K45A. Fingers transform into aquatic animals. .40.53.

A man swims away from a woman or girl in a boat or on a raft. When she tries to grab the edge of the boat (raft), he cuts off her fingers. The fingers turn into water animals.

Bering Strait Inupiat, Caribou (?), Netsilik, Igloolik, Polar, Baffin Island, Labrador Eskimo, Kuna.

Arctic. Bering Strait Inupiat (Port Clarence; W. to Chicago from Alaskan Eskimo) [father throws daughter overboard, she clings to the stern; father cuts off her finger joints successively; the first to be severed turns into salmon, the second into seals, the third into walruses, the wrist bones into whales ]: Boas 1894c: 205; Caribou (west coast of Hudson Bay) [according to Captain Comer's notes, among the inhabitants of the west coast of Hudson Bay Nuliayoq takes the place of Sedna; the myth connected with it recorded by Lyon agrees in all essentials with the legend of Sedna; he mentions that it is also called Ai -willi -ay -oo (Avilayoq); this name is also attributed to Sedna (cf. Boas 1901b: 163)]: Boas 1901b: 145-146; Netsilik : Rasmussen 1931: 225-226 [people sail on rafts across a strait; they push an orphan girl, Nuliajuk, into the water; when she tries to grab the edge of the raft, the people cut off her fingers; the fingers turn into seals, N. becomes the mistress of the sea animals ], 227-228 [an angry father orders his daughter to marry a dog; his dog in human form sleeps with her, she becomes pregnant; the father takes her to an island; she gives birth to puppies; the father brings meat to her and them; she asks the children to tear him apart; sends them away, they become the ancestors of Indians and whites; she wants to swim away with them, they push her into the water; they cut off her fingers, the stumps turn into walruses and seals; she becomes the mistress of the sea animals ]; igloolik : Kroeber 1899, no. 25 [the girl rejects the suitors; at night she begins to devour her parents; they flee, together with other people they swim away in a baidara (umiak); the father pushes his daughter into the water, cuts off her fingers; the fingers turn into various seals, walruses, narwhals ]: 179; Rasmussen 1930a [the girl rejects the suitors; her father tells her to marry a dog; he takes her to an island; the dog carries meat to her in a kayak; she gives birth to children and puppies; the father puts stones in the dog's boat, he drowns; she tells her children to tear up their father's boat, he manages to return home; her children turn into the ancestors of Indians and whites; she returns to her father; Foolish comes for her; she finds that he has ugly eyes; bears him a child; the father comes for her; Foolish sends a storm; the father throws the daughter into the sea; she clings to his boat, he chops off her fingers; they turn into seals, bearded seals, walruses; she becomes the Mistress of the Sea Animals ; her father and the drowned dog come to live with her]: 63-66; polar [Foolish marries a girl, takes her to an island; one day she sees his ugly eyes when he takes off his snow goggles; the woman's brothers take her away; Foolish raises a storm, she is thrown into the water; she clings to the side of the boat, the father chops off her fingers with an oar, they turn into game animals; the father now lives with her at the bottom of the sea ; shamans come to them if the animals disappear]: Holtved 1951, no. 9: 60-63 (=1967: 147-148; trans. in Menovshchikov 1985, no. 267: 490-491); Baffin Island : Boas 1888: 583-585 [the girl rejects suitors; marries Fooly; he deceives her, promising a clean, cozy house, lots of meat; the father swims for Sedna, kills Fooly, takes her back; other Foolys cause a storm; the father throws his daughter into the water, cuts off her fingers, they turn into sea animals ; the Foolys think she has drowned, fly away; the father takes Sedna back to the boat; at home she orders the dogs to eat off his hands and feet; he asks the earth to swallow them and him; now they are all in the world of the dead], 585 [the same, but her father and brother sail after Sedna; in the boat, her father kills her, gouging out one of her eyes; at home, he leaves her lying on the shore, covering her with a dog's skin; the sea carries her away; shamans visit her, she has one left eye; her father has three fingers, or only one hand], 637 [the girl rejects suitors, takes a dog as a husband; she gives birth to children with dog legs and puppies; her father takes them all to an island, orders the dog to provide her with food; puts stones in his boat instead of meat, he drowns; the daughter orders the dog-children to eat off their father's hands and feet; the father sails with her in a boat, throws her overboard, cuts off her fingers; they turn into seals, whales ; father takes her in boat; her children become ancestors of Indians, puppies - Europeans]; Labrador Eskimos : Hawkes 1916 [woman marries dog; father disgraced, takes her to uninhabited island; throws her overboard into sea; she grabs the sides of boat, he cuts off her fingers; thumb becomes walrus, index finger a seal, middle finger a polar bear ; (in the previous paragraph: Thorncarsoak (the creator of man) put the puppies in an old shoe, sent them on the water; one returned with the Indians; later another with the Europeans; appeared in the form of a man, but then again became a dog]: 152; Turner 1894 [a girl lives with strangers, there is some kind of conflict between them; they leave, throwing her into the water; she grabs the edge of the boat, her fingers are cut off, they turn into seals, walruses, whales, polar bears ]: 261-262.

Honduras - Panama. Kuna [see motif J16; woman's lover turns out to be her brother, turns into the Moon; leaves, she follows him; falls into fear, her sons eat the woman; the old woman finds eight boys in the womb; tells them that she is their mother; they are surprised to find her so different from them, ugly and without a nose; the old woman makes herself a clay nose; Woodpecker reports that their real mother has been eaten by fish; the brothers push the old woman into the water, cut off her fingers; she and all the fingers turn into toads and frogs ]: Chapin 1989 [the eldest brother holds out his golden staff to the old woman; she seizes it, he cuts off her fingers with a knife]: 32-42; Wassen 1934b: 7.