K51B. Smile on the Face of the Dead. .24.39.-.41.43.46.

The bodies of the dead are left in such a position that it seems as if they are happy - smiling, laughing, dancing.

Numfor, Wamesa, Chukchi, St. Lawrence Island, Aleut, Chugach, Central Yupik, Koyukon, Ingalik, Atna, Katlamet, Clackamas, Klamath, Sarsi, Assiniboine, Crow.

Malaysia – Indonesia. Numfor [two women, Indawaworki and Binkakuri, went to collect shells; B. brought back a large shell; I. got angry; lay down on the path and mushrooms grew out of her body; B. saw them, tried to pick them, I. jumped up and tickled B. to death; cut off her breasts, gave them to B.'s two daughters to cook at home; the breasts began to cry; then B.'s daughter asked I.'s daughter to look for the dropped needle, and then called out to her, telling her to open her mouth, and threw a hot stone into it; she swallowed the stone and died; B.'s daughter took two of I.'s daughter's lice and left them at different ends of the house; she put a new sarong and bracelets on I.'s daughter's corpse and left it standing in the doorway; I. returned and did not immediately realize that her daughter was dead; B.'s daughter calls, and the two lice answer in turn from different ends of the house; When I. realized this, she set off in pursuit; for the night she crawled under a fallen tree, not knowing that B.'s daughter was sleeping on the other side of the same tree; by the river she told the crocodile that her mother's killer was chasing her, and the crocodile took her across; and when he was taking I., he began to lower himself into the water, saying that B.'s daughter had also gone under and that it was no big deal; in the end he drowned I.]: Hasselt 1908, no. 30: 525-526; wamesa [a female kangaroo {apparently a species of tree kangaroo} and a cassowary live together; the kangaroo has two daughters, the cassowary has one; in the dry season the stream becomes shallow and both go to catch shrimp and fish in it; each time the kangaroo catches a lot, and the cassowary little; Finally, the casuarina killed a kangaroo with her powerful paws, cut the meat into small pieces, put it in bamboo vessels and brought it to the kangaroo children: this is their mother sending them fish, and she herself fell asleep by the stream; the daughters were going to cook the fish, but a voice came from the bamboo vessels: mother's flesh, mother's flesh! the girls found their mother's breasts and realized that the casuarina had killed her; in the morning the casuarina said that she was going to their mother and ordered her to boil oil; the kangaroo girls told the casuarina girl to bend down to find the fallen wicker basket, then asked her to look up and poured boiling oil in her face; they left the body standing with open eyes and mouth - as if smiling; they turned to all the objects with a request to give them up, but forgot about the wicker basket; the casuarina, when she returned, did not understand for a long time why her daughter was standing there smiling , and does not answer; when she approached, the body fell; the casuariha began to question all the objects and the kochedyk said in which direction the kangaroo girls ran away; when night came, the fugitives spent the night under the roots of a tree on one side, and the pursuer on the other; the same the next night; a few days later the girls ran to the river; asked the crocodile to take them across; he took them across and returned, and when he was taking the casuariha across, he dived and she drowned; the sisters reached a tree on which two young men were eating fruits; the young men went down; the elder took the elder sister; the younger ran away and met a snake; she was afraid of her, but it turned out that at night the snake turned into a young man; the girl gave birth to a boy; he grew up and asked to make him a bow; mother: neither I nor your father the snake can make it; but one day the snake burned his snake skin and remained a man; made a bow and arrows for his son; they live among people; the elder sister came with her husband; she wished for the husband of the younger; but she said that he was a serpent, and the elder left]: Vries 1925, No. 34: 151-160.

North-East Asia. Chukchi : Belikov 1982 [a husband leaves his wife for a long time, marries a seal, which is killed by hunters; the next time he meets a large hairy woman in the tundra, lives with her; the wife goes to look for him, puts the woman to sleep by searching her head, pours boiling fat on her face, leaves her sitting as if she is laughing ; the hunter returns, angry that she does not answer him, pierces her with a spear; then sees that she is scalded; comes to his wife; at night she cuts his throat with a knife; leaves with his son, who becomes a good hunter]: 73-77; Bogoras [a man has a wife and five children; he comes to a distant shore, stays to live with Mountain Echo; she is young and beautiful; the first wife comes to her, lulls her to sleep, kills her by pouring boiling broth into her ear; positions her body as if she is scratching her skin and smiles ; The husband comes to his first wife to kill her; she turns into a bear and kills him; her children run away from her and turn into a wagtail, a fulmar, a pintail, a wolf, a wolverine; the bear has been wandering in the tundra ever since] 1902: 624-625; 1928, No. 32: 392-394.

Arctic. St. Lawrence Island [a husband fell in love with another woman; placed his wife in a passageway into the house, forbade the children to give her food, the children secretly feed their mother; the husband killed a whale, people gathered for a feast, his lover came running for sinews; meanwhile the wife killed a puppy and began to cook it; the brew spilled and got into the lover's ear, she died; the wife left her near the dugout, as if she were standing and smiling ; she ran away; some creatures called her into a boat, promised to take her away from her cruel husband; they took her; she looked and saw seagulls flying away; a man on the shore releases wind from under his inflated clothes four times; each time she is carried out to sea, but she gets out to shore; the man says he only wanted to clean her of dirt; he brought her to his house, they have three sons; forbade her to look into a small compartment inside the house; she looked in, there a woman was making threads from sinews; the one who looked in spat down; she raised her head - she had only half a face and she began to fall on her back; her husband came in, lifted the stone that covered the hole; the earth and villages were visible below; she guessed that her husband was the Creator, and the woman was the moon, and when she lost consciousness, an eclipse occurred; seeing her children, the newcomer began to cry, it began to rain on the earth; the old people sang to bring back the moon; the husband sent his wife and children to the earth along with the house and the boat; her sons got a whale; and the ex-husband tried to find the entrance to the house, but did not find it; tried to climb onto the roof, scratched himself, died]: Slwooko 1977: 74-79); Aleuts [the shaman pretends to be dead; the wife buries him in a cave, puts a bow and a boat nearby; on the fourth day she finds the cave empty; the bird tells her that her husband lives with two new wives, takes her there; the woman promises to show how to eat soup, spills a boiling cauldron on her rivals; arranges the corpses as if one is swearing and the other is laughing ; the husband who has arrived shouts at the women not to quarrel; the wife turns into a bear, eats him along with his boat]: Lavrischev 1928: 121-122; Chugach : Birket-Smith 1953 [(=Johnson 1984: 48-49; =Norman 1990: 162-164; Aktyingkuq pretends to be dying, orders his property to be left on the grave; one day the wife finds the grave empty, the property missing, cries; hears from a bird that her husband is with a new wife behind Mount Qilagat, follows the bird, sees how the husband brings the catch to two wives; comes when the husband is not there, asks the women to boil sea grass for her, shoves their heads into boiling water; impales the corpses on spits as if one is dissatisfied and the other laughs ; the husband swims up, tells the wives not to quarrel; the former wife puts a sewing bag made of bear skin to her face, turns into a she-bear, eats her husband together with the boat; four Seals take the She-bear to the sea; she turns floating seaweed into Middleton Island, gets to Montague Island; that is why the brown bears there are especially fierce]: 154-155; Doroshin 1866 [ Akchimguk increasingly goes to the village behind the mountain, explains to his wife that they treat him well there; pretends to be dying, tells them not to burn or bury him, but to throw brushwood over him, leaving his property nearby; on the third day the wife discovers that the deceased is missing, thinks that a bear carried him off; Soroka tells that A. is with new wives; the former one comes to the two new ones while A. is at sea; says that the best thing is to sip the brew from the cauldron, shoves both heads into the boiling water; leaves one standing as if it were laughing , and the other as if it were smiling; blames A. who came, turns into a she-bear, kills him]: 371-373; Central Yupik [(the author heard from his grandmother); a boy and a girl in an empty village; got married, they have a child; the husband disappeared; a little bird tells his wife that he is married to two women behind the mountain; she took a bear skin, came to those women when her husband was not at home, said that she became beautiful after drinking the boiling brew; the women bent over the cauldron, died; the wife placed their corpses near the house, as if they were dancing ; became a she-bear, tore her husband apart; returning to her son, she could not take off the bear skin; the son became a little bird]: Kawagley 1995: 24-31.

Subarctic. Koyukon : Attla 1983 [husband is a good hunter; disappears; in spring a seagull asks whose husband it is with two wives upriver; wife leaves children, goes upriver to a house where two women are; they praise husband; the newcomer offers them to bend over boiling broth, supposedly it will taste better, pushes them into boiling water; puts one as if smiling , the other as if frowning; husband comes, touches corpses, they fall; wife runs to her house, heats a stone, then pushes it out of the fire; tells husband, who has come running, to kill her with this stone; he grabs the stone with his hands, they wrinkle; kicks - legs wrinkle, kicks with nose - face; he turns into a lynx; she throws coal after him, coal becomes a tail]: 79-95; Jette 1908-1909 [husband pretends to be dying, asks to be left in a boat on a tree; a bird tells the widow that he lives in another village with two new wives; the first wife puts on a bear skin, placing flat stones on its sides; comes to the village; in the form of a man, asks the new wives to bend over the cauldrons, pushes both into boiling water, places the corpses at the entrance to the house ; the husband returns, is angry that the wives do not answer him; the first wife is a bear again, shows him her face for a minute; kills; is invulnerable, kills other people; she and her two sons are forever transformed into brown bears]: 341-342; Ingalik [the husband goes hunting and fishing further and further, for longer periods, brings his wife and two sons less and less catch; says that he is dying, orders that the boat and the best skins be left on his funeral platform; A bird tells a widow that her husband lives in another village; she finds the platform empty; puts on a bear skin, turns into a she-bear; in the form of a woman, comes to the village, asks her husband's two new wives to bend over a boiling cauldron, pushes their heads into it; arranges the corpses as if they are smiling ; the husband finds them dead; the wife turns into a she-bear, kills her husband and all the inhabitants of the village; comes to her sons, all three become bears]: Chapman 1914, No. 6: 42-49; atna [a hunter has two wives; he met a Mouse woman, hid from her that he was married; began to bring her the best meat, and the worst to his previous wives; one of the wives followed him; finding the Mouse in her husband's absence, told her that if she leaned over a boiling cauldron and said "my husband", more fat would be rendered; pushes her head into the boiling fat; [she put the dead woman up, propping her up with a stick, as if she were smiling ; the husband touches her, she falls; after this the hunter brings the wives some fatty meat, they pretend that nothing happened]: Billum 1979: 59-61.

Coast - Plateau. Katlamet [Robin and Salmon-berry are sisters; the former has five daughters, the latter has sons; the sisters go for berries, Robin searches inside Salmon-berry's head, wants to eat her; Salmon-berry warns her sons that they must run away if she is eaten; the youngest sees Robin throwing Salmon-berry's breasts into the fire; Robin's brothers invite Robin's children to play steam room, suffocate them with heat; arrange corpses as if they were alive and smiling ; run through the underground year; Robin first asks the dog where the children ran, then finds a passage; the Crane carries the brothers across the river; stretches out his legs like a bridge; when Robin steps into a narrow place, he throws her into the water; the Crow pecks out her genitals; she comes to life, paints her belly with blood; asks different trees if the coloring suits her; Willow, Cottonwood, Fir, Thuja answer no; Alder, Cedar, Spruce, two kinds of Maple, yes; it makes the wood of the former useless, of the latter valuable]: Boas 1901a, no. 15: 118-128; Clackamas [Black Bear and Grizzly both have five sons; Grizzly asks to search her head; there are frogs, Grizzly eats them; searches for them at Bear's, bites her, devours; brings breasts home to stove; youngest cub notices them; cubs kill and boil Grizzly's sons; leave one body standing with smiling mouth; Grizzly eats his children; chases Cubs; Crane stretches leg across river, warns not to step on kneecap; Cubs cross, Grizzly scolds Crane, steps on knee; he removes his foot, she drowns; crows peck at her vagina, she comes to life; paints her face with vaginal blood; goes and asks various trees what she looks like; determines their properties based on their answers]: Jacobs 1958, no. 15: 141-156; Klamath [Grizzly woman has two sons, Antelope also has two; Grizzly digs fewer roots than Antelope; tells her she has fleas or lice; bites seeds to make a distinctive sound; gives Antelope's sons mother's meat; they smother Grizzly's sons with smoke in the house; leave their painted corpses standing as if they were laughing ; forget to warn the awl not to tell Grizzly they ran away; Crane extends his foot; pushes Grizzly into the river; finishes her off in the water with an arrow]: Barker 1963, no. 1: 7-13; Klamath [a grizzly woman has two children, an antelope also has two; the antelope quickly filled her basket with roots, and the grizzly ate mostly these; the same the next day; the third day the grizzly asked him to clean her head; the antelope cleaned it and said that her own hair was clean; but the grizzly began to bite off the roots as if they were lice, and then bit off the antelope's neck; brought the meat home; the antelope's youngest son: tastes like mother's ear; the eldest: be quiet; the grizzly warned her children not to jump over the log, not to throw themselves on the branches, not to dive; the cubs refuse to play these games when the antelope's son offers them; but they agreed to play suffocation with smoke in the dugout; first the antelope's children; and when the cubs, the antelope's children did not open the exit; they arranged the bodies of the cubs as if they were laughing ; ordered the she-bears to answer with all their objects that here were the antelope's children; but they forgot about the awl; the she-bear rushed here and there, and then the awl said that the antelope's children had long since run away; rushed after them; fell asleep next to the cave in which the antelope's children were hiding; they ran again, asking the crane for help; he hid them in a wooden whistle and brought them home; when a grizzly ran up to the river, he stretched out his legs like a bridge, shook them off when she walked on it, and then shot them with a bow]: Gatschet 1890: 118-123.

Plains. Sarcee [husband tells pregnant wife not to look out of tipi in case she hears anything; wife pierces hole with awl, peeks in; old man enters; refuses to eat food offered on tray of wood, dried stomach, bark; on woman's blanket ( better !), on her moccasin ( better still ), greaves ( even more !), on dress she has taken off ( very close! ); when she puts food on her bare belly, man eats it along with her flesh, pulls two babies out of womb, throws one in stream, one behind tipi hem; puts corpse's face into fire, wrinkles up as if laughing; leaves corpse facing entrance; husband first thinks wife laughs, then cries; notices little footprints in ashes; leaves his blanket on hill for camouflage, flies up like a feather; hears one boy calling another to come out of the river to play; next time the father grabs Domashny, River Boy escapes; convinces Domashny to lure River Boy to the shore, grabs him too; the brothers shoot arrows up over their mother's body, she comes back to life; the father does not tell them to go in certain directions; the brothers go, defeat monsters; 1) a bison; 2) a bear; 3) an old man who killed their mother (Domashny searches inside his head, protecting his stomach with a flat stone; the old man cannot bite into it, River Boy kills him with an arrow); 4) a living hill draws in and swallows people; the brothers find skeletons inside; cut off the Hill's heart, make a hole in his side; revive the swallowed ones, come out with them; 5) Domashny tries to grab an Eagle's feather, the Eagle carries it away; an old woman finds a baby lying on eagle feathers; only her youngest son agrees to her bringing the foundling into the house; they call him Tsilunna ("lousy") the chief promises to give his two daughters in marriage to the one who will get two silver foxes; Ts. gets them; the old woman is ashamed to offer Ts. as a son-in-law to the chief, the third time she says that it was he who got the foxes; the elder sister refuses to marry Ts., the younger one does; only Ts. turns bison cakes into bison, gets bison; makes beautiful clothes for himself and his wife; the elder sister, out of envy, turns into a mole, digs a hole under the sleeping Ts., he falls through, she defecates on him; the old She-Wolf calls the animals, they tear Ts. apart; the She-Wolf adopts Ts., they kill her, Ts. returns to his wife; orders the Wolves to execute the elder sister; The wolves tore her apart, Wolverine took the vulva and climbed a tree]: Curtis 1976(18): 136-140; Assiniboine: Lowie 1909a, #16 [a husband going hunting tells his pregnant wife not to answer strangers or look at anyone who calls; a guest asks where the door is; the woman: You know; she serves food; the guest: I am not accustomed to eating like this - put the food on your stomach; after eating, he rips open her stomach and takes out two twins; then he runs with the woman around each tipi post and takes his wife underground; the husband, returning, calls the wolves, sets up a tipi for them, and tells them to take care of the twins until he himself returns from underground; he also runs around each tipi post and goes underground through the hearth; there is a camp by a lake; an old woman warns him that the evil local people will not give him back his wife, but will kill him with their manitou; but they cannot kill him; they pass on through the old woman: there is a pole in the lake, he must dive in and shake it; he does so; then again, emerging only in the evening; warned the old woman: when they boil me and eat me, collect the bones, cover me with a blanket and tell me to get up; the old woman did everything, he came to life; he lowers the sun into the underworld, the underground people perish from the heat; he returns with his wife to the children], 20 [the lover wants to take the woman away, but she is pregnant; he says that he wants to eat from her belly; she asks how she can sit; Lie on your back, put the bowl on your belly; after eating, he rips open her belly, leaves the child in the tipi; the lovers leave through an underground passage under the hearth, then return to earth in the form of snakes, hide in a hollow; the husband climbs a tree after them; not recognizing in the snakes those whom he pursued, the husband climbs to the sky, becomes the Morning Star]: 168-169, 176; Crow: Lowie 1918: 74-85 [whenever the husband is out hunting, the woman (later named Red Woman) comes to his wife; she always forgets to tell her husband; serves the guest food on a plate; she says she doesn't eat on such plates; serves it on another; same; her plate is a pregnant woman; the hostess lies on her back and exposes her belly; the guest eats the food, then rips open her belly and takes out the twins; burns the upper lip of the dead woman to make it seem as if she were smiling; leaves the corpse standing near the dwelling; throws one baby over the partition, the other into the river; when the husband comes, he pushes his wife, the corpse falls and he sees that his wife's belly is ripped open; the husband buried his wife in a hollow pine tree; mice raise Curtain-boy; the father hears that he is somewhere nearby; offers to feed him; at last he comes out and stays with his father; as soon as his father leaves, Home Boy goes to play with Spring Boy; he has large, sharp teeth; in order to go ashore, Spring Boy asks permission from his river father (a word sometimes used for a crocodile); as soon as Spring Boy senses the approach of his earthly father, he throws himself into the water; Home Boy tells his father about Spring Boy and how their mother was killed; Home Boy distracts Spring Boy, his father, wearing leather mittens, grabs him; the water of the river rushes onto the shore, but the father throws it bison entrails and the water recedes; Spring Boy's sharp teeth are filed down; (then a long story about the adventures of the brothers); the brothers kill and burn the Red Woman; the mother turns into the Moon, the father into the Morning Star, Home Boy into the Big Dipper, Spring Boy into the Evening Star], 85-94 [the wife is pregnant; going out hunting, the husband tells her not to answer the stranger; the guest is a blind man with a second face on the back of his head, asks where the entrance is; a baby from the womb tells him that it is from the east; a woman gives the guest meat on a plate made of skin, from bark; he rejects it every time, saying that his plate is the belly of a pregnant woman; kills a woman by putting a hot stone on her belly; takes out the twins, throws one over the partition, the other into the river; places the woman's corpse as if she is smiling; the husband leaves the corpse of his wife on the platform; the Home Son asks his father for meat, comes out from behind the partition; the River Boy secretly goes out to play with his brother; the father notices the trail, the Home Boy tells him about the death of his mother; they put on gloves that the River Boy is unable to bite through, and catch him; the River Boy has another "father" in the river; the boy gives him his sharp teeth; the brothers find a box with their father and white powder in it; when they sprinkle it on their penises, they get pleasure; spend it all, fill the box with ashes; father's penis only hurts from the ashes; brothers resurrect mother so that father can have a wife; for this they shoot upwards, tell her to move away, so that the arrow does not fall on her; (further about the twins' extermination of monsters)], 94-98 [the witch comes (as on pp.74-85); River Boy gives up his teeth (as on pp.85-94)]; crow[wife is pregnant; leaving for hunting, husband tells her not to answer stranger; guest is blind with second face on the back of head, asks where is the entrance; baby from mother's womb tells him that from the east; woman gives guest meat on a plate made of skin, from bark; he rejects every time, says that his plate is pregnant belly; kills woman by putting red-hot stone on her belly; takes out twins, throws one over the partition, the other in the river; places woman's corpse as if she is smiling; husband leaves wife's corpse on the platform; Home Son asks father for meat, comes out from behind the partition; River Boy secretly from father goes out to play with brother; father notices tracks, Home Boy tells him about mother's death; they put on gloves which River Boy is not able to bite through, catch him; River Boy has another "father" in the river; boy gives him his sharp teeth; brothers find a box with their father and in it a white powder; when they sprinkle it on their penis, they get pleasure; they spend it all, fill the box with ashes; the father's penis only hurts from the ashes; the brothers resurrect their mother so that their father can have a wife; for this they shoot upwards, telling her to move away so that the arrow does not fall on her; (further about the twins' extermination of monsters)]: Lowie 1918: 85-89.