L5e1. The demon woman haunts her children. .27.41.44.46.

A woman who has become a monster haunts her own children.

Greek, Kutchin, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Northern Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Teton, Cheyenne, Pawnee, Kiowa.

The Balkans. Greeks (Epirus) [a husband told his wife to cook a dove; the wife went away and a cat ate the dove; frightened of her husband, the wife cut off her breast and cooked it; the husband: never tasted such delicious meat in his life; the wife says that he did; the husband decides to eat only human flesh and to start with to eat their children - a boy Asterinos (Morning Venus) and a girl Puliya (Pleiades); a dog heard and told the children; they took a knife, a comb and a handful of salt and ran away; the mother pursues; P. tells him to drop the knife, it turns into a vast plain; the mother catches up again; they drop the comb (dense forest); salt (sea); the mother remains on the other side; A. is thirsty, P. tells him not to drink from the wolf's track, there is a royal spring ahead; drank from the sheep's track, became a lamb; they reached the royal spring; P. climbed a cypress tree, its top turned into a golden throne; the lamb remained below; the prince's servants report to him, he orders the girl to come down, she refuses; they begin to cut down the cypress, but the lamb licks the clearing and the work must be started over; the old woman promises to lure the girl out; she begins to sift the flour, but puts the trough on top and the sieve below; P. came down to show how to do it; the prince grabbed her; the wedding; the prince's mother is jealous of his wife, takes her into the garden, pushes her into the pond; they want to slaughter the lamb; he runs to the pond, complains; P. turns to God; the lamb was slaughtered; P. flies out of the pond: my lamb! the lamb was eaten, P. buried the seeds; an apple tree with a golden apple grew; no one can pick it, the apple tree immediately grows higher, only P. picked the apple; said goodbye and turned into the Pleiades, and the lamb into the Morning Star]: Hahn 1964(1), no. 1: 65-70 (=Pio 2017: 19-24; retelling of part of the text in Mannhardt 1875: 237-238).

Subarctic. Kuchin [while the husband is hunting, the wife gets meat from the ceftri in the forest (probably copulates with him; the word denotes insects, snakes, worms, eels); Dzhateakuoit is the eldest of two sons; he tells his father about his mother’s behavior; he cuts off her head; the body pursues the husband, the head pursues the sons; D. throws a stone, an awl, a knife, a beaver tooth, received from his father, while running; they turn into a mountain, thorny thickets, a mountain range, a river; accidentally the tooth falls in front of the fugitives, not behind them; The swan takes them across the river; the head calls the swan her husband , asks him to take her too; The swan throws her into the water, she turns into a big fish; the brothers play ball, it falls into the boat; the owner of the boat invites D. to take the ball: he takes it away; the younger brother, left on the shore, turns into a wolf; the owner’s eldest daughter refuses to marry D.; The youngest comes out, makes him handsome; the father-in-law demands 1) to bring material for the arrow shaft from a tree scattering sharp chips around; 2) to get resin from a tree splashing boiling resin; in both cases D. calms the trees by spitting on them; 3) to get the tendons of two animals covered with impenetrable wool; The mouse gnaws out the wool under the hearts of the animals, explaining that her babies are freezing; D. kills the animals with arrows; 4) to get the feathers of man-eating eagles; D. kills a female chick; asks the male how his parents will arrive; The father - with rain and hail, the mother - with a blizzard ; D. kills adult eagles with a spear, turns the chick into an ordinary eagle; 5) to kill a she-bear; D. grabs the forbidden arrow, pierces the she-bear; she turns out to be his wife; the father-in-law turns into a bear, attacks D., and is also killed by him]: McKennan 1965: 98-103.

Midwest. Prairie Cree : Ahenakew 1929 [woman knocks on dry wood; snakes emerge from hollow, she pets them; husband watches her; calls snakes with same signal, cuts off their heads; keeps smallest one (origin of snakes); tells eldest son to take youngest on back and run; gives them awl, flint, beaver tooth; sends wife for meat, curtains entrance to hut with net; woman finds dead snakes, runs to house, gets entangled in net; husband cuts off her head; flees to sky, her body pursues him, they turn into Little Dipper (wife's body) and Big Dipper; head pursues sons fleeing west; they throw objects which turn into thorn fence, mountain (great worm gnaws ravine for Head), wall of fire, river; two old Bitterns stretch out their necks like a bridge, the brothers cross over it; the Head steps, causing pain to the Bitterns, they throw it into the river; the eldest brother throws a stone at it, the Head turns into a sturgeon]: 309-313, 323, 329; Plains Ojibwa [dressed up, a woman goes into the forest, knocks on a tree; a man comes out of the trunk, they copulate; the husband catches them, kills the lover, cuts off his wife's head; gives the eldest son an awl, a needle, a piece of thread, a knife; says that if the sunset is red, then he is dead; the body pursues the husband, the head of the sons; the eldest carries the younger on his back; thrown objects turn into a mountain (Head finds a ravine), a thorn bush (Head gets entangled in hair; a worm gnaws it off, in return for which Head allows him to copulate with it through the occipital foramen), a Horned Serpent (he lets Head pass, receiving the same payment), a river; Head asks a Pelican to ferry her for the same payment; the Pelican warns not to touch a certain place on his neck; the prohibition is broken, he throws Head into the river; the eldest son smashes Head with a stone; that same evening the sky turns red in the west]: Skinner 1919, no. 2: 291-292; Northern Ojibwa (Sandy Lake) [a hunter meets a woman in the forest, marries her; she goes to a stump, undresses, calls Machi-manitou; snakes crawl into all the holes of her body; her husband watches her, sends her to bring game, kills snakes with an axe, gives her their blood instead of bear's; tells their two sons that if the sky turns red, he is dead; gives a bone awl, a sharp stone, flint, a beaver's tooth, a stone chisel, tells them to run; the wife runs to the stump; when she returns, the husband cuts off her head, chops her body into pieces, throws the halves into the sky, they are visible now (constellations?); her Skull kills and devours him, pursues her sons; the sky turns red; the elder carries the younger on his back; throws objects, they turn into thorny thickets, a rock, a wall of fire, a heap of poplar stumps, a river; the Beaver makes a passage in the thicket when the Skull promises to allow him to copulate with him in the eye sockets and nostrils; the lost soul leads the Skull through a crack in the rock; Toadstool agrees to transport Skull across the river, orders not to touch the sore spot on his neck; Skull is touched, thrown into the water; the sons smash it with a stone, it drowns; see motif K27]: Ray, Stevens 1971: 48-52.

Plains. Blackfeet (Blood) [husband gets web to catch animals; his wife anoints herself with perfume, goes to her Snake lover; husband watches her, burns snake den; tells his two sons to run, gives them stick, stone, wet moss; hangs web over doorway; wife gets caught in it, he cuts off her head; her body pursues him; they turn into Moon and Sun; if Moon catches up with Sun, eternal night comes; Head pursues sons; they throw down objects they got, thicket, mountain, pond are formed; first mountain sheep, then ants make passage in mountain; for this Head promises to become their chiefs' wife; falls into water, drowns; one brother goes north, another south; one becomes ancestor of whites; another, Napi, creator of the Blackfoot]: Grinnell 1893a: 44-47; Assiniboine [husband sees wife knocking on stump to summon snake lover; kills all snakes, makes soup from their blood, feeds wife; she finds dead snakes; husband tells his six sons and daughter to run away; when wife looks into house, cuts off her head; head catches up with children, gathers them in tipi, tells them not to look at it while she is dressing skin of moose killed by one of sons; one looks, head pursues children; awl, flint, stone thrown by them turn into many awls, into fire, into mountain; two Cranes lay their necks as a bridge over river; children cross; Cranes push head into water; it continues pursuit; children play ball and rise to sky, turn into Big Dipper; head cannot jump to the sky]: Lowie 1909a, no. 22: 177-178; Teton (Oglala) [woman calls bears out of hollows by hitting tree with hatchet; copulates with bears, then kills, feeds meat to her three children; her husband feeds wife bear meat to death; her head pursues children; they throw whetstone, it turns into mountains; she asks snake to make gorge; children hide in tree; she breaks it, they descend to earth, sitting in bird's nest; man takes them across river in boat; head climbs oar, he hits it with oar, drowns]: Wissler 1907, no. 6: 195-196; Cheyenne[every morning the husband paints his wife red from head to toe, goes out hunting; the wife goes for water, undresses, asks the snake to appear, it crawls out of the water; returning from hunting, the husband finds no traces of paint; the wife says she was swimming; the husband peeks in, sees the snake coiled around his wife; chops the lovers into pieces with a knife, brings the mother's meat to the two daughters, they eat, not knowing what it is; the mother's head rolled in: it's a pity that the children ate me; the daughters run, the head pursues; the eldest draws a strip on the ground, a deep hole is formed; the youngest is hungry; the eldest looks at the deer and it falls dead; they live in a wigwam; they are guarded by two pumas and two bears; other people are starving; learning that the sisters have a lot of food, they go to them; then the people left, only the girls' father remained; they do not like what he did {to their mother}, they ordered the pumas to tear him apart]: Kroeber 1900, No. 22: 184-186; Cheyenne [every morning the husband paints his wife from head to toe with red paint; returning from hunting, he finds no traces of paint; the daughter says that the mother is absent for a long time when she goes to fetch water; the husband watches his wife; she undresses on the shore of the lake, says: I am here ; the water spirit crawls out, licks the paint off her; the husband chops the lovers into pieces with a knife, throws the head, hands, feet of the wife into the water; the meat from the ribs is brought to the children under the guise of antelope meat; the boy is younger than his sister, still remembers the taste of his mother's milk, notices that the meat has the same taste; the father leaves; the mother's head haunts the children, because they ate her flesh; the daughter throws yellow porcupine quills, they turn into thorny bushes; then the white ones - into another kind of bush; the red ones - into thickets of wild roses; makes a furrow in the ground with a digging stick, puts the stick in front of her, they cross, and in place of the furrow a deep ravine appears behind them; when Head crosses it on a stick-bridge, the daughter pushes the stick, Head falls, the abyss closes behind her; the children come to the people; the father accuses them of killing their mother, orders them to tie them up and leave them; the old dog gnawed through the fetters; the girl kills animals with her look, the boy becomes a good hunter; the people are starving; the girl sends Raven to throw them a piece of fat; the people return; the girl orders two bears to tear her father to pieces; since then there are man-eating bears]: Grinnell 1903: 108-115 (=Erdoes, Ortiz 1984: 230-237); Pawnee (Skidi) [the hunter wants to marry another; cuts off wife's head, roasts meat, places head on tree; gives meat to son and daughter as venison; head promises to kill them for eating mother; across river; through thorny forest; two Cranes stretch out legs like a bridge across pond; children run to other side; Cranes push head into water, it sinks; children come to village; old man helps them, kills their wicked father]: Dorsey 1904b, no. 32: 115-124; Kiowa [during famine husband kills wife in forest, roasts, eats, gives meat to their three sons; mother's meat or skull asks: Why do you eat me; sons (and husband?) run away, skull pursues them; var. 1: dead bison (skin and bones) gives them various entrails; thrown back, they turn into mountains, rocks, gorges; var. 2: old man hides boys in his hair; hits skull with bow, breaking it into pieces; gives bow to boys]: Parsons 1929a, no. 34: 71-74.