central Andes. Huaquirca (Ayacucho Dep., Andamarca Province) [the soul of the deceased travels west through the City of Dogs and across the Mapa Mayo ("River of Filth"), sometimes crossing on the back of a black dog]: Gose 1994: 125 in Bolton 2002: 391-392; Sonco, Paucartambo Dep., Cusco Province [the River of Blood Yahuar Mayu separates our world ( kay pacha ) from the world of the dead; the soul is carried across it by a black, brown, or spotted dog; at night the head of the girl flies away; this happens to those seeking sexual adventures; on returning, the head finds the door closed, clings to the shoulder of a passerby; the headless body died; the girl's dog recognized its owner's head on the man's shoulder; carried the man across the River of Blood, where the head jumped onto its own body; [a dog began to drink from the river of blood, transported a man into our world]: Allen 1988: 61; Aymara (Cacachaca, Potosi dep.) [black dogs transport the souls of the dead across the river]: Albo in Bastien 1989: 81.