I8e1. The Four Pillars of the World. .12.14.16.20.-.28.31.-.34.36.39.40.44.46.-.48.50.-.53.55.57.62.64.65.72.73.

The sky or the earth is supported, or four objects or beings are located at the four cardinal points (or four groups of beings, or four at the corners and a fifth in the center). Th A841. See motifs 8A, 8D.

Mandara, Ancient Egypt, Arabs of Egypt, Germans (South Tyrol), Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, Hawaii, Maori, Tibet, Tibetans of Yunnan, Kachin, Mishmi, Mikir, Thayi, Shans, Bulang, Ancient India, Warli, Bhumiya, Baiga, Bhuiya, Agaria, Dhoba, Kondy, Tamils, Palawan, Sumba (Rindi), Manobo, Kankanay, Tagalogs, Ancient China, Chinese (Sichuan, Shanxi, Henan), Miao, Lahu, Koreans, Serbs, Romanians, Greeks, Macedonians, Gagauz, Ukrainians (Galicia), Edda, Estonians, Chuvash, Mordovians, Kazakhs, Yellow Uighurs, Altaians, Teleuts, Tofalars, Ilimpi Evenki, Baikal Evenki, Chukchi, Inupiat of Northern Alaska (Point Barrow), Copper, Winnebago, Mandan, Skidi Pawnee, Cherokee, Shawnee, Kato, Yuki, Pomo, Achomawi, Navajo, Western Apache, Eastern Keres (Sia), Zuni, Tewa, Diegueño (Ipai), Kiliwa, Tarahumara, Huichol, Aztec, Huastec, MountainTotonac, Otomi, Popoluca and Nahuatl of Veracruz, Chontal, Zoque, Maya of Yucatan and Maya in general, Mopan, northern and southern Lacandon, Tzotzil, Chol, Chorti, Tojolabal, Tzutújil, Mazatec, Huave, Jicake, Paya, Kogi, Tunebo, Hoti, Warrau, Kashuyana (Ariquena), Taibano, Desana, Bora, Urubu, Conibo, Shipibo, Tacana, Eseeha, Chamacoco, Nivacle, Mbia.

West Africa. Mandara [the flat sky above the flat earth rests on four pillars; a woman guards them from termites]: Lembezat 1961: 52.

North Africa. Ancient Egypt : Mathieu 1956: 127 [text "Victory of Horus": Horus established the sky on pillars], 151 [this is an allusion to an unknown myth; hence it is clear that the four sons of Horus (Amset, Duamutef, Qebehsenuef, Hapi), from the Pyramid Texts onwards, are constantly called pillars and represent the four cardinal directions]; Arabs of Egypt [four maidens or four saints hold up the earth]: El-Shamy 1995: 45.

Western Europe. Germans (South Tyrol) [the earth stands on four whales; it trembles if one of them moves]: Menghin 1884, no. 3: 111.

Micronesia – Polynesia. Marshall Islands: Tobin 2002, #1 [to keep the sky from falling, the creator of the world placed four supports at the cardinal points, bending them toward each other], 3 [four men each placed a pole at the four ends of the world; the sky rests on the poles; a man in the north is a cannibal, so a sick person is not carried to the north]: 15, 48; Gilbert Islands [the sky lay on the earth; Na Arean (Spider, although anthropomorphic; Na – "Lord") felt the echoing place with his staff, told the Sand to unite with the water, they gave birth to Na Atibu and Nei ("Lady") Teakea; their children Elder, Woman in the Middle, Wave, Octopus, Eel (moray eel) Ricky; the last to be born was the youngest Na Arean Junior, a trickster; after this Na Arean Elder departed; NA the younger gave reason and movement to the Deaf and Dumb Fools (these are the children of Sand and Water); they raised the sky a little, cut the connection between it and the earth, Riki raised the sky high, the earth sank; N. cut off R.'s legs (having fallen into the sea, they became eels), and R. himself is the Milky Way; so that the sky would not fall, NA placed four women at the four cardinal points to hold it, they grew roots like trees; N. killed his father Na Atibu, turned his right eye into the sun, his left into the moon, his brain into stars, pieces of flesh into rocks and stones, bones into trees, including the Samoa Tree, the ancestor]: Grimble 1922: 91-96; Maori [Rangi-nui ("Father Sky") descended to Papa-tua-nuku ("Mother Earth"), gave birth to Po-Tane and his brothers; they raised Rangi with spells, resting him on four pegs at the cardinal points; Tane ordered the brothers to get an axe from under their elder brother's pillow, and make a second one with it; with these axes T. chopped off Rangi's hands, and raised him to his present height; Papa, with the baby on her chest, protested; then she was turned face down; her grown baby lives underground, and is responsible for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions]: Makemson 1941: 64-65; Hawaii [the sky rests on four supports at the four corners of the earth]: Makenson 1941: 199.

Micronesia - Polynesia. Four pillars of the sky. Marshall Islands; Gilbert Islands ; Hawaii ; Maori.

Tibet - Northeast India. Tibetans (Yunnan) [Nuwa creates people from clay, shows them in the forest who will be their friends (hare, bee), who should be feared (tiger, leopard); one girl listened to the river singing, N. invented a mouth organ for the child; one of the children fell asleep and died; N. ordered them to unite in pairs, scatter over the earth; having fought with the spirit of water, the spirit of fire was defeated, in anger he hit Mount Buzhou; it fell into the Heavenly River (Milky Way), water began to flow from it; a monstrous dragon began to devour people; N. defeated him, began to repair the sky; she found a Crab, he offered to cut off his legs, to prop up the sky; with her long legs N. propped up the eastern edge, with her short ones - the western edge, the horizon tilted, the sun sets in the west; N. patched up the sky and the earth with colored stones; there weren't enough stones on the southern side of the earth, so rivers flow there]: Riftin 1987: 395; Tibet [ideas of dwarfs, guardians of the cardinal directions, are associated with Bon deities: iron in the south, copper in the west, turquoise in the north, a dwarf made of a shell in the east]: Ogneva 1982b: 509-510; Kachinas : Zapadova 1977 [in the void the male and female principles arose and united, giving birth to the king of the Nats, Ingaunuamagan; he encircled the earth with a naga dragon, when it moves, an earthquake occurs; he propped up the sky with four pillars, placing the fifth in the center; it was too high, from the sawed-off upper part the celestials arose, from the sawed-off lower part – those living in the water; the central pillar, connecting the sky and the earth, turned into the Sotpunnu tree]: 144-145; Gilhodes 1908 [Ningkong wa erects four pillars to support the sky]: 679; garo [earth – flat, square, suspended at the corners by ropes from the sky; var.: earth – like a table on four legs]: Playfair 1909: 88; taraon (Digaru) mishmi [earth rests on four pillars located in a body of water; fish swim between the pillars; when they hit them, earthquakes occur {cf. kankanaey, Philippines}]: Elwin 1958b, no. 14: 99; mishmi [in the beginning only water; the god Techimdum surfaced, looked around, erected a pillar; white ants crawled along it, carrying particles of earth from the bottom, placed them on the water, dry land arose; T. put another pillar in the four corners of the world, ants climbed on them, and dry land appeared; where they put more earth – mountains]; mikir(karbi): Stack, Lyall 1908 [the gods Hèmphū and Mukráng set up four pillars at the edges of the future earth, tied them with their mothers' hair; the wife of the god Bāmon was sent to Hāyóng, the god of the lower world, but he did not give her any earth; when leaving, she picked up the worm's excrement, hid it in her bosom; the king of the earthworms was sent, he processed this particle, it continued to grow, turned into earth; the blacksmith Kāpráng dried the earth with bellows]: 70-71; Lyall 1909: 70-72 in Mandal 2009 [the gods Hèmphū and Mukráng set up four pillars at the edges of the future earth, tied them with their mothers' hair; began to think where to get earth; one hundred gods and their wives decided to send the wife of the god Bamon to get some earth to the god Hajong in another world, but he did not give it to her; on the way back Bamonpi (i.e. B.'s wife) picked up some excrement from a worm; they sent for the king of earthworms Helong Recho, who turned this particle into a large piece of earth; it was soft and wet, the blacksmith Kaprang dried it; to get plants, they sent for Rekbepi, who is at the pillar at sunset; she came and sowed the plants; Pithe and Pothe (the “great mother” and the great “father” helped H. and M. create animals; first an elephant, then a tiger; the first man created was Bamonpo, he created two wives for himself, one Mikir and the other an Assamese; they did not give birth for a long time; then the Assamese sent her husband to her brother, he gave two oranges for the wives; on the way back, while B. was bathing, a crow carried off one orange; the Mikir wife was left without an orange, but ate the peel and gave birth to a son, Ram; the Assamese gave birth to a son, Chaputi; R. was strong, Ch. was weak; R. found an egg, brought it, a girl came out of it; the demons tried to steal her, but R. returned it and took her as his wife, she gave birth to many children, their descendants are the Hindus; they decided to build a tower to the sky; the gods and demons were afraid that these giants would take the sky away from them; they mixed up their languages, people went their separate ways]: 78-79.

Burma - Indochina. Shan [the world is square and flat, with 4 spirits holding it up at the corners]: Milne 1910: 204; Thai [8 brass pillars hold up the sky]; Bulang (Blang, southern Yunnan) [at first only the sky and clouds, with a rhinoceros-like li running among them ; Gumiya made the sky from its skin, the stars from its eyes, the earth from its flesh, water from its blood, all kinds of plants from its wool, people from its brain, and the bone marrow of animals, birds, insects, etc.; from its four legs he made the four supports of the sky ; he placed the earth on a turtle; as soon as the turtle tries to move, Gumiya's rooster pecks it in the eye; if it falls asleep, the turtle moves, shaking the earth; then people sprinkle rice on the earth to wake up the rooster; the 9 sisters-suns and the 8 brothers-months decided to destroy G.'s creation; the heat on earth was unbearable; at that time the crabs lost their heads, the fish lost their tongues, the snakes lost their legs, the frogs lost their tails; before leaving the shelter, G. greased his straw hat with wax, but the wax melted and flowed into his eyes; G. made a bow from a tree with green bark, a bowstring from wild rattan, arrows from bamboo, and moistened the tips with poison from the pond in which the dragon swam; he climbed to the top of the mountain over hot stones, struck 8 suns and 7 months with arrows; their blood gushed out onto the earth, cooling it; the remaining Sun and Moon fled; the tired G. released the 18th arrow, it hit the Moon, which remained alive, but lost its heat; it became dark and cold, people plowed, tying lanterns to the horns of oxen, the rivers stopped; G. sent a swallow to look for the sun; Returning, she said that the Sun and the Moon hid in a cave in the east; G. sent all the animals and birds to ask them to return; he himself did not go, because those who were hiding were afraid of him; two partridges did not go - with a black and a white crest; the first smeared her rump red - supposedly, she had diarrhea; the second smeared her head white - she was in mourning for her parents; everyone despised them; in front of the swallow, followed by fireflies; at the head of the birds is a rooster, animals - a boar; in the cave, the spouses Sun and Moon are hungry, but are afraid to come out; the rooster called them, the rest promised that G. would not shoot at them; the rooster: from now on, come out after I sing; cut the knot, threw half to the Sun and the Moon, made a comb for himself from the other (a cut knot is a sign of an agreement); G.'s daughter Gumishafema feeds the Sun with golden juice three times a day, and the Moon with silver; in the morning she is a young girl, in the afternoon a young wife, in the evening an old woman; the Sun and the Moon were allowed to return to the cave at the end of each month to unite (at this time the moon is not visible); the Sun is a shy wife, the Moon gave her needles-rays to prick the eyes of those who cast immodest glances at her; the entrance to the cave was blocked by a stone, only a boar managed to move it; all is well]: Miller 1994: 88-93.

South Asia. Ancient India : Temkin, Erman 1982, no. 40 [in various ancient Indian texts the earth is supported at the cardinal directions by four or eight elephants; their names vary]: 97, 254 (note); Erman, Temkin 1975: 83, 217 (note); Zimmer 1946 [Airāvata – the first elephant, together with seven other male elephants, hatched an egg from the shell in Brahma’s right hand; eight female elephants emerged from the shell in his left hand; these eight pairs support the world at the cardinal directions and at the intermediate directions]: 104-105; warli [a potter on a golden potter’s wheel began to rotate the earth and expanded it from the size of a sesame seed to its present size; Balaya Bhim (~Bhima of Mahabharata, Bhimsen at bhumiya raised it and fixed it on four pillars connected by crosses)]: Save 1945: 161 in Fuchs 1960: 417; bhumiya [four nails driven into the earth at four corners]; baiga [four nails driven into the earth at four corners, but the earth itself is round]; bhuya [the earth is supported by four iron pillars created from the flesh and blood of the first pair of humans]; agarya [to prevent Mother Earth from wobbling, the first agarya placed 12 iron pillars at the four corners of the world]; dhoba [Bhimsen drove an iron nail into each corner of the earth; in the middle the earth continued to wobble, so he placed an old woman there to hold the earth on her head]; konda (kuttia) [four iron pillars hold up the sky; [the fourth is small, placed on a mountain]; Tamils ​​[when the 7 sons grow up, the father asks how they are going to help the family; starting with the eldest; cut and sell firewood, like the father; pound rice, like the mother; catch fish; herd goats; herd oxen; make and sell cow dung; the youngest: marry the 7 heavenly maidens Kannimar and provide for them all, and for you too; the father drives him out in a rage; he settles in the mountains with an old woman; the 7 maidens descended from the sky to bathe, he grabbed the robe of one and rushed to the house; the 7 maidens tell the old woman to unlock the door; she turns the youth into a five-year-old child and sings him a lullaby; the maidens did not find the youth, the one left without clothes had to stay; began to play the game panti with the youth; he lost the second game and fell asleep, she took her robe and returned to her sisters; old woman to young man: before you go in search, light a fire in a pit and burn me; he did so; reached heaven; tells the raja in the golden throne room that he has come for the bride; the raja orders on the 4th morning 1) to harness 7 pairs of oxen, plow the field 7 times, sow 12 bushels of sesame, harvest and put into granaries; 2) fill a deep well to the brim; 3) bring lots from the lake, where snakes swarm, and tigers and lions are around; the young man plowed the field and sowed sesame, and then asked Shiva and Parvati to tell the ants to carry out the first task; after this the raja yielded the throne to the young man for 7 days; on the eighth he filled the well, turning to the frogs; he fulfilled the third, turning to the 4 turtles on which the world rests ; the young man got a wife; the raja sent him to earth on a magic horse with gifts; the young man and his wife fell asleep and woke up in a luxurious palace; that old woman (came to life and) was herding oxen, he called her to him; his parents and brothers too]: Blackburn 2005, No. 31.

Malaysia – Indonesia. Palawan [four pillars hold up the earth at the sides and one, the largest, in the middle; the word for the pillars at the edges is the same as for the Chinese dragon, these creatures are in the depths of the sea; if incest occurs on the earth, they shake it]: Macdonald 1974: 105; Sumba (Rindi, in the east of the island) [the earth rests on four pillars and a fifth in the middle; when a mouse gnaws it or when a cat drives it away, earthquakes occur]: Waterson 2009: 99; (cf. Java [Sri Tanjung is killed by her husband; the goddess Rara Nini (=Durga) revives her; shows points in the sky at the four cardinal points; in each there is a tree associated with a certain bird, color, metal, category of people who have the right to bathe in the reviving pool at the foot of the central tree; the name of this tree is Nagasari ("flowering snake"), a cockatoo is associated with it; the revived woman bathes there]: Hooykaas 1957: 326, 328 in Haekel 1958: 75).

Taiwan - Philippines. Manobo (Mindanao) [a Dagau woman is on the four pillars of the world; when displeased with people, she pinches a snake, which moves, causing earthquakes]: Eugenio 1994, no. 35: 90-91; kankanaey [two Timungan brothers are digging roots; they find a flat stone under one, which was blocking a hole in the lower world; they climb down there on a rope; cannibals with tails live there; the owner of the house, Maseken, agrees not to harm the brothers in exchange for a promise from one of them to marry his daughter; while hunting, they see four pillars supporting the earth; a pig rubs against one, causing earthquakes; the hunters are chasing an old carabao (buffalo), the man sees that it is actually their mother, lets it pass; the father-in-law catches up with her and wounds her; tells the brothers to go to the earth if they do not like hunting people; they climbed up by the same rope; when the sun was shining in the lower world, it was night on earth; if a sick person has a bloody throat and nose, a chicken is killed for M. {cf. mishmi under Tibet – Northeast India}]: Eugenio 1994, no. 16: 50–51; kankanaei [the earth is supported by four pillars; when the earth rubs against one of them, the earth trembles]: Gaverza 2014: 41, 50; Tagalogs [to repair the sky, God placed four angels on the sides and a fifth, the tallest, in the middle; that is why the sky is convex]: Macdonald 1974: 105.

China - Korea. Ancient China [the water spirit Gonggong was defeated by his father, the fire spirit Zhurong; wanting to commit suicide, G. bangs his head against the western mountain Buzhou, which served as a support for the sky; the top of the mountain breaks off, the sky leans to the west; part of the sky falls off, a world fire and flood begin; Nuwa melted stones of five colors, sealed the hole in the sky; this explains the difference in the shades of the sky; N. cut off four legs of a turtle, used them as supports for the sky; the sky remained tilted to the west, in that direction the luminaries roll; the earth leaned to the east, there the rivers flow]: Yuan Ke 1987, ch.2: 51-52; Chinese (Sichuan) [after Nuwa melted the five-colored stones and patched the sky with them, she saw that it was still shaky, was afraid that it would collapse again, found a giant turtle, cut off its legs and propped up the sky with them; the turtle's legs were of different lengths, the sky and the earth were crooked; the leg that propped up the sky to the NW was shorter, and to this day people can see that the sky is tilted to the NW]: Zhou Yang et al. 1998, no. 5: 26; Chinese(Shanxi, Pingding County) [Pangu separated the sky from the earth; the sky was supported by the four legs of a sea turtle, and the earth rested on the back of a carp; immortals lived in the sky, and there was no one on the earth; the Jade Emperor sent Nuwa to the earth to create life; the first day is the day of Wood, N. created flowers, grass, trees; the second is the day of Water, N. populated the rivers and lakes with fish, turtles, crayfish; the third is the day of Metal, N. populated the mountains with wild animals and birds; the fourth is the day of Fire, N. populated the plains with cattle; the fifth is the day of Earth; N. began to knead a lump of clay; the Golden Youth appeared before her; he said that Mother Wangmu had sent him, she was afraid that N. would become lazy; N. said that she did not know what to do next; he promised to report to Mother; N. got angry and made a clay figurine of the Youth, 50 of them; on the sixth day, the day of the Moon, N. wanted to lie down, but the Jade Maiden called her lazy; N. got angry again, made 50 figurines of the Maiden; laid out the male and female figurines in pairs and fell asleep; on the seventh day, the day of the Sun, she wanted to return to the Heavenly Palace and saw that the figurines had come to life; she gave them all names, and the pair that looked the most like those Youth and Maiden she called brother and sister Fuxi; they asked what they should eat, what they should wear, where they should live; N.: wild herbs and animals, dress in leaves and skins, live in caves; N. returned to heaven; wolves, tigers and leopards ate 10 pairs of brothers and sisters; The carp supporting the earth stirred, part of the earth collapsed, and with it - another 10 pairs; the turtle supporting the sky got tired, jerked its leg, the northwest corner of the sky collapsed, under the rubble perished another 10 pairs; Wangmu found out, told N. to return to the earth to help people; N. tied the carp with dragon sinews, smelted five-colored stones on Mount Fushan and patched up the sky, cut off the turtle's paws and made supports for the sky, drove away the wild birds and animals, returned to the sky; but the wild animals and birds returned, ate another 5 pairs; the carp blinked an eye, the earth shook, the mountains shook, volcanoes woke up, another 5 pairs perished; the turtle, having lost its paws, began to cry in pain, its tears turned into ice and snow, from the rains and glaciers another 5 pairs perished; the rain continued to fall, the snow cover became thicker and thicker, it was getting harder for the carp; the earth sank, the turtle's feet trembled, the sky and earth shook, the ice and snow melted, the seas overflowed their banks; Wangmu sent N. again; she threw a hairpin into the water, it turned into a boat, only the Fuxi brother and sister were saved; the flood ended, but the earth was empty; Mount Fushan, where N. smelted stones, was the highest, N. took the brother and sister there - let them multiply; they were embarrassed; N. gave each of them a millstone, told them to roll it down the mountain; having rolled down, the millstones lay on top of each other; the eastern and western Millstone Mountains in the Changshigou ravine - these are those millstones; the shame will pass, and if they want to call each other brother and sister, then please; newlyweds are still called that]: Zhou Yang et al. 1999, No. 9: 12-14; Chinese(Henan, Anyang County) [In ancient times, the sky stood on five pillars, each supported by its own turtle. One day, the water in the seas dried up, the turtles in the four corners were left without water, became angry, began to spin, and the pillars supporting the sky collapsed. Nu Wa sent a heavenly spirit to cut off the legs of these turtles and support the sky with them. However, holes remained in the sky, and through them a black fog descended from the sky, from which people died. Nu Wa and the heavenly army used three hundred and sixty methods, patched the sky for three hundred and sixty years, but were never finished. In the end, the spirit of Venus suggested taking stones from Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, melting them and patching the sky with them. Nu Wa went to the center, where the sky had not collapsed, lit a fire there, melted the stones and began to patch the sky with them. Because there were not enough five-colored stones, there was a hole in the northwest corner, and Nü Wa filled it with a piece of ice, and so the northwest wind is cold and sometimes brings black clouds and hail. Nü Wa finished patching the sky, became very tired, and looked for a place to rest. She did not like it anywhere, and so she settled in the place where she melted the five-colored stones. The slag left after Nü Wa melted the stones turned into a mountain from which heat was constantly emanating. It reached the sky, and the Jade King sent thirteen dragons to cool it. The dragons were made of ice, and as soon as they descended on the mountain, it immediately cooled down. Even in the hottest summer, this place is cool, so people called it “Cool Mountain” (Qingliangshan)]: Zhou Yang et al. 2001b, no. 10: 17–18; (cf. Manchus [there was a hole in the sky; when the sky was angry, it threw down stones; Gege Hailun (Gege – “highly respected princess”) melted down colored stones with the help of the Western Buddha, sealed the hole with them, and became a heavenly goddess; people stopped fearing stones falling from the sky]: Wei et al. 2001, no. 4.1: 195); Miao: Riftin 1993 [Naloingou separated the sky from the earth, raised the sky, lowered the earth; Zhenyungulo gave eight wooden posts and 16 stalks of millet to support the sky; these, as well as the stone and iron supports, prove short-lived; the old woman Uluoso told N. to pull out four of the eight joints from his legs, to support the sky at the four cardinal directions; in this likeness N. molded four legs for each animal; N. kneaded the sky and the earth, they expanded; U. gives 12 eggs, N. lets a bird hatch them; 12 suns hatch, N. placed them in the corners and in the middle of the sky]: 306-312; Geddes 1976 (Hmong Njua) [the four spirits support the earth on their shoulders; when they move, earthquakes occur]: 24; Lemoine 1982 [in the beginning, the earth and the sky were close to each other; the sky could be reached by hand; Ndjo Lou Tou and his wife Ngo Ntchi Tii, they had a son R'eng Tcheu (slightly distorted Chinese for "Lord of the Sky"); he was in his mother's womb for 6 years; the father said it was time to come out; he waited another 9 years, came out by cutting his mother's side with a knife; the father and son stamped their feet three times, clapped their hands three times, creating 15 levels of sky, 16 levels of earth; the sky became high, its four corners were propped up with four iron knives; then they put up a pole to support the sun, and around it a road for the sun to travel; when the sun passes from one side of the world to the other, the guards throw open the doors, the chickens wake up and the rooster crows; the sun bathes and rises; the Lord of the Sky is in charge of all this]: 86-87; Schotter 1911 [the sky was low, it was touched with a load of brushwood, a rice husk; the great-grandfather raised it, setting up supports of incense wood at the four corners; he stretched out colored canvases, from which multi-colored clouds and multi-colored stones were made; he made the sun of gold, the moon of silver, the stars of colored stones; under the earth live dwarfs, for whom eggshells serve as vessels; in the sky live giants]: 326; chuan miao [when King P'an Ku separated heaven from earth, Hu Hsi's sister descended from heaven to earth, King Shen Lung descended to control the five grains, Emperor Hsuen Yuen descended to make clothes for the people; he created 44 large fish to use in establishing the 4 corners of the world; he made 48 pegs from rams' horns, using them to make the world firm in the four directions; he firmly established the heavens and the earth, and in the midst of the earth was yellow gold]: Graham 1954: 18; lahu[at first only G'ui-sha in the center of the world like a spider in a web; he scraped the mud from his hands and feet, made from it four fish: gold, silver, copper and iron; put a pillar on them; put 4 beams of heaven and 4 of earth; from the same scraped mud he made purlins (poutrelles), creating heaven and earth, but the earth was shaking; from the same mud G. rolled 70,000 balls, filling with them the cells (mailles) of the earth; from the bones of his hands he made the bones of heaven, and from the bones of his feet - the bones of the earth; to find out what is the thickness of the earth and the thickness of the sky, he created two ants from mud; one climbed through the sky, the other through the earth; returning, they said that the thickness is the same; G. has two assistants: Ca Law, a man whom he ordered to make heaven, and Na Law, a woman whom he ordered to make earth; NL worked day and night, and KL drank tea, so the sky and the earth turned out to be different in size: the sky was like a big canopy, and the earth was narrow, wrinkled; because the earth was compressed, valleys and mountains appeared; to prevent the earth from swelling, G. put a rock on it, but it slid off; a bulbul bird (Hypsipetes mcclellandii) told it not to slide; G. put fire in the Sun, fireflies in the Moon; but they do not come out into the sky, they are afraid of people; then G. gave them needles {apparently, rays that prick the eyes}; a tiger to the Sun: you are too bright; he bit him, hence the eclipses; a frog to the Moon: you are too cold; she tried to swallow her, hence the spots on the moon; by sending a tiger and a frog into the sky, G. made the sun go to the east, and the moon to the west, otherwise they were constantly in the sky; from the dirt scraped off his hands and feet G. created the stars, and also a hen and a rooster; the rooster crowed three times and the east was illuminated; thus the light was separated from the darkness; G. to the moon: there will be 12 months in a year]: Coyaud 2009, No. 1: 9-12; Koreans [at first Heaven and Earth were not separated; Mireuk placed 4 bronze pillars at the four corners of the earth, separated Heaven from Earth; two suns and two moons shone, it was too hot during the day, too cold at night; M. made stars from one Sun, and the North Dipper and the South Dipper from one Moon]: Choi 1979, No. 720: 514.

Balkans. Serbs : Janković 1951: 8 [under the earth there is water, the earth stands on four marble pillars], 9 [the earth stands on four oxen; on four bulls; on four bulls, of which the black one is in the west, blue in the south, white in the north, and red in the east; they stand in yellow water, drink it, are tired, at the end of the world the water will flood the earth]; Romanians [under the earth there is water, but the earth does not sink, for it rests on four pillars at the four cardinal points; these pillars are associated with bright stars on the sides of the horizon, one cannot see all four at once; an old witch gnaws at the supports, which is why there are earthquakes; when women spill flour or pour out the water with which they washed a bucket after washing, they feed and water the witch]: Rusu 2009: 89; Macedonians [the earth is supported by four bulls; when one scratches, an earthquake occurs]: Tsenev 2004: 24; Greeks [the earth is supported by four bulls; when one of them moves its ear, an earthquake occurs]: Zochios sa, No. 19; Gagauz [having created the earth, God placed an angel at its four corners, protecting man from all misfortune]: Moshkov 1901: 58.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Galicia) [the earth rests on four pillars, which are held by four snakes; as soon as the number of sins in the world increases, the snakes gnaw at the pillars; if they gnaw through them, the earth will fall into an abyss]: Belova 2004, No. 180: 110.

Baltoscandia. Scandinavians [From Ymir's body the sons of Bor made the earth, from blood the sea and waters; at each corner of the sky they placed a dwarf (East, West, North, South)]: Younger Edda 1970: 18; Estonians (Väike-Maarja) [from the sky the earth is held on four sides by four steel ropes]: ERA E 44686(1).

Volga – Perm. Chuvash [the giant Ul ă p returned tired from hunting, climbed into the sky as if onto a sleeping platform, and fell asleep; his four brothers could not wake him up, they propped up the sky from four corners with their shoulders and lifted it high up; the sleeper woke up and went to look for his brothers; the firmament shook under his feet, there was a rumble, sparks flew (thunder and lightning); when he realized that he would not be able to descend to the earth, he began to cry – rain; became the supreme god Tur ă ]: Egorov 1995: 116; Mordvins : Mokshin 1998 [the earth is quadrangular, in each corner there is a silver pillar]: 99; Devyatkina 2004 [the earth is round (in the form of a bowl), washed by the world ocean, or quadrangular; in each corner there is a silver pillar, on it a barrel; the god of the wind Varmava sits in them in turn; whichever barrel is open now, that is where the wind comes from (Harva 1952: 141)]: 26.

Turkestan. Kazakhs [west. in 1976 from baksy Berkimbay-Ata; "... the square land is washed around by the waters of Mukhit (ocean); its four corners are marked by four towers topped with eggs; but some say that instead of towers four great trees grow, and others that four points or peaks rise at each corner of it; ... when the end of the world comes, all the mountains will collapse, the towers will appear on the horizon to the remnants of humanity; ... these towers at the corners of the earth support the covering seven layers of the sky"]: Ibraev 1980: 41, 44; Yellow Uighurs [at first only water and sky; Śākyamuni called the Black Dragon from the sky, put a piece of black silk on his back, told him to bring gold; he put white silk on the back of the White Elephant, told him to bring white soil; he threw soil and gold into the sea, the earth arose; at first it was small; Sh. went to the god Layangjia in heaven for advice; he replied that when four pillars were erected at the four corners of heaven, the God of Fire would create fire, and women would give birth to children, and the earth would grow; when Sh. returned, the ocean had already greatly diminished, mountains and rivers had appeared, and people would appear on the earth]: Stuart, Jhang 1996: 13.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Altaians [four kings hold on to the "heavenly button" ( tengrinyn tobchisy ); the world is secured by this; these are Kunkyr-kaan, Eden puudu kaan, Chagan-kaan and Amyrsananyng uly Temirsana (i.e. Temirsana , son of Amyrsana )]: Potanin 1883, No. 46d: 224; Teleuts [the round earth under the iron lid (temir kapkak)-sky is supported by four blue bulls (kok puga); earthquakes occur when the tired bulls begin to move their legs]: Funk 1997: 54 (=2005: 117); Tofalars [the earth is supported by four fish, their movements cause earthquakes]: Prelovsky 2007: 50-51.

Eastern Siberia. Ilimpiysky Evenks [at present the earth has four sides, but initially it resembled the face of a squirrel; it stands on four pillars, which are supported by four fish: two pikes and two perches; harmful spirits support the earth at the edges, which is why it often burns]: Rychkov 1917: 83; Baikal Evenks [the idea of ​​the earth as a tetrahedral body supported by four pillars, frogs or turtles (MAE inventory, No. 1879) came to Transbaikalia from southern neighbors and was carried by reindeer herders to the sources of the Vilyuy and further west]: Vasilevich 1969: 210; Central(?) Yakuts [riddle: On the four sides of the sky there is an old man (cardinal points)]: Tolokonsky 1914, No. 124: 40.

NE Asia. Chukchi [at the four corners the rocks of the sky meet the rocks of the earth, now hitting them, now rising].

Arctic. Inupiat of northern Alaska (Tareumiut, i.e. the Point Barrow region) [four pillars at the cardinal points hold up the earth]; copper [the firmament on four pillars at the cardinal points]: Rasmussen 1932: 22.

Midwest. Winnebago [four Winds at the four corners of the earth; four snakes pierce it, the earth stops shaking].

Plains. Supports of the Sky. Mandan [see motif K27; four stone pillars (=four supports of Buffalo Mistress's lodge) support the sky]: Beckwith 1938: 75; Bowers 1950: 280-281, 298; Skidi Pawnee : Chamberlain 1982 [Tirawa gives Evening Star power over the west, places Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Lynx, Wolf to guard her; these are four stars - black, yellow, white, red; they were to send animals like themselves to earth; they are also Autumn, Spring, Winter, Summer; thunder, lightning, clouds, rain; cottonwood, elm, willow, elder; black, yellow, white, red corn; The Morning Star (male) prevailed over the Evening Star (female) and commanded the black star to be in the NE, the yellow star to the NW, the white star to the S, and the red star to the SE; these four stars are the four gods of the cardinal directions; they stand at these ends and hold up the sky, and obey the Morning Star]: 23-24; Dorsey 1904b [the gods of the four quarters of the world hold up the sky in the NE, SE, SW, NW]: xix.

Southeastern United States. Cherokee [earth is attached to the sky by four ropes]; Shawnee [four large animals ; four snakes].

California. Kato [four rocks hold up the sky]; Yuki [four stone pillars hold up the earth]; Coastal Central Pomo : Loeb 1926a [the earth is quadrangular, floats in water; the corners rest on pillars, each is watched over by one of the spirits (two more at the zenith and nadir)]: 300; 1926c, No. 1 (Coastal Central Pomo) [there was no sea; Coyote got thirsty, pulled out one of the swamp plants, water flowed, the sea filled up, stopping where Coyote was; Coyote: sometimes the tide will go out so that people can gather what they need on the littoral; coming to the place where he was going to make a sweat lodge, he found the pillars already built there and just told them to stand up; around the sweat lodge he stuck black feathers into the ground, they turned into people; because of the color of the feathers the Indians are now dark; Coyote made a feast, but for a whole month they did not share their food with him; so he decided to burn the world; smeared resin everywhere and set it on fire, he himself rose into the sky with the fog; then, to extinguish the fire, he flooded the earth; it rained for four days, after four more days the water subsided; Coyote made new people also from black feathers, but in the middle of an open area; Coyote taught people to collect shellfish, and the people began to laugh at him; then he created waves on the sea that were not there before, but did not let them flood the land; placed four people at the cardinal points and ordered them to blow - these are the winds of the four directions; Coyote ordered the thunderer to thunder during the rain; the people still did not believe Coyote, so he turned them into rabbits, gophers, birds; he ordered the birds to place the sun in the sky; for this he arranged a competition; the vulture turned out to be the fastest and raised the sun; for this the people gave the vulture a basket of beads; Then Coyote made the stars and then the moon, which grows acorns; near the earth four pillars; at the southern one Coyote placed Kuksa and his wife Kuksa woman; the shamans will speak to them; at the northern pillar Coyote placed Wind man, gave him a crosshair like the blades of a mill; first he blew so hard that everything was swept away, hills were formed on the previously level ground; at the eastern pillar Coyote placed Fire man, responsible for daylight and heat; with him Day man and Day woman; at the western pillar Coyote placed Water man; in the middle of the world Coyote placed Thunder man; he makes thunder when he drags a deer skin; then Coyote created villages and in each one placed a black feather; after that the villages were filled with people; Coyote gave names to all the edible plants; when there is plenty of food, let the people dance; after this Coyote was never seen again]: 475-484; Achomawi : Merriam 1992: 1-8 [water everywhere, darkness; Apponahah(Silkworm) sees a piece of foam in the east, tells him to swim to it, stands on it; the foam hardens and thickens on his feet; he tears it off with his toe nails, it crumbles, turns into a triangular island; A. turns the corners to the east, west, south; the earth grows; A. finds a boy, it is Annikadel; he finds him three times in three corners of the earth, not realizing that the boy is still the same; Annikadel says that he is the same age as he, that without him Apponahah would not have made the earth; that there are also Coyote, Silver Fox and Frog (Alleum); the earth is still shaking; Annikadel inspires Apponahah to tell Coyote to set up rainbow pillars to the N, E, S and W. Silver Fox advises Coyote to erect short, strong poles in the east and west, they will withstand the course of the sun; high ones in the north and south, they will melt], 111-113 [the poles initially erected by Coyote have become loose, our world has come into motion; Annikadel attaches or supports the earth with reeds from the north, east, south and west].

The Great Southwest. If not otherwise: five, sixth at nadir. Navajo [mountains; twelve men to the north, south, west, and east hold up the sky]; Western Apache [four pillars]; Eastern Keres (Sia) [pillars; trees]; Zuñi [four trees]; Tewa [four mountains]; Diegueño (Ipay) [a drawing on the ground during the initiation of boys: four mountains at the edges of the earth's disk to the NE, SE, SW, NW; no data that the sky rests on them]: Waterman 1910: 302, pl.35; Kiliwa : Meigs 1939 [it was night; Matipá took water in his mouth, spat to the south, to the north; took more, spat to the west (the sea arose), to the east (the Gulf of California); smoked, the sea grew; created four mountains, on each one a mountain ram (to the NE, SE, NW, SW); the rams' horns were respectively (the informant does not remember who in what direction) dark brown and blue, yellow and the color of oak bark (tan), silver and gray, red and white; he took off his skin, pulled it over his horns, but it sagged; ordered the Mole to dig a passage around the world; a mountain range (ridge) was formed, over which M. pulled the skin, and the Mole with his paws and head lifted (pushed) the skin along the perimeter of the world; M. decided to create the Sun; he could not extract it from his elbow, muscles, the top of his head, he took it out of his mouth, because his mouth was hot; he created a bush, it did not help to protect himself from the heat; then a rattlesnake; it frightened the Sun, it moved away from the earth; M. fell ill and died, his body was burned, since then people have been dying]: 64-66 (=Olmos Aguilera 2005: 117-119); Olmos Aguilera 2005: 103-117 [in the darkness appeared Coyote-People-Moon; from him light; took water in his mouth, sprinkled it in the four directions; the south became yellow, the north - red, the west - black (there became a sea), the east - white; determined the zenith and nadir, the sky - blue, the earth - the color of paper (amate); lit a cigarette, fell asleep, from the smoke of his pipe all the roads of the earth and sky were formed; from the calves of the legs he made two pairs of mountain rams; placed them on four mountains to support the sky with their horns; Mole dug a passage around the world, secured the covering; created four ancestors of the keel from clay; from their union with the Deer, Fish, Pheasant, Cat other animals were born; KLL created the Sun, fell ill himself, died, became a bird; was offended that no one came to recite the funeral chants; told the Deer to hide the darkness in a bag, thus taking away the night from people; told the bag to be given to the Puma and not to be opened, he gave it to the Snake, she to the Eagle, etc.; in the end the Fox gave it to the Coyote, he opened it out of curiosity, darkness flooded the world, the light disappeared; Puma ran to KLL, said that they did not know the chants, that only he himself knew them; he admitted this, told the Coyote to shoot arrows in the four directions of the world, the zenith and the nadir; day came again; KLL became the Moon, walks across the sky].

NW Mexico. Tarahumara [God in the sky, water below; God created the earth by churning the water (moviendo el agua) when it was hot; the foam rose to the surface, hardened, and became dry land; others believe the earth to be a disk on four pillars like a henhouse; God sent two doves; they returned with leaves of the chimali plant and said the earth was good for life; God then descended to the earth with his brother Atanasio to work on creation]: Mondragón et al. 1995: 15-16; Huichol [Nawawé replied: in order for there to be light, someone must become the sun; four people failed to sacrifice themselves; a lonely orphan, son of the earth and maize goddess Utuanáka, threw himself into the fire (var.: into a lake that turned into fire or blood upon immersion); descended through the five lower worlds, where dangerous animals, including a serpent encircling the earth with heads at both ends; Nakawé and Tutewarí (the first shaman) said that he would appear from a cave on a mountain in the east; everyone hurried there, argued about the name, Turkey said tau-tau-tau (sun - tau), became a companion of the sun; the Sun was so tired in the lower world that he did not rise to the five upper tiers, but began to fall, dragging the sky with him; life on the brink of death, many climbed into holes (since then these animals live in holes); T. put five palms (brazil trees) to support the sky - one in the center, four at the edges); with the help of Káuyumarie (trickster deer) showed people how to make a chair on which shamans and chiefs sit during rituals; sacrificed a child so that the Sun could feed on this blood]: Furst, Auguiano 1976: 117-118.

Mesoamerica. Four anthropomorphic characters. Aztecs ; Huastecs [at the cardinal points the earth is supported by four drowned men (que murieron ahogados); at the end of the year they leave and are replaced by other drowned men]; mountain Totonacs ; Otomi [the earth is square, with "angels" or Winds at the corners]: Galinier 1990: 48; Popoluca and Nahuatl of Veracruz; Chontal ; Zoque ; Maya of Yucatan and Maya in general [also five pillars]; Maya of Yucatan [according to the books of Chilam Balam, given by Tozzera and Villa Rojas, the Maya of Yucatan imagined the earth to be rectangular and with four supports at the corners]: Montolíu 1989: 45-47; Mopan [four Cuchcaan ("sky holders") at the four corners of the world hold up the sky, associated with colors that correspond to the four directions]: Thompson 1930: 65; northern Lacandons [four(?) pillars]; southern Lacandons [four pairs of moles]; tzotzil [also four pillars]: Vogt 1969 (Zinacantan): 297 [the earth is shaped like a cube; at its four corners it is supported (by their shoulders or tails) by four animals; when a load is shifted, the earth trembles; or these are the four gods Vashakmen; above the earth are four square heavens; on the lower one is the Moon, then the stars, on the upper one the Sun], 303 [vashak – "eight"; some informants believe that in each corner there is a pair of world holders]; chol [Ch'ujtat brought the earth out of his heart; at first it was like the wind, the wind became a cloud, the cloud water, the water mud, the mud earth; at the four corners of the earth he placed three people Chuntewinikes in each to support it; these people feed only on the smell of flowers and fruits; after this Ch. cut the umbilical cord that connected his heart with the earth; the earth became covered with vegetation; Ch. created the first people, smaller in size than the Chuntewinikes, but larger than today's, very intelligent; needing nothing, they forgot the creator; Ch. destroyed them with a flood, sent the Vulture to find out if anyone was left, ordered him not to touch anything, but he began to eat corpses; Ch. punished him, ordering him to feed on carrion; sent the Turtle Dove, she saw that there was blood everywhere, but some were saved on rafts; having stained her feet with blood, she returned to Ch.; he turned the saved people into monkeys; the foam of the flood turned into stones, which did not exist before]: Gebhardt Domínguez 2001: 49-51; devils [the flat earth rests on the water of four seas (lakes): white, red, green, brown and black resinous (in the middle), each in one of the cardinal directions; in each corner of the earth a pillar, and a fifth in the middle]: Hull 2016: 4; Tojolabal : Jiménez 1996 [the underground gods (dioses ocultos) sent four beams to support the earth, which is why it trembles]: 43; Ruz 1983 [four thunders hold up the world]: 426; Tz'tujil [four spirits inside four mountains hold up the sky]: O'Brien 1976: 384; Mazatec[four pillars are placed on the surface of the water, supporting the earth at its four corners; when the water moves, the earth shakes]: Inchaustegui 1977: 34; uawe [one or four characters hold the world on their shoulders (no details)]: Lupo 1991: 219-221.

Honduras - Panama. Four pillars. Hikaque [peace - roof of the house]: Chapman 1982, no. 17: 84; paya [peace - floating fruit; rotten supports are replaced by new ones every three days]: Flores 1989: 22, 100.

Northern Andes. Kogi [the world is an egg with nine levels; our earth is the middle level; the world rests on two horizontal poles or on the frame of a loom; the poles or frame are held by four men; to the east Sintána and Namsíku, and to the west Nándu and Ibáui; below is the water; in the midst of the waters, on a white stone, sits the Foremother; she gives drink to the holders of the world, sees to it that they do not tire; when the holders shift the poles from shoulder to shoulder, earthquakes occur; if the woman moves during copulation, this can provoke an earthquake; see also Reichel-Dolmatoff 1974: 296]: Reichel-Dolmatoff 1985(1): 225; Tunebo : Osborn 1985 [eight pillars=menhirs]: 61-62; Stoddart 1962 [world=house on pillars]: 150.

Southern Venezuela. Hoti [iyëka ja destroyed humanity by cutting down four nïn alawini trees (Vitex spp., according to other mythological versions, Copaifera officinalis L.), which supported the earth at the four cardinal points]: Matusovsky 2010.

Guiana. Warrau [the sky is supported by four pillars]: Wilbert 1975b: 165; Kashuyana (Arikena) [the sky is supported at four corners by four armadillos]: Kruse 1955: 414.

NW Amazonia. Taibano [four mountains=pillars]; desana [four pillars]; bora [the sky was supported by four giant peach palms (Guilielma speciosa); the first palm grew in the center of the earth among the waters]: Girard 1958: 108.

Eastern Amazonia. Urubu [the pillar that supported the sky rotted, the sky fell to the earth; some people cut a hole with axes, and when the sky rose again, they remained in the sky; at Maira's request, an old black shaman placed the sky not on a wooden pillar, but on stones, arranging them in a circle (of the horizon)]: Ribeiro 2002: 510.

Montaña – Jurua. Conibo , Shipibo [at the corners of the earth four palm trees support the sky]: Girard 1959: 511.

Bolivia - Guaporé. Tacana (west 1952-1954) [the earth is held by two men standing on the outstretched wings of a condor; the old men of the underworld hold the earth on their shoulders; the earth is held by four gray-haired old men; when they get tired, they shift it from shoulder to shoulder, the earth trembles; they ask the young if their hair is still black, they answer that it is; four red-haired dwarfs Idsettii Deha hold the earth in the south and 4 in the north; from time to time they ask if they are gray; they pull out gray hair; when it turns gray, the earth will fall; var. in San Jose: underground, one man holds the earth; the earth is held at the corners by four old men; when the Sun and Moon pass by, they ask if they are gray, is it time for the young to replace them; The Sun and the Moon pluck out their grey hair, saying that it is not yet time; when the young take up the burden, the earth will shake; the earth is held by two people]: Hissink, Hahn 1961: 87-89; eseeha [four pillars]: Girard 1959: 511.

Chaco. Nivacle [the world consists of four levels supported by four pillars/trunks]: Fritz 1994: 49-50; (cf. chamacoco [four people (possibly two and two – in the north and in the south)]: source? ).

Southern Brazil. Mbia [five pindo palms (Butia capitata) support the world; in the center the eternal pindovi palm; one in the east under Karai Amba, where the fire god Karaí lives; another in the west under Tupã Ambá, where the rain god and master of the waters Tupán lives; another in the north under Yvytu Yma ​​Rapita, from where the favorable wind blows]: Cadogán 1958: 88-89.