Topic: SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

[Prometheus]

SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY   https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra41gray/page/296

BY

UNO HOLMBERG

PH.D.

DOCENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FINLAND, HELSINGFORS
 
 INTRODUCTION

MOST dominant among the Siberian peoples is the great
Altaic race, the original dwelling-place of which ap-
pears to have been in the vicinity of the Altai Mountains, but
which at the present time is distributed over an enormous
stretch of territory in Central and North Asia, the Near East
and Eastern Europe. The languages spoken by these scattered
peoples are divided into three large groups: Turco-Tatar,
Mongolian, and Mandshu-Tungus.

Besides the Turks proper, or Osmans, the closely related
Turkomans to the east of the Caspian Sea and in the Stavropol
Government, and the Eastern Turkish tribes in East Turkes-
tan, the Turco-Tatar group comprises further, the Tatars
around the Volga, whence pioneers have migrated as far as
to Western Siberia, the Tatars in the Crimea and other dis-
tricts in Russia, the Bashkirs in the central Ural districts, the
Nogaiyes in the Crimea and Northern Caucasia and other Tatar
tribes up to south of the Caspian Sea, the Kirghis in Russia
and Turkestan, the Altai Tatars in the neighbourhood of the
Altai, where they form a number of smaller groups with dif-
ferent dialects, — Soyots, Karagass, the Abakan, Cholym, and
Baraba Tatars, — the Teleuts, the Lebed Tatars and the Ku-
mandines, and also the .Yakuts by the River Lena in North
Siberia, and the Chuvash from the bend of the Volga in
Russia.

The Mongolians, whose original home was by Lake Baikal,
and from whom Mongolia derives its name, have assimilated
different Turkish tribes, which have appropriated the Mongo-
lian language. In the course of raids of conquest the Mon-
golians have also overflowed to other districts, amongst others,
 INTRODUCTION

300

to Afghanistan, where they are now termed Moghols. Closely
related to the Mongolians are the Kalmucks to the south of
the Altai, in the southern stretches of the Tientshan Mountains
and by the Volga in Russia, whither inner disturbances caused
them to wander in the seventeenth century. Further, the
Buriats around the Caspian Sea belong to the Mongolian group.

The Mandshu-Tungus stocks, which are composed of many
closely related lesser groups with different languages, appear
to have migrated from the districts around the Amur River.
At the present time tribes belonging to these stocks dwell over
wide stretches in North-East Siberia, reaching from the Yenisei
Valley to the Pacific Ocean, and from Northern China and
Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean. The Tungus stocks dwelling
in the Amur Valley include the Goldes, the Orotchones, the
Manegres, etc., and also the more distantly related Solones,
Mandshus and Dahurs, of which the last-named have for the
most part appropriated the Mongolian language. The Tungus
dwelling on the shores of the Northern Arctic Ocean and the
Pacific are called Lamutes. The Dolgans dwelling around the
Khatanga River, and at present wholly under the influence of
the Yakut language and culture, appear also to have been
originally Tungus.

The primary cause of the present widely scattered state of
the Altaic race would seem to be found in their restless, migra-
tory mode of life, and their lust for war. Tribes belonging to
this race first appeared in Europe with the great migration of
the Huns, whose barbaric advance-guards are described al-
ready by Ptolemaios in the second century. When these re-
turned to Asia after their martial exploits, certain Turkish
tribes remained behind, the remains of which are the Bolgars,
or, to call them by their present name, the Chuvashes by the
Volga. Early in history, Turkish peoples in Asia have built
up powerful empires, attaining a certain, though short-lived,
prosperity. Their chiefs have ruled everywhere in Asia.
An important centre of development seems to have existed
 INTRODUCTION   301

at some period south of Lake Baikal on the Selenga River and
its tributary, the Orkhon, where a number of ancient Turkish
inscriptions on the gravestones of departed chiefs have been
discovered. These inscriptions, translated in 1893 by Prof.
Vilhelm Thomsen, originate from the Turk dynasty (Chinese,
Tu-kiu, 680-745' A.D.) and the subsequent period of pros-
perity among the Uigurs (745-840). The Uigurs came at
that time into contact with missionaries from Syria, who
preached the Nestorian and Manichean doctrines, and also
with Buddhist missionaries from China. When, later, a part
of the Uigurs moved to the districts around the Tientshan,
where they took up agriculture and commerce, an important
centre of culture arose in East Turkestan (900-1200 a.d.).
Through the Uigurs other Mongolian tribes came into con-
tact with the Christian Faith. The influence of Syrian culture
is evident in the Syrian characters of Uigurean literature, re-
mains of which were dug up in excavations commenced in 1905
at the town of Turfan in East Turkestan. During the period
of Manicheanism, and probably during a still earlier period,
ancient Persian culture affected the religious views of the Mon-
golians and the Turco-Tatars dwelling at Sajan and the Altai,
as will be seen from certain mythological names Mon-
golian Hormusda, Kalmuck Hormustan — Persian Ahura-
Mazdaj Buriat Arima = Persian Ahriman; Altai-Tatar and
Kirghis Kudai (“ God ”) = Persian Hudaij Altai-Tatar Aina
(“ an evil spirit dwelling under the earth ”) = Persian
Aênanh).

Great upheavals and new groupings of tribes took place
when the great Mongolian ruler Temudjin, or as he is more
often called, Jenghiz Khan or Chingiskan (1162-1227), ac-
complished his ambitious schemes of conquest. These migra-
tions of tribes pressed also the Turks farther west, gradually
even to Europe. After the Mongolian conquest, different
Tatar tribes remained behind in Russia, represented by the
Tatars at present dwelling there. Jenghiz Khan himself was
 302   INTRODUCTION

extremely liberal in religious matters, tolerating all the dif-
ferent religious sects. His successors, notably Kubilai (1260-
1294), whose capital became Pekin, were, however, more in-
clined towards Buddhism, which seems also to have exercised
a great influence over the Mongolians. But with the fall of
the Mongol dynasty in China in 1368, Buddhism appears to
have gone out of fashion, and paganism blossomed anew, until
Buddhism again, in the shape of Lamaism, won over in the
seventeenth century fervent disciples among both Mongolians
and Kalmucks, the last-named setting up during their war in
Thibet the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader. Eager mis-
sionaries arose also in the ranks of the people, and gradually,
by fines and other punishments, the pagan sacrifices were over-
come. For political reasons, however, many old folk-customs
were tolerated by giving them a new meaning. At the present
day, the orthodox people abhor their old shamanistic religion,
the “ Black Religion,” which has almost entirely been sup-
planted by Lamaism, the “Yellow Religion,” with Thibetan
books of devotion. Since the beginning of the nineteenth
century, the Buriats south and east of the Baikal, and a part of
the Tungus dwelling there, have also been led to accept the
“Yellow Religion.” The older Buddhistic culture, which
penetrated from China, has left among the Central Asian
tribes a number of myths, in which the Buddhist names of the
gods appear borrowed from the Sanscrit and not from the
Thibetan.

Of the tribes belonging to the Turco-Tatar group, the ma-
jority, have gradually declared for Islam, which had already
in the eighth century penetrated to a Turkish tribe, forcing its
way via Turan into the Near East. Only the Soyotes in Mon-
golia and the Uigurs, the latter lapsing little by. little into
Chinamen, are Buddhists 5 the Yakuts, part of the Tungus in
Trans-Baikal and the Chuvashes, being, like many of the
Tatars in the Minusinsk District and on the Volga, members of
the Russian Orthodox Church,
 -t—   ?   -.....
 PLATE XL

An Old Turkish Image and Memorial
Stone with Inscription in North
Mongolia

(See page 301.)

After photograph by-S. P&lsi.
 
 
 INTRODUCTION

303

Traces of the religion conformed to at one time by the whole
of the Altaic race, shamanism, have adhered to many of the
converted tribes, such as the Yakuts, Buriats, part of the
Kirghis, etc. In its primitive state, this religion still flourishes
among the Tungus and the tribes related to them among the
more Northern Yakuts, among the Buriats west of the Baikal,
and among a few small Tatar tribes at the Altai.

An important field of investigation is moreover found
among all the peoples who, in different ways, have been in close
contact with the Altaic race. The peoples, related to the Finns,
on the River Ob, the Ostiaks and Voguls, have been at least
in their southern districts influenced by the Tatars. The
Tungus, again, have transmitted many of their beliefs and
customs to the eastern Samoyeds and to some Old Asian tribes,
such as, for example, the nearly extinct Yenisei Ostiaks and
the Yukagires. Asiatic shamanism exists still among the
Chukchee, Koriaks and the Kamchadales. The Kamchadales
have, however, to a great part become Russianised in recent
times. Among the Tungus tribes by the Amur River, and
equally among the East Mongolians, Chinese culture also has
in some degree left traces.

Concerning the means of existence of the Altaic races, with
which the religious beliefs stand in connection, the tribe most
completely adhering to its primitive mode of life is the Tungus.
They exist in the great primeval forests by hunting, or wander
about with reindeer, riding on the backs of these j on the banks
of rivers and on the sea-coasts, fishing is also an important
means of existence On the same plane of civilization are also
the other North Siberian peoples. The tribes dwelling on the
great steppes of Central Asia have from prehistoric times been
nomads 5 part of the Soyots near the Altai are reindeer-nomads.
For the majority the horse and the sheep are the domestic
animals of most importance. In some districts, chiefly in the
south, agriculture has recently been taken up.

The oldest information concerning the Mongolian and
 INTRODUCTION

304

Tatar religions, is found in accounts of travels by. certain Euro-
peans, sent out in the thirteenth century to Central Asia. One
of these was the Franciscan monk, Johannes de Plano Carpini,
sent by Pope Innocent IV to the land of the Mongolians. He
journeyed over the Volga as far as to Karakorum on the
Orkhon, the capital founded by Ögedei, the son of Jenghiz
Khan, in which town he remained over one winter. His
experiences he describes in his Historia Mongolorwn. An-
other important book of travel of the same period was written
by the Franciscan Vilhelm Rubruquis (Ruysbroeck), who
travelled in 1253-12$$ as the ambassador of the French King,
Louis IX, in nearly the same districts as did Carpini. Of
the accounts mentioned above, a critical edition appeared in
Recueil de voyages et de mémoires fubliê far la sociêtê de
Géo graf hiey tome IV, Paris, 1839. The well-known travel-
ler, Marco Polo, sojourned also for a longer period among
the Mongolians, going out in 1271 as the Pope’s ambassador to
visit Kubilai-Khan; serving the latter at one time in the capacity
of governor, until in 1292 he was accorded permission to return
to his native country. His De regiombus orientalibusy touch-
ing in some degree also on the religion of the Mongolians,
has been translated into many languages. A few older frag-
ments of knowledge concerning Mongolian religious beliefs are
to be found in certain Chinese, Mohammedan, and Mongolian
sources, amongst others, in the Mongolian Chronicle of
Ssanang Ssetsen, translated into German by the Academician
I. J. Schmidt {Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen und ihres Fur-
stenhMses,i%2y).

The oldest reports are, however, so few and insignificant,
that it is not possible to build up any clear representation of the
ancient religion of the Altaic race by their aid alone. But as
the majority of the scattered peoples have retained the old
traditions handed down by their ancestors nearly to the present
day, even in many cases right on to our time, it has still been
possible to gather together an imposing mass of material for
 I   INTRODUCTION   305

iff. '

investigation. The foundation of these, at present compara-
I   tively large, collections, was already laid in the seventeenth

I   century, and later, after the Russian migration to Siberia.

Among some of the tribes, notably the Buriats and Yakuts,
native investigators have played an important part in this work.
Some of the northern tribes, in particular the Tungus living in
their inaccessible primeval forests, are, however, up to the
%   present day, still very little known.




 •'v

i. -   •'

|

i
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

CHAPTER I

WORLD PICTURES

HE VARIOUS streams of civilization, coming at dif-

ferent times and from different sources, which have
crossed and recrossed Central Asia, have brought with them
differing conceptions of the world we live in and the universe.
The newest arrivals, usurping as they: do the supreme authority,
have either altogether brushed aside the old beliefs, or, finding
in them some point of contact, have assimilated them. Matters
being thus, it is often extremely difficult to decide which fea-
tures represent older views, and what the original world pic-
ture of the Altaic race was like.

To obtain some idea of how primitive peoples form their
idea of the world, we will examine the strange, but to them
quite natural, conception of the world of the Yenisei Ostiaks.
According to their ideas, the world is divided into three parts:
Above, the sky; in the middle, the earth peopled by men;
below, the kingdom of the dead; but all these parts are united
by the u Holy Water,” which, beginning in Heaven, flows
across the earth to Hades. This water is the great Yenisei
River.1 The Samoyeds also, who have learned to speak of
different storeys in the sky, declare the Yenisei River to flow
from the lake in the sixth storey of Heaven. In their tales,
the Yenisei Ostiaks describe how the shaman rows his boat in
Heaven and how he returns along the river at such terrific
speed that the wind whistles through him.2 It may, be diffi-
cult for us to understand these pictures, but to the Yenisei
 308   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

Ostiak nothing can be more natural. Do they not know from
experience that the earth is slanting, that the rushing river
which is the dwelling-place of this fisher tribe comes from
“ above ” and flows “ down ” into the depths of Hades? The
south, like many other North Siberian peoples, they call u that
above,” the north “ that below.” The Yenisei is to them
the centre of the world, as on its banks or tributaries they place
all the peoples known to them, and thus would they draw a
map of the world, had they a Ptolemy amongst them.

The peoples living in Central Asia imagine the world some-
times as a circular disc, sometimes as a square. In an Altaic
tale in which a Lama creates the earth with his staff, the world
is said to have been originally circular but later to have altered,
so that it is now square.8 Thus do the Yakuts also imagine
the world. In their folk-poetry the four corners of both
Heaven and Earth are often mentioned. The winds, for ex-
ample, are said to arise in the four corners of the sky.4 Georgi
relates how the Tungus made a picture of the earth which
was in the form of a little square of iron plate.5 This idea,
common to many peoples, is closely connected with the four
cardinal points. Even in the world pictures of the civilized
peoples of Southern Asia it is quite general. In a certain Yakut
tale, which speaks of the octagonal earth, the points of the
compass have been doubled.6

Side by side with this idea of a square world, the idea
of a circular one is equally common. It is often pictured
as round, and as such it appears also to the eye. Similarly
shaped is the sky stretching over the earth. In the hero
tales of the Yakuts the outer edge of the earth is said to
touch the rim of a hemispherical sky. A certain hero rode
out once to the place where earth and sky touched. Simi-
larly, in some districts, the Buriats conceive the sky to be
shaped like a great overturned cauldron, rising and falling in
constant motion. In rising, an opening forms between the
sky and the edge of the earth. A hero, who happened at such
 
 PLATE XLI

Boat-Gods and Boats of the Yenisei
Ostiaks

(See page 308.)

After photograph by U. Holmberg.
 !

?..r.
 
 WORLD PICTURES   309

a time to place his arrow between the edge of the earth and
the rim of the sky was enabled thus to penetrate outside the
world.7

Between Heaven and Hades, the earth peopled by men
forms the centre of the universe. Often the earth is called
“ The Middle Place.” Sometimes this “ Middle Place ” is,
in a more confined sense, the country of the people using the
term. Mongolia, among other regions, is a world-centre of
this description. The Chinese also call their country “ the
Central Empire,” Examples of this belief, born in. the begin-
ning from the anthropocentric view of the world peculiar to
man, are to be found also among the ancient civilized peoples.

From the fact that Mongolia is a plateau in which number-
less rivers flowing in different directions have their sources,
the Mongols derive their belief that they live on the peak of a
world, imagined to be like a great mound, other peoples liv-
ing on its sides below them.

In addition to the simplified idea that the world is three-
storeyed : Heaven, Earth and Hades, Altaic folk-poetry
speaks often of a many-storeyed world. Especially is the
sky believed to contain hemispheres, one higher than another 5
generally three, seven, or nine are spoken of, but sometimes
even more. Most common is the conception of a seven-
storeyed Heaven, obviously derived from the Babylonian pic-
ture of Heaven, in which the sun and the moon and five planets
are situated in hemispheres placed one over the other. As
the complement to these seven heavens, an equal number of
storeys are pictured down below. Where the sky is regarded
as nine-storeyed, Hades is also divided into nine gradually de-
scending parts. That a belief of this description has actually
sprung from a belief in layers of stars, appears from an Altai
Tatar tale, in which the sun and moon are placed in different
storeys of the sky. The Moon old man lives in the sixth and
the Sun mother in the seventh Heaven.8 The primitive
peoples of Siberia do not, however, know the reasons for this
 310   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

division, neither can they explain the significance of any
Heaven. The most northern peoples place in the different
storeys of Heaven, landscapes from the earth — mountains,
lakes, tundras, snowfields, etc. The Samoyeds relate in their
shaman tales that there is a lake in the first storey of Heaven,
a fiat plain in the second, the third is covered with numerous
heights like little volcanoes, the fourth is formed like a roof
of little icicles, the sixth contains a great lake, from which
springs the Yenisei. Of the remaining storeys, of which there
are in some districts altogether nine, they have very little
knowledge.9 The Yakuts believe that in the lower regions of
the sky there are also animals, kept by the inhabitant spirits
as food.

[Prometheus]

Although the conception of fixed storeys in the sky, among
the primitive peoples of Siberia, bears without doubt the im-
press of foreign influence, we cannot with any certainty declare
that the conception of higher and lower storeys in the sky
might not also originate amongst a people living in a state
of nature. The Chukchee speak of several Heavens, placed
one above the other, so that the floor of the highest is the
roof of the next. All these worlds are joined by holes situated
under the Polar Star.10

Whatever the original idea of the edge of the earth may
have been, later the idea became general that the earth is sur-
rounded on all sides by an ocean. This is an essential feature
in all the world pictures of the Asiatic peoples. The Greek
Oceanos corresponds to it, and in Snorri’s Ed da we read: “ The
earth is circular in shape and outside it is the deep sea.”

But if the flat earth has around and under it the deep,
mysterious, primordial ocean, what is it that prevents the earth
from sinking into the depths? To this question also, the folk-
tales attempt to give an answer.

When the mighty Ülgen, so say the Altaic peoples, created
the earth on the waters, he placed under the disc of the earth,
in order to support it, three great fish, one in the centre and
 WORLD PICTURES   311

one at each side. The head of the middle fish is directed
towards the north and thus, when it presses its head down,
floods occur in the north. Should the fish sink too low, the
whole earth will be inundated. A rope is attached to the gills
of the fish, the end reaching to Heaven, where it is attached
to three posts. In this way, whenever desired, the head of the
fish can be lowered or raised. This is the special duty of
the Bodhisattva Mandishire. When he takes the rope from the
first post, the earth slants towards the north, causing floods
there, but were he to slip the rope from the third post, the
flood would reach over all the earth.11

In certain Buriat districts, one large fish only is mentioned
as the supporter of the earth. When for any reason it changes
its position, earthquakes occur.12

The idea of one or more giant fish as supporters of the
earth is general also in East European legends,13 while in
Jewish myths the fish-shaped Leviathan bears the foundations
of the earth. This belief, as the name Mandishire ( = Man-
jucri) hints at, has come to Central Asia from India, where a
similar belief has prevailed for ages.

Probably with a current of civilization from India through
China, tales have reached Central Asia of a world-supporting
frog, which animal here takes the place of the unknown turtle.
If its “ finger ” even moves the earth quakes. This belief has
spread even to the Tungus beyond the Baikal.14

In the tales of the Kirghis, and among the West Siberian,
Volga, and Caucasian Tatars, it is related that the world is sup-
ported by. a great bull. This idea has spread even among the
Finnish tribes along the Volga. Under this bull there is often
a support on which the bull stands. The Crimean Tatars say
that in the world-ocean there is a great fish, and on the fish
a bull which carries the earth on its horns.15 A similar belief
is found among the Votiaks of the Jelabuga District.16 The
world-bull is known also to the Votiaks of the Sarapul Dis-
trict, who believe that earthquakes are caused by the bull some-
 312   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

times starting to move. It is said to be afraid of sunlight, as
the light rays kill it,17 The Kirghis relate that the world-bull
stands on a stone arising out of the dense fog on the cosmic
ocean.18 According to the Cheremiss at Ufa, there is a giant
crab in the ocean on which stands the bull, supporting the earth
on its horns. Earthquakes are believed to occur when the bull
shakes its head. The Cheremiss say that on account of the
weight of the world, one of the bull’s horns is broken and that
when the other breaks, the end of the world will come.19

It is extremely probable that the idea of this world-support-
ing bull has reached the Tatars with Islam. In the tales of
the Jews a bull-shaped Prince of the Depths is also spoken of.

The primitive peoples of North-East Siberia believe the
underground mammoth to cause earthquakes and landslides.
In the winter it is even supposed to break the ice of the rivers.20
The local Tatars say that as the earth was not strong enough
to bear the mammoth, God ordered this animal to bear the
earth.21 Possibly the “ bull ” has here changed into the
“ horned ” mammoth.

For the sake of comparison it may be mentioned how the
inhabitants of North-East Siberia, where earthquakes are com-
mon, explain these phenonema. The Kamchadales say that
the dog of Tuila, on which this spirit rides under the ground,
makes the earth tremble when it shakes the snow off its back.22
According to this view, therefore, the actual supporter of the
earth is not the causer of earthquakes.

In Central Asia the idea of a world-supporting being is gen-
erally connected with the belief in a cosmic ocean. Those tales,
which seek to explain in a popular manner the origin of the
earth, seem also to have been formed out of a similar world
picture.
 CHAPTER II

THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

ROSCANSKIY says that, according to the original con-

ception of the Yakuts, the earth has always existed, and
that the question of its creation does not interest them.1 Stories
have, however, been gathered among all the Altaic peoples,
the Yakuts also included, which tell that in the beginning
there was no earth, only a deep and shoreless primordial ocean.
This idea of a primordial ocean is common to most Asiatic
creation myths, although the forming of a flat earth on the
surface of the great water is described in different ways.

The most prolific cycle, possessing many variants, is that
of the tales which relate how some being, diving into the
water, brings up earth-matter from the depths of the ocean.

When the great Yryn-Ajy-Tojon (££ White Creator
Lord ” ), so runs a Yakut tale, moved in the beginning above
the boundless ocean, he saw a bladder floating on the waters
and inquired: ££Who and whence? ” The bladder replied
that it was Satan and lived on the earth hidden under the
water. God said:££ If there really is earth under the water,
then bring me a piece of it.” Satan dived under the water
and returned after a while with a morsel of earth. Having
received it, God blessed it, placed it on the surface of the
water and seated himself on it. Then Satan resolved to drown
God by stretching out the land, but the more he stretched,
the stronger it grew, covering soon a great part of the ocean’s
surface.2

The sharp dualism appearing in this tale, God and Satan
as opposites, cannot represent the original beliefs of a primitive
people. Clues showing which way to turn in tracing the ori-
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

314

gin of this myth are found in the name “ Satan ” and in the
following variant noted down among this people: “Satan
was the elder brother of Christ, but the former was wicked, the
latter good. When God wished to create the earth he said to
Satan:1 Thou boastest of being able to do everything and sayest
thou art mightier than I. Good, bring me sand from the
bottom of the ocean.’ Satan dived immediately to the bottom
of the ocean, but when he arrived again at the surface he saw
that the water washed the sand out of his hand. Twice the
devil dived without succeeding, but the third time he changed
himself into a swallow and managed to bring up a little mud
in his beak. Christ blessed the morsel of mud, which then
became the earth, at first flat and smooth as a plate. Intend-
ing to create for himself a world of his own, Satan deceitfully
hid a part of the mud in his throat. But Christ understood the
wile of the devil and struck him on the back of the neck so that
the mud squirted out of his mouth and formed the mountains
on the originally smooth surface of the earth.”3

When comparing these Yakut tales, in which the names
“Christ” and “Satan” especially attract attention, with the
apocryphal creation tales of Eastern Europe we see that they
coincide in every detail. Knowing, besides, that exactly the
same tales are to be found among the Russians who have
migrated to Siberia, it seems probable that the Yakuts, who
according to statistics are Christians, have learned at least the
above mentioned tales direct from the Russians. Before be-
ginning to prove the fact in detail, we will examine a few
more Central Asian tales belonging to the same cycle, which
contain interesting additions.

When there was no earth and no Heaven, but only water,
Ülgen (“ the Great ”), according to an Altai Tatar tale, de-
scended upon the water to create the earth. He thought and
thought but could not conceive how to begin. Then “ Man ”
came to him. Ülgen asked: “Who art thou? ” “I also
came to create land,” answered Man. God became angry and
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 315

said: “ Even I cannot create, how couldst then thou? ” Man
remarked: a But I know where to get earth-matter from.”
God urged him to get some, whereupon Man dived imme-
diately into the water, finding at the bottom of the ocean a
mountain, from which he wrenched a piece and put it in his
mouth. Arriving again on the surface Man gave God a part
of it. The other part remained in his mouth between his
teeth. When at last he spat it out, the swamps and bogs ap-
peared on the face of the earth.4

A creation tale in which God and the devil work together is
met with among the Alarsk Buriats. When Burkhan
(= Buddha) came down from Heaven to create the earth,
the devil (Sholmo) appeared beside him to give advice how
the earth was to be made from the earth-matter and stones
under the water, offering at the same time to fetch the earth-
matter. God scattered the earth-matter, which the devil had
brought him, on the surface of the ocean and said: “Let the
world be born! ” As a reward for his trouble the devil begged
for a part of the land, receiving enough to plant his staff on.
The devil at once pushed his staff into this, and from the hole
there crept forth all manner of reptiles, snakes, etc. Thus
he created the harmful creatures of the world.6

In all the above tales, even before the creation of the world,
we meet with two beings of whom one was good, the other
wicked. This dualistic conception reaches its height in the
teachings of the Persian Zarathustra, in which Ahura Mazda,
the god of light and truth, is the promoter of all good and
happiness, and the devil, Angra Mainyu, of the evil and misery
which mar the good earth created by, Ahura. Thus far back
must we trace the dualistic features of our tales. But for com-
plete coincidence with these we search the sacred books of the
Mazda religion in vain.

Later, we meet with the same antagonistic original beings in
the teachings of the Persian Mani and in the legends of other
semi-Christian sects which have made their influence felt in
 3i 6   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

Northern Syria, Palestine and Caucasia, and in which, besides
Iranian, old Babylonian fancies and beliefs are also mingled.

In a Yakut tale, Satan, appearing before God, declares that
he lives under the water. This idea also seems to be of great
age among the people of Caucasia and Asia Minor. With
Zarathustra also the Evil One £< arose from the depths.”

According to the creation tales of a later period, in which the
conception of a primordial ocean has become fixed, the devil
appears on the surface of the water, sometimes in thick foam,
as in a Galician tale, sometimes in a floating bubble, as in the
Yakut. The Voguls explain that this bubble was formed by
God spitting into the water while coughing. The bubble grew
and grew until God heard the voice of Satanael inside it. The
same story is told of the devil in a White Russian creation
tale.®

An Altaic story relates in addition how Ülgen saw some mud
with human features floating on the ocean. God gave a spirit
to it, and to the being thus born he gave the name Erlik. In
the beginning, Erlik was God’s friend and brother, but be-
came later his enemy. Mostly, the Altai Tatars call the being
who helps God in creating the world a Man ” or “ First
Man,” but always, this Man develops into the devil, Erlik.7
The reasons for his fall are his most obvious qualities, pride
and boastfulness. On account of these God drives him down
into the depths, where he now lives as the ruler of the spirits
in the kingdom of death. This reflects the old Iranian con-
ception of the first man, who, by falling into sin, was the first
to die, and thus became leader of the spirits of the dead.
In Caucasian tales also, the devil chooses the dead for his
property, and in a Bulgarian creation story he says to God:
“ The living be thy. property, the dead mine.”8

In the legends of the Bogomil sect, formed in Bulgaria
about the year iooo, God is said to have had two sons, of
whom the elder was Satanael, the younger Christ. It is owing
to this conception, which is met with already among earlier
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 317

sects, that in Yakut tales Satan is called the elder brother of
Christ. In the corresponding Votiak, as also in many Russian
tales, God and the devil, Keremet, are brothers. A sect of the
Iranians, the Zervanists, believed that Ormazd and Ahriman
were born of the same mother, in whose womb they took shape
at the same time, but that the latter was brought forth first.9

In all the above creation tales the devil appears in human
shape, only in the Yakut variant he takes on the shape of a
swallow in order to be able to hold mud in his mouth. In an
Altaic tale the swallow is also the earth-bringer.10 Mostly,
however, the devil, in changing his shape, takes on the form
of a water-fowl. A water-fowl is actually better adapted both
for diving and for seeking earth on the bottom of the deep
ocean. Again, in Eastern Europe the devil helps God both in
human shape and as a diver-bird, loon, goose, or some other
water-fowl. He appears in the form of a goose, as does God
himself, in the following Altaic tale:

In the beginning when there was nothing but water, God
and the “ First Man ” moved about in the shape of two black
geese over the waters of the primordial ocean. The devil,
however, could not hide his nature, but endeavoured ever to
rise higher, until he finally sank down into the depths. Nearly
suffocating, he was forced to call to God for help, and God
raised him again into the air with the power of his word. God
then spoke: “ Let a stone rise from the bottom of the ocean! ”
When the stone appeared, “Man” seated himself upon it,
but God asked him to dive under the water and bring land.
Man brought earth in his hand and God scattered it on the
surface of the water saying: “ Let the world take shape! ”
Once more God asked Man to fetch earth. But Man then
decided to take some for himself and brought a morsel in each
hand. One handful he gave to God but the other he hid in
his mouth, intending to create a world of his own. God threw
the earth which the devil had brought him beside the rest on
the water, and the world at once began to expand and grow
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

3.i18

harder, but with the growing of the world the piece of earth
in Man’s mouth also swelled until he was about to suffocate so
that he was again compelled to seek God’s help. God inquired:
“ What was thy intention? Didst thou think thou couldst
hide earth from me in thy, mouth? ” Man now told his secret
intentions and at God’s request spat the earth out of his
mouth. Thus were formed the boggy places upon the earth.11

This story, in which God and the devil appear as birds, may
be compared with a North Russian creation tale, in which God
and the devil are in co-operation, the former as a white, the
later as a black pochard.12

Even when appearing in the shape of a water-fowl, the
devil does not quite lose his human features. Thus, among
other things, his hands are spoken of. In the creation tales
of the Voguls also it is often mentioned that the fetcher of
earth, sometimes the devil, sometimes the son of the first
people, dresses himself for the occasion in water-fowl’s garb.
When in one tale the devil makes three unsuccessful attempts
to reach the bottom of the sea in a duck’s skin, he winds a
goose’s skin about him and at last succeeds in bringing earth.13
The Voguls, like the East Europeans, often imagine the earth-
fetcher to.be a real water-fowl, for which the bringing of earth
in its mouth is much more natural than for a human-like being.
But mostly, this bird is the . antagonist of God, Satanael, who
endeavours to deceive God by hiding a part of the earth in
his mouth, where, like the earth of God’s creation, it swells
so terribly that the devil is forced to spit it out, thus forming
sometimes mountains and hills, sometimes swamps and bogs
on the smooth surface of the earth.

When the devil acts altogether in a human-like manner,
the tales sometimes describe the hiding of the earth in a way
more suited to men. Thus in a Buriat story, the devil hides it
under his heel and thence scatters it as mountains on the smooth
earth created by Burkhan. To God’s question, why the devil
wished to spoil his earth, the latter replies: a When man de-
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

319

scends a mountain he is afraid and calls upon Thy name, but
when he ascends he swears in my name. Thus he is ever
mindful of us both.” 14 Similar words are uttered by the
devil in both a Mordvin and a Russian creation tale.15

The devil mars the earth in a human-like manner in the
following Yakut tale: In the beginning, God created a small,
smooth and even earth, but the devil injured it sadly by kicking
it with his feet and tearing it. God urged the earth to grow in
spite of this and so the unevennesses caused by the devil be-
came great mountains, valleys and lakes.16

In the first of the creation tales given, it is said that the
devil intended to drown God, who had seated himself on the
little earth-disc just formed upon the surface of the water.
In a corresponding Bulgarian tale the devil has the same idea.
He tries to coax God to lie down and sleep upon the earth-
disc in order to be able to push him into the sea, and to become
supreme in the world. Although God well knows the inten-
tions of his enemy, he lays himself down and pretends to sleep.
The devil then seizes him and begins to carry him to the edge
of the earth in order to pitch him into the depths. But
when he approaches the shore the earth begins to expand so
that he is unable to reach its edge. He turns towards the other
side but even there he can no longer see the ocean. The third
and the fourth direction give the same result.17

This same story, has been added to an entirely different
creation tale in Central Asia. Here the earth is also brought
from under the water and placed on the surface of the ocean,
but the devil takes no part in the creation. The creator is
Otshirvani (= the Buddhist Bodhisattva Vairapani) and his
assistant Chagan-Shukuty. When these mighty beings de-
scended from heaven they saw a frog (= turtle) diving in
the water. Otshirvani’s companion raised it from the depths
and placed it on its back on the water. £ÉI shall sit on the
stomach of the frog,” said Otshirvani, “ dive thou to the
bottom and bring up what thy hand finds.” Chagan-Shukuty
 320   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

[Prometheus]

dived twice, and the second time he succeeded in bringing up
some earth. Then Otshirvani told him to sprinkle it on the
stomach of the frog (turtle), on which they sat. The frog
itself sank out of sight and only, the earth remained visible
above the surface of the water. Resting there, the gods fell
asleep and while they were sleeping, Shulmus, the devil, ar-
rived and saw the two friends lying on the earth which they
had just created and which was yet so small that there was
scarcely room for a third on it. The devil decided to make use
of his chance and drown these beings together with their earth.
But when he attempted to seize hold of the edge of the earth,
he no longer saw the ocean. He took the sleeping friends under
his arm and began to run towards the shore with them. But
while he ran the earth grew. When he saw that his attempt
was vain he dropped his burden and barely succeeded in escap-
ing when Otshirvani awoke. The latter then explained to his
companion how the devil had meant to destroy them but how
the earth had saved them.18

But although the devil did not succeed in destroying God,
he was able to mar the earth, as we have seen, and, according
to the Buriats, to create many useless and harmful animals on
it. This last tale has also been recorded in other parts of
Siberia, e.g., among the Voguls. Here the devil makes a
hole in the earth with his staff, from which frogs, lizards,
worms, beetles, gnats, wasps, mice, etc., arise, until God closes
the hole with a fiery stopper. The same description is found
even in East European creation tales.19

There would thus seem to be no doubt that these Asiatic
stories of the origin of the earth, which correspond in all their
details to the East European creation tales, are closely con-
nected with a common cycle of tales, rich in variants. Outside
the boundaries of the former Russian Empire, with the excep-
tion of certain Balkan States and the Gypsies who have been
influenced by the Slavs of Austria, we do not meet in the west
with this myth, which is unknown on Roman Catholic territory.
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 321

In the Greek Catholic Church, on the contrary, and especially
among certain sects, it has been greatly, favoured. This fact
can also be proved in Finland, which has been a meeting-
point for the currents of both Western and Eastern culture.
Tales have been recorded only in Eastern Finland, in which
the devil, sometimes with the aid of a diver-bird, fetches earth
from the bottom of the sea, hides a part of it in his mouth,
and adds the stones, rocks and mountains to the surface of the
earth by, being compelled to spit it out when it swells between
his jaws. In one variant, where God sat in the beginning on
a golden pillar in the middle of the sea, the devil is said to
have appeared in the World when God told his reflection, which
he saw in the water, to arise.20 Bulgarian legends also relate
that the devil was born of God’s shadow.21

Veselovskiy, who has made comparative researches on a large
scale into the legends of the last-named church, is of the
opinion that this tale is a creation of the Bogomil sect in Bul-
garia. We do not, however, meet with the story of the
fetching of the earth in either the Bogomil literature or in the
teachings of those Armenian Gnostics from whom the Bogomils
inherited their dualistic conception. This tale of the origin
of the earth appears first in a Russian manuscript of the
fifteenth century, but seems already at that time to have been
very widespread. Schiefner, who is acquainted with the stories
of the Russian sectaries, assumes that our dualistic tale has
wandered into Northern and Central Asia with Russian fugi-
tives and settlers from Europe.22 Sumcov doubts, however,
whether the Russian newcomers could have implanted their
tale so deeply into the beliefs of the Central Asian peoples in
such a comparatively short time. He assumes, therefore,
Nestorian influence, this sect having won much territory in
Central Asia before Islam.23 To Persian influence points the
fact that God in one Altaic creation tale calls himself “the
true Kurbystan ” (= Ahura Masala).24 But in districts where
Buddhism is common, names derived from this religion, such
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

322

as Burkhan, etc., are also met with, although the appearance
of the devil here hints at Iranian influence. Might it therefore
be assumed, as Dahnhardt also supposes, that the dualistic tale
of the bringing-up of earth has its origin somewhere in the
vicinity of the Iranians, e.g., among the Syrian Gnostics, whence
it has wandered both to Russia and Bulgaria and through
Persia to Central Asia? As no proof for this assumption can
be found in the literary, sources on the subject, we should have
to add a further supposition, i.e., that in addition to the written
teachings, verbal stories corresponding with our tale have also
been handed down. However this may be, it is at least cer-
tain, as we have shown, that many features in this tale have
their origin in the Near East. It is also probable that this
cycle of tales is no single creation, but a collection of ideas
and stories of different content and gathered from various
places.

Especially interesting is the bird which fetches the earth
from the bottom of the primordial ocean. Whence has this
peculiar feature come into our tales and how shall we account
for it?

In some Russian legends and also in North-West Siberian
tales the fetching of the piece of earth is spoken of in con-»
nection with the story of the flood. The Samoyeds in the
District of Turukhansk relate the following: Seven people had
been saved in a boat and, when they, saw that the water rose
and rose and that there was no help, they begged the diver-
bird to fly into the water and seek land there. After seven
days the diver-bird returned bringing a grassy piece of turf
in its beak, and of this they asked God to create for them an
earth.23 Also in a Russian variant God sends the devil to bring
sand from the water when he wishes to make a new earth after
the flood.26

In the flood story of the Samoyeds, the diver-bird reminds
one of the bird sent by Noah from his ark, which brought him
news of the appearance of land in its beak, but from this we
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

323

cannot yet be certain that Noah’s bird has been the original
of the water-fowl appearing in our tales. For quite simple
reasons, two myths, both treating of great floods and of a bird,
may have become confounded.

In a Vogul creation tale, which mentions several birds, these
have work of two kinds to perform The red- and the black-
throated diver fetch earth, but the raven is sent out to see how
large the earth has grown. On the first day the bird is away
but a short time, on the second it returns toward midday, on
the third not until the evening. Every day its journey takes a
longer time and from this it may be guessed how the earth
grows from day to day.27 The raven in this tale has thus in
some degree the same duty as the dove in the flood story of
the Bible, but this feature can hardly be traced back to the
Bible.

It is to be noted, in addition, that stories of the creation and
of the flood are often met with separately among the same
people.

Besides the preceding versions, in which God and the earth-
bringer are antagonists, a creation tale without this dualistic
idea is met with in Asia. In this the Creator uses quite simply
an ordinary water-fowl in order to bring up earth from the
waters.

The Yenisei Ostiaks related to me that in the beginning the
water flowed everywhere. The Great Shaman Doh hovered
over the waters in the company of swans, looms, and other
water-fowl. As he could nowhere find a resting-place he
asked the diver-bird to bring him a piece of earth from under
the sea. The diver tried twice before it succeeded in bring-
ing up some earth in its beak. Of this Doh made an island
in the sea.28

According to Buriat tales, at the bottom of the shoreless
primordial ocean, there were black earth and red clay. When
Burkhan decided to create an earth he asked the white diver
to fetch him earth-matter from under the water. The diver
 324   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

brought both earth and clay in his beak and sprinkled them on
the water. Thus was created a world floating on the waves,
on which trees and grass soon began to grow.29

The Buriats of the District of Balagan have the same story
in the following form. In the beginning when there was yet
no land, Sombol-Burkhan moved over the waters, where he
saw a water-fowl swimming with its twelve young. God then
said:Water-bird, dive down and bring me earth — black
soil in thy beak and on thy feet red clay! ” Having thus ob-
tained earth-matter, God scattered the red clay on the water,
and upon it the black soil. Thus was made the earth which
soon became covered with beautiful vegetation. Thankful,
God blessed the water-bird saying: u Thou shalt have many
young and shalt ever swim and dive in the water.” That is
how this bird has such a wonderful ability to dive deep and
remain long under the water.30

In these tales we find no being akin to the devil appearing as
God’s opponent. We cannot, however, conclude from this,
as Dahnhardt, who knows only the first mentioned Buriat tale,
does, that this form of creation tale is only a deformed variant
of the dualistic stories. Hardly, again, has the devil any part
in the following story, which was recorded among the North-
ern Yakuts, although the u Mother of God ” is mentioned in
it: The Mother of God decided to create a world, but having
no material she first created a diver-bird and a duck, both of
which she commanded to dive under the ocean and fetch
earth. The first to appear was the duck who brought some
mud in her mouth. Then the diver came up, but without
mud, explaining that it was impossible to find earth in the
water. The Mother of God became angry and said: “ Thou
deceitful bird, have I not given thee more strength and a
longer beak than the duck? But thou deceivest me and pitiest
the ocean. For this thou shalt never live on the sacred sur-
face of the earth, but shalt ever dive in the waters and seek
all manner of refuse there for thy nourishment.” Then the
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

325

Mother of God created the earth from the mud the diver had
brought, and placed it upon the surface of the ocean. The
earth did not sink under the water, nor could the waves move
it or wash it asunder, but it remained fixed in a certain place
like a floating island and grew gradually into a great world.31

In the tales of the Voguls also, we sometimes find two
water-birds, the black- and the red-throated diver, acting as
earth-fetchers.

A Buriat variant tells in addition how the water-fowl, which
Sombol-Burkhan sent to fetch earth, met the “ crab” in the
depths. The latter inquired of the bird where it was going.
The bird answered that it was diving for earth from the bot-
tom of the sea. Then the “crab” became angry and re-
marked: “ I am always in the water and have never yet seen
its bottom, turn back quickly or I shall cut thee in two with my
scissors! ” The bird was forced to return to the surface. See-
ing it, Sombol-Burkhan inquired why the bird had not brought
him earth. On hearing how the crab had threatened it, he
gave the bird magic words, by the help of which it at last
succeeded in reaching the bottom.32

This interlude in the diving is mentioned also in the tales
of the Votiaks of the District of Sarapul. God’s assistant
meets a crab in the water, who inquires where he is going and
tells him that he, the crab, though a sea-dweller for one
hundred and twenty years, has never yet met with land in
the ocean. The story continues with the fetching of earth, and
how an evil being hides sand in its mouth and then creates the

•   Oft

mountains.

Comparing these latter tales, we can scarcely remain in
doubt as to which of them represents a more original stage.
The crab as frightener in the dualistic story of the Votiaks is
as unnatural and unnecessary as it is natural in the Buriat tale.
This additional feature, which to the author’s knowledge has
not been met with further west, may have been added later
to the dualistic creation story from a simpler and more primi-
 326   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

tive creation tale, which has perhaps been known also among
the Votiaks.

. If we assume, therefore, that the tales in which a natural
water-fowl and not the Satanael of the Bogomils acts as earth-
fetcher, are more primitive, we can easily, explain the bird-like
features of the devil, often appearing even in stories where
the devil dives into the water in human shape. In this way, the
problem of the fetching of earth, which can be explained in
no other way, would be solved: an old primitive tale has later
become embellished with the dualistic ideas of the sectarians
of the Eastern Church.

All depends thus on whether we can take for granted that
those Asiatic tales in which the devil is unknown, represent
an earlier stage.

A proof of the fact, that the creation tales in this simpler
form are both popular and original, is given by the innumera-
ble stories of similar content gathered among the Indian tribes
of North America. In these it is sometimes a water-fowl,
sometimes a fish or some amphibian that brings up mud from
the bottom of the primordial ocean, which mud is then placed
on the surface of the water and soon grows into a big world for
people to live in.34

Sometimes this earth-fetching tale Is intertwined with the
flood story even in America, where it is usually a musk-rat
that saves the people floating on the ocean in a boat, on a raft,
or on a tree-trunk, by bringing them mud from the bottom of
the sea, from which mud a new earth then grows. Like the
raven in the Vogul tale given earlier, so in the similar North
American stories some animal, a fox or a wolf, is used for the
purpose of reporting on the growth of the earth. When
Nanabozhu, according to the Winnebago Indians, could no
longer follow the growth of the land with his eyes, he sent a
wolf to run round the earth in order to know its size. The
first time the wolf soon returned, the second journey took him
two years, the third time he returned no more.35
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 327

Noticeable, further, is the part played by the turtle in the
tales of the North American Indians. There is a story among
the Sioux Indians of how the turtle and some water-bird swam
about in the primordial ocean with earth-matter in their
mouths, the one with mud, the other with grass. The grassy
earth formed by these was placed on the back of the turtle.
The Hurons also say that in the beginning there was nothing
but water, until from the depths a turtle appeared and sent,
one after the other, the otter, the musk-rat, the diver, and
other water-dwellers to fetch earth-matter. But only in the
mouth of the frog, the last to be sent, could the turtle find
mud. This was then sprinkled round the edges of the turtle’s
shell, and before long formed the earth. When the earth
grew, the turtle remained as its supporter, a duty it carries
out even today.36

The part of the turtle in creating the world is especially
interesting on account of the corresponding idea in the Central
Asian stories.

In the beginning of time, so say the Buriats, there was noth-
ing but water, and a great turtle who looked into the water.
God turned this animal on its back and built the world on its
stomach. In another connection we have already mentioned
how, according to an Altaic story, the heavenly Otshirvani and
Chagan-Shukuty notice a turtle diving in the waters, and how
the latter dives down for earth while the former sits upon the
animal’s stomach, and how Otshirvani then sprinkled the earth
on the frog.37 In Central Asian tales we find in addition
Mandishire (= the Buddhist Bodhisattva Manjucri) as
creator of the earth, who changes himself into a large turtle
and supports the earth he has made on the surface of the
water.38

In these Central Asian tales we find an ancient Indian story
in a form coloured by Buddhism. As is known, the Creator
appears already in the ancient Indian tales in the shape of a
turtle. In this form he fetches mud from the bottom of the
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

328

primordial ocean and makes of it a rapidly expanding earth,
which he supports on the surface of the vast surrounding
ocean. In later Buddhist tales a Bodhisattva, mostly Manjucri,
takes the place of the old and more primitive deity..

In Indian tales the earth-fetcher sometimes takes the shape
of some other animal. As the supporter of the earth, as we
have seen, a fish is also mentioned.

Our comparative research has thus at last brought us to
India. This is actually the only country in Asia where the
bringing of the earth from the bottom of the ocean is con-
nected already with the beliefs of an unknown, far-distant
past. The literatures of other ancient cultured Asiatic peoples
do not possess a similar tale. It is also impossible to assume
that the idea of a primordial ocean could have been born
among the Central Asian prairie-dwellers. Although it is
true that we can find among the information relating to India,
no mention of a water-fowl as the bringer of earth, we are
forced in the end to believe that this feature of our tales has
its roots also in that land of countless stories.

Besides the above tales about the origin of the earth, in
which the fetching of earth-matter from under the water is a
common feature, stories have been recorded among the peoples
of the Altaic race, which explain the appearance of the earth
on the surface of the ocean in a different manner.

The following Mongolian story is probably a product of
Lamaism: In the beginning, when there was yet no earth, but
water covered everything, a Lama came down from Heaven,
and began to stir the water with an iron rod. By the influence
of the wind and fire thus brought about, the water on the
surface in the middle of the ocean thickened and coagulated
into land.39 Certain syncretists of Nearer Asia also describe
how the earth was formed when God caused the cosmic foam
on the surface of the ocean to coagulate.40 Closely correspond-
ing to the Mongolian story is a Japanese tale: In the beginning
one of the seven gods of Heaven stirred the chaotic waters
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 329

with his staff. When he raised his staff, muddy foam dripped
from it and, expanding and thickening, formed the islands of
Japan.41

More than a hundred years ago a tale was written down
among the Tungus beyond the Baikal, describing how God
sent fire into the primordial ocean. In the course of time the
fire vanquished the power of the water and burnt up a part of
the ocean, so that it became quite hard. Thus the present land
and sea were formed. With this tale is connected a dualistic
conception of two antagonistic primitive beings. When God
stepped down upon the earth he met the devil, Buninka, who
also desired to create a world. Thus a dispute arose between
God and the devil. The devil wished to destroy God’s earth
and broke the latter’s twelve-stringed musical instrument.
Then God was angry and said: “ If thou canst command a
pine-tree to grow out of the lake I will recognize thy power,
but if I can do it, thou must admit that I am omnipotent.”
The devil agreed to God’s proposal. At once, when God com-
manded, a tree arose from the water and began to grow, but
the devil’s pine would not stand erect but tottered from one
side to the other. Thus the devil saw that God was mightier
than he.42

[Prometheus]

In this story, which concludes with the creation of man,
God and the devil as rivals, the stringed instrument, etc., are
features which can by no means be reconciled with the original
circumstances and beliefs of the Tungus. A feature corre-
sponding to the tree-growing competition may be found in the
Central Asian creation tale in which Otshirvani and his com-
panion, Chagan-Shukuty, pour water into a vessel and wait
to see on whose side a plant shall appear. Similarly in the
Buriat tale, three Burkhans try which of them is to procure a
spirit for the people whom they had created.

The Tungus believe that fire played a great part in the
creation of the world. This conception appears already among
the syncretistic Mandaean sect, the influence of which was felt
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

330

in Mesopotamia in the first centuries of our era. Their tale
had possibly been accepted by the Manicheans. It tells how
fire is slung into the water and how, with the ensuing steam,
dust rises into the air and in sinking again to the surface of the
water forms into solid land.43

The presence of oriental learning is to be discerned also
in a conception met with in Central Asia of a primi-
tive chaos consisting of fire, water and wind. Burkhan-
bakshi (—Buddha-master; bakshi = Mandshu   fakshi,

ic master,” Chinese fas hi, a teacher ”) separated them and
scattered the dust thus formed on the surface of the water,
where it gradually grew into an earth covered with grass and
trees.44

In some Mongolian districts we meet also with an idea,
common in China and Japan, that heaven and earth were
joined together in the beginning, but later separated. At the
parting of earth and sky fire appeared, or, according to some
variants, the constellations in the sky.45 This belief evidently
originates in the Indian tale, which has spread especially to the
eastward of India, of a world-egg, from whose halves earth
and heaven have been formed.

Some of the most northern peoples of Siberia believe
further that the earth came down from Heaven. Stories re-
ferring to this have been recorded both in the west, in the
Vogul districts, and in the far east, among the Kamchadales.
The Voguls tell that Numi-Törem let down an earth-disc
from heaven as a dwelling-place for the people he had made.46
The Kamchadales say that the god of Heaven, Kutku, brought
the earth down from the sky and placed it on the surface of the
ocean. The latter also relate how the wife of the god of
Heaven bore a son while moving on the ocean, and that Kutku
created an earth out of his body.47

The idea that the earth has come down from Heaven is
closely connected with those tales in which sometimes fire,
sometimes some animal, object, etc., is dropped or let down
 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH   331

from the upper spheres. We may therefore assume that the
letting down of the earth from Heaven is of the same origin.
It is, however, to be noted that these tales take for granted
the existence of a primordial ocean.

Just as the idea of a vast ocean surrounding the earth is
natural to coast-dwellers, and the conception of the growing
of the earth, i.e., the shore, is founded on the actual experi-
ence of years, so these same ideas seem unnatural and unex-
pected in the central parts of a great continent. How entirely
different the conceptions of the nomads of the Altaic race have
been, is to be seen from a story of the Kirghis, in which it is
declared that in the beginning there was no water at all. Two
people tended a great ox, but having long been without drink
they were dying of thirst. The ox then determined to get
them water by digging into the earth with his great horns.
Thus were formed the lakes and the rivers on the surface of
the earth.48

We cannot, then, consider any of the above mentioned crea-
tion tales to be the invention of the Altaic race. Without
doubt the idea of the Yakuts: cc The world has always been,”
probably represents the original belief of the whole Altaic
race. By this we do not mean to say that the peoples of this
race have not also had their own local myths, which try to
explain the causes of certain changes on the surface of the
earth. An example of this is the Kirghis tale already men-
tioned. The most northern peoples of Siberia, such as the
Tungus, Samoyeds, Ostiaks, etc., who often find, in the neigh-
bourhood of their homes, bones and teeth of the mammoth
in the ground, say that this beast made the originally smooth
earth uneven with his horns. The mountains and chasms at
least are said to have been thus formed. The valleys and de-
pressions were caused by the quaking of the earth under the
weight of this former giant animal when it walked. The
water, gathering into these depressions, afterwards formed the
lakes and rivers. God is said to have at last become angry
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

332

and to have drowned the mammoth in a lake where it still lives
under the ground.49

Local also is another North-East Siberian tale of the origin
of mountains and valleys. God lived in Heaven originally,
but settled later upon the earth. When he then travelled,
moving on skis, the thin earth bent under him like new, pliant
ice. That is the reason why the surface of the earth is
uneven.00
 CHAPTER III

THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD

THE REGULAR diurnal movement of the stars round
an axis at the North Star, the reasons for which never-
ending rotation were earlier unknown, gave birth to an idea
that this apparent centre of the universe was formed by some
object which could be represented in concrete form, and which
was, in addition, believed to support the roof of the sky. This
belief we have seen to be held by the Lapps, etc., and relics of
a similar belief are to be found among most of the peoples of
the Northern Hemisphere.

From this belief spring the curious names given by the Altaic
stocks to the North Star. The Mongols, Buriats, Kalmucks,
and the Altai Tatars and Uigurs call the star in question a The
golden pillar the Kirghis, Bashkirs and certain other Siberian
Tatar tribes call it “The iron pillar”5 the Teleuts “The
lone post,” and the Tungus-Orotshons “ The golden post.”
From the similarity of the names given it by these widely
separated peoples we may conclude that the conception of a
sky-supporting pillar reaches back among the Altaic race to a
comparatively early period.1 In a tale of the Yakuts in which
the world is regarded as having gradually developed from a
small beginning, this u iron tree ” boasts: a When the heavens
and the earth commenced to grow, I grew with them.”2
Although none of the available sources mention directly
that the peoples of the Altaic race made images of this great
world-pillar, we Can still be reasonably certain that they did
so from the fact that several of the more northern peoples
-have kept up this custom even to our days. These peoples
were under Turco-Tatar influence, and even offered up blood-
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

334

sacrifices to these pillars. The Ostiaks call these wooden
images of the pillar, “ town-pillars ” or “ the strong pillars of
the town’s centre.” Those more simple in construction are
erected by being slightly sunk into the earth, and are hardly
ever observed to be shaped at all in any way. The pillar of
the village of Tsingala is about two fathoms in height, a
squared, slender log, not very old. Nowadays these pillars,
as the objects of reverential ceremonies, are here met with
only in a few of the coast villages of Irtysh, those of the other
villages having been swept along with landslides into the river.
The “town pillar” of the village of Tsingala, although it
stands among the buildings on a site incapable of awakening
respect, is worshipped with offerings like a god. Karjalainen
relates that “the inhabitants of this and other villages of the
same district, gathered together for the paying of taxes, buy
mutually a cow or a bull and sacrifice it at the foot of the
pillar in order to obtain prosperity in their work and additions
to their families.” This pillar of Tsingala, which the Ostiaks
of that place regard as a deity, is called by them “ The iron

Fig. 13. Dolgan Shaman-pillars with Figures of Birds

pillar man,” a similar name being given to the post of another
village of Irtysh, resembling greatly, the afore-mentioned
“ Iron pillar ” of the Tatars. It is therefore obvious that
 THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD

335

“ the strong pillar of the town’s centre ” of the Ostiaks, which
a certain tale describes as “the tree planted by God,” cannot
be, as Karjalainen assumes, intended merely for the tying of
sacrificial animals and the hanging-up of offerings, but is a
representation of the pillar supporting the sky.3 This appears
also from the prayers read at the post.

Some peoples in North-West Siberia, who have a similar
custom, place on the world-pillar a wooden figure of a bird,
which sometimes has two heads. What this bird, which is
spoken of by the Dolgans as the “ lord of the birds,” and which
hangs on the breast of the Yenisei Ostiak shaman-dress, is

Fig. 14. Two-headed Birds of Iron which hang on the
Dress and Drum of the Yenisei-Ostiak Shaman

intended to represent, the people themselves do not know j but
it is probable that this bird has flown here from the mythology
of the ancient peoples. The pillars, on which these birds are
placed and which have sometimes cross-pieces like branches,
are, according to the Dolgans, a symbol of the “ never falling
props ” before the dwelling of the Supreme God. On the
cross-pieces, so it is said, dwell the sons of God.4

It would be interesting to know what the sky, which this
wonderful pillar was supposed to support, was originally be-
lieved to be. We can hardly be mistaken if we suppose it to
have been pictured as some kind of a roof, the purpose of
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

336

which was to protect the earth and life on the earth. To this
points also the view still prevalent in some places, viz., that
the sky is a kind of great tent-roof stretched over the earth.
The Yakuts say that the sky consists of several overlapping
tightly stretched skins. The Buriats see in the Milky Way “ a
stitched seam,” and a certain being says with pride: “ Long,
long ago, when I was young, I sewed the sky together.” 5
Sometimes the gods open slightly the sky-cover to see what is
happening on the earth. In this way, the Chuvash, among
others, explain the flight of meteors. Lucky the one who sees
this “ crack in the sky,” as he obtains what he at that moment
wishes or begs of God.6 Similarly, the Ostiaks believe that
God grants everything desired of him while “the door of
Heaven” is open.7 The same phenonemon is also meant by
the Buriats when they speak of the “ door of Heaven,” which
the gods sometimes open for an instant. When this “ door ”
is open, which lasts only for a second, “a wonderful light
shines from the sky, which makes the whole world glow in a
strange fashion.”8 This childish idea of the light-phenome-
non which follows the flight of a meteor through the belt of
air, has earlier been very general both in Asia and Europe.
Quite as general has been the habit of expressing at such times
some wish, which it is believed will be fulfilled.

The sky having thus been regarded as a kind of tent-roof,
which, stretched from a great post or pillar, covered the earth,
it is comprehensible that the stars should then have been only
a kind of hole in this cover. The worst hole was the Pleiades,
from which winds and cold were believed to stream over the
earth.®

This conception of the sky as a kind of roof, is, without
doubt, of extreme age and the product of an extremely early
culture. Obviously, the primitive dwelling-house of man him-
self gave direction to his imagination, when he attempted to
create for himself a picture of the surrounding world. In
some of the descriptions in the Old Testament the sky appears
 THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD 337

tent-like, e.g., in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, in which God is
described as: “ He who stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”

Besides the above conception, in which the world-pillar ap-
pears as the supporter of the sky, another is met with, accord-
ing to which it is the tethering-post of the stars wandering in
the sky. The fact that, seen from the earth, the stars seem
to be eternally revolving round the sky-post, awakened the
idea of bonds attaching these to one another. As the peoples
related to the Turks sometimes imagined the stars to be a
great drove of horses, we can understand why, in the tales of
these people, the world-pillar is often called a mighty tether-
ing-post for horses. As such the Yakuts call it “the horse-
post ruler.”10 The Buriats have tales of the nine sons of a
spirit named Boshintoi, living in the sky; these sons, as skilful
blacksmiths, taught men to prepare iron, and are therefore
worshipped and praised in the following words: “The nine
white smiths of Boshintoi... made of the North Star a horse-
post and of the golden lake a race course.”11 In the same
way as the Nomads of Central Asia have a post for the tether-
ing of their steeds before their buildings, the gods are said
to fasten theirs to the heaven-post. Certain Siberian Tatar
tribes believe the gods to live in a tent in the sky, in front of
which is a “ golden horse-post.”12 As Karjalainen remarks,
the Ostiaks of Vasyugan, in their tales, have also adopted
from the Tatars “ the Iron post, the Stone post, on the side of
the sun, created by Torem (the god of Heaven), in which there
is an iron ring large enough to admit a sleeved arm,” and to
which the driving-reindeer is bound. Similarly, the Voguls
speak of “ The holy iron pillar of God erected for the tether-
ing of the holy animal with many-coloured thighs,” erected
before the dwelling of the god of Heaven,13

In the folk-lore of the Ostiaks, as seen from the above,
a “ stone ” pillar is also mentioned. A strange, rectangular,
transparent pillar of stone, three fathoms in height, appears
 338   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

in the centre of an area of iron in the tales of the Yakuts.14
Probably such world-pillars are hidden also among
the stone pillars on the prairies of Central Asia. At any
rate, traces have been found of high four-sided monu-
ments which were erected upon the back of the world-bearing
tortoise.

But especially interesting is the fact that many of these holy
pillars of the Ugrians were imagined to be seven-storeyed.
This was also true of the pillar at Tsingala, as although the
object itself had no signs pointing to the fact, the words in the
prayer, in which the god of Heaven is closely connected with
the pillar god, run as follows: “ My seven-divided high man-
father thou art, a six-divided high man thou art. My iron
pillar man-father, to the foot of the holy tree, my metal
pillar man-father, to the foot of the holy tree, to partake of a
generous dish of head-meat, to partake of a generous dish of
breast-meat, we called thee.” The word “six-divided”
or “ six-marked ” is here only a poetic reiteration. Another
prayer noted down in which a Heaven god called Sanke is
addressed in addition to the post runs: “ Seven-divisioned high
man, Sanke, my father, my, in-three-directions-watching man-
father, my in-three-directions-protecting man-father. To the
holy, ground of my iron pillar man-father, to the innocent
ground, at the foot of the holy tree erected by him, I stand my
blood-animal blood-sacrifice.”15

The significance of the number seven in the beliefs connected
with the pillars of the Ugrians is especially apparent. The
Ostiak tales relate how a person setting out on a courtship has
to sacrifice at the foot of this “ God-faced holy tree,” or “ to
hold up there the sacrifice of seven reindeer-bulls tied to one
rope,” and to make “ seven good bows of the head at the foot
of the god-faced holy tree.” The seven animals are mentioned
also in certain advice given to a hero setting out on a danger-
ous journey.: “Call together the village full of thy many
men, the town full of thy many men 5 bring the seven animals
 



»
 PLATE XLII

Tortoise-shell shaped stone representing the world-
bearing tortoise and used as a foundation for an old
Turkish monument. (See page 338.)

After photograph by S. Palsi.
 :f

I'

i

•i
 {?
 THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD 339

bound to one rope and tie them to the strong town-pillar.”16
In the Yakut tales the seven reindeer at the “iron tree”
are also mentioned.17 Most probably these “seven ani-
mals ” bound to one rope, like the pillar itself, have their
counterpart in the sky, and in this connection our thoughts
turn to the Great Bear, the “seven animals” of which are
imagined as being bound to the North Star “ by one
rope.”

But the number seven appears also in the names of the god
— “ the seven-divisioned or seven-marked man,” which points
possibly to the fact that the pillar itself was imagined to be
seven-storeyed. And examples for this are not lacking. Thus,
in sacrificing to a spirit called “ the Roach lake old man ” at
the sources of the Salym, the Ostiaks of that district erect on
the lake a pillar of fir-wood about a fathom in height, on
which they cut with a knife “seven marks at seven places.”
To the head of the post they fix coloured cloths and place the
sacrificial runes before it, the sacrificial animal being also bound
to it for the duration of the prayers and genuflexions. In
slaughtering, a stream of blood has to be directed on to the
post.18 Similar pillars were erected in earlier times by the
Yenisei Ostiaks on the banks of their rivers to give luck in
fishing. Nowadays, to our knowledge, none are met with in
practice, although the older people still speak about them. In
the museum at Krasnoyarsk several are preserved, these being
thin posts about two fathoms in height, on which seven deep
cuts have been made one above the other. In the place of
these cuts, it was the custom in some districts to leave the
stumps of seven branches. In the same way it is related of the
Irtysh Ostiaks that when sacrificing at a hole in the ice they
erected a post beside it on which seven branches had been left.19
Karjalainen assumes this to have been only an artificial sacri-
fice tree, but even these temporarily erected posts can probably
not be separated from the world-pillars. In any, case, the
seven-divisioned “iron pillar man” has a heavenly counter-
 340   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

part, as the Vogul tales tell of a “ seven-divided pure silver
holy pillar ” to which the son of God ties his steed when
visiting his father.20

On studying the Asian cosmography we find no difficulty in
explaining what these seven divisions or stumps of branches
signify. Without doubt, they represent the seven storeys of
the sky, an idea general also among the Ostiaks. The <c divi-
sions” appear also in the shaman rites of the Altai Tatars,
although here the storeys of Heaven are regarded as being
nine in number. When about to shamanize, a special tent is
erected on the Altai, in the centre of which a birch is erected
so that the crown of the tree sticks out of the air-hole in the
middle of the roof. Nine divisions are cut into the trunk of
the birch, and are described as being the symbols of the nine-
storied heavens. Rising by means of the tree into the highest
Heaven the shaman has to travel through all the different
storeys. This is done in such a manner that while exercising
his magic the shaman climbs division by division upwards.
When he places his foot on the lowest notch he has reached
the first Heaven, and so on until he rises into the ninth.21

[Prometheus]

The tree, along which the Altai shaman rises into Heaven,
though furnished with divisions, is not really a post, but a leaf-
crowned birch-tree. Thus, we find here an intermediate stage
between the above mentioned world-pillars and the branched
world-tree supposed to rise from the centre of the earth. As
the holy pillars of the Ostiaks had either seven divisions or
seven branches, so an Abakan Tatar hero-poem tells of wthe
white, seven-branched birch-tree on an iron mountain in the
centre of the earth.”22 But before describing in detail this
mighty tree reigning over the earth’s centre, we must first
turn our attention to the mountain in this same region, from the
summit of which, according to many tales, the tree arises.
 CHAPTER IV

THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN
HE MAJORIT.Y of the peoples of Central Asia have

tales of a mighty world-mountain, which the Mongols
and Kalmucks call Sumur or Sumer, and the Buriats Sumbur.
In whatever form this mountain is imagined, it is connected
always with the cosmography, of these peoples, forming its
centre. Assuming that the world was formerly small and has
gradually grown to its present size, the folk-tales tell of a
distant time, when Sumur was only a very little hill.1 Now
its summit aspires to heights unattainable by man, offering
thus to the gods a dwelling-place worthy, of them.

Although the Altai peoples have worshipped their moun-
tains, especially the Altai, adored in many tales, which they
called the “ prince,” 2 the conception of a central mountain of
the earth-disc was not bound to any of the Central' Asian
mountains, but came from abroad, ready-shaped to a particular
cosmography. It is worthy of note that this mythical mountain
is often placed in Heaven itself. Thus, the Over-god Bai-
Ylgön (“rich-great”) lives in Heaven “on a golden moun-
tain.” 3 Similarly, the tales of the Yakuts tell of the “ milky-
white stone mountain ” of Heaven.4 Often this mountain is

i

described as rising in storeys, the number of which varies, but
is generally the same as the number of storeys into which
Heaven is divided among that particular people. A certain
Central Asian tale describes the central mountain of the earth-
disc as “ three-stepped.” 6 The Ostiaks speak of the “ seven-
storied mountain ” of Heaven.6 Even Heaven itself is some-
times imagined as a mountain of this description j its underside,
which we mortals see, is like a rounded arch. An Altaic crea-
 342   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

I

tion tale relates how Ülgen when creating the earth, sat on a
“ golden mountain ” where the sun and the moon always shine,
and how this mountain later descended, hiding the earth} the
edges of the sky did not, however, reach to the earth itself/

The idea of a heavenly mountain appears also in the follow-
ing tale of the Goldes living in North-East Siberia: “When
the gods built Heaven, they made it of stone, but when it was
ready, the people below began to be afraid that it would fall
down on them, wherefore the gods blew under the arch so
that the air thus formed hid the arch from the sight of men.” 8
Without doubt, this picture of Heaven is closely connected with
“ the mountain ” and has developed from it. This idea of
the stone arch cannot have arisen among the Goldes, as this
structure is quite unknown to them, as it is to all other North
Siberian tribes.

In the tales of the Mongols, Buriats, and Kalmucks the
world-mountain — Sumbur, Sumur, or Sumer — has a name in
which the central mountain of the inhabitants of India, Sumeru,
is easily recognized, and the beliefs connected with the same
have spread ready-formed along with a stream of civilization
from India to the peoples of Central Asia. Whether this
mountain Sumeru or Meru originated in India, in connection
with some actual mountain there, is difficult to say. As far
back as can be traced it has been a cosmologic belief.

Where then, is the summit of this earth-mountain? We
might suppose it to be at the summit of Heaven, directly above
us, and, as such, the apex of a hollow sky. It was not, how-
ever, envisaged thus, but instead, its peak rises to the sky at
the North Star where the axis of the sky is situated, and where,
on the peak, the dwelling of the Over-god and his “golden
throne ” are situated. To this idea points also the assumption,
met with everywhere in Asia, that the world-mountain is in
the north. This appears quite clearly in a Buriat tale reflecting
Indian views of life: “ In the beginning was only water and a
frog (turtle), which gazed into the water. God turned this
 THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN

343

animal over and created the world on its belly. On each foot
he built a continent, but on the navel of the frog he founded
the Sumbur-mountain. On the summit of this mountain is the
North Star.” In another tale in which a temple is placed on
the summit of Sumbur, the North Star is the golden spire of
the tower of this temple.9

The cosmic mountain rising in this part of the sky was known
long ago to the great civilized peoples of Nearer Asia. This
idea appears also in the Bible. In the 14th chapter of Isaiah
a proud being, who wished to “ be like the most high,” is
described in the following words: “ For thou hast said in thy
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congre-
gation, in the sides of the north.” As the throne of God is
believed to be on the summit of the world-mountain in the
north, this point of the compass was the direction of the prayers
of the Mandeans.

Although the idea of this wonderful, cosmic mountain, as
its name denotes, arose in India and travelled with a stream of
civilization to the Mongol tribes, the same belief reached the
Turco-Tatar peoples by other roads. The Sürö (“ Majesty ”)
mountain, appearing in the tales of the Altai Tatars, has doubt-
less originated in Persia, as also the seven gods, who are be-
lieved to dwell on this heavenly mountain and whose name
Kudai is a loan-word from the Persian.10 That the idea of
the heavenly mountain was known also far away in Europe,
is shown by the Himinbjorg (heaven-mountain) of Scandi-
navian tales and by a Finnish poem on the origin of fire, in
which it is asked where fire was born, the answer being:
“ There on the navel of the sky, on the peak of the famous
mountain.”11

In comparing the above traditions we notice in them two
leading ideas, one in which this world-mountain is merely
a giant mountain in the centre of the earth-disc with a summit
touching the sky, another in which the mountain itself is situ-
 344   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

ated in the sky, or the whole of the sky is imagined to be a
mountain. Unless these ideas have a separate origin, the
latter has in all probability developed from the former. The
world-mountains of the ancient peoples •— at least the Sumeru
of India and the Hara Berezaiti of the Iranians — were cosmic,
central mountains of the earth-disc. The Bündahish explains
how all the stars, both fixed stars and planets, move round the
mountain, to which they are bound as to the world-post. In
a very interesting manner, both ideas are joined in the Sumeru
of Chinese pictures, the mountain here resembling an hour-
glass, comparatively narrow at its centre and widening both
upwards and downwards; the upper part widens to a sky cover-
ing the earth.12 Still stranger forms can be seen in Japanese
art, where this rather narrow central mountain widens at meas-
ured intervals to represent the different storeys of Heaven.13
In this shape Sumeru resembles a tree rather than a mountain,
and is well designed to throw light on the manner in which
the branched world-tree may have developed from the world-
pillar.

A Central Asian tale places on this high, three-stepped cen-
tral mountain a still greater world-tree. That this mountain,
imagined as being three great steps, was rectangular, is shown
by the fact that the summit, on which the world-tree stood,
was <£ a square-shaped area.” In addition, on each side of the
mountain, there are said to be four mounds, which are called
the four continents, believed by the inhabitants of India to be
situated round Sumeru, one at each point of the compass. How
impressive the view from the crown of the world-tree on the
summit of the mountain is, appears from the fact, that looking
from there, according to the tale, the earth floating in the
ocean is no larger than the hoof of a horse. The height of the
tree is pictured further by the idea that if a stone of the size
of a bull is thrown down from there, it will reach the earth
after the lapse of fifty years and then be no larger than a
lamb.14
 THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN

345

To this heaven-mountain idea, there is thus also connected
the idea of a world-ocean. In an Altaic creation tale the moun-
tain and the ocean are said to have existed before the earth
peopled by men was created.15

The same mountain and ocean appear in the tales of the
Mongols, in which an evil giant snake called Losy is spoken of,
the home of which is in the ocean under the earth. By squirt-
ing poison on the earth, this being attempts to crush out life
by killing men and animals. At the request of God the hero
Otshirvani engaged this sea-monster in battle, but his powers
were not sufficient to overcome it, and he nearly fell victim
himself to the monster. Seeing this he fled from the earth and
ascended the Sumer mountain where he changed himself to the
mighty Garide bird. In this form he attacked the monster
again, seized its head with his claws, dragging it three times
round the world-mountain, and finally smashed in its head
with a great rock. This giant snake is said to be so large that
though its head is on the summit of the world-mountain, round
which its body is wound three times, its tail is still in the
ocean.18

This sea-monster, appearing in Central Asian tales also
under the name of Abyrga, was known already among the
ancient peoples of Asia. Along with Eastern myths and beliefs
it wandered to Europe. In Scandinavia there are tales of the
dreaded “ Midgard snake,” which “ squirts poison ” “ scatter-
ing this over air and land.” At the end of the world, a when
the sea will rise over the land ” and C£ the giant snake squirms
in its wrath and crawls on to the earth,” Thor will at last
succeed in killing it, falling dead himself from the poison
which the snake will have ejected against him.

As alien as the snake itself, is its vanquisher, the Garide
bird, which is said to live on Sumeru mountain and thus repre-
sents the heavenly powers in the tales of the Mongols. Its
name is identifiable with that of the Indian bird Garuda. The
hero Otshirvani, who changes himself into a bird, is the Bud-
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

346

dhist Bodhisattva Vairapani, and is only an addition, taken
from legends, to this ancient tale.

Furthest developed is the cosmography with the Sumeru
mountain in its centre, found at the present time in the teach-
ings brought by Lamaism into Central and Eastern Asia. Ac-
cording to notes made among the Kalmucks the whole of the
proportions of the universe is strictly fixed. The height of
the central mountain is 8 0,000 leagues above the surface of the
ocean, and at the same distance is its foundation in the world-
ocean, where it rests on a stratum of gold, borne in its turn
by a turtle. Round Sumeru there are seven circular a golden ”
mountain chains, divided from this and from each other by
seven seas. Naturally these seas also are ring-shaped. The
nearer a mountain chain is to the central mountain, the higher
it is. The first is 40,000 leagues, the second 20,000, the third
10,000, the fourth 5,000, the fifth 2,500, the sixth 1,250,
and the seventh, or last, 625 leagues above the ocean. As
with the height, the distance between these mountain chains
is also exactly defined. The higher the mountains become,
the further they are from each other. The distance of
each from the central mountain is the same as their height.
The water of each of these inland seas is fresh, but the
last mountain chain is surrounded by a salt ocean, which in
its turn is ringed in with an “ iron ” mountain chain 312^
leagues high. This iron chain, the circumference of which
is 3,602,625 leagues and which is situated 322,000 leagues
distant from the nearest mountain chain, forms the outer edge
of the world. The circumference of the salt ocean is 3,600,750
leagues.

Sumeru itself is shaped like a pyramid slightly broken-off
at the top. Its circumference at the surface of the sea is 2000
leagues and at its summit 3J leagues. The sides of the
pyramid facing the different points of the compass glow with
different colours. The southern side is blue, the western red,
the northern yellow, and the eastern white. These different
 THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN

347

colours are said to come from the jewel or metal coverings
of the different sides. On the south side there is a blue-gleam-
ing and on the west a red-glowing jewel covering, the north
side is golden and the east silver. These four colours are
reflected in the parts of the world facing them, and for this
reason the south is called the blue, the west the red, the north
the yellow, and the east the white point of the compass.

In each direction there is a continent in the salt ocean, or as
many as in certain tales already related. These continents are
pictured as great islands, beside which there is on each side a
smaller island, so that the total number of the islands sur-
rounding the centre of the world is twelve. Without doubt,
this conception, free from all geographical facts, reflects the
beliefs connected with the twelve pictures of the cosmologic
Zodiac. The Zodiac was already, imagined by the ancient
Babylonians as the <c land of Heaven.” As above, so are there
twelve lands below.

The people dwelling in these four continents differ from
one another, above all, in the shape of their faces. The
dwellers in the southern, or
the continent in which India,

China, Mongolia and many
other lands are situated, have
oval faces j those of the west
round; those of the north
square; and those of the east
crescent-moon shaped faces.

The continents themselves, as
may be seen from the accom-
panying illustration, are of
the same shapes.17

This cosmography, which
prevails in Tibet and in other Buddhistic districts, has its roots
in the mists of antiquity. It is strange to find this colour idea
connected with the four cardinal points also among certain

Fig. 15. A Kalmuck World-picture
 348   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

North American Indian tribes. Naturally, the colours of the
different points vary among different peoples. The Chinese
regard the east as blue, the south as red, the west as white, and
the north as black. The colours of the cardinal points in
America are black, white, yellow and blue, or, black, white,
red and blue (green).18 That these colour ideas have also had
their counterparts in the sources of civilization in Nearer Asia
is shown, e.g., by the belief, that when God created man he
gathered differently coloured materials from the four quarters
of the earth: i.e., red, black, white and brown.
 CHAPTER V

THE TREE OF LIFE

T THE navel of the earth, in the centre of the universe,

according to Altaic tales, the highest tree on earth, a
giant silver-fir, raises its crown to the dwelling of Bai-Ylgön.1
Here we find the world-tree, situated in the earlier tales on
the Sumeru mountain, removed to the navel or centre of the
earth. Generally this tree is also imagined to grow on a high
hill or mountain, especially on the central mountain of the
earth, as appears from the words of a folk-poem already cited:
“ In the centre of the earth there is an iron mountain and on
this iron mountain a white, seven-branched birch.” But as
this central mountain of the earth-disc is generally, believed
to hide its summit among the storeys of the sky, the tree itself,
for very obvious reasons, has been raised into the sky, where,
according to different beliefs and tales it continues to exist.

In the beliefs of the peoples related to the Turks this tree,
which with the growth of the universe has grown from a small
sapling to its present height, is intimately connected, like the
world-mountain, with the construction of the universe.2 And
independently of whether it rises from the earth, a high moun-
tain, or some storey in the sky, its position always resembles
that of the world-pillar j like the former, the gods use this
also to tether their horses to. In the fact, also, that it is often
pictured as many-storeyed, it resembles the world-pillar.
Thus, for example, in the shaman songs of the Vasyugan
Ostiaks, which contain images obviously borrowed from the
Tatars, this tree, like the heavens themselves, is said to be
seven-storeyed.3 More often, however, it is regarded as pierc-
ing the different floors of the sky, thrusting at the same time,
 350   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

like the central mountain which is its foundation, its roots deep
into the underground depths.

This cosmic tree differs from the world-pillar chiefly in the
fact that it is always regarded as a branched, living tree, an es-
sential and at the same time most peculiar feature of which is
its freshness and sappiness. In most of the tales it is situated
on the brink of some spring, lake or sea, even at times in the
water itself. The Ostiaks speak of “the watery sea of the
heaven-centre ” beside which this tree grows.4 The water from
which the tree nourishes itself is described in a Minusinsk
Tatar poem as follows:

“ Piercing twelve heavens
On the summit of a mountain
A birch in the misty depths of air.

Golden are the birch’s leaves,

Golden its bark,

In the ground at its foot a basin
Full of the water of life,

In the basin a golden ladle. ‘. . .”

In the poem it is mentioned further that this “ birch 99 is
watched over by the forefather of the Tatars, the old Tata,
who was given this post by the Creator himself.5

The same wonderful birch is met with in the tales of East
European people. Thus, the Mordvins tell of a giant birch
growing on a hill in the depths of the forest, the roots of which
ring round the earth and whose branches surround the heavens.
Its leaves are of the size of the palm of a hand, and its buds
as long as the lash of a whip. At the root of the birch is a
spring, roofed over with carved boards and white sheets, on
its edge a red wooden can, in the can a sweet honey-drink, and
in the liquid a silver ladle, the bottom of which is decorated
with the sun and the moon, the handle with the smaller stars.
As the sun moves in the heavens, the handle of the ladle turns
with it.6

More interesting is this tree glowing with life in the folk-
lore of the Yakuts.
 THE TREE OF LIFE   351

On the yellow navel of the eight-edged earth, according to
one of their tales, there is a dense, eight-branched tree. Its
bark and knots are silver, its sap golden, its cones like nine-
cornered goblets, and its leaves wide as the hide of a horse.
From the crown of the tree runs foaming a heavenly, yellowish
liquid. When passers-by drink of this, the tired among them
are refreshed and the hungry become satisfied.7

[Prometheus]

This life-giving tree is, according to the Yakut tales, the
dwelling-place of “ the First Man ”5 and therefore some sort
of paradise. When “ the First Man,” on appearing on the
earth, wished to know why he had been created, he approached
this giant tree, the crown of which “ pierces through the three-
storeyed Heaven ” and “ along the branches of which a light-
coloured liquid flows ” bringing blessedness to the one tasting
it, and saw an opening appear in the trunk, from which opening
a female, visible only to the waist, informed him that he had
been created to become the father of the human race.8

A variant of this same tale describes “ the First Man ” as
“the White Youth.” “Above the wide motionless depths,
below the seven storeys, the nine discs of heaven, in the central
place, on the navel of the earth, in the quietest place, where
the moon does not decline, nor the sun sink, where there is
summer without winter and the cuckoo sings eternally, was
the White Youth.” He set out to walk to see where he had
appeared, and what his dwelling-place was like. In the east
he saw a wide, lightish plain, on the plain a mighty hill and
on the hill a giant tree. The resin of the tree was transparent
and sweetly perfumed, its bark never dried or cracked, its
sap was silvery, its leaves never withered and its cones were
like a row of reversed goblets. The crown of the tree rose
over the seven storeys of Heaven, being the tethering-post of
the Over-god Yryn-ai-tojon, and its roots went deep down
into the underground depths where they were the dwelling-
pillars of the strange mythical beings there. By means of its
leaves the tree talked with the dwellers in Heaven.
 352   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

Walking southward the White Youth saw a calm “lake of
milk ” in the centre of a green, grassy plain, which lake was
never rippled by. a breath of wind and on the shores of which
were curdled swamps. In the north was a dark forest, where
the trees rustled day and night and where all manner of
animals moved. Behind the forest rose high mountains, bear-
ing caps that resembled white rabbit-skin; the mountains
leaned against the heavens, protecting these from cold winds.
In the west grew a low tangle of bushes, behind these a high
forest of firs, and behind the forest solitary blunt-headed
mountains were just discernible.

Such was the world, in which the White Youth saw the
light of day. Tired of his lonely existence he approached the
tree of life and said: “ Honoured High Mistress, Spirit of my
tree and my dwelling-place, everything living moves in couples
and gives birth to descendants, but I am alone. I wish to travel
and seek a partner worthy of me, I wish to know other people
and measure my strength against them, I wish to live as a man
should. Do not refuse thy blessing, I pray to thee with
humbled, bowed head and with bent knees.”

Then the leaves of the tree commenced to rustle and a fine
milk-white rain dripped from them upon the White Youth.
A warm zephyr was felt, the tree creaked, and from under its
roots a female being arose up to her waist. This spirit of the
tree and of the place is described by. the tale as a grave-eyed,
middle-aged woman with flowing locks and naked bosom. The
goddess offered the Youth milk from her swelling breasts, and
having drunk, he felt how his powers had grown a hundred-
fold. At the same time .the goddess promised him every
happiness and blessed him so that neither water, fire, iron nor
anything else could harm him.9

It is obvious that this tale cannot have originated among the
Yakuts in the cold atmosphere of North-East Siberia, but, as
the glowing description of Paradise hints at, in the lap of a
much richer and more fertile nature. With the help of the
 
 PLATE XLIII

Old Turkish Memorial Image in North

Mongolia

(See page 301.)

After photograph by S. Palsi.
 ?
 ' r’

; f;

i

L

i
 THE TREE OF LIFE   353

description of nature in the tale, in which the mountains with
white caps resembling rabbit-skin appearing in the north are
obviously snow-clad mountains, we can endeavour to find the
birthplace of this story, which pre-supposes the knowledge both
of a fertile vegetation and of snow-clad mountains. We turn
naturally then either to India or Nearer Asia. But the para-
dise landscape cannot, however, as such be used as a guide, as
the “lake of milk” and other details belong to the beliefs
connected with the navel of the earth. In addition the land-
scape differs somewhat in the different variants.

Before examining the above tale more minutely, we will
glance at a few additional details throwing more light on the
tree of life, these details being contained in the examples of
the Yakut language published by Middendorff. In these the
first man, a the ancestor of the Yakuts,” is called Ar-soghotoch
(“ the Lonely Man ”). His dwelling also is spoken of, which
is in the centre of the plain and has four silver-gleaming
corners, forty windows, fifty pillars, and thirty roof-trees j
the walls and the golden floor are fourfold and the silver roof
threefold. Altogether this dwelling would therefore seem to
have possessed seven storeys. The tree of life itself is de-
scribed in the following words: “When he comes out of
his dwelling on to the balcony towards the east to see the land-
scape, he has before him the king of trees, which grows among
the grass. This tree over which swings the blue air, is so old
that its age cannot be reckoned in centuries. Its roots stretch
through Hades and its crown pierces the nine heavens. The
length of each leaf is seven fathoms and that of the cones
nine fathoms. From under its roots foams the c eternal water.5
When its aged, starved and weary, white or dark cattle, its
flying or running game, drink or lick the sap and resin which
drip from this tree’s branches and cones, gathering and form-
ing a brawling stream, they acquire again their former youth
and overflowingness.” It is further related that when the
spirit of the tree, “ a white-haired aged goddess,” mottled of
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

354

body like a woodcock and with breasts as large as ££ leather-
bags,” appears, the tree creaks and groans, growing smaller,
until with the re-entrance of the goddess it regains its former
size. From this spirit of the tree the Lonely Man receives
the knowledge that his father is the Heaven god Ar-tojon
(££ The High Lord ”) and his mother Kybai-Khotun (££ Kybai
Mistress ”), who had immediately after his birth lowered him
from the third heaven to the earth so that he might become
the forefather of the human race. At the same time the spirit
takes water from under the roots of the tree and pours it into
a bladder, which she gives to her ward, saying: ££ Fasten this
Under thy left arm, in the uttermost danger it will save thee.”
Later, according to the tale, the hero fights a duel on a court-
ship journey with a wicked dragon, receiving a blow in the
heart, but the bladder bursting at the same time and its con-
tents flowing on to the wound, his heart becomes immediately
whole, giving him in addition his powers back ninefold.10

Where and how the tree of life ideas in this Yakut tale
may have originated in the mists of antiquity, related tales are
already met with among the ancient peoples in India, in Iran,
in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt. As is well known, the corre-
sponding'beliefs of the ancient Semites are reflected in the
Bible: <£ And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow
every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the
tree of life also in the midst of the garden, . . .” As in the
Yakut tale the first man dwells here beside the tree of life.
Similarly the nourishment afforded by the tree gives eternal
life. The same conceptions appear from the following words
from the Book of Revelation: ££ To him that overcometh will
I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God.” And for the belief that the water of life
flows under the roots of the tree we find a counterpart in other
words from the same book: ££ And he shewed me a pure river
of Water of life ... and on either side of the river was there
the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded
 THE TREE OF LIFE

355

her fruit every, month: and the leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations.” Here we find also the health-giving
properties of the tree of life mentioned. It is thus obvious
that the Yakut tale and the images in the Bible are derived
from a common foundation idea. In the former there are
several additional details, such as the milk-breasted goddess,
which are unknown to the Bible and cannot be regarded as hav-
ing sprung from legends formed on the Bible stories, but must
have had some other tale related to this as model.

Just as many of the Central and Northern Asian tales-place
the tree of life on a high hill or mountain, even in Heaven it-
self, so the Semitic paradise was imagined to be, sometimes on
the central mountain of the earth, sometimes in Heaven. From
the fact that the ancient Babylonians already in olden times
knew of the paradise-mountain of the gods, the tree, and the
water of life, we may conclude that this belief, relics of which
have come down to us from ancient times, is of extreme age
among the civilized peoples of Nearer Asia.

The corresponding beliefs in Indian mythology are pointed
to further by the above mentioned Central Asian tale in which
the mighty world-tree is situated on the Sumeru mountain.
That this tree was the tree of life, the following tale, likewise
from Central Asia, shows: “In the beginning was no land,
only water out of which rose two great mountains. On the
summit of one were three temples, harbouring thirty-three
Tengeri or gods. At the foot of the mountain was a triangular
plain, from which rose the extremely high Zambu tree, with
its crown higher than the mountain. The Tengeri ate of its
fruit, but the beings living under the tree, the Asuras, shouted
to the Tengeri: ‘Why do you eat from the tree growing on
our land?5 The Asuras became at last so inflamed that they
commenced to war against the Tengeri j in this war, however,
they lost and were vanquished. The gods then threw down
sand from the mountain, and even gold, and in this way
the earth was created, on to which two gods, male and
 356   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

female, descended in order to people the earth with their
descendants.”11

In the beginning of the tale, two eternal mountains are thus
mentioned, which appear thousands of years earlier in the cos-
mology of the ancient civilized peoples of Nearer Asia, but
only one is described in detail, the Tengeri dwelling on the
summit of which are the thirty-three gods of the Sumeru
mountain of Indian mythology. Similarly, the beings dwell-
ing at the foot of the mountain are the Asura giants of
India, who were believed to dwell in the bottomless chasms
of Meru, and from there warred against Indra and other gods.
The Zambu tree also, from which the gods were nourished is,
as the name shows, the Indian tree of life, Jambu. According
to Buddhistic mythology this tree has sixteen large branches
but a multitude of smaller ones. Its ruddy-grey leaves are as
fine as the purest silk and its flowers glowing like gold. In
its fruit there are hundreds of sweet lumps, of the size of
goose-eggs, which drive away all diseases. The golden-yellow
sap of the tree drips like melting butter. The beings living
around procure their nourishment from this tree of life.12

It is probable that the idea of a tree of life among the
Indians has its roots in distant ages, as already in the poems of
the Veda the immortality-producing nourishment of Soma,
which grew on a mountain, is mentioned. Corresponding to
this is the Haoma of Iranian mythology, imagined as a fertile,
golden-flowered tree of life and as such placed on the central
mountain of the world, Hara Berezaiti. The Rauhina tree
of the Indian poem Suparnadhyaya, from which a mythological
eagle, the Garuda, known as the robber of Soma, breaks off
a branch, is probably also a relic of a tree of life, in which the
said bird, according to earlier ideas, was believed to live. In
the folk-poetry of the Iranians we meet with this mythological
bird in the crown of the tree of life.

The Indian tales cannot, however, be regarded as the model
for the Yakut tale mentioned. Their tree of life resembles
 THE TREE OF LIFE

357

more the ancient Egyptian pictures, in which a date-palm de-
scribed as being partly a tree and partly a woman, gives to its
ward nourishment producing eternal life. Sometimes this
tree is seen pictured on the brink of the spring of the water of
life.13

The tree of life of the Yakuts with its goddess appearing
from the roots resembles also the Yggdrasil of the Icelandic
Edda, “ Which is the greatest and best of all trees,” whose
“ branches cover the whole earth and rise over the heavens,”
whose “ tall trunk is hidden by. a white fluid ” and which will
“stagger first when the world ends.” Under this “ openly
flourishing tree, dripping honey-dew” is a wonderful spring,
Urdarbrunn, beside which under the roots of the tree live the
three deities of birth and fate, the Norns. If we compare
Yggdrasil with the Yakut tree of life, it becomes obvious that
they are identical, even to their details, with the exception that
under the tree of life of the Scandinavian poem there are three,
and under the Yakut, only one goddess.

The eagle also of the Edda, which sits in the crown of the
tree, and the Nidhugg snake under its roots are details closely
connected with the tree of life of Central Asia. The Kalmucks
relate how a dragon in the sea at the foot of the Zambu tree
lay in wait for the leaves dropping from Zambu. The leaves
which it failed to catch, sinking to the bottom, turned into gold
there.14 In the Buriat poems a mythological snake called
Abyrga is said to dwell at the foot of the tree in a “ lake of
milk.” 18 In certain Central Asian tales the Abyrga snake
twines round the tree itself, while at the same time the Garide
eagle living in the crown attacks and pecks at it.16 This
Garide, which when flying furiously causes storms, is, as the
name indicates, the Indian Garuda, the well-known robber of
Soma.

The precursors of the Yakut tales have probably been the
paradise ideas of the ancient Iranians, like the beliefs of
the West Siberian peoples, who place this mighty tree on “ the
 35$   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

iron mountain ” rising from the centre of the earth-disc. From
ancient Persian literature we see that they, also called the cen-
tral mountain of the earth Hara Berezaiti, “ the iron moun-
tain,” on the summit of which they believed the tree of life to
be. On this mountain where, under the tree of life, is the
spring of the water of life, Ardvisura, and the paradise of the
Iranians, dwells the first man, Gajomartan, as in the Yakut
paradise. Like the latter the Iranians also pictured him as a
a white ” being.17 With the help of these facts we can assume
that the tale in question has spread along with a current of
civilization from the Iranians to the Turco-Tatar peoples, and .
with the Yakuts wandered to the distant River Lena, where
their folk-lore was able to preserve it as near the original
as has been shown, and thus to hand down to the present
generation a valuable relic of the paradise ideas of the Iranians
and the whole East, of which ideas only scanty and scattered
fragments are to be found in ancient literature.

With the greater reason, therefore, do we turn our attention
to the Yakut conception of the tree of life. From the pre-
ceding tales we have seen that besides u the First Man,” the
whole of the animals of creation dwell near the tree, and that
it is regarded as the nourisher of them all. But in the begin-
ning the tree would seem to have had a still more marvellous
significance. A variant of the tale describes how the Over-god
and the goddess of Birth and Fate, Kybai-Khotun, the name
also of the spirit dwelling in the tree, gave birth to the first
man in the third heaven, from which he was lowered down to
the earth ; but despite this, the other version goes on to details
showing how the ancestor of the human race really appeared
in his life-giving surroundings. His curiosity as to where he
has come from leads him to the conclusion that he has been
born in those very surroundings. This appears, e.g., from his
words: “If I had dropped down from heaven, I should be
covered with snow and hoar-frost, if I had come from the
south or the north, from th’e east or the west of the central
 THE TREE OF LIFE

359

place (the earth), I should bear marks of trees and grass and
I should give out the scent of the wind; if I had risen from the
bowels of the earth, I should have the dust of the earth on
me.”18 It appears probable, therefore, that the milk-breasted
goddess of the wonderful tree has given birth to him and that
“ the First Man ” is right in saying to her: “ Be my mother,
as though thou hadst given birth to me; be my creator, as
though thou hadst created me.” Motherly care is also defined
in the words: “ Thou hast brought up me, an orphan, to man’s
estate, thou hast suffered me, the little one, to grow up.”19

Further, we can hardly be mistaken in assuming that all
the living beings crowded round this tree have the spirit to
thank for their existence. Man at least confesses: rt Thou hast
brought up my white cattle, for my black beasts hast thou
cared, protected my, birds and my game, and kept together the
fishes of my black waters.”20

With the Central Asian ideas of the tree of life, as an essen-
tial feature, we have seen the belief connected that under the
roots of the tree is a spring containing the water of life. In
the tales of the Yakuts the tree itself is sometimes said to drip
a sap-like fluid so copiously, that a foaming brook is formed.
Under the Iranian tree of life there is a spring in which all the
rivers of the earth have their source. Even the belief that
the tree of life rises out of a lake or sea of wonderful water
is met with.

Thus, e.g., the Kalmucks tell how the Zambu tree rises out
of the Marvo Sea, which is as deep as it is broad and contains
water of eight different elements. From this sea run four
great rivers. These are said to flow towards the different
points of the compass and, after having made seven turnings,
to return to their source of origin. On their journey, each
river receives the waters of five hundred tributaries. The sea
itself is regarded as a mountain-lake, as each river pierces a
rock, said to resemble some animal. The rivers flowing towards
the east, south, west, and north emerge from rocks which are
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

3^o

respectively like the mouths of an elephant, a bull, a horse,
and a lion.21 The animals in this tale represent the points of
the compass, a belief extremely, old among the civilized peoples
of Asia, though the animals themselves may vary. Thus,
in the Chinese tale the east is represented by a blue dragon,
the south by a red bird, the west by a white tiger, and the
north by a black turtle. To prevent diseases the Mongols
are said to have built on the site of an old Chinese town a sanc-
tuary (obo), at the four sides of which they erected wooden
images of the points of the compass, i.e., a tiger, a lion, an
eagle, and a dragon.22

[Prometheus]

That these four rivers of the Kalmuck tales have their
source at the very centre of the earth, is shown by the
fact that they are believed to carry with them the materials
decorating the sides of the central mountain. The eastern
river contains silver sand, the southern blue jewel sand, the
western red jewel sand and the northern gold sand.

There can be no doubt of the fact that these ideas of the
Kalmucks have come down to them from India along with
the currents of civilization, even though these four rivers of
paradise have, as the Bible shows, been known also to the
Semitic race.
 CHAPTER VI

DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD

BESIDES the destruction caused by the subsidence of the
pillar supporting the sky, other dangers also are be-
lieved to threaten the earth peopled by men. To the idea that
the earth is situated on the bosom of a great cosmic ocean is at-
tached the fear that the foundations of the earth may give way
or that it may become inundated. The Asian tales of the dif-
ferent periods of the earth relate how a great flood once de-
stroyed all life on it, and how a human being who escaped
became the ancestor of a new race of men. Tales of this
description are met with also among the Altaic peoples.
Whether these are founded on ancient borrowings, and whether
they contain any direct remainders of such loans, is difficult to
conclude 5 in their present state, as known to us, they would
seem to represent later currents of civilization. One may as-
sume, however, that later arriving legends have been prone to
sweep aside the more ancient forms of this tale.

A very common modern form is found in the following
Buriat tale: Before the flood arrived, Burkhan advised a cer-
tain man to build himself a great ship. Following the advice
of God, the man went to the forest, where he worked through-
out the days. At last his wife, becoming curious, wished to
know what her husband worked at so industriously in the
forest. To keep his intention secret, the man replied that he
chopped wood there. While the man was away, the devil,
Shitkur, came to the woman explaining that her husband had
deceived her and that he was building a great ship in the forest.
And in the end the devil begged the woman to help him,
saying: “ The ship will soon be ready and thy husband will
 3$2   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

invite thee to enter it, but do thou refuse, and when he be-
comes angry and strikes thee, say to him: ‘Why, dost thou
strike me, Shitkur? ’ When thou enterest the ship after this, I
shall accompany thee.” The woman promised to follow the
advice of the devil. Soon a great flood threatened to destroy
the whole earth and the builder of the ship exhorted his
family to enter his vessel, but the wife resisted so long that
the man became angry and began to beat her. The wife then
said, as the devil had taught her: £< Why dost thou strike me,
Shitkur? ” When she finally went on board, the devil was
enabled to accompany her. The tale tells in addition hows
with the help of Burkhan, the man gathered specimens of all
the animals into his ship with the exception of the Prince of
animals (Argalan-Zon), which deemed itself so large that no
flood could drown it. Having entered the vessel, the devil
changed himself into a mouse and began to gnaw holes in the
bottom of the vessel, until Burkhan created the cat to catch
the mouse. As the flood was so great that it destroyed all the
animals left on the earth, the Prince of animals, whose bones
may be found in the earth today, was also drowned.1 Ac-
cording to other tales the animal which failed to survive the
flood was the mammoth.2

In a tale recorded among the Sagaiyes, in which the builder
of the ship is called Noj, the devil tempts his wife to inquire
what he is building in the forest, and having found out, begins
to destroy by night what Noj builds during the day. Thus,
when the flood begins, the vessel is not yet completed, and
God is forced to send down to the man a vessel of iron, in
which Noj with his wife and family and all kinds of animals
are saved.3

In both tales, our attention is called to the part played by
the devil; otherwise they resemble the Bible story of the flood.
The Nor .of these tales is unquestionably the Noah of the
Bible.

The corresponding tales of the Irtysh Ostiaks and the South-
 DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 363

ern Voguls make the devil give the wife of the hero of the
flood a strong drink, by the help of which she entices her
husband to relate his secret. The Ostiaks call the man by a
name borrowed from the Tatars, Pairekse.4

A legend corresponding in all its details is known also to
the peoples of East Europe, where it is probably of literary
origin. It is to be found at least in the Russian version of the
Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius. With Russian settlers it
may possibly have migrated in this form to Siberia, where told
by these, it has been written down, e.g., in the territory behind
the Baikal. In its chief points, this Russian legend is as
follows: In order to find out why Noah is building his ark,
the devil advises his wife to prepare a strong drink, having
drunk of which Noah, in a state of intoxication, informs his
wife of the secret entrusted to him by God. The devil dis-
turbs Noah in his work, and when the ark is at last completed,
he creeps into it in the company of Noah’s wife, who has
tempted her husband into pronouncing the devil’s name. Ar-
rived in the ark, in the guise of a mouse, he gnaws holes in the
bottom of the ark.5

The flood tale of Pseudo-Methodius is without doubt a late
Eastern apocryphal legend founded on the Bible story. That
the wife of Noah, who is not especially mentioned in the Bible,
was also the subject of tales among the Arabians, is suggested
by the passage in the Koran, in which Noah’s wife is mentioned,
together with the wife of Lot, as being among the damned.
Further, the manner in which the devil succeeds in entering
the ark in the company of Noah’s wife, greatly resembles the
following Islamic tale, as already pointed out by Dahnhardt:
When the ark was completed and all the animals hurried there
in pairs, Noah saw that the ass lingered behind j annoyed, he
shouted to it: u Come in, thou accursed! ” This moment
was taken advantage of by the evil Iblis, who answered, when
the astonished Noah asked him how he had come into the
ark: “I came at thine invitation, there being among the
 364   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

creations of God none accursed but I.”6 There are, how-
ever, no indications that the already cited tales could have
spread into Siberia from Islam.

Nearer the Bible story than any other ancient flood tale
known to us, is the following Altaic tale: “Up to the time
when the flood (jmk) hid all the earth, Tengys (Sea) was
lord over the earth. During his rule there lived a man called
Nama, a good man, whom Ülgen commanded to build an ark
(kerep). Nama, who had three sons, Sozun-uul, Sar-uul, and
Balyks, was already failing of sight and therefore left the
building of the ark to his sons. When the ark, which was built
on a mountain, was completed, Nama told his sons to hang
from its corners and walls eight cables of eighty fathoms each,
by the help of which he could later determine c how many days
it takes for the water to rise eighty fathoms/ After this had
been done, Nama entered the ark, taking with him his family
and the various animals and birds which, threatened by the ris-
ing waters, gathered around him. Seven days later the cables
attached to the earth gave way and the ark drifted free. This
showed that the water had already risen eighty fathoms.
When seven days had elapsed again, Nama told his eldest son
to open the window of the ark and to look around. Sozun-uul
looked in all directions and then said: c Everything has sunk
under the waters, only the summits of the mountains are in
sight/ Later, when ordered by his father to look out again,
he was able to answer: c Nothing is to be seen, only the sky
and the waters/ At last the ark stopped on eight closely
situated mountains. Then Nama himself opened the window
and set free the raven, which, however, did not return. On the
second day he released the crow, and on the third the rook,
but neither of these returned. On the fourth day. he sent out
the dove, which returned with a twig of birch in its beak.
From this bird Nama also heard why the other birds had not
returned. The raven had found the carcase of a deer, the
crow that of a dog, and the rook that of a horse, Which they had
 DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 365

stayed behind to devour. Hearing this, Nama became enraged
and laid a curse on these birds, saying: 1 What they are doing
now, let them continue with to the end of the world! 9 99 The
tale goes on to relate that when Nama had become very old,
his wife exhorted him to kill all the men and animals he had
saved from the flood, so that, being transferred to the other
world, they would be under his power there also. Under the
ceaseless exhortations of his wife, Nama became restless and
did not know what to do. Then his son Sozun-uui, who knew
the intentions of his mother but did not dare to oppose her
openly, related to his father the following incident: WI saw
a blue-black cow devouring a human being so that only the
legs were any longer to be seen.” Having understood this
fable, Nama seized his sword and cleft his wife in two, begin-
ning at the head. Finally Nama removed to heaven, taking
his son Sozun-uul with him, and changing the latter into a
constellation of five stars.7

Thus, in this tale also, the wife of the hero of the flood
is pictured as a wicked person. Otherwise, the tale differs
greatly from the preceding dualistic tales and has obviously
reached Central Asia apart from these. Among some of the
Altaic peoples the hero of the flood has also become the object
of certain beliefs. As such he is often called Jaik-Khan (<£ the
Flood Prince ”) and is prayed to as the intervener between
the Over-god and man, and as the protector of man. In some
places a white lamb is sacrificed to him annually in the spring.
The sacrifice is carried out on a high mountain. He is also
supposed to be the ruler of the dead, and as such is invited
to the house-purification ceremonies forty days after a death,
and begged to return the domestic animals, which the dead,
according to the people, sometimes take with them. In the
shaman rites also he is often spoken with and desired to con-
vey the prayers of the people to the Over-god.8 His dwelling-
place is situated in the third heaven, where the paradise of the
blessed is, and from there, at suitable times, he sends his mes-
 $66   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

senger with a soul for a child born on the earth. In this
capacity he is called Jajutshi (a the Orderer ”).9

These ideas of the Altai Tatars correspond to those which
the Irtysh Ostiaks have borrowed for their Pairekse from the
Tatars. As we have already seen, the latter also is regarded
as the hero of the flood, appearing besides in some tales as
the a Writer man,” who writes in heaven, in the Book of Fate,
according to the dictation of God, how long and in what cir-
cumstances a human being is to live on the earth.

Not only as the ancestor of the present human race, but
also as a kind of Creator does the hero of the flood appear in
the flood tales of the Soyots: When the giant frog (turtle)
supporting the earth happened to move once, the cosmic ocean
began to flood the earth. A certain old man who had guessed
that something of the kind would happen, built a raft
strengthened with iron, placed himself upon it with his family,
and was saved. With the decline of the waters the raft
grounded on a high wooded mountain, where it is said to be
still. After the flood, this Kezer-Tshingis-Kaira-Khan re-
created everything we now see around us. He is especially
mentioned as having taught people how to prepare strong
drinks, an invention accredited also to the hero of the Bible
story»10

How deeply the story of the flood has taken root in the
beliefs of the peoples around the Altai, is shown by their
obstinate belief that the raft or the ark is still today on the
summit of one of the local mountains, where, however, it is
not good for man to search for it, as none have returned from
the spot alive. In Other places, tradition tells that on the site
of the grounding of the ark, great nails have been found,
believed to be remains of the vessel of the flood.11

But in what manner can the hero of the flood have risen to
godlike eminence, to be the object of worship, and have had
ascribed to him so wide a field of action as he actually has
among the Altaic peoples? Without doubt, the beliefs of the
 DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 367

Iranians may, be regarded as having brought this about. Their
“ First Man,” Yima, who was worshipped as the ruler over
souls, was at the same time the hero of the flood. This ruler
is met with in Altai Tatar tales as Schal-Jime, the first part of
the name being a deformation of a Thibetan word meaning
“ Prince of Death.” In one Altaic creation-tale God says:
“ Thou art my man, Schal-Jime j look well after the man who
has tasted strong drink, and little children, foals, calves and
lambs j those dying happily take to thee l ”13 According to the
preceding, Schal-Jime, like Jaik-Khan, is the ruler over in-
fants and those dying happily.

Some of the more northern peoples of Siberia tell how the
flood brought about the origin of many races and many lan-
guages, a question dealt with in the Bible in connection with
the tower of Babel. The Ugrians tell how the people saved
on their rafts drifted in different directions, settling after the
flood in different parts of the earth.13 In the same way, with-
out mentioning any special hero, the Yenisei Ostiaks relate:
When the water rose continuously during seven days, part of
the people and animals were saved by climbing on to the logs
and rafters floating on the water. But a strong north wind,
which blew without ceasing for seven days, scattered the people
far from one another. And for this reason they, began, after
the flood, to speak different languages and to form different
peoples.14

Original and unaffected as these tales appear to be, especially
in the frequently flooded Yenisei district, where the hated
north wind often causes trouble, we cannot even here, in this
primitive state, assume the story to have originated in North
Siberia. Above all, the influence of foreign flood tales seems
to be apparent in the seven-day periods of time. Compared
with the former tales, however, these latter would seem to
represent a new type.

Far away in the north, on the tundras of the Samoyeds,
a flood tale has also been recorded, in which, as in the ancient
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

368

Indian tales, seven persons are said to have been saved in a
boat. The Samoyeds go on to relate how, after the flood, a
terrible drought followed, so that these survivors were nearly
dying of thirst. From this disaster, however, they were saved
by digging a deep hole in the ground, in which water formed.
More difficult was the finding of nourishment. This caused all
but one young man and one maid to die of hunger, these two
having started to eat the mice which came out of the ground.
From this couple the present human race is descended.15

For the sake of comparison a flood tale from North-East
Siberia may be given, according to which people were saved
by binding together trunks of trees into great rafts. Establish-
ing themselves on these, they took with them sufficient provi-
sions for the duration of the flood. To prevent the rafts from
drifting out to sea, the people fastened rocks to long ropes
which were then dropped to the bottom as anchors. Finally,
these log-rafts grounded on a high mountain.16 In the above
form this story is told, e.g., by the Kamchadales.

Besides a destructive flood, some of the North Siberian
peoples speak also of a great conflagration, which once de-
stroyed all life on the earth. The Tungus from behind the
Baikal describe it as follows: In the beginning was the earth,
but then a great fire raged for seven years and the earth was
burned up. Everything became sea. All the Tungus were
consumed 'except a boy and a girl who rose up with an eagle
into the sky. Having wandered for a time in the air, they
descended to a place where the water had dried up. With
them the eagle also descended to the earth.17

Of an all-devouring conflagration the Voguls also speak,
telling how God sent a sea of fire upon the earth in order to
destroy the devil. The cause of the fire they call “ the fire-
water.” In the destruction of all creation, only the gods and
a few mortals succeeded in saving themselves. The former
placed themselves on an “iron ship,” the latter on a “seven-
bottomed beech-raft,” which was provided in addition with
 DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 369

a fireproof, sevenfold cover of sturgeon-skin. The tale
gives thus the same means of escape as the ordinary flood
tales, which the conflagration tales of the Voguls otherwise
resemble.

The tales of the Voguls also tell of a recurring conflagration,
the fearful thunder of which the “ Earth-watching man ” hears
from afar. This hero decides to ride through the fire, “ one
side of which glows in the heights of the sky, the other burning
at both corners of the sky.” With the help of his magic horse
he succeeds also in his attempt. Munkacsi believes the Aurora
Borealis to have been the original source of these ideas.18 This
he assumes is meant by the “ sea of fire ” through which the
hero rides for seven days. Obviously, this great phenomenon
of North Siberia has played a great part in awakening the
imagination of the people, the white streaks appearing among
the Northern Lights being sometimes called “The track of
the white horse of the Earth-watching man,” but even then
this tale can hardly have been born among the Ugrians. A
hero riding across a sea of fire on a magic steed is a story-
theme met with over a wide area. Neither can the steed be
identified with the eagle of the Tungus tale, although the con-
flagration tales of the two peoples seem to have much in
common. As mentioned before, the fire in the Tungus tale
lasts for seven years, corresponding to the description in the
Vogul tale: “Already for seven winters and summers the
fire has raged, already for seven winters and summers it has
burnt up the earth.”19

Conflagration tales have also been noted down elsewhere in
Asia. Thus, for instance, in East India it is told how God, as
mankind sank deeper into sin, sent a flood of fire on to the
earth, here also called “water of fire.” Two people only,
brother and sister, were saved by, hiding themselves.20 The
ancient civilized peoples of Nearer Asia would also seem to
have known these conflagration tales.

Quite obvious is the alien influence in such Central Asian
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

370

tales which tell how a great fire will occur at the end of the
world and bum up the whole earth.

[Prometheus]

The Altai Tatars say that when Ülgen sends Maidere (a
Buddhist Bodhisattva) from the sky, who will teach people
the fear of God and convert the greater part of mankind, the
evil Erlik will become angry and say to Maidere; “ I am
strong enough to kill thee with my sword.” At the same
time the devil will attack Maidere and fulfil his threat. The
blood of Maidere, said to turn the whole world red, will take
fire, the flames surrounding the earth and rising to the heavens.
Then Ülgen will arrive and clapping his hands together shout:
“ Ye dead, arise! ” And at once these will arise from their
hiding-places, some out of the earth and some from the sea,
others from the fire or the places in which they had hidden
when overtaken by, death. In the world-conflagration Erlik
and all wicked people will be destroyed.21

This mighty drama of the end of the world, in which the
powers of good and evil engage in a final contest and in which
evil is completely destroyed, is probably Iranian eschatology,
preached perhaps in Central Asia by the apostles of Manicheism
in their time.

Comparable with the eschatology of the Bible is also the
belief of the Buriats, that at the end of the world a great
river of fire will flow from the east to the west, throwing its
sparks everywhere so that the whole of creation will be set
alight. In the place of this old earth it is believed, however,
that a new one will appear with new inhabitants.22
 CHAPTER VII

THE CREATION OF MAN

THE TRANS-BAIKAL Tungus relate how Buga (the
Heaven god) made the first two people out of various
materials which he gathered from the four quarters of the
earth. From the east he brought iron, from the south fire,
from the west water, and from the north earth. Out of the
earth he created the flesh and the bones, out of the iron the
heart, out of the water blood, and out of the fire warmth.1

According to a Yeside creation story God made the body
of Adam by mixing the four elements, fire, water, air and earth.
Old Jewish, Arabian and Syrian tales describe also how God,
when creating the first man, gathered material from the four
corners of the earth.2 According to the Jewish story, these
materials of which God made the body of Adam in the centre
of the earth, were of different colours, red, black, white and
brown, from which we may assume that, as in the Tungus* tale,
each contained some element connected with some quarter of
the earth. Thus the first man was a kind of microcosmos,
closely related to the macrocosmos.

This ancient fancy is to be found also in Russian tales of
creation. In one manuscript from the twelfth century the four
quarters of the earth have been doubled, the story relating
that God gathered material from eight directions. In later
tales, of which one is from the sixteenth century, it is said
that Adam’s body, i.e., the flesh, was made of earth, his bones
of stone, his ligaments of roots, his blood of water, his eyes
of the sun, his thoughts of clouds, his spirit of wind and his
warmth of fire. According to another tale God made the body
of earth, the bones of stone, the ligaments of roots, the blood
 - ,:1

?f;

? j'.'

.V!: ?

si^:;

372   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

of water, the hair of grass, the thoughts of wind (clouds)
and the spirit of clouds (wind).3

How close the connection is between man and nature accord-
ing to this Asiatic conception appears also in Persian literature
('Bündahishy 30) in which the resurrection is described in the
following words: a At that time the bones will be demanded
back from the earth, the blood from water, the hair from
plants, and life from fire, all these having been at the time of
creation ordered to return to their respective sources after
death.”

But this relation of man with nature appears also from a
contrary conception, according to which the macrocosmos itself
is born of man, the microcosmos. According to a tale of the
Kalmucks the world was formed from the body of Manza-
shiri (=the Buddhist Bodhisattva Manjucri), the trees from
his blood-vessels, fire from the warmth of his interior organs,
earth from his body, iron from his bones, water from his blood,
grass from his hair, the sun and the moon from his eyes,
the seven planets from his teeth, and the other stars from his
back,4 In the same way is the cosmos formed when the Chinese
demiurge Pan-ku expires: from his spirit is born the wind,
from his voice the thunder, from his left eye the sun and his
right eye the moon, from his blood the rivers, from his hairs
the plants, from his saliva the rain, and from his vermin man-
kind.® Already the Vedic literature of India (Rgveda, X. 90)
tells how the world was formed from the body of a human-
shaped primordial being, Purusa. The Manicheans have a
similar tale,8 and even far in Europe, in Scandinavia, we find
a variant of it. In the Edda of Snorri it is told how the sons
of Bor slew the giant Ymir, and of his flesh created the earth,
of his blood the water, of his bones the stones and rocks, of
his skull the sky, of his brains the clouds, and of his eyebrows
the circle surrounding Midgard, Doubtless all the above
stories have some connection with each other and have not
arisen separately.   y

': T:

? ;Vf
 
 PLATE XLIV

Old Turkish Memorial Image in North

Mongolia

(See page 301.)

After photograph by S. Palsi,
 
 ?ï,

-.1
 THE CREATION OF MAN   373

In the tales of the Central and North Asian peoples the
materials of which the first man’s body was made, vary. The
most common conception among the Buriats is that the flesh was
made of red clay, the bones of stone, and the blood of water.7
The Altaic peoples believe that bones were created from reeds
and the rest of the body from clay.8 The North-West Siberian
peoples, like the Voguls, relate how God u took willow-twigs,
bound them into skeletons, covered them with a layer of clay,
set them before him and blew into them.” In other tales
they tell how God created man and animals from earth and
snow,® The Yenisei Ostiaks relate how God rubbed a piece of
earth in each hand for a long time and at last threw them
away. The piece thrown by the right hand became a man, that
from the left hand, a woman.10

Although some Siberian peoples seem to have partly shaped
their own creation beliefs, we can in nowise decide from
this that the idea of creation itself was their own. The tales
themselves, to which these original fancies are connected
as separate details, are the best proof of their being of foreign
origin.

As in the stories about the origin of the earth, so also in tales
telling of the creation of man we find two antagonistic beings,
God and the devil, the latter in some way marring the work of
the former. In most instances the devil succeeds in approach-
ing man before God has had time to give him life. The dog,
whom God sets to watch over man, has a very, important part
in these tales.

Among the Black Tatars there is the following story: When
the great Pajana formed the first people from a piece of earth,
he could not give them life. He was therefore compelled to
go to Heaven to Kudai to seek a life-giving spirit for them.
When going he left a dog to guard the people. While he was
away the devil Erlik arrived and said to the yet naked dog:
"Thou hast no fur-covering, I will give thee golden hairs,
give thou to me those soulless people.” The dog was delighted
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

374

with Erlik’s proposal and gave the people whom he was to
guard into the keeping of the devil. Having thus come near
the people the devil defiled them by spitting on them, but
fled when he saw Kudai approaching to give them life. When
God saw that the devil had befouled the bodies of the people
and that it was impossible to make them clean again he turned
them inside out. From that time the interior of man is full
of filth and spittle.11

A similar explanation of the origin of the filth inside man is
given by a Yakut tale. When God had created the world he
built a great stone house in which he placed seven stone images
and “ Man ” to guard them. Day. by day the devil begged
for entrance into the house, endeavouring to bribe the guardian
without success, until he promised a Man ” an indestructible
garment, which he need never take off. He was then allowed
to approach the images and to soil them with his evacuations.
When God came to look at his images and saw what the devil
had done in his absence he grew angry, reproached the
guardian, and fulfilled his wish by changing him into a dog.
The images he turned inside out and blew a spirit into them.
For that reason the interior of man is full of filth.12

Corresponding tales are met with among the Volga Finns,
the Cheremiss, Votiaks and Mordvins. The purport of these
tales also is to explain why the interior of God-created man is
unclean. The Mordvin tale tells in addition that internal
diseases are caused by the spittle of the devil.18 Certain
diseases, a cough in particular, are given a similar origin in
Russian tales. In the Samoyed tale which does not contain
the turning inside out of man, serious eruptions, pox, and
gatherings are the result of the deviPs saliva. In this tale
also appears a dog, naked as man himself, on whose body
the devil causes hair to grow by stroking it.14

In another cycle of tales, in which the devil soils the people
whom God had created by spitting on them, these people had
originally some covering, hair or nail-matter.
 THE CREATION OF MAN   375

The Buriats of the Balagan District tell how three creators,
Shibegeni-Burkhan, Madari-Burkhan, and Esege-Burkhan
made the first pair of human beings, using red clay for the
flesh, stone for bones and water for blood. Doubtful as to
which of them should procure a spirit for these as yet soulless
beings, they determined to find out by placing a torch and a
vessel of water before each and going to sleep beside them.
The one whose torch took fire during the night and in whose
water-vessel a plant appeared should have the honour of giving
life to man and of being his tutelary genius. Shibegeni-
Burkhan awoke in the night before the others and seeing that
the burning torch and the plant were in front of Madari-
Burkhan he stealthily lighted his own candle, putting out that
of the other, and removed the plant into his Own vessel. In
the morning, when the Burkhans awoke and saw that the fire
and the plant had appeared before Shibegeni-Burkhan they
decided that fate had determined him to be the life-giver
and the guardian of man. But Madari-Burkhan suspected
Shibegeni-Burkhan of having acted deceitfully, and said:
“Thou hast stolen the fire and the plant from me, therefore
the people thou givest life to will ever steal from one another
and quarrel together.”15

This story, a product of Buddhism, which evidently en-
deavours to explain the origin of quarrelling and robbery, in
the world, is in itself a complete tale, although in this Buriat
tale it appears only as a preface to another story. The tale
tells further how Madari-Burkhan and Esege-Burkhan de-
parted to heaven, leaving these earth-created beings, which at
that time were covered with hairs, in the keeping of Shibegeni-
Burkhan. When the latter also had to visit heaven to bring
a spirit for man, he set a dog, which had then no hair, to guard
the sleeping people. While he was away the devil Shiktur
bribed the dog with a promise of hair resembling that of
mortals, and was allowed to defile them by spitting on them.
When Shibegeni-Burkhan came down from heaven and saw
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

376

that the devil had succeeded in soiling the bodies of the people,
he became angry and cursed the dog on whose body he saw the
devil’s hair-covering, saying: “ Thou shalt ever suffer hunger,
gnaw cold bones and nourish thyself with remains from man’s
repasts, and man shall beat thee.” Then Shibegeni-Burkhan
cleaned the peoples’ bodies of the hairs which the devil had
soiled, and they became naked except in those parts which the
devil’s saliva had not touched, such as the head, which they
in sleeping had happened to cover with their hands.16

A corresponding tale of the Buriats of Alarsk, in which we
do not meet with the preface mentioned above, also tells how
Burkhan created a hair-covered man out of various materials,
set the dog to guard him and went to heaven to fetch a spirit for
him, and how the wicked Sholmo, having deceived the dog, de-
prived man of his hair, leaving only a remnant in some parts
of the body. The tale tells at its close that had the devil never
succeeded in touching man, man would never have known
sickness or death.17 In a tale recorded among the Voguls of
the Losva, the covering of the first man was nail-matter or
horn-matter. But while God was absent, seeking a spirit for
man, the devil (Kul-oter) managed to spoil his body so that
the nail-matter remained only, on the ends of his fingers and
toes. The surface of the body having thus become tender man
was an easy prey for sickness and death.18

In this form the tale is known also to the Mordvins. By
giving the dog a hair-covering the devil secures the opportunity
of spoiling the first horn-covered man so that only the ends
of the fingers and toes keep their coverings.19

This original hair-covering or horn-covering of the human
body is met with even in other tales which remind one of the
Biblical story of the fall of man. Seeing that the last men-
tioned covering is comparatively rare in creation tales, but in
paradise-stories quite common, we may conclude that it has been
taken from the latter into the former.

In some Central Asian creation tales in which the dog also
 THE CREATION OF MAN

377

appears, the devil, during God’s absence, blows a spirit into
the man whom God has created.

The following Altaic tale relates that Ülgen created the
first man, using earth for flesh and stone for bones, and made
a woman of the man’s rib. But he had no spirit to give them
and was forced to go in search of one. On starting he created
a hairless dog to guard the pair. This time the dog received
its hair-covering by eating the excrement of the devil. The
latter then blew a spirit into the people with a reed, which he
inserted in the rectum of the sleeping bodies. When Ülgen
returned and saw his people alive he was doubtful as to what
he should do, whether to create new human beings or not.
While he was considering, the frog came up to him and said:
«Why shouldest thou destroy these beings. Let them exist
for themselves. Who dies, let him diej who lives, let him
live.” And so Ülgen let the people live.20

In another tale two creators, Otshirvani and Chagan-
Shukuty, built together a human body. The latter said to the
former: “We have created a man, we must yet find him a
spirit to make him alive.” Otshirvani remarked that the devil
might steal the body in their absence, and therefore they de-
cided to set a naked dog to guard it. While they were away the
devil arrived, bribed the dog by promising him hair, and light-
ing some flax blew the smoke into man’s nostrils. Then man
arose and began to walk. To their surprise the gods on re-
turning saw that man had already begun to live.21

We find thus that in Central and Northern Asia two cycles
of tales are known, in one of which the devil soils the human
body which God has created, while in the other the devil gives
life to a God-created man. The purpose of both these cycles
of tales is to explain the unexpected deficiencies in a being
of God’s creation. The former tales represent perhaps a more
materialistic conception, dwelling as they do on the weaknesses
of the human body, and chiefly on the filth inside it and the
diseases caused by this, although in certain East European

i
 378   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

variants wicked, sinful tendencies also are the result of the
devil’s touch. The latter cycle of tales endeavours to explain
man’s mental deficiencies. This appears even from the fol-
lowing Altaic story, in which, however, only the capricious
character of woman is under consideration.

When Ülgen had created the earth he made seven masculine
beings upon it and seven trees, one tree for each man. After
that he created yet an eighth man named Maidere and a tree
“upon the golden mountain.” Having created these beings
God left them to their own resources and departed. After
seven years he returned and saw that each tree had grown seven
branches, one branch each year, but the number of men had
not increased. God said: “ What is the meaning of this?
The trees bring forth new branches but the number of men
does not increase?” Then Maidere replied:“How could
they, increase when there is none able to procreate? ” • God
now gave Maidere the power to rule freely over men and to
take care that they increased, and so Maidere stepped down
from the golden mountain, went to the men and began to create
a woman, just as Ülgen had created him. On the third day,
when he had finished, the woman was ready, but without a
spirit, so Maidere went out to meet Ülgen and left the dog
to guard the being he had made. The wicked Erlik, by brib-
ing the dog, succeeded in approaching the woman. He blew at
once into her nostrils with a seven-toned flute and played into
her ear with a nine-stringed instrument, woman thus receiving
a spirit and an intellect But for this reason woman has seven
tempers and nine moods. When Maidere hurried back, he
saw the living woman and said to the dog: “ Why didst thou
let Erlik come so near, how did he deceive thee? ” The dog
replied: “ Erlik promised me a fur-coat which should last
unto my death and be neither hot in summer nor cold in
winter,” Then Maidere said to him: “ The garment promised
thee shall be a hairy covering which shall grow fast on to thy
body.” At the same time he cursed the dog, prophesying that
 THE CREATION OF MAN   379

people should always treat him ill, that he should be compelled
to live under the sky, etc.22

Thus, even in this tale, the originally naked dog has an
important part. The existence of this common feature in all
the creation tales gives us reason to assume that they all have
a common root, in whatever variants they may appear. To
this common root both the devil as spoiler of the people whom
God had created, and the dog which guards them, have be-
longed. The strictly dualistic conception of this original root,
a conception which appears early in the religion of the Iranians,
where also the dog, that originally, sacred animal, the expeller
of evil beings, and the creation of Ahura Mazda, had a very
important place, raises the assumption that our tale, as Dahn-
* hardt has indicated, is the outcome of an Iranian mental at-
mosphere, originating probably among the Syrian Christians,
and from them wandering both to Eastern Europe and to
Central and North Asia. The access into Western Europe
for this, as for later oriental-syncretistic legends, was more
difficult.

Our tale about the seven men continues by relating how
Maidere inquires of these, which of them will take the woman
to whom the devil has given life for his partner. Three of
them at once refuse absolutely and escape to the golden moun-
tain where they become assistant spirits to God, or Burkhans.
The other four remain on the earth, and Ülgen takes two ribs
from each side of one of them, Targyn-nama, and of them
makes him a wife.23

[Prometheus]

An earlier mentioned Yakut tale also tells of the seven first
men whom the devil marred before God had given them life.
This tale also has a continuation in which the numbers three
and four are specially noticeable. It tells how God gave a
wife to four only, Wherefore the other three were dissatisfied.
They complained to God and, as he took no notice, adultery
came into the world. These three got wives in the end when
the daughters of the first four women grew up. One of the
 38o   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

daughters, however, could find no husband and became there-
fore a prostitute.

More ancient than the fancies in these creation tales of the
origin of man’s deficiencies are those tales in which man first
succumbs to evil suggestions after God has given him life.
 CHAPTER VIII
THE FALL OF MAN

IN CONNECTION with the creation myths we have
touched on many, tales, in which already at his creation,
man was corrupted by the devil and, therefore, never attained
the perfection which God had intended for him. In the fol-
lowing we shall see how man, after his creation by God, has
of his own accord drawn disaster on himself.

In most of the tales of this series, man was originally en-
dowed with a special covering, which protected him from cold,
moisture, wind and other matters liable to affect his health.
Some of the tales provide him with a coat of fur, others with
a nail-substance or horn covering. With the eating of the
forbidden fruit man loses his natural, protective covering.

Very interesting is the following Altaic tale:

A lonely tree grew without branches. God saw it and said:
“A single, branchless tree is not pleasant to look upon, let
nine branches grow on it.” The nine branches grew on the
tree. God continued: “ Let nine human beings appear under
the nine branches j from the nine human beings nine races.”
Further on in this tale only two people are spoken of, man and
wife, who were at first covered with fur. The name of the
man was Töröngöi and of the wife Edji (“ Mother ”). God
said to these people: “Do not eat of the fruit of the four
branches growing towards the sunset, but eat of the five towards
the sunrise.” And God placed a dog under the tree as its
guardian, saying: “ If the devil comes, seize him.” In addi-
tion he stationed the snake there, saying to it: “ If the devil
comes, bite him.” Further, he said to both dog and snake:
“ If man comes to eat of the fruit towards the sunrise, let him
 382   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY   }

approach the tree, but if he wishes to eat of the fruit of the
forbidden branches, do not let him come near.” Having said
which God returned to Heaven.

The devil then arrived at the tree, where he saw the snake,   f

which had just happened to fall asleep. He crept cunningly
into the snake and with its help climbed the tree, from where
he tempted first the woman and then, through her agency, the
man, to eat of the fruit of the forbidden branches. Having
eaten, the couple see to their astonishment how the hair begins   m

to fall from their bodies. Ashamed, they hide frightened   |

behind the tree.   I

When God came on to the earth and saw what had happened   j

in his absence, he said to the man: “ How is it with thee? ”   j

The man replied: “The woman has pushed into my mouth
the forbidden fruit.” God turned admonishingly to the
woman: “ Why hast thou done this? ” The woman answered:

“The snake tempted me to eat.” God said to the snake:

“Snake, what hast thou done? ” It replied: “Not I, but   j

the devil who had crept into me tempted her.” God said:

“How did the devil creep into thee? ” The snake replied:

“ As I slept, the devil arrived.” God turned thén to the dog,
saying: “How was it with thee, why didst thou not drive
away the devil? ” The dog answered: “ Mine eyes saw him
not.”1

The introduction to this tale, in which nine people are men-
tioned, mystically connected with the nine branches of the
tree, resembles greatly an earlier related tale of seven trees
and seven men. In both tales these trees were at first branch-
less. The later tale goes on to relate that the first woman gave
birth to nine sons and nine daughters, destined afterwards to
become the ancestors of nine races. A few North Siberian tales
speak of the seven ancestors of the human race.2 The numbers
seven and nine would seem, therefore, to have alternated in
these tales.

In the Central Asian tales, our attention is drawn to the
 THE FALL OF MAN   383

fact that as the guardians of the forbidden fruit both the
snake and the dog are mentioned. The latter, which is no
longer mentioned in the punishments following on the dis-
obedience, would seem to have been introduced only tem-
porarily into this tale from the earlier related creation-tales.

Otherwise, the tale is very similar to the ancient Semitic
story of the fall as known to us from the Bible. Only in
details does it differ from the latter. In the paradise of the
Bible, two trees are mentioned, the tree of life and the tree
of knowledge of good and evil, both growing in the centre
of paradise, the fruit of the latter being forbidden to man.
The Central Asian tale mentions only, one tree, the fruit of
the five eastward branches of which were intended as nourish-
ment for man, but the fruit of the four westward-growing
branches of which was fraught with misfortune. This tree
was at the same time the tree of life and death $ in the Bible
story life and death were represented by separate trees. The
latter differs also from the former in the fact that it attempts
to explain the origin of death spiritually, as a consequence
of disobedience or the fall. The Central Asian tale would
seem to represent a more primitive state by connecting the
misfortune with the fruit itself. Starting from this, we may
perhaps assume that the original form of the so-called story
of the fall has come into being merely to explain how man,
believed to have originally been created for eternity, could
die. Death was thus not originally regarded in the light of
a punishment, but as the natural consequence of eating of the
fateful fruit, as, having lost its original covering, the power
of resistance of the human body declined and diseasès fol-
lowed. Generally, primitive peoples tell how sickness and
death, non-existent in the beginning, have since become the
scourge of mankind.

The idea of an original covering of hair on the human
body is widely-spread in Central and Northern Asia. The
Voguls relate that in the beginning God created human beings
 384   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

covered altogether with hair, and that they were allowed to
move everywhere and eat of everything but the a forest-
spirit-berry ” (Vactinium uliginosttm, growing in swamps).
God then went off to Heaven, but returning to look at his
creatures, he had great difficulty in finding these at all. In
the end God found them hidden beneath some bushes. When
they! crept out at God’s command, he saw that the human
beings whom he had created had lost their covering of hair
and shivered naked before him. This had come about by their
eating of the fateful berries, against the express command of
God, and thus becoming a prey to cold and moisture.3

In this tale of the Voguls, the mighty and beautiful tree
of paradise of the ancient Semitic race has been transformed
to a modest plant growing in the barren unfruitful north.

Besides the covering of hair, we have in the creation-tales
met with another protective covering of the human body, i.e.,
the horn-covering, lost so completely by mortals that the only
reminder of this primitive state is the substance of which
our finger-nails and toe-nails are made.

This form of the tale, common also in Eastern Europe,
appears already in old Jewish and Arabian tales, in which it
is related how the bodies of Adam and Eve in paradise were
covered with a horny substance so that they did not need
clothes. Not until the fall did they, with the exception of
the finger-nails and toe-nails, lose their covering.4

The idea of the hair-covering of the first human beings is
also probably from Nearer Asia. It is related in an Arabian
tale, how, on the diamond mountain of paradise, Adam and
Eve had long hair reaching to the ground, protecting the
whole body, and how this fell off when they had eaten of the
forbidden fruit, so that their unprotected bodies darkened in
the sun. The Bible story also obviously presupposes the exist-
ence of some covering, as it is expressly stated that when the
first people had eaten of the forbidden fruit they saw them-
selves to be naked and in need of some garment.
 j

)   THE FALL OF MAN   385

The Astrachan Kalmucks relate further that during the
time of paradise the first people were some kind of illuminated
beings. At this time there was neither sun nor moon, these
f   being unnecessary, as human beings then lighted up their

I   surroundings themselves. The eating of the fruit extin-

I   guished their light altogether, all nature became dark, and

IGod was obliged to give mankind the sun and the moon.5
This belief is also founded on Nearer Asian tales.

Another consequence of the fall, according to the Kal-
j   mucks, was the shortening of the age of man and a reduction

in his size. In the beginning men had been immortal or
could at least live through a world-epoch, eighty thousand
years, but gradually their age decreased, one year each cen-
tury, so that their present average age is only sixty. This
shortening will continue with the growth of sin until people
will live to be only ten years of age. At the same time, after
j   having originally been giants, they will decline to the length

of a thumb. Then the messenger of the Bodhisattva Maidere
and his apparition Berde-Gabat will arrive on the earth, and
begin to better the state of men, increasing their age and size,
until they have again attained their former age.8
J   With these Lamaistic beliefs may be compared the ideas of

the modern Jews, reflected in the following words taken from
j   a collection of their tales: a When Adam was created, his

enormous volume filled all the earth, but when he fell into
sin, he became very small.” Concerning the shortening of
the age of man we find comments in the Bible itself.
 CHAPTER IX

THE ORIGIN OF THE MOSQUITO

A QUESTION of special interest to the Northern Siberian
peoples is the origin of the myriads of mosquitoes,
which during the light summer of the north are an unbearable
plague for both men and animals.

The Yenisei Ostiaks declare that a cannibalistic demon
woman, Khosadam, living in the farthest north, created the
mosquitoes.1 Many other Siberian peoples have a special
myth to explain their origin.

The Ostiak Samoyeds tell of a hero named Itje, whose
parents had been devoured by a man-eating giant named
Pünegusse. He himself succeeded in escaping and making his
way to a desert, where he was brought up by his relations.
When he had grown to be a strong and heroic youth, he
decided to free his people from this demon from the north.
He succeeded in killing it, but the demon kept on being born
again. He resolved therefore to bum up the carcase of the
man-eater, but even in the fire the demon continued to exist.
Its jaws ground against each other when the fire had burnt
out, and its voice cried out that even when burnt up it would
continue to plague mankind. The wind would scatter its
ashes into the air, whence they would everywhere suck the
blood of men. From these ashes the innumerable mosquitoes
of Siberia arise each summer.2

In a Samoyed variant a small black bird is born of the
flesh of Pünegusse. This bird is called “ a bit of Pünegusse’s
flesh.”8

Among the Ostiaks of the river Vach this story runs briefly
as follows: A great bird once caught a great pike and gave
it to its sister to cook. The latter prepared 'instead a meal
 THE ORIGIN OF THE MOSQUITO 387

of dog’s' offal, which so enraged the bird that it flew away
until at last it came to the man-eater. Finding the hut empty,
the bird ate its fill out of a large kettle of fat, but was
caught by the man-eater. To save its own life the bird prom-
ised its sister in marriage to the giant and was set free. It
then hurried home and to save its sister, fastened the door
so that only a small hole was left. The man-eater, coming
for his bride, tried to get through this hole, but stuck fast
there. The bird then killed him with a great knife and set
fire to the house. The body of the man-eater was burnt to
ashes, but here also the spirit spoke, foretelling that its ashes
would each summer be born anew as mosquitoes and would
continue to live on the flesh of men.4

Corresponding myths, apparently of Indian origin, are to
be found among the Altai Tatars. The evil Erlik created a
water-giant named Andalma-Muus, who put out his long
tongue to seize men, whom he then swallowed. Three of
Ülgen’s heroes, Mandyshire, Tyurun-Muzykay, and Maidere,
decided to kill this demon. Tyurun-Muzykay declared him-
self to be the strongest giant-killer. Having said this, he
came down from heaven, was given birth to by, a virgin, and
became a man. While he was still quite young he was run-
ning about once on the sea-shore when he saw the giant stick
out his long tongue to seize him and drag him into the depths.
The young hero, however, was not helpless in this danger,
but grasped the demon’s tongue and pulled so mightily that
the earth was in danger of sinking under the water. To
avoid this the hero drank so much of the sea that the water
sank until he could see the feet of the demon. The youth
then grasped his feet, pulled the giant out of the sea and
beat him against the rocks so that his blood squirted out
and his entrails were scattered over the rocks. From this
originates the mixed colouring of rocks. After this, the hero
cut the body into little pieces, out of which certain insects,
including also mosquitoes, were born.6
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

388

According to a Yakut cannibal myth, the man-eating giant
was burnt up, and from the fragments of his bones all kinds
of destructive insects, and also frogs and snails were born.8
Similarly, in Mongol tales it is related how a hero named
Karaty-Khan vanquishes a demon, grinds it into fragments
and throws these into the air, thus giving birth to mosquitoes
and other insects.7

Far away to the east, among the Goldes, tales of a similar
character are met with. These tell of two sisters who lived
in the same hut. While one of them was away, the man-
eater came to the other, enticed her from her hiding-place and
tricked her into putting out her tongue, which the man-eater
at once plucked out of her mouth. When the other sister
came home, she found out what had happened in her absence
and decided to avenge her sister’s death. She sought a long
time for the home of the man-eater, and at last she found
four store-houses, of which one was full of human hands,
another of human feet, a third of heads, and in the fourth
numerous human tongues hung from the roof. Among these
she discovered the still warm tongue of her sister. She
wrapped this in a clean cloth and went on, until, in the depths
of the forest, she found the man-eater’s dwelling hidden
away. The demon was away, but his sister, who was a good
person, was at home and promised to help in killing him.
In the evening he came home, bringing a human body with
him and devouring this for supper, after which he went to
sleep. The women now came forward and broke the demon
into pieces with hammers, scattering the pieces in all direc-
tions. While doing so, they said: u Man-eater, thou fedst
thyself on human flesh, may the pieces of thy flesh and thy
bones change into small insects, which like thee shall eat
human blood. Of the smallest fragments may gnats be born,
of those a little larger mosquitoes, and of the largest flies,
beedes, etc.” Immediately great clouds of insects arose, which
spread over the earth.8
 THE ORIGIN OF THE MOSQUITO 389

The Goldes have still another tale related to this. A
brother and sister lived in a hut in peace. Once when the
brother came home from the forest, he noticed that his sister
had altered considerably* He began to suspect that some one
kept company with her. For this reason, he strewed ashes
outside the hut when setting off again on a hunting-trip.
Returning the next morning, he was astounded to see the
foot-prints of a tiger in the ashes. He hid his suspicions,
however, until it became apparent that his sistër was encemte.
Then he decided to thrust a knife into her breast as she lay
murmuring shaman songs to herself. While singing she said:
aI have lived with the tiger, he is my husband, his spirit
is in me; thou canst not kill me, but if thou wilt cut off my
little finger, I shall die.” The brother cut off his sister’s
little finger and when she was dead, built a large log-fire and
threw the body on to it. While the body was burning, instead
of sparks, all kinds of evil spirits in the form of birds and
insects flew out of the fire.9

Cannibal myths of this description, which are to be found
also among the Tungus, and are extremely characteristic of
the more northern peoples of Siberia, have been noted down
also on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. As in Siberia,
North American Indian myths tell of the birth of blood-suck-
ing insects from the ashes of a man-eater.10 It seems prob-
able, therefore, that these primitive tales have a common
origin.
 CHAPTER X

THE HEAVEN GOD

AS FAR back as the thirteenth century, Plano Carpini
relates in his Historia Mongolorum that a The Mongols
believe in one God, whom they regard as the creator of all
things visible and invisible.” Rubruquis also remarks that
the Mongols acknowledge the existence of one God, but
that despite this they prepare idols for themselves. Similarly,
the Arabian historians mention the “ one ” God of the Mon-
gols, whom, according to a decree of Jenghiz Khan, all the
subjects of the Great Khan had to honour and worship.

We might perhaps assume the above reports of “ one ”
God to have been coloured in some way or other, but on
closer acquaintance with the beliefs of the Central Asian
peoples, we find that the Heaven god has actually had an
exceptional position among them. These reports are, further,
of such late date, that alien, and, more particularly, Persian
currents of civilization have long before their time exercised
a considerable influence on them. As a relic of Mazdaism
we find in the folk-lore of both the Mongols and the Tatars
the name of Ahura-Mazda (Mongol Hormusda; Altaic
Tatar Khurbystan). It is also a well-known fact that Mani-
cheism and Nestorianism had by then spread their doctrines
into this territory j the wife of Jenghiz Khan himself would
seem to have been a Nestorian Christian. Matters being thus,
we have no reason to doubt these old reports j they, are trust-
worthy at least regarding the time of which they speak. An-
other question is whether they may be regarded as expressing
the oldest beliefs of the Central Asian peoples concerning
the god of Heaven.
 THE HEAVEN GOD   391

[Prometheus]

A word of their own language, used by the Mongols as
a name for their “ one ” god, is Tengri, a name used for the
Heaven god in many other Altaic languages (Kalmuck Tengri,
Buriat Tengeri, Tatar Tangere, Yakut and Dolgan Tangara,
Chuvash Tura). This word meant originally, “Heaven,”
Among the Chuvash the meaning “ Heaven ” for Tura seems
to have become extinct, and among the Yakuts also, Tangara
appears only, in folk-lore as meaning “the sky.” Having
acquired the meaning of a god living in Heaven, this word
began to be used in many languages for “ god ” in general
(= Latin deus). The Yakuts use it when speaking of their
idols, i.e., wood, stone or birch-bark Tangara. The disap-
pearing significance of the word, a “ sky ” appreciable by the
senses, shows plainly that in the beginning the “ Heaven god ”
of the peoples related to the Turks was the animated sky
itself with its wonderful, mystical powers. At this stage,
when as yet no humanlike or otherwise specially shaped being
is thought of, with the sky merely as his dwelling-place, the
heavens and the Heaven god do not require separate names
as they did later. An irrefutable proof of this original point
of view is the old title given by the Mongols to the Heaven
god when worshipping him: “Blue Tengri.”

Examples of the deification of the heavens themselves are
met with among the other surrounding peoples. Herodotus
already tells how the ancient Persians worshipped as their
god (Zeus) “ the whole area of the sky.” The name Tien
of the Chinese Heaven god meant originally “ the sky.” The
Finnish races also used the word “ sky ” when speaking of
their Heaven gods without any resulting confusion of thought.
Similar examples are offered by the most northern peoples
of Asia, the Samoyeds and the Yenisei Ostiaks.

In Mongolian folk-lore two expressions are met with:
“ Blue Tengri” and “Eternal Tengri,” which, according to
Banzarov, denote two different stages of development. The
most common name, “ Blue Tengri,” for the power behind
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

392

all the different phenomena of the sky, which gives to the
earth fruitfulness and productivity, cannot, according to this
investigator, apply to a spiritual being j but the “ Eternal
Tengri ” who rules the world and decrees the fates of peoples
and individuals, does seem to be a spiritual entity.1 We can-
not on our part, however, discern any such sharp division in
the use of these qualifying terms, both being often used
simultaneously.

In the beliefs of the Mongols the determining activities
of the sky are extremely conspicuous. They speak frequently
of the “ Fate ” (Dzajaga) of the heavens. In the Chronicle
of Ssanang Ssetsen it is said that Jenghiz Khan, “that lion
among men,” appeared on the earth through “ the Providence
(Fate) of the blue, eternal sky.” But not only rulers and
princes, “ sons of Heaven ” in a special meaning, but also
ordinary mortals were born into the world through the agency
of the same “Providence.” Everything that happens was
believed to have been decreed by, the sky. When the Mongol
princes published their laws, they added to their authorization
the words: “By the Providence of the eternal sky,” in the
same way as Christian monarchs exercise their power “by the
grace of God.”

As this Providence belief is not met with among the more
northern peoples of the Altaic race, at least not in any such
developed form, our attention is drawn to the Indo-Iranians,
the proximity of whom to the Mongols cannot but have left
some trace. The Dzajaga idea of the Mongols corresponds
in fact with the Rita of the ancient Vedic poems and the Asha
of the Avesta, by which a power watching over the world was
meant. This Providence does not seem to have been per-
sonified, neither were sacrifices offered up to it in the begin-
ning. The relations of men towards it may be compared with
those of the Greeks of Homer’s time towards Moira, under
whose laws even the gods existed. But it is to be noted that
this Providence or Fate, the decrees of which were unrecall-
 THE HEAVEN GOD   393

able, was always connected with the sky, according to the
ideas of the Central Asian peoples. In a similar way Fate
was regarded by the Chinese, who call Fate Tien-ming (“'the
sky-order ”) being in this respect entirely of the same opinion
as the Mongols. Both these peoples see in the complete sub-
ordination of Heaven to its own laws an example for all earthly
order.

In the list of gods of the Chuvash living in Russia, a spirit
named Kaba (“'Fate,” “Providence”) corresponds to the
Dzajaga of the Mongols; from the former the Cheremiss
have taken it as Kava-Jumo and the Votiaks as Kaba-Immar,
and unaware of its origin, sacrifice nowadays to it as to a
Heaven god. Among the Eastern Cheremiss even sacred
groves (Kawalan pumas") were consecrated to Fate.2

Obviously, Dzajaga, Kaba, Rita, Asha, Tien-ming and
Moira, called Fatum by the Romans, are closely related to
one another in their meaning. The question arises, therefore,
as to whether this fatalistic belief is a general product of the
human intellect, born among each of the separate peoples,
or whether we have here a result of the so-called “ migration
theory.” The dependence of fate on the heavenly rules pre-
supposes so naturally a certain stage of development that we
cannot avoid turning our glance to the cosmology of the
ancient Babylonians. Nowhere else, in this early period, do
we meet with such admiration of the constant order of the
sky and such blind belief in its mechanically, working powers,
the latter affecting all life down to the smallest details. Here
the sky has truly been “ a Book of Fate ” in which the wise
can read future events. For this reason it is more than
probable that just this star fatalism of the Babylonians has
been the model and the source of the Providence beliefs of
all the above mentioned peoples.

As the fate of everything is thus dependent on the sky,
it is natural that one should say, like the Mongols: “ The sky
decrees ” or “ the sky commands.” In the same way as the
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

394

Vedic poems speak of the “ director of Rita,” so the ruler of
Providence, Dzajagatsi {dzaja — “to decree,” “allow,”
“order,” or “command”), appears simultaneously with
Dzajaga in the beliefs of the Mongols, meaning the god of
Heaven. The qualifying attribute of the sky is often
“Dzajagatsi Tengri.” In the inscriptions of Orkhon, where
the “ heavens ” are mentioned also as the god of armies, we
meet with the word dzaja with the meaning of “ to com-
mand ”: “ The sky commanded our armies- in the war and
we were victorious.”

The Dzajagatsi of the Mongols has a counterpart in the
Jajutsi of the Altaic race, the Dzajan of the Minusinsk Tatars,
and the Buriat Zajan (Mongol dzaja = Altaic Tatar jaja
s= Buriat zaja). The Buriats by. Khudinsk call the Over-
god of the heavens Zajan-Sagan-Tengeri {sagan, “white”).
Another qualification of the Heaven god with the same mean-
ing is the Tatar Bujuruktsi (<bujur, “ to decree,” or “ order ”),
loaned also by the Ugrians (Ostyak Pairekse). The Voguls
append to the name of their god in their own language,
“ Num-Torem-paireks.” The same word is further met with
in the god-name of the Chuvash, Pürdan-Tura, and in that of
the Cheremiss, Puirso-Jumo (Cheremiss fujurem = Chuvash
fur-=Kazan Tatar bojor-).

We see thus how this idea óf a Fate bound up with the
heavens is common to all the Turk-related peoples. In addi-
tion to all the more fateful occasions of life, birth in especial
is dependent on the providence of Heaven. Dzajagatsi,
Jajutsi, Bujuruktsi, etc., are often spoken of as the decreers
of birth, and at the same time as a kind of gods of birth.
Sometimes some other than the actual Heaven god is given
this title. The Altai Tatars, who speak of several storeys in
the heavens, believe Jajutsi to live in-the fifth of these.3
Here he is thus a being apart from the Over-god. Each
mortal having his own fate, each has been given a special
ruler of fate, which follows him faithfully from the moment
 THE HEAVEN GOD

395

of birth. The Mongols call this spirit, which does not desert
man as long as he is in favour with the heavens, Dzol- (a hap-
piness”) Dzajagatsi.4 It is said to watch over the health of
its ward, his property and his prosperity in general, protecting
him at the same time from all dangers. Similarly, each
mortal has, according to the Altai Tatars, his own Jajutsi,
which, having received orders from above, brings down life-
force from the wonderful a lake of milk ” in the third storey
of Heaven, then brings the embryo alive into the world, and
follows the man thus born from his infancy onward as a kind
of good spirit. Besides this, each mortal is supposed to have a
lifelong evil companion, Körmös, which from his birth tries
to harm him. The former, which writes down the good deeds
done in life, is said to be on man’s right shoulder, the latter,
which notes down his evil deeds, at his left. These Jajutsi,
like the blessed dead, live in the lands of paradise in the third
storey of Heaven.6 It is hardly necessary to point out that
these beliefs in good and bad angels reached the Tatars from
the Iranians.

The belief that each mortal has a special arbiter of his fate
in Heaven, seems to be closely related to the idea that each
mortal has his own star in the sky. The appearance of a new
star signifies birth, the “ falling ” of a star, death. When the
Chuvash see a shooting-star they shout at once: “ My star is
still up above! ”6 Several North Siberian peoples also, e.g.,
the Tungus, speak of the stars of each mortal.7

Plano Carpini says that the Heaven god, according to the
Mongols, is also the <c avenger.” This punishing activity, of
Heaven is closely related to its “ providence ” or a decreeing.”
When once Heaven has decreed anything, it is not good for
men to show resistance. The Mongols believe that Heaven
a sees ” everything, and that therefore no one can conceal his
actions from it. In taking an oath, the Mongols say: a May
Heaven know! ” or “ May Heaven judge! ” The revenge of
the heavens has not, however, been regarded as something
 396   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

occurring beyond the grave, but is believed to fall on the
guilty already in this life. In its judgments Heaven is com-
pletely neutral, punishing princes as effectually as peasants.
Punishment is believed to follow crime as a kind of inner
necessity.8

Without being in any way inconstant the sky can sometimes
make troublesome demonstrations, reflecting in its own way
disturbances on the earth. Neither were the ancient Baby-
lonians unfailingly logical in their conception of the unwaver-
ing laws of Heaven, but saw at times “signs” in the sky,
which were interpreted as showing the dissatisfaction of the
gods. Heavenly demonstrations of this description were, ac-
cording to the Mongols, comets, meteors, years of famine,
floods, etc., at the threatening of which rulers and subjects had
to review their plans and intentions and humbly submit to the
will of the “ eternal sky.”

The Chronicles containing the history of the Mongols men-
tion many illuminative examples. It is related in them how
Mogan-Khan (during the Tukiu dynasty) having held am-
bassadors from China for a long time in captivity, freed them
and made peace with their ruler after Heaven had by long
storms shown its dissatisfaction at the tyrannous acts of the
Khan. In the fifteenth century the Mongols seized the ruler
of China and sentenced him to a long term of hard labour,
but noticing once how the cup from which the emperor had
drunk, glowed with a purple light, they sent him with all
honours back to China, as they believed this to be the will of
Heaven. Especially have the leaders of the people to follow
closely all the "signs” of the sky. The Mongols regard
Jenghiz Khan as having taught them the following wisdom:
"The highest happiness, with which nothing can be compared,
is for the ruler of a land to be in the favour of the eternal
heavens.”9

In crossing over to the most northern peoples of Siberia,
we no longer find this deep belief in the Providence of Heaven.
 M

.'i



(

?i

i

i
 PLATE XLV

Phallus Erected Before a Mongol Mon
astery to Frighten away a Female
Demon

(See page 398.)

After photograph by S. Palsi.
 !

?1
 

{'?

f,

1

f

f,

1',

K

f
 THE HEAVEN GOD   397

The Heaven god of the Tungus, Samoyeds and Yenisei
Ostiaks is generally regarded as a being so apart, that he in
no way directs towards men any action of a commanding or
avenging character. It is therefore unnecessary to fear the
heavens. It is also expressly said, concerning the Heaven god
of the Yakuts, that he does not concern himself with doings
on earth or the fates of men. A certain tale shows God as
saying of mortals: ££ In letting them down upon the earth I
did not say to them: £ Come back! ’ If they increase, let
them increase, if they die, let them die.”10 In other places,
however, conceptions differing from the foregoing appear.

Extremely widespread among the peoples of Central Asia
is, further, the belief that Heaven is some kind of a giver of
life. As a life-creating god of this description the sky is
imagined as male, though not anthropomorphic, with the earth,
as its opposite, female. Both are then gods of birth, the
former acting the part of father, the latter that of mother:
the sky procreates, the earth gives birth. Doubtless, this con-
ception is founded on observations made in nature. The effects
of light, warmth, rain and wind on vegetation in particular,
awakened in the mind of primitive man the idea of similar
effects on all that has life. Thus the thought arose that the
sky gives the spirit, the Earth Mother the material body.

In this same connection there is perhaps reason to point out
that certain Central Asian peoples, as, for instance, the Buriats,
have for the sake of fruitfulness worshipped a certain kind of
stone, said to have dropped down from the sky. A very
famous “fallen stone” is near the town of Balagansk. Dur-
ing a long drought the Buriats sacrifice to it in order to obtain
refreshing rains. The stone, which is white in colour, is said
by the people to have originally fallen on a mountain, whence
it has later removed to several different places. Among the
Buriats by Khudinsk, each village is said to possess a smaller
“fallen stone,” kept in the middle of the village in a trunk
attached to a post. In the Balagansk District, where these
 398   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

stones are larger, they, are generally placed on a platform sup-
ported by four posts. In the hope of a rainy and fruitful
summer they are wetted in the spring and offerings are made
to them. Probably, these stones dropped from Heaven, which
in shape often resemble the longish weapons of the Stone Age,
are, as Agapitov assumes, relics of a Mongol phallus cult.11

The belief in the procreative powers of the sky is reflected
in numberless tales, in which it is explained how the children
of men and the young of animals have come from Heaven to
the earth. Generally, however, it is believed that only the
souls of these come from Heaven. The Yakuts believe that
the soul of a child comes down to its mother in the shape of a
bird.12 According to a Mongol tale the soul of the founder
of the power of the Sjanbi tribe, Tanshikai, came down from
above as hail, which fell on the lips of his mother. A certain
ancestor of the Mongols was born in such a manner that a
descending ray of light fructified his mother. Jenghiz Khan
is said by the tales to have been born of a virgin, wherefore he
could call the sky“ father.”18 All these ideas spring from the
same original idea, viz., that the sky is the giver of the spirit
and life.

Whether the name of the Yakut Heaven god, Ajy-tangara
(“Creator god,” really “Creative Heaven”), springs from
the preceding belief, which is doubtless extremely old, we do
not know for certain. The Chuvash, however, seem to
possess a counterpart, Suratan-Tura (really “ Birth-giving
Heaven ”), a name connected also with the Aurora Borealis.
They believe that the sky, during this phenomenon, “ gives
birth .to a son.” Suratan-Tura is said to ameliorate the agonies
of a woman in child-birth.14 Otherwise, the idea of this deity
is somewhat confused. Among the Yakut gods we find also
other names for the Creator god, Ajy (“Creator”), .Yry11-
Ajy (“ White Creator”) or Yryn-Ajy-Tojon (tojon “lord ”)
and Aihyt-Aga (“Creator Father”). Although the same
names may be used for the Creator of the Christian teachings,
 THE HEAVEN GOD   399

the ideas in question cannot be said to have arisen from these
teachings. By the side of Ajy-Tojon, appears a special deity
of birth, Ajysit, the name, like Ajy, being derived from the
verb at (“to give birth to,” “to create”). Ajysit, of whom
we shall speak later, is generally regarded as a feminine being
(Ajysit-Khotun, “ Ajysit-mistress ”), and brings the soul from
heaven to the child while being born, helping also the woman
in the pains of child-birth. In prayers this deity, is often re-
ferred to as Ajysit-Ijaksit (“Procreating-Nourishing ”), a
term corresponding to the qualifying term of the Votiak
Heaven god, Kildis-Vordis. Possibly from the Turco-Tatar
peoples the Volga Finns obtained their Creator-god (Votiak
Kildisin, Cheremiss Satsektse or Sotsen, Mordvin Skajj),
names derived from verbs denoting procreation and birth-
giving.

It is certain that the conception of the creative power of the
heavens of the Central Asian peoples is extremely old. Among
the more northern tribes the conception does not appear quite as
clearly, although they also, like the Yenisei Ostiaks, believe
that not only men, but animals also, have the sky to thank
for their existence: Heaven (Es) “ gives,” Heaven “ sends,”
even “lets fall,” what the earth needs.1,5 A similar giver of
everything good is the Buga or Savoki of the Tungus, also
called “ the Lord ” (Amaka).

The close connection between the Heaven god and light
and the sun, appears from the sacrificial rites. Sacrifices to
the Heaven god are offered always towards the direction of the
“day” or the dawn, and at the same time the votive animal,
when such is used, has to be white in colour. Sacrifices to the
Heaven god among the most northern peoples are, however,
comparatively rare. In some places it has been the custom to
consecrate some live domestic animal, a horse or a reindeer,
which is then never worked and is looked after well. In
older times a consecrated animal of this description was driven
far to the eastward.
 400   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

A curious custom, which occurs among the Yakuts, is that
several trees are erected before the victim, of which seven
bear leaves and a few have figures of birds upon them. All
these trees, which are ranged in a row, represent the different
storeys of heaven, through which the victim is to wander to
the Supreme God in the highest Heaven. A corresponding
custom exists among the Dolgans, who, at the shaman cere-
mony set up, one behind the other, nine stumps, on which are
figures of birds. There also these stumps represent the nine
storeys of Heaven through which the shaman, with the help
of these birds, will fly to God.16

[Prometheus]

The idea of the purity of Heaven would also seem to be of
great antiquity. More even than the rest of nature, the sky
loves cleanliness. Very, widespread is a tale of how the clouds
were at an earlier 'time lower down, but, after being soiled by
the people, rose higher. An example of the purity of the sky,
from which later sprang the belief in the holiness of God, is
given by the Tungus of the North Siberian primeval forests.
According to them, a woman, during her period of unclean-
ness, should not look up at the sky.. Common also is the belief
that the lightning strikes places where something evil or filthy
is hidden.

Where the Heaven god has begun to be regarded as a kind
of anthropomorphic being, the heavens have become merely
the dwelling-place of this being. Countless tales relate how
God has a magnificent home in the sky, sometimes also a wife
and children, servants, cattle, and other property. In the
brilliant palace of God a Tatar hero was once on a visit, and
was received well and entertained with food, etc.17 The special
characteristics of these tales have, however, hardly been in-
corporated with the beliefs concerning heaven.

The old Babylonian idea of the seven or more storeys of
Heaven gave rise to the thought that the Over-god dwells in
the topmost storey of Heaven. The Yryn-Ajy-Tojon of the
Yakuts dwells sometimes in the seventh, sometimes in the
 

I

t



!

1

i

.!

|>

i

i

'i
 PLATE XLVI

1.   Dolgan shaman-pillars representing the nine
storeys of heaven, with wooden figures of birds.
With the help of these birds the shaman will fly
through the heavens. (See page 400.)

2,   Yakut custom of erecting trees, representing the
storeys of heaven, before the victim offered to the
god dwelling in the highest storey of heaven. (See
page 401.)
 ?f •:

f

[

i'

I


 
 ; -f

THE HEAVEN GOD   401   .   ' I

ninth storey of Heaven, depending on the number of storeys
believed to be in the sky. The Es of the Yenisei Ostiaks lives
in a transparent palace over the seventh Heaven, and accord-
ing to the Ugrians the dwelling-place of God is in the seventh
Heaven.18 We see thus, that this belief has spread also among
the most northern of the Siberian peoples.

In the same way as the ancient Babylonians regarded the
navel of the sky as the throne of Anu, whence he ruled over
the earth, the Central Asian peoples place the abode of the
Over-god somewhere around the North Star.18 Wherever
the belief in a Heaven-mountain has spread, God is regarded
as dwelling on the summit of this mountain, which touches the
North Star. In connection with the world-pillar it has already
been mentioned how some of the North Siberian peoples wor-   j

ship the Heaven god in connection with this pillar, as shown,
e.g., by the “ seven-divisioned Sanke ” of the Ostiaks. A more
suitable throne in the sky than the stationary, changeless region
of the sky-navel near the North Star, whence he can best
direct the countless, varying activities of the earth, can hardly
be imagined for the Over-god.

Many flattering attributes are given to their Over-god by
the Central Asian peoples. The Altai Tatars call him
“Great” (ÜlgÖn, Ülgen), or “Rich and Great” (Bai-
Ülgön). “ Merciful Khan ” (Kaira-Khan) and other general   j

names are also given to him. The term Burkhan-Baksi (really   j

“ Buddha^master ”), which the Mongols, Buriats and Soyots
have begun to use for their highest god, was brought by Bud-
dhists from China.   ...
 CHAPTER XI

THE SONS OF GOD

CLOSELY connected with the Heaven god, according to
the Siberian peoples, are certain other gods living in
the sky, the number of which is precisely fixed. Extremely
common is a group of seven gods, said to act as the assistants
of the Over-god.

More especially in the beliefs of the Kirghis and the Siberian
Tatars, do these gods play an important part. In the Altaic
tales mention is made of seven beings named Kudai (“ god ”),
situated in the third storey of Heaven on the Sürö (“ Maj-
esty ”) mountain.1 The Yakuts call this group of seven gods,
which they declare forms “the suite of the Over-god Ai-
Tojon,” Satta-Kurö-Dzüsagai-Ai {salt'd, “ seven ”) > they are
supposed to be the tutelary genii of horses, and a sacrifice of
kumiss is poured into the fire for them at the spring festivals.2
Often these grouped spirits are called the sons of the Over-god.
Certain of the Altaic tribes can recount the names of these
useven sons”: Jashigan, Karshit, Bakhtagan, Kara, Kushkan,
Kanym and Jaik.8 Much cannot, however, be grounded on
these names, as they vary greatly in the different districts.
As little known as the names of this group are the spheres of
activity ascribed to each. In the corresponding list of the
Lebed Tatars, Kanym appears as the wife of Ülgen. Kara
(“ Black ”), also Kara-Khan, according to these last, has left
his father and, instead of the light-filled abodes of Heaven, has
chosen the dark holes of the underworld as his lot. Jaik or
Jaik-Khan is the prince of the flood and at the same time a
kind of escort to the souls bound for Hades.4

Names for the seven “ sons ” of the Heaven god have also
been invented by the Voguls and the Ostiaks, although these
 THE SONS OF GOD

403

are for the most part the names of their own district gods.
The list of the Voguls comprises, according to Gondatti, the
following spirits: the god of Pelym, the god of the upper field
of the Ob, the god of the Holy Ural, the Prince of the river
Aut, the god of the Little Ob, the god of the Sosva centre,
and the “ Earth-watching Man.” In the information ob-
tained by Munkacsi from Sygva the following are named:
the god of Pelym, the Old Man of the village Tek, the Holy
Prince of the Lozva-water, the god of the Sosva centre, the
god of the Little Ob, the Old Man of the village Lopmus,
and the “ Earth-watching man.” Part of the corresponding
catalogue of the Ostiaks by Tremyugan deserves mention:
“ The Forest-game-sharing man ” and the u youngest son ” of
the Heaven god, Khan-Iki (“ Prince old man ”). The former
is a deity living in the sky, from whom game is prayed for,
and to whom, as to a Heaven god, a white animal has to be
sacrificed.® The greatest interest is, however, awakened by
the “youngest son” among this group, the Vogul “ Earth-
watching man,” the Khan-Iki of the Ostiaks, to whom many
tales are attached and who is certainly not an original Ugrian
god.

The fact that these seven gods are but little known to the
Siberian peoples, as is often true of their names also, draws
our attention to their number. We know the Iranians to have
had a group of gods of the same number, Amesha Spentas,
and similarly, the Adityas of the Rgveda were originally seven
gods, the duties of whom, like that of the Siberian sons of
God, was the watching over and the control of the heavenly
laws of nature. We arrive thus at the assumption that these
Asiatic gods, wherever they may be met with, have the same
origin. But where and how did this heavenly group first take
shape?

Light is thrown on the problem by the picture of Heaven
of the Vasyugan Ostiaks, seen by, the a eyes of the soul ” of
the shamans, and described by them in songs. From these we
 404   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

learn that the heavens are seven-storeyed, in the topmost of
which the Over-god Num-Torem himself lives, and in the
lower ones his sons* The dwellers in these storeys of the sky
are called also by names borrowed from the Tatars, Torem-
Talmas (“Heaven interpreter”; talmas — Tatar tolmats) or
Torem-Karevel (“Heaven watcher”; karevel — Tatar kara-
vel). The names of the separate “ Interpreters ” are unknown
to the Vasyugans, neither can their activities be explained, but
they are believed to live one in each storey of the heavens.
Usually, they are called after the sacrifices offered up to each.
I. “ The arrow-sacrifice Torem ” receives arrows shot any-
where into the sky; 2. “ The cloth-sacrifice Torem,” who re-
ceives a cloak of white cloth, which is hung up on forest
expeditions in some birch in a primitive forest; 3. “ The sable-
sacrifice Torem,” who is given a sable-skin, kept in a box taken
on forest expeditions; 4. “ The cup-sacrifice Torem,” for whom
a special tin cup is kept in the storeroom; 5'. “The horned-
deer-sacrifice Torem,” for whom the hide of a deer killed in
the forest is left, with horns and hoofs attached, hanging on a
birch. This spirit is believed to let down game and fish upon
the earth for men, and is the same being as the previously
mentioned “Forest-game-sharing man.” As the sixth a
Russian saint, Nikolai the miracle-maker, is mentioned, the
latter being the protective spirit of travellers by water, to whom
the Ostiaks hang up the skin of a marten in their store-rooms
as a sacrifice.®

As Karjalainen points out, this Karevel arrangement is not
an invention of the Ostiaks, but has reached them in the first
instance from the Tatars. It is unfortunate that we should
know so little of the beliefs of the pagan period of the Tatar
tribe geographically nearest to the Ugrians, a tribe from which
these have acquired much interesting culture, but among the
tribes further south, which have better preserved the beliefs of
their forefathers we find a corresponding idea to the Ostiak
Karevel arrangement, appearing in such a manner that each
 THE SONS OF GOD

405

son of the Over-god is given a different storey of the heavens
as dwelling-place. Radloff relates that he obtained from the
Lebed Tatars on his travels the following description of their
heaven: “ The original Father, the Creator of everything, is
Kudai Bai-Ülgönj he has four sons: Pyrshak-Khan, Tös-Khan,
Kara-Khan and Suilap. The son of Suilap is Sary-Khan, and
the son of Pyrshak-Khan is Kyrgys-Khan, the protective spirit
of the local Tatars. All of these gods except Kara-Khan bring
happiness to men. They give food and protection against
dangers. To the highest god, Ülgön, white horses are sacri-
ficed, to Pyrshak and his descendant brown ones 5 to all the
gods, grain is further sacrificed. The gods live in Heaven,
which according to these Tatars, is seven-storeyed. In the top-
most lives Ülgön and his wife Kanym, in the next Pyrshak-
Khan, in the third Tös-Khan, in the fourth Kyrgys-Khan, in
the fifth Suilap, in the sixth Sary-Khan, and in the seventh the
messengers sent by the gods down to men. Kara-Khan
(“ Black Prince ”) is said to have deserted his father and re-
moved from the light-filled dwellings of Heaven to the under-
world.” 7

It is to be understood that this heavenly order is not an
invention of the Turco-Tatar peoples, but has come to them
from elsewhere. For this reason the signification of the dif-
ferent gods is so vague to the people $ from the investigator,
however, these gods dwelling in the seven storeys of the
heavens cannot hide their origin, pointing plainly as they do to
the Babylonian Planet gods, which, in their distant fatherland,
ruled over seven discs of the sky situated one above the other.

In another description recorded by Radloff, in which seven-
teen storeys of heaven are spoken of, a detail that is only an
accidental transformation found amongst a certain Altaic tribe,
the sun is mentioned as dwelling in the seventh, and the moon
in the sixth storey of Heaven.8 Thus the sun and the moon
govern two sky-discs situated one above the other. In the
seventh storey, together with the sun, lives an omniscient
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

406

Mergen-Tengere (<£ Sharpshooter-god ”), who reminds one of
the Ostiak “ Arrow-sacrifice Torem.” Dare one assume this
deity to reflect an ancient god of lightning?

As the spirit of the ninth Heaven, Radloff mentions Kysa-
gan-Tengere. The corresponding Kisagan-Tengri of the
Mongols was the god of war, believed to protect the army, to
direct it in dangerous and difficult places, and to procure victory
for it by vanquishing the enemy. In the fifth storey lived
Kudai Jajutshi, If these, as seems probable, were originally
Star gods, the counterpart of the former would be the Babylo-
nian Nergal (Mars). Of the spirits of the upper storeys of
heaven only Kaira-Khan (“ merciful khan ”) and Bai-Ülgön
(“Rich and Great”) are mentioned, the former being placed
in the seventeenth and the latter in the sixteenth storey of
Heaven 5 according to the most general belief, however, these
names apply to the same Over-god. The ££ black ” Kara or
Kara-Khan of the earlier lists, who descended from Heaven to
Hades, being doubtless a Star god, deserves special attention 5
on account of his colour and other attributes he may possibly
correspond to Saturn, called ££the black star” by the ancient
Babylonians.

Instead of the more original group of seven, a group of
nine “sons” or “ servants ” of God appears in some districts.
Thus, in the tales of the Mongols we often meet with “nine
Tengeri, protectors and brothers,” these words denoting attri-
butes often ascribed to them.9 The Buriats can give the names
of the <£ nine sons ” of the Over-god. These are, however,
exceedingly artificial and vary in the different districts. Doubt-
less, these “ nine sons ” or “ brothers ” originally signified the
Planet gods, from whom the names of the days of the week
have been taken, although others have come later to join them
as the storeys in Heaven were increased , to nine. Banzarov
says expressly that the Mongols worshipped “ nine great stars,
which corresponded to nine Tengeri.”10 The group of nine
has not been as common in Asia as the group of seven, which is
 THE SONS OF GOD   407

known also in Eastern Asia. In ancient times the Chinese
worshipped the a seven rulers ” or “ directors ” of the sky, by
which they are said to have meant the sun, the moon and five
planets. Where the numbers seven and nine have started to
compete among themselves, one notices that the former has
often given way to the latter.

These sacred numbers of the gods have in places left their
mark on the sacrificial cults. The descriptions of the sacrifices
among the Chuvash living on the Volga often mention nine
sacrificial priests, nine sacrificial animals, nine cauldrons, etc.11
Naturally the recipients of these sacrifices were formerly as
numerous; therefore the people even now try to arrange their
gods in a series of nine. Built on a similar foundation is the
custom of the Finnish tribes in East Russia, especially of the
pagan Cheremiss, of placing in some districts, when sacrificing
to the Heaven god, nine sacrificial loaves and as many bowls
of honey-drink on their altars.12 On the sacrifice platform of
the Yakuts one may also see nine small bowls.13

But let us return again to the older group of seven gods,
the members of which the Ostiaks call “the Interpreters” or
“ the Watchmen of Heaven.” The conception of the Planet
gods as a kind of interpreters seems to be of great antiquity.
Diodorus already speaks of it in describing the Chaldean fore-
casting from the stars in the following words: “ Most impor-
tant to them is the examination of the movements of those
five stars, which are called planets. They call them the c In-
terpreters 5 (èpfjLTfveïs) ^ to the one we call Saturn they give a
special name, c Sun-star,5 as they have it to thank for their
newest and most important forecasts. They call the planets
4 Interpreters5 because, while the other stars never deviate
from their routes, these go their own ways and thus interpret
the future and reveal to men the mercy of the gods.”

The duties of these heavenly 44 Interpreters 55 is thus made
clear by Diodorus. According to the Chaldeans the starry
heavens are a book of fate, reflecting the path of life on earth,
 4o8   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

and also affording to the wise an opportunity of reading the
future. That the ancient Babylonians already knew the
“Tables of Fate” and the “Book of Life” is known to us
from the Bible. Founded on these ancient models is the belief
of the Ostiaks, that the helpers of God write in the “ Book
of Fate,” according to his dictation, each time a child is born,
the length and all the varying fortunes of its life.14 That these
helpers or assistants are the previously described seven gods
appears from the old tales of the western Tatar tribes of
Siberia, in which seven Kudai live in a tent in the sky, before
which is the “ golden tethering-post.” Here the gods sit in
their abode behind a curtain, with the great “ Book of Life ”
before them, marking down births and deaths and deciding
the fate of men.15

Though these fatalistic beliefs may have spread with Islam
wherever this religion obtained foothold, and thus among the
Turco-Tatar peoples also, it is still evident that, even much
earlier, they had taken deep root in the conception of life
current among the Central Asian peoples. It is to be noted
that the “ Interpreters ” and the “ Sons of God ” already
appear in the pagan beliefs. The Kudai of the Tatar tribes
already referred to have clearly come from Persia, as their
name, a Persian loan-word, shows.

The most interesting of all the assistants of the Heaven
god is a certain being, who, through the Turco-Tatar peoples,
has reached the distant Ostiak territory. This being has a
special duty, to perform, as the name “ Writer man ” shows.
On the Demyanka he is regarded as the “ first assistant of the
Heaven god ” and is believed to live in heaven, a little lower
than the Over-god himself . His duty is said to be “ to write
in the Book of Fate, according to the dictation of the Over-
god, how long and in what circumstances a mortal may live
on the earth.” When a person dies, the Ostiaks say: “His
days written by the ‘Writer man’ have finished.” In other
Ostiak districts a deity, of this name is unknown, and for this
 THE SONS OF GOD   409

reason Karjalainen assumes him to be of late origin and to
have sprung from the Heaven god himself, in other words,
he is a being developed from one of the Heaven god’s attri-
butes, as, according to an explanation recorded by the author
in question at Tsingala, the name “ Life-time writing man ”
is one of the names of the Heaven god.10 This assumption is
hardly correct, since besides being the writer of the Book of
Fate, this deity appears also as the bearer of God’s commands.
The Irtysh Ostiaks call him by a name borrowed from the
Tatars, Pairekse, and believe that his duties are to come down
to the earth on reconnaissances as the messenger of the heavens,
and to write in the Book of Fate the length and circumstances
of the life of each person being born. As the messenger and
spy of the Over-god he has been given the attribute “ the Man
of many lands,” “the Travelling man.” According to the
Ostiaks these journeys are often made in the shape of some
animal, occasionally as a goose. As such he resembles more the
“ younger son ” of God, “ the world-watching man ” or Ort-
iki, who in the shape of a goose or “ sitting on the wings of a
goose goes to the place he desires,” and who, in tales, is called
the “goose spirit.” Further, the winged steed of the deity
under discussion, on which as the mediator between God and
man he flies through the air, and from “ one nostril of which
fire darts out, from the other smoke,” is spoken of.17 However
great the number of tales mixed up with these names may be,
it is probable that this messenger of God, the “ Man of many
lands,” the “Travelling man,” did not originate among the
Ostiaks. Still less can a “writing” god have had his birth
among people who have never been able to write.

[Prometheus]

The same being was known to the Chuvash living on the
Volga, in their belief that the god of Fate, Kaba, sends to the
earth at the birth of each child a being called Püleh, who
decrees the fate of the child and notes down its name. Having
accomplished his task, he returns to heaven and relates the
matter to the god of Fate.18 Possibly, the same being is to be
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

410

found in the Cheremiss “ Propounder of God,” to whom, when
sacrificing to the Heaven god, a special offering is prepared,
in order that he may lay before his master the troubles of the
Cheremiss people.19 The Votiaks also, at their horse-sacri-
fices, have a custom of sacrificing a goose, without knowing
any longer to which deity it is intended, remarking only that
the goose escorts the sacrificial horse to heaven.

In searching for the origin of the Writing god, we must
turn again to the land of the twin rivers, where the art of
writing was known earlier than elsewhere in Asia, and where,
from ancient times, the Tables of Fate and the Book of Life
were known. A god corresponding to the “ Writing man ”
of the Ostiaks is also to be found among the ancient Babylo-
nians, who call this scribe of the gods Nabu. As the writer of
the Book of Fate he is pictured with an object resembling a
pen in his hand and the art of writing is itself called “the
wisdom of Nabu.” Among the planets he appears as Mercury.
The same being is met with in another land where the art
of writing was known, Egypt, where Thout is the counterpart
of the Babylonian scribe. This ibis-headed deity is often
pictured, like Nabu, with a tablet and writing materials in his
hand.20

In addition to the groups of gods just mentioned, we meet
in the mythology of Central Asia with more numerous groups,
these forming also a closed ring, the origin of which the people
can no longer explain. As in the Altaic tale of the Sumeru
mountain, the thirty-three gods (Tengeri) believed to live
on this world-mountain have come from India. Most prob-
ably connected with these gods is the information given by
Verbitskiy regarding the cosmos of the Altaic peoples, that
“ in Heaven there are thirty-three discs, one higher than the
other.”21

Three times greater is the crowd of Tengeri in the Buriat
Heaven. These were divided either according to their disposi-
tions into good and evil, or according to where their habitations
 

X

1

i

s.
 PLATE XLVII

Hides of Buriat Offerings
(See page 404.)
 
 i
 THE SONS OF GOD   411

were supposed to be, into “western 55 and “ eastern.5* The

u western,55 friendly to man, were called a white 55 j the eastern,
bringing all kinds of evil, fogs, diseases, and other misfortunes,
were called “black55 Tengeri. Of the former there are
fifty-five, of the latter forty-four. The Mongols have also
known these ninety-nine Tengeri of Heaven. The Buriats
relate how these gods, who formerly, lived in peace together,
quarrelled among themselves. In the beginning there were
then fifty-four western, good Tengeri and forty-four eastern,
evil ones, one being on the border of each group but belonging
to neither. Being in the minority, the a easterns55 begged
this solitary god, the name of whom is said to have been Segen-
Sebdek-Tengeri, to join their side, but the “ westerns 55 put
up a resistance and tempted this god to their own side. In some
districts the source of the disagreement, and even of the war
among the gods, is mentioned as being the beautiful daughter
of Segen-Sebdek-Tengeri, whom both groups passionately
wished to own.22

That these ninety-nine gods are not the invention of either
Buriats or Mongols, appears already from the fact that these
peoples do not know the grounds for the above division, nor
do the names given by the Buriats to these gods throw light
on the question. To judge from all the data, this idea has
arrived complete from elsewhere.

More difficult is the explanation as to how this fancy has
originated. An idea has spread among the Altai Tatars, that
besides this earth of ours, the smallest and lowest, there are
ninety-nine other worlds.23 It is further related that when
Ülgen thrust out the devil Erlik and his company from
Heaven, Erlik pronounced the following words: “ Thou hast
cast out my servants and myself from Heaven to the earth,
these falling in forty-three different places. Therefore shall
I send out these forty-three kinds of servants (etker) and these
shall work evil each in the place where he has fallen from
Heaven, and trouble men up to their death.55 Counting Erlik
 412   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

himself there are thus forty-four of these Altai Tatar evil
spirits, or as many as the evilly-disposed Tengeri of the Buri-
ats.24 The placing of the evil spirits in the east and the good
in the west by the latter is peculiar, all other peoples having
a contrary opinion. Most probably some star-myth is at the
back of these beliefs also. For the sake of comparison it may
be mentioned that the Chinese know of seventy-two good and
thirty-six evil Star gods.
 CHAPTER XII

THE GREAT MOTHER

AMONG the eastern Finno-Ugric peoples we have already
met with a mighty, goddess of birth, called by the Chere-
miss and the Mordvins the “ Great birth-mother,” whose
dwelling-place these peoples, like the Votiaks and the Ugrians
living on the Ob, believe to be in the sky. The same goddess
is known to certain peoples of the Altaic race. When cele-
brating their spring-festival at the time when the flowers
break forth, the Altai Tatars, among other deities, remember
a goddess called u The Lake of Milk.” In many prayers she
is referred to as the a Milk Lake mother” and worshipped as
the giver of all life.1 That this great goddess was known
earlier over a comparatively wide area among the Turco-Tatar
peoples, is proved by the fact that the a Milk Lake mother ”
appears also in the list of deities of the Chuvash living by the
Volga.2 But according to the ideas of the peoples mentioned,
this mythical, deified lake is situated, as we have seen earlier,
beside the tree of life in the centre of the earth. Certain
Altaic tribes, who believe paradise to be situated in the third
Heaven, speak of the “ milk lake ” to be found there, from
which the god of birth, Jajutsi (“ the deereer ”), takes a life-
force each time a child is born into the world.”3

A Central Asian tale would also seem to place the fabled
lake in Heaven, describing as it does how a certain mighty Khan
had promised his daughter in marriage to him who would pro-
cure him a wing of the Garuda eagle. To the heroes partaking
in this quest, a youth joins himself, who wishes to know where
this mythical bird dwells. When the heroes have arrived at a
high mountain, they notice how the sky above them begins to
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

414

grow white. The youth then asks: “ What is behind that
sky? ” The others explain that it is the lake of milk. ...
“ But what is the dark thing in its centre? ” the youth asks
again, and is told that it is the forest, in which the bird dwells.4
Quite plainly, therefore, the “ milk lake ” of the story has
been imagined as situated on a mountain reaching to the
heavens, up which mountain the heroes have to climb. The
forest in the centre of the lake of milk answers to the tree of
life, in the crown of which other tales also declare the fabled
bird to dwell.

The conception of a lake of milk, believed to be the source of
all life, and worshipped as a female deity, is not a product of
Turco-Tatar mythology, but has drifted there from elsewhere.
A parallel to this belief is to be found in the ancient Iranian
paradise myths, where the lake of milk is represented by the
lake Ardvisura Anahita, which gleams from under the tree of
life on the Hara Berezaiti mountain, the said lake being re-
garded by the Iranians as a goddess of birth, to whom, in their
poetry, they ascribe anthropomorphic features. Without doubt,
the Yakut Kubai-Khotun, dwelling in the tree of life or under
its roots, is the same deity, and was regarded by them as the
great mother of both men and animals. As such she has
a breasts as large as leather sacks.’*5 Sometimes she is men-
tioned as the wife of the Heaven god, the plenteousness of her
milk being described in a Buriat tale about the origin of the
Milky Way. This phenomenon is explained by them as having
been caused by the overflow of milk from the breasts of the
Heaven goddess (Manzan Görmö).6 A corresponding myth
was known to the ancient Greeks, who declared the Milky
Way to have been formed when Hera snatched her breast
from the mouth of the infant Heracles, whom she hated, so
that drops of milk were scattered over the sky. From this,
the name met with in many European languages — the Milky
Way (cf. ancient Indian Soma-Dhara, “ Soma Way ”) — has
obviously been derived.
 THE GREAT MOTHER   415

In Yakut prayers, the above-mentioned goddess of birth has
most often the name Ajysyt (“ Birthgiver,” “ Procreator ”) or
Ajy-Khotun (“ Birth-giving mistress”), and children are
prayed for from her, whom she is believed to present at her
fancy to the woman who has gained her favour. As she is
regarded at the same time as birth-giving and nourishing, she is
referred to by a name with these significations, “ Birthgiving
Nourishing mother ” (Ajysyt-Ij aksit-Khotun) / In some dis-
tricts the great mother is believed to pour down from Heaven
a white elixir of life to one who is in the throes of death.8
Tales relate how a woman during severe birth-cramp directs a
prayer to the Heavens and how, shortly afterwards, two Ajysyts
sink down to the earth, and coming to the woman, give their
assistance, after which she gives birth to a son.9 Generally,
however, the people speak only of one goddess, who is said to
bring the soul of the child from Heaven, as according to the
prevalent belief, mortals give birth to the embryo only, life
being furnished by Ajysyt. In one prayer the child-bearing
woman says to her protective genius: “ Thou, my mild Crea-
tress, the first day on which thou didst let down me to the
‘central place* — i.e., the earth — thou didst say: ‘Be pro-
vided with a ceaseless breathing, with an eternal life. May
the cattle brought up by thee flourish, may the children borne
by thee be many.’ ”10 Probably connected with this belief is
the conception that the souls of animals also are let down from
the heavens.

Further light is thrown on the foregoing by the belief of
the Ostiaks, that the great Birth-giving mother dwells in
Heaven on a mountain with seven storeys, where she fixes the
fate of all, by writing at the birth of each child in a golden
book or on a “gold-ornamented seven-branch,” i.e., the tree
of life, the forthcoming events of its life.11

The Siberian peoples, after a successful delivery, have been
in the habit of preparing a feast to the goddess of birth, in
which only women may take part. The Yakuts usually cele-
 4i6   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

brate this feast three days after a birth, at which time the
goddess of birth is believed to depart. Flesh of the votive
animal is placed for the deity at the head of the bed, and
especially butter, a little of which each one present throws
laughing merrily into the firej at the same time the women rub
their hands and faces with butter “ in order to become fruit-
ful.” In some districts, after the birth of a boy, a small tent
of birch-bark is made by the fireside, and horses and cows and
a bow and arrows made of the same material placed within it.
The intention of this magic ceremony is the developing of the
boy as a capable member of the community.12
 CHAPTER XIII

THE STARS

HE NOMADS of the Altaic race, like most other peoples

of the earth, early turned their attention to the stars and
believed that they, in some mysterious way, occasioned the
changes of season and weather. The stars were also most im-
portant guides for travellers on the prairies, in the forests, and
on the tundra. For a thousand years the Great Bear, regularly
moving round the Pole Star, that ever-stationary “pole” of
the sky, and never disappearing below the horizon, has played
an important part in the lives of all the peoples of the Northern
Hemisphere. Not only the Altaic race but innumerable other
peoples have used it, in addition to the sun and the moon, for
measuring time. The ancient Finns are also said to have gone
to “ see the moon, to learn of the Great Bear.” In Central
and East Asia the Great Bear even determined the seasons.
“ When the tail of the Great Bear points eastward it is spring
over all the world, when it points southward it is summer,
when westward, autumn, but when it turns to the north it is
winter over all the world.” Some peoples foretell changes in
the weather by this constellation. The Ostiaks on the Ob,
who call it “ the stag,” say that when “ the stag shrinks,” i.e.,
when the stars of the Great Bear seem to draw together, there
will be frost, but contrariwise, or when “ the stag expands,”
mild weather and snowfalls may, be expected.1

The greatest changes in the weather are believed, however,
to be the work of the Pleiades. Even in other countries, such
as America and the South Sea Islands, the rising and the
setting of this constellation are considered as signs of the com-
ing of cold or warm weather, a rainy or a dry period. In the
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

418

beliefs of European peoples also, the influence of the Pleiades
on the climate plays a certain part. In the question-forms
which were used by Forbus as guides in gathering Lapp folk-
lore there is a question: “ Have you worshipped the Pleiades
that they might give warm weather? ”2 The Turkish peoples
believe the Pleiades to be chiefly, the causers of cold. The
Yakuts say that they “ bring the winter.”3 The foundation
of this thought is naturally to be found in the fact that a colder
period follows the appearance of the Pleiades, whereas their
setting takes place at the beginning of the warm season. The
Yakuts say that the winter in former days was much colder
and drearier than it is now, but since a shaman hacked in twain
the binding-rod of the Pleiades, they have been able to move
more quickly, and thus the winter has become shorter. When
the shaman struck, splinters flew into the air, which are now the
innumerable stars.4

The idea of the Pleiades as the cause of cold weather is fur-
ther reflected in the old name of this constellation, which is
the same in several languages of Turkish origin: Urker, Orgel,
etc. Gorochov says that in Yakut Orgel means “ air-hole.” 5
Further weight is given to this idea by a Yakut tale. This tells
how a hero once gathered together thirty wolf-leg hides and
from them made himself a pair of gloves with which to stop
the Orgel, as it “blew upon him endless frost and wind.”0
The Votiaks and even the Lithuanians and the Baltic Finns
called this constellation “ the sieve.”

The Siberian peoples seem to have considered it impossible
to solve the question of what the innumerable stars of the sky
really are. The belief of the Yakuts that they are small holes
through which heavenly, light shines is easy to understand.
In other places they are declared to be “the reflection of the
heavenly ocean.”7
 THE STARS   419

THE SUN AND THE MOON

The Altaic peoples speak of a time when there was no sun
and no moon. They say that people, who then flew in the air,
gave out light and warmed their surroundings themselves, so
that they did not even miss the heat of the sun. But when one
of them fell ill God sent a spirit to help these people. This
spirit commenced by stirring the primeval ocean with a pole
10,000 fathoms long, when suddenly two goddesses flew into
the sky. He also found two metal mirrors (toli), which he
placed in the sky. Since then there has been light on the
earth.8

This tale is doubtless grounded on a previously-mentioned
conception, that people living before the fall in paradise were
a kind of luminous beings. The Kalmucks distinctly say that
at the time of paradise there was yet no sun and no moon.
It was only when the people, by eating of the forbidden
fruit, fell into sin, and the world around them became dark,
that the sun and moon were created.9

The idea of the sun and moon as metal mirrors in the above
tale is also to be found in beliefs and customs connected with
the prophesying? of Central Asian shamans. It is commonly
supposed that everything that takes place on the earth is re-
flected in the sun and the moon and from these again in the
magic mirrors of the shamans. There is a story of how a cer-
tain hero holds his magic mirror toward the sun and the moon
in order to see in their reflections where the colt which he is
seeking has disappeared.10 This manner of finding out things
has spread among the peoples of North Siberia. Even in
Ostiak countries the sun is an important means of prophesying
by sight j by watching it the magician can tell the life and the
fate of a person far away.11 Possibly the Siberian shaman’s
custom of fixing metal objects representing the sun and the
moon on his dress originates in this belief. It is another ques-
tion whether this belief and this custom are original with the
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

420

Altaic race, or whether they have wandered there from lands
where prophesying from the stars has long been known and
common.

Besides those tales which say that the sun and the moon
were created comparatively late, there are others according to
which the lights of the sky already existed when the vast
primeval ocean yet covered all. In Mongolian tales the sun
and the moon are called sisters, of whom the former says to
the latter: “ Travel thou in the day, I will travel in the night.”
The moon remarked: “There will be so many people about
in the day, I shall be ashamed to walk abroad then.” The
sisters finally agreed, but the sun regretted that the earth was
so smooth and that there were no hillocks or mounds above
the water for the people to live on. The tale does not go on
to tell how the earth on which the people dwell came to exist.
We might suppose the moon to have had her share in its
creation, the ebb and flow of the tide which she causes having
early attracted the attention at least of coast-dwellers. A tale
of the Votiaks says that the god of Heaven, Inmar, sent two
people out during the flood to find earth and to scatter it on
the surface of the ocean. The first went out in the day, where-
fore he made the earth smooth, but the second, going out in
the night, sowed the mountains and valleys on the earth.

In Central Asia tales have been taken down according to
which there were three or four suns in primeval times. At
' that time it was unbearably hot upon the earth. The Buriats
tell how a hero named Erkhe-Mergen shot three suns down
into the sea with his bow so that only one remained to light
and warm the earth.12 In a legendary tale of the Torgouts
it is said that the devil (Shulman) created three suns in order
to burn the earth made by God (Burkhan-Bakshi). In answer,
God covered the earth, on which there were as yet no dwellers,
with a flood, so that the devil was forced to submit. Only one
sun remained in the sky, the others God plunged later into
the bottomless pit given to the devil for his dwelling-place.13
 THE STARS   421

[Prometheus]

The following Buriat tale gives a description of the con-
fining and liberating of the heavenly lights, a theme greatly
favoured in the stories of many peoples. When Heaven and
earth through the intermarriage of their children became re-
lated to one another, the “ Lord of the Earth ” once made a
visit to the god of Heaven. On leaving he begged for the
sun and the moon as presents. The god of Heaven, who
wished to observe the sacred customs of hospitality, dared not
refuse, and the w Lord of the Earth ” took the lights of the
sky with him and shut them into a box. Then all nature be-
came dark. The god of Heaven had no other resource than
to turn to the porcupine, asking him to help by, bringing back
the sun and the moon. The porcupine agreed to try and made
a visit to the “Lord of the Earth.” When the guest was
about to depart, the host asked him what gift- he wished as
a token of hospitality. “ Give me the mirage-horse and the
echo-spear,” answered the porcupine, and as the “ Lord of
Earth ” could not fulfil so difficult a wish he gave his
guest the sun and the moon. The porcupine put the lights
back in their former orbits and the world became bright

*   14

again.

In the tales of Turco-Tatar peoples the porcupine appears as
a wise and wily creature, sometimes as the inventor of fire, or
the originator and teacher of agriculture.15 Seeing that this
animal also occupies an important position in the beliefs of the
ancient Iranians, one might assume that the above mentioned
tales have come to Central Asia from them.

The Altaic Tatars describe the nature of the sun and the
moon by relating how Otshirvani took fire, placed it on his
sword and slung it in the sky, and thus created the sun, and
how he made the moon by striking the water with his sword.
The reason why daylight is burning hot, say the people, is that
the sun is made of fire, whereas moonlight is cold because this
star came out of the water.16 The Dolgans say that the sun
was created in the day, the moon in the night.17
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

422

Most of the peoples of Turkish origin living in Siberia
imagine, when addressing these heavenly lights, the sun to be
feminine (Mother sun) and the moon masculine (Father moon,
Old man moon). Often, especially in tales, we also hear
of the Sun Khan and the Moon Khan. According to Chinese
sources the Mongolian and the Old Turkish rulers used to
worship the sun in the morning and the moon in the evening.18
The Chuvash until quite lately brought the Sun god white
sacrifices. Concerning moon-worship we have not much other
information than that it has been a custom to greet the new
moon and to utter a wish that he would bring good luck and
prosperity. The most northern peoples of Turkish origin, who
have eagerly retained their old customs, do not sacrifice to
the sun or the moon, although these orbs seem to have played
an important part in the rites of the shamans. Yet both are
considered by them to be living beings. They believe that the
sun sees all that people do, and therefore often appeal to it:
u May the sun see! ” or “ May the sun know! ” In swearing,
the Yakut turns towards the sun and says: “ If I have made a
wrong oath may, the sun refuse me light and warmth.” It is
said that the Tungus believe the sun to watch their conduct
and to punish their wicked actions.19

As is natural, the tribes of Turkish origin, like all other
nations, keep account of time by the cycles of the sun and the
changes of the moon. Plano Carpini says that the Mongolians
never undertook a war expedition or any other important
work except at the time of the new or the full moon. Weather
prophesying by the sun is the same in Central and Northern
Asia as in Europe. The Tungus and the Yenesei Ostiaks
consider a ring round the moon in winter to be an omen of cold,
in summer of rain, saying that the moon protects himself from
the weather by making himself a tent. The Ostiaks on the Ob
also know this saying.20

The spots on the sun and the moon, especially those on the
latter, have always been interesting themes for tales among all
 THE STARS

423

peoples. The Yakuts tell of a poor orphan girl for whom life
was so hard that the moon pitied her and determined to take
her to him. One frosty night when the girl had gone out to
get water the moon descended, raised the child to his breast,
and ascended again to the heavens. Wherefore, we now see
in the moon a girl bearing a yoke with two buckets on her
shoulder. In other places there is a story, of two children, a
brother and a sister, who, having gone out to fetch water,
stayed to watch the moon until he became angry and snatched
them to him. The Yakuts never allow their children to watch
the full moon.21

The Buriats see more than a girl with her yoke and buckets
in the moon. They see also a willow-bush. The girl had had
a strict and hard-hearted step-mother, who once when the child
was a long time fetching water cried to her in anger: “ Oh,
that the sun and the moon took thee! ” When she was bearing
water the girl saw the sun and the moon descending towards
her. In her fright she grasped a willow-bush. When the sun
was about to take her the moon said: u Thou walkest in the
day and I in the night. Give the girl to me.” The sun agreed
to the moon’s request, who immediately lifted up the child
with buckets, bush and all. The Yakuts also know this tale
in the same form.22

This tale about the water-fetcher, of which we find a variant
in the Edda of Snorri, is very widely known in Asia and in
Europe.

The Altai Tatars tell of the old man of the moon, who in
former times lived on the earth and caused great havoc as a
man-eater. The dwellers of Heaven wished to save the people
and gathered together to take counsel. The sun said: a I
would willingly descend to free the poor people from that
monster were not my heat harmful to them.” On hearing this
the moon remarked that they could well stand his coldness,
and he descended to the earth, where he found the man-eater
picking berries from a hawthorn. The moon at once seized
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

424

the wretch and his tree and returned to the sky, where the
man-eater and the hawthorn can still be seen in the moon.83

The primitive peoples of the District of Turukhansk see a
shaman with his drum in the moon. This formerly mighty
man undertook to fight against the moon, but scarcely had he
drawn near it before the moon made him its prisoner.24

The Mongolians and the peoples of the Altai imagined also
that a hare dwelt in the moon.25

The waning of the moon is said by the Yakuts to be caused
by wolves and bears eating its disc. Every time the moon has
grown to its ordinary size the beasts again attack it.26

According to Buriat tales an eclipse of the sun or the moon
takes place when a certain beast, which is ever persecuting the
lights of the sky, swallows the sun and the moon. Once when
this monster, Alkha, again darkened the world, the gods be-
came so angry that they, cut his body in two. The hind part
fell down, but the living forepart still haunts the sky. Every
time Alkha now swallows stars they soon appear again, as the
beast is unable to retain them in his body. The Buriats say
that when Alkha is troubling the sun and the moon they pray
for help, and the people have a custom of screaming and
making a noise, throwing stones and even shooting up into the
sky in order to drive away the monster.27

A tale recorded in another Buriat district relates that Arakho,
as the beast is here called, f ormerly lived upon the earth and
consumed the hairs off the people’s bodies, which at that time
were quite hairy. Seeing this, God became angry and inquired
of the moon Arakho’s hiding-place. On finding the beast he

struck it in two, and the living forepart is forever eating the

• 28
moon m consequence.

It is also told that Otshirvani, wishing to sweeten life for
people and animals, let the sun and the moon prepare water
of life, but Arakho drank it up and soiled the cup. Having
inquired the beast’s dwelling-place from the moon, God
hurried there and cut him in two. The forepart, having thus
 THE STARS   425

become immortal, pursues the moon. Some see the “ body ” of
the monster in the moon-spots.29

The Arakho who causes eclipses of the sun and moon, and
who has only a head but no body, is known to the Mongols
also. The tale originates in India where the monster’s name is
Rahu. Arakho and Alkha are corrupt variants of this name.

The conception prevalent among the peoples of North-East
Asia that the persecutor of the lights of heaven is a dragon has
come from China. The Altai Tatars say that the eclipse of
the moon is the work of a man-eater living in a star. The
Russian Tatars and the Chuvash speak of a vampire which
sometimes swallows the sun and the moon but soon leaves them
in peace again, as the stars begin to burn his mouth.

THE POLE STAR AND THE LITTLE BEAR

The significance of the Pole Star in the universe has al-
ready been mentioned. The fact that other surrounding stars
seem to circle round that “ golden ” or “ iron pole ” has given
rise to a fancy that bonds exist between them. The Kirghis
call the three stars of the Little Bear nearest the Pole Star,
which form an arch, a “ rope ” to which the two larger stars
of the same constellation, the two horses, are fastened. One
of the horses is white, the other bluish-grey. The seven stars
of the Great Bear they call the seven watchmen, whose duty
it is to guard the horses from the lurking wolf. When once
the wolf succeeds in killing the horses the end of the world
will come.®0 In other tales the stars of the Great Bear are
“ seven wolves ” who pursue those horses. Just before the
end of the world they, will succeed in catching them.31 Some
even fancy that the Great Bear is also tied to the Pole Star.
When once all the bonds are broken there will be great dis-
turbances in the sky. The Tatars by Minusinsk say that when
the “seven dogs” are let loose the end of the world will
come.32
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

4.26

The numerous tales about the one or more bound beasts,
which are to be set free before the end of the world, were
possibly originally similar star-myths. The Slavs have a story
about a bound dog whose iron chains form the Little Bear.
When the dog, who is ever endeavouring to bite his chains in
two, once gets loose, the end of the world will be at hand.33

THE GREAT BEAR

Many North Siberian primitive peoples and even the
Russians living in those parts call the Great Bear a u stag.”
The Samoyeds of the District of Turukhansk fancy that the
Pole Star is a hunter chasing the stag and trying to kill it.34
The Yenisei Ostiaks see a stag and three hunters in this con-
stellation. The stars forming the square are the stag, those
in the arch the hunters, the first of these being a Tungus, the
second a Yenesei Ostiak and the little star, Alcor, glimmering
by his side, his kettle, the third a Russian. In addition, the
three stars forming the forepart of the stag are also specially
explained: one is the beast’s nose, the other two its ears.35 This
same tale is known among the Tungus of that district and it is
possible that even the following Yakut variant, which is said
in different places to refer to different stars, e.g., to Orion,
also belongs to the same series. The Yakut variant is as fol-
lows: Once upon a time three Tungus chased a stag up into
the sky, where they wandered long in hunger. In the end one
of the hunters died, but the other two, together with the stag
and the dog, were changed into stars (the stag-star) .3S

For the sake of comparison it may be mentioned that even
the Indians of North America see an animal in the Great Bear,
usually a bear, with three hunters at his heels.37

The Buriats call the seven stars of the Great Bear a seven
old men.” According to one tale they are the skulls of seven
smiths. A hero once killed u seven blacksmiths ” and pre-
pared from their skulls seven cups, out of which he gave his
 THE STARS

427

wife to drink until she was intoxicated. When she had drunk
she threw the cups into the sky, where they formed the seven
stars of the Great Bear. All blacksmiths are said to be under
the protection of these stars.38

The Mongols, who also callthis constellation “the seven
old men ” or “ the seven Burkhans,” sacrificed milk and kumiss
and even devoted some domestic animals to it.39

Very widespread is a tale in which the “seven old men”
or the “ seven Khans ” as they are also called, are accused of
theft. The Mongols tell that “ the seven Burkhans ” stole a
star from the Pleiades, which numbered seven before but are
now only six. This little stolen star (Alcor) is to be seen close
to the central star of the arch of the Great Bear. With the
Mongols it has developed into the god of thieves, to whom
these always call on their predatory excursions to give luck
in their wickedness.40 It is in order to be revenged on the
Great Bear, so say the Altai Tatars, that the Pleiades pursue
the “ seven Khans ” although they never overtake them.41
The Kirghis also call the Great Bear “ the seven thieves,” and
accuse them of having stolen one of the two daughters of the
Pleiades.42 In Northern Caucasia .there is a tale of how a
certain Khan left his child in the keeping of “ seven brothers ”
and how they were already on their homeward journey when
the Pleiades attacked them, wishing to kill the child, but the
“ seven brothers ” succeeded in saving it.43

The tales about the “ seven brothers ” and their “ little
sister ” who was taken up into the sky, belong to the same
series. That the “seven old men” of the Buriats also are
originally robbers of a star-maiden appears from the following
story, which has been recorded among them. There was once
upon a time a poor man who received the gift of understand-
ing the speech of birds. One day, when he was resting under
a tree he heard two ravens discussing how to heal the son of a
Khan who had long lain ill. On hearing the method agreed
upon by the ravens, he at once hurried to the Khan and healed
 428   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

his son. Greatly thankful, the Khan presented him with seven
steeds. On his homeward journey he met six men, each of
whom attracted his attention in a peculiar way. The first was
so strong that he could lift a mountain from the ground. The
second had so keen a sense of hearing that he could tell what
was happening under the earth. The third was an archer of
such power that with his bow he could bring down a piece of
the “ heavenly mountain.” The fourth was so clever with his
hands that he easily transplanted the feathers from one kind
of bird to another. The fifth was able to suck a whole river
into his mouth and squirt it out again. The sixth was so
nimble of foot that he outran a wild-goat on the prairie. These
heroes now joined the poor man who understood the language
of birds. Then the one who had the keen sense of hearing
happened to hear how a certain Khan, wishing to choose a
husband for his daughter, set all the suitors-elect three diffi-
cult conditions to fulfill. The heroes, determining to try their
luck, went, to the Khan and asked him for his daughter’s hand.
Having easily fulfilled the most difficult tasks they took the
maiden with them. The servants of the Khan pursued them,
but the seven heroes escaped with their booty. In the end God
took them up into the sky where they were changed into the
Great Bear. The little star Alcor by the arch is the maiden
whom they won.44 The same story-motif would seem to have
been known to the ancient Greeks also. They told how Elek-
tra, one of the seven Pleiades, who is said to have been the an-
cestress of the Trojans, took the fall of Troy so much to heart
that she left her original place in the Pleiades. Hence, ac-
cording to them, this constellation now has only six stars.
Elektra is said to have moved to the Great Bear where she
now glimmers as a little star beside the central star of the arch.
It is possible that the ancient Greeks had mixed up two tales,
viz., that of the robbing of the maid who caused the Trojan
war, and that of the robbing of the star, belonging to an earlier
period.
 THE STARS   429

ORION

As with the Great Bear, a hunting-myth is also connected
with Orion. Once upon a time, according to the Buriats, there
lived a famous archer who hunted “ three stags ” and was just
about to overtake them when the animals suddenly, rose into
the sky. The hunter had time, however, to send an arrow
after them. The stags then suddenly changed into the three
stars of Orion (“the three stags ”), and a little lower down
one can see the hunter’s arrow as a star in the sky.45

In the district of the Altai this tale has been taken down in
various other forms also. The Teleuts tell of a hero named
Kuguldei-Matyr who chased three stags on horseback. Hav-
ing speeded to and fro over the earth in all directions without
finding a resting-place, the animals at last sprang into the sky.
But the hero followed at their heels, shooting at them with
two arrows. His steed appears as a great star in the east, near
the “ three stags ” (the belt of Orion), and there also are his
two arrows, the one white, the other red. The latter, having
passed through the bodies of the stags, is bloody. The hero
himself has also become a large star.46

Another tale tells how God cursed this hunter, who had in-
tended to kill all the stags on the earth, and therefore changed
the “ three stags ” into the belt of Orion, around which hunter,
steed, hound and arrows now twinkle as stars. Some see in
Orion, besides the stags, a hunter, a hound, a hunting-hawk and
arrows. Some speak of two hounds. Hunters are said to
worship this archer-hero and to pray, to him for good luck in
hunting.47

The Mongols also call the belt of Orion “ the three stags.”
They see in addition, an archer, a horse, a hound and an arrow
in this constellation.48 According to a Buriat tale this hero was
born of a cow, and had a human head and a horse’s body.40

The Kirghis see in the belt of Orion three deer, the sur-
rounding stars being the “ three hunters ” and their “ arrow.”
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

430

These hunters are said to have lived on the earth in former
times, but as no animal could escape their well-aimed arrows
God took the deer into the sky.50

The centaur of the Buriats brings into mind the ancient
Greek tales in which Orion appears as a hero who was regarded
as an exceedingly mighty hunter. The ancient Greeks be-
lieved, like the Siberian Tatars, that this hero intended to de-
stroy all the animals on the earth. “ The hunt of Orion ”
was reflected in the sky, where the hunter had even a hound
(Sirius) with him.

The Yenisei Ostiaks call Orion “ stag’s head.” Their ideas
do not, however, appear to be connected with the series of
myths just referred to. Thus they tell how this stag carried
off a bride for the hero Alba.51 For the Yenisei Ostiaks, Orion,
and not the Great Bear, is the maiden-robber. Ideas corre-
sponding to this are found among other peoples.

Orion has also many names taken from objects. The most
common of these are: “the scales ” or “the hand-scales”
(Turkish, Kirghis, Tatar, Votiak, etc.) and “ the yoke ” (for
buckets) (Volga Tatar, Cheremiss, Vogul, etc.).

[Prometheus]

THE PLEIADES

We have mentioned before that some peoples imagine the
Pleiades to be air holes, a ventilator, or a sieve through which
streams a cold draught from the upper air. With others this
constellation has suggested a group of animals, The most
northern peoples of Siberia call it a bird’s nest, or a duck’s nest
(Yakuts, Voguls, Koriaks, etc.). Some Central Asian peoples
call the Pleiades “monkeys” (metshit) or “monkey” {met-
shift). With this unexpected fancy, in a district where monkeys
are unknown, stories are also connected.

The Altai Tatars relate that in olden times Metshin lived
upon the earth. It was then terribly cold on the earth, and for
this reason the camel and the cow determined to kill him.
 THE STARS   431

Once, when he was hiding in the ashes of a log-fire and the
camel had lifted his foot to crush him, the cow remarked:
“ Thy foot is too soft, let me try with my hard hoof.” The
camel stepped aside and let the cow stamp with its hoof into
the ashes. Metshin was trodden in pieces, but through the
cleft of the cow’s hoof the pieces escaped and flew into the
sky, where they now twinkle as six little stars.82

A variant of the tale is that as long as Metshin was on the
earth it was exceedingly, hot, but since the Pleiades rose into
the sky the weather on the earth has grown colder.53

In connection with this tale, the Pleiades are mostly imagined
to be a great insect. The Kirghis say that Urker was a great
green insect that lived in the grass and ate cattle, especially
sheep, for which it had a great liking. The camel and the
cow grew angry and determined to kill it, but it escaped
through the cleft of the cow’s hoof into the sky. In the
summer, when Urker cannot be seen in the sky, it is said to
have come on the earth. If it alights in a watery district, the
winter will be bad, but if in a dry spot, the Kirghis expect a
good winter.54

In the district of the Altai the carrying-off of a star is con-
nected with this tale. The Great Bear, which here appears as
a mighty Khan, could not endure that Metshin should live on
the earth as a great and wicked insect which ate up human
beings and animals. Not knowing how he could destroy the
monster, he asked his horse for advice. The horse replied:
a I will crush him to powder with my hoof.” The cow, hap-
pening to hear this, hurried to the ice where the insect was
resting and stamped it into pieces with her foot. When the
pieces escaped through the hoof to the sky the Khan managed
to catch only one which he took with him. Metshin, which is
now bereft of one of its stars, ever angrily pursues the Great
Bear.65

A belief that the Pleiades originally formed one star, which
afterwards was parted into many pieces, is suggested by many
 4.32   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

of the tales connected with this constellation from different
parts of the globe, in which some creature is crushed into
pieces. The idea, also, that the Pleiades formerly, consisted
of seven stars but now number only six is comparatively
common.

VENUS

Of the planets Solbon (Turco-Tatar, Tsholbon— Venus),
which a can be seen in the morning and in the evening,” plays
in the tales of the Buriats a considerable part. This star is
said to be a famous horse-lover, who rides over the sky lasso
in hand. He has in his possession a great troop of horses,
watched over by a horse-herd named Dogedoi or Toklok. The
Buriats consider Solbon to be the patron-god of their own
horses, and for this reason they pray to and worship him. In
the spring, when they cut the manes and tails of their horses
and set the mark of the owner on the colts, they prepare a
sacrifice for Solbon, cooking meat and cream-porridge (sala-
mat) and making home-distilled spirits (tarasun) in his
honour. The wine they throw into the air for Solbon and his
groom Toklok, but the meat and the porridge they put into
the fire. They then begin their own meal. In addition they
have a custom of dedicating live horses to Solbon, as to many
other gods, which horses are then no longer used in human
service.06 Georgi says the Buriats believe a that the gods
and especially the shepherd-god Sulbundu (sic!) ride on
these in the night when watching over the other horses, and
for this reason they are believed to be covered with perspira-
tion in the mornings.” 67 Tales also tell how Solbon’s groom
teaches people to tend their horses well. Sometimes he in-
forms them beforehand which persons will prosper with their
horses during their lifetime. The Buriats regard as a good
omen the birth of a colt in the autumn after Solbon has ap-
peared in the sky, believing such a colt to become a very, good
horse afterwards.®8
 'I

is

i

{

I

!
 PLATE XLVIII

Shaman Drums from the Minusinsk
District

Both the outer and inner sides are shown, They
are furnished with drawings and figures on the skin
of the drum, and with hand-grip, bells and metal
symbols on the inner side. (See pages 287, 520.)
 
 
 THE STARS

433

A certain tale relates how once when Solbon travelled to the
western sky, his groom Dogedoi left the horses untended for
three days, going out for a walk with his dog Rurto. On re-
turning, the groom saw to his surprise that the wolves had
scattered his horses and even devoured some of them. Just as
he was about to gather them together Solbon returned from
the western sky and seeing the disorder punished his groom
severely.59

It is easy to understand how Venus, as the morning and eve-
ning star, should have suggested the idea of a shepherd tending
the flocks of stars. As a ruler over the stars, this planet ap-
pears also in the tales of the North American Indians. The
Yenisei Ostiaks imagine Venus to be the oldest among the
stars, and to guard them from dangers and watch that they
do not disappear before their time. For this reason it is ££ first
and last ” in the sky.60 Even the ancient Babylonians speak of
the heavenly £C sheep ” that I star tended.

But whence have the Mongols obtained their horseman and
his groom? One might assume that this horse-loving nomad
tribe had of itself begun to imagine the stars to be a great
flock of horses. And yet the Indo-Iranian peoples also seem
to have had the same idea. Probably, as Oldenberg says, the
twin gods Asvin (“the horsemen ”) of the Veda were origi-
nally the morning and the evening stars. The gods Asvin were
worshipped together with the god of dawn in the early, morn-
ing and they are mentioned also as a the givers of horses.”

With this same star the Buriats connect a tale of the robbing
of a bride. Solbon is said to have three wives, the third being
a former Buriat girl, whom the hero carried off just as she
was about to celebrate her wedding. Solbon descended to the
earth, seized the girl, who was far-famed for her beauty,
from the midst of the wedding-guests and took her with him
to the sky. By his two first wives Solbon had no children, but
the maid whom he carried off from the earth bore him a son.61

With the Yakuts Venus is feminine. They relate that she
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

434

is a beautiful maiden whom Ürgel (the Pleiades) loves.
When these two meet in the sky it is a bad omen, foretelling
storm and violent weather.62

The Kirghis say that “ the Pleiades are the moon’s son, and
the evening star the moon’s daughter.”63

THE MILKY WAY

The imagination of the child of nature was early exercised
also by the distant spectacle of the Milky Way. The most com-
mon name for it in the Turco-Tatar languages is “the birds’
way” (Turkoman, Kirghis, etc.) or “the wild ducks’ way”
(Volga-Tatar, Chuvash, Votiak and Cheremiss), to which the
corresponding term in Finnish and Esthonian is “ the birds’
road ” and in Lapp “ the birds’ stair ” (lodderaiddaras). What
the origin of this comparatively old name is, appears from the
beliefs of the Ostiaks and the Yoguls: these say that the Milky
Way, which they also name “ the ducks’ road ” or “ the south-
ern birds’ road,” is the guide of birds of passage in the night-
time. The Esthonians explain the origin of this name in the
same manner.64

Many other fancies have also been awakened by the Milky
Way. We have already remarked that the Buriats and the
Yakuts call it “the seam of the sky.” The Samoyeds of the
District of Turukhansk call it the “ back of the sky,.” 65 These
names evidently result from a conception of the sky as a kind
of tent-roof.

In some Buriat districts, as mentioned, a tale has been
recorded in which the Milky Way is said to have come into
being when Manzan-Görmö milked herself and then threw
away the milk.

In North-East Siberia the Milky Way is imagined to be a
large river flowing across the sky.60 This idea has perhaps its
origin in China, where the idea of a “ heavenly river ” is also
met with. Like the Japanese, the Koreans tell of two stars who
 THE STARS

435

loved one another and whom God, because they neglected their
duties for the sake of their love, separated by placing the one
in the uttermost east, the other in the uttermost west. In
addition the broad heavenly river flows between them. Once
a year, in the seventh month, these lovers are said to meet,
the birds building a bridge for them over the river.67

With the Caucasian Tatars, the Turks, and many of the
Balkan peoples, a tale of Persian origin is connected with the
Milky Way, the tale telling of a man who stole straw or hay,
intending to hide his booty in the sky, but, as he journeyed,
sprinkled so much on the way that his path can yet be traced
in the sky. For this reason these stars are also called athe
straw-thief’s track.”68

Names of later origin are the a pilgrims5 way to Mecca55 of
the Mohammedan Tatars, and the “ Burkhans5 road55 of the
Mongols. The Yakuts call the Milky Way “ God’s foot-
prints.” He is said to have walked across the sky in creating
the earth.69 More common is “the ski-track of the son of
God,”70 behind which name there is perhaps hidden some
hunting-story like the one written down among the Ostiaks
and the Voguls. When God (Numi-Törem), as the Voguls
relate, had created the earth, he sent a six-footed stag upon it.
An ordinary human being could not hunt this quick-footed
animal, and so he begged the Forest spirit to pursue it. But
even for this being, who glided at a terrific rate on his skis,
it was not easy to overtake his six-legged prey. When at last
he succeeded in killing the animal, which was so big that its
body “ reached over thirty rivers,” the Forest spirit broke off
the two additional feet, saying to his father Numi-Törem:
“ Change this animal with the power of thy word into a four-
footed beast, as, seeing that the work of chasing and killing it
has been difficult even for me, how should an ordinary human
being have the strength necessary for it.” This hunt was re-
flected in the sky. The stag became the Great Bear, in which
are to be seen the beast’s head, its two eyes, its forefeet and
 436   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

hindfeet, and in addition the chopped-off stumps of the other
two feet. The Milky; Way is “the ski-track of the Forest
spirit.” Even the Forest spirit’s house can be seen in the sky in
a shape which the Voguls call “the complete house of the
Forest spirit,” (i.e., the Pleiades). In this story also, the hero
who attacks the Great Bear is from the Pleiades.71

The Ostiaks on the Irtysh River tell of a man named
Tungk-Pok. who once when he was in the sky undertook to
hunt this six-footed stag. Having chased it across the sky on
his magic skis the hero overtook it at the mouth of the Irtysh,
where the stag threw itself on to the earth. The hunter did
not succeed in killing it, but could only cut off its two hind-
most feet. He therefore declared: “ Men will become more
and more small and weak, how can they then overthrow a six-
footed beast, which even for me is very difficult? May stags
and other animals from this day onwards have only four
feet! ” The stag continued its flight towards the north until
the hero again reached it near Obdorsk. The animal being
then dead-tired, it begged God to save it from the hands of the
hunter. God took pity on the stag and changed it into a great
stone, but, as a memento of this heavenly chase, the Ostiaks
see in the Milky Way two parallel ski-tracks (“ the ski-track
of Tungk-Pok” or “the way of Tungk-Pok”) and in the
Great Bear a “ stag.”

The Ostiaks of Vasyugan call this hunter “ the son of the
god of Heaven.”72

THE SIGNS OF A TWELVE-DIVISIONED PERIOD

In connection with fancies relating to the stars it may be
mentioned that the peoples of Central Asia divide time into
periods of twelve, usually calling each of these "units of time
by. the following animal names: mouse, cow, tiger, hare,
dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog and sow.7*
Images of these animals in relief can often be seen decorating
 THE STARS

437

the edges of the circular metal mirrors (toll) hanging with
other magic objects on the costume of the shamans and used
as instruments of sorcery. Other objects, also decorated with
the same images, for reckoning time can be seen here, most
of which have been brought
from China where, as in other
parts of East Asia, this method
of keeping account of time still
prevails. From the Chinese
pictures it will be seen that the
animal-images there are the
same as those of the Mongols.

Only the sign of the mouse is
called a rat by the Chinese, and
that of the hare a rabbit. Al-
though these animal signs are
mainly the same with the dif-
ferent peoples of Central Asia, their order varies somewhat.
Thus the Eastern Soyots are said to reckon the years in the
following order — dragon, tiger, cow, sow, monkey, mouse,
dog, frog, snake, cock, horse and hare.74

The Buriats, who begin their twelve-year and twelve-month
periods with the mouse, say that they really ought to begin with
the camel, but that the camel has lost this honour. Light is
thrown on the subject by the following tale. The camel and
the mouse quarrelled over which of them should rule over the
first year of a period or the first month of a year. In the end
they decided to solve the dispute in such a way that the one
who first saw the rays of the rising sun should call the year or
month in question by his name. The camel took his stand
looking towards the east, but the mouse climbed on his hump
and from there watched the west. At dawn the camePs eye
had not yet caught the sun when the mouse had already seen
the reflection of its rays on the western mountains. For this
reason the first year and also the first month of the year are

Fig. i 6. Signs of a Twelve-Divi-
sioned Period
 438   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

called after the mouse. From this tale the Buriats have a
proverb: “ In believing himself great the camel lost a year.” 78
Signs of animals representing a period of time divisible by
twelve are already to be found side by side with the signs, of
the Zodiac on the marble tablets of the ancient Egyptians,
found in the beginning of the last century. A period of twelve
hours, which were represented by animal figures of the same
description, was called Dodekaoros by the ancient Greeks.
These pictures, which to some extent resemble the time-marks
of the Mongols, are mentioned in the following order: cat,
dog, snake, crab, ass, lion, goat, ox, hawk, monkey, ibis and
crocodile. There can be no doubt that these time-marks, which,
like the twelve-divisioned period itself, seem to have spread
into East Asia from the west, are closely connected with the
corresponding ideas of these civilized peoples. Later Greek
texts call this method of reckoning time “Chaldean,” which
points to Babylonian astrology. The signs of the twelve-
divisioned period are thus most probably explained by the
twelve signs of the Zodiac.
 CHAPTER XIV
THUNDER

LIKE most of the North American Indian tribes, the
peoples in the farthest north of Siberia imagine thunder
to be something resembling a large and mighty bird. The
Forest Tungus speak of it as such and explain that the rustle of
this mighty bird’s wings is heard on the
earth, when it flies, as the terrific rumbling
of thunder. The Tungus never offer up
sacrifices to this being, nor do they wor-
ship it in any other way, but when weav- •
ing a magic spell they make a wooden
image of a bird to represent it, fixing this
outside their tent at the head of a long
pole. The Thunder bird is believed to
protect the soul of the shaman, who in
his flight through the air may encounter

many dangers.   The shaman can even Fig. *7- Thé Tun-

. ,   i .   . .   .   gus Thunder-bird

send the Thunder bird against his enemies

should he deem it necessary. The Tungus see a proof of the
gigantic powers of this bird of the upper air in trees struck by
lighting, which it has torn to shreds with its a claws of stone.”1
A similar conception of the nature of thunder is found
among the Chukchee and all the primitive peoples of the Dis-
trict of Turukhansk. The Eastern Samoyeds liken the
Thunder bird to a duck, whose sneezing is the cause of rain.
It is also imagined as the Iron bird, probably on account of the
din it can create.2 The Yurak Samoyeds of Northern Russia,
who make themselves an image of thunder in the form of a
goose, fancy, like the Tungus, that the Thunder bird attends
 440   SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

and protects the soul of the shaman. A certain shaman is even
said to have wandered two or three years in the air accompanied
by this giant bird.3 The hero in a Yakut tale says: “ Why
should I not change myself into a bird and pretend to be the
ruler of rain and thunder.”4

In the beliefs of the Tremyugan Ostiaks, thunder appears
as a black bird resembling a grouse and screaming very loudly.5

The Mongol tribes, many Altai peoples, and some Eastern
Tungus tribes, such as the Goldes, believe that the phenomenon
of thunder is caused by .a large flying dragon. The Mongols
say that this dragon has wings and a body covered with fish
scales. At times it lives in the water, at times flies in the air.
When it moves in the sky the rumbling of thunder follows.
In some places the rumbling is explained to be the dragon’s
voice and every movement of its tail to be a flash of lightning.
It never comes sufficiently near to the earth for people to see
it, and in the winter it hides in lofty mountains where the
hoar-frost on the crags is caused by its breath. Others say that
it winters in dense forests, over which a perpetual mist then
hovers, and a third opinion is that it spends the winter in the
sea.6

The peoples of the Altai say that lightning and thunder
follow when the dragon strikes two stones against each other,
of which one is in its mouth, the other in its hand. It is also
told that a certain Tengeri rides on the back of this monster,
chasing a striped or flying squirrel.7 The Tengeri desires to
wreak vengeance on the squirrel, which, while in Heaven, tore
out the eye of God’s youngest son. It is dangerous during a
thunder-storm to stand under a tree in which a squirrel is
hiding, as the lightning always strikes such trees. This belief
is also common among the Buriats.8 The Goldes say that the
dragon pursues evil spirits who will hide anywhere when a
thunder-storm arises.9

This conception, in which the Creator of thunder is intro-
duced in an exceedingly mythological shape, is not an original
 THUNDER

[Prometheus]

441

Altaic one, but, as its geographical area already denotes, comes
from China. As we know, the Chinese and, following their
example, the Japanese, imagined the Thunder god to have the
shape of a peculiar dragon, which is represented in their art
in many different ways.

Both the above mentioned conceptions, the bird and the
winged dragon, are evidently born of the swift movement of a
thunder-storm and especially of the sudden flash of the light-
ning. Even where human features are attributed to the
Thunder god, he is often regarded as a being with wings. The
Ostiaks of Demyanka call him a the Winged old man.” w

Among the Buriats a number of tales have been found
relating how some human hero becomes transformed into a
Thunder god by dressing himself in winged garments. One
of these tales tells of a clever archer who came to heaven alive.
On the earth he had had a wife and three sons with whom he
lived happily until he became old. One day he told his sons
that his days were numbered and asked them to prepare him
a garment and saddle a horse. After wishing good-bye to
his family he mounted the horse and departed. Coming to
the meeting of three roads he chose the middle one, which led
to the sky. There he arrived at an empty house where he was
soon joined by four young men. These feasted the old man
and asked him to remain there as guardian of that heavenly
abode j at the same time they forbade him to open a chest which
stood in the room or to put on a winged garment hanging on
the wall. When he was alone, however, the man became so
curious that he once opened the mystic chest and saw there
strange, different-coloured stones shaped like arrow-points.
Happening at the same time to turn his eyes to the earth,
where at that moment a person was stealing vegetables from his
neighbour’s garden, he became so angry, that he threw a red
stone at the thief. A little later the four masters of the house
returned home and scolded the old man for having set a whole
village on fire because of one wicked man. Still later on,
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

442

the old man conceived a desire to try on the winged clothes.
When he had dressed himself in them he acquired a magic
power of flying and thus he became the god of Thunder.11

There is another version of the same tale in a slightly dif-
ferênt form. A man who had lost his way while wandering in
great forests came to a place where a flight of stairs led up from
the earth to the sky. Ascending the stairs he arrived at a fine
house glittering and shimmering with gold and silver, where
the old god of Heaven, Esege-Malan-Tengeri, was sitting.
Hearing how the man had come to Heaven, God was delighted
and begged him to be his servant, the man consenting to his
request. One day God urged him to look down and see how
people were living on the earth. On doing so, he saw a man
leading a sheep stolen from another’s flock, and he became so
angry that he seized one of the stones which God kept in a
chest and threw it on the earth. Instantly, God sent him down
after his stone, so that he could see it fall on the earth as a
great flash of lightning that slew the thief. From that day he
remained with the god of Heaven and served him as the
Thunderer.18

Notwithstanding all these tales, which evidently belong to
a world^wide group of myths, the Buriats have no clearly-
defined, anthropomorphic god of Thunder. They often call
the rumble of thunder C£ the song of heaven.”13 As they have
now, as mentioned earlier, a great number of different Ten-
geris, they cannot tell which of them is at the precise time the
Thunderer. Therefore, when necessary, they consult a magi-
cian, sometimes even nine shamans, who endeavour to find out
which god, one belonging to the eastern or one belonging to the
western group, is the raiser of the particular storm. One of
the mightiest Thunder gods is Asan-Sagan-Tengeri, who fights
evil spirits with his fiery arrow.14

The Yakuts, on the contrary, have quite a distinct Thunder
god whom they call Ulu-Tojon (“Great Lord”) or Syga-
Tojon (“ Lord with the axe ”). Frequently he is only named
 THUNDER'

443

u the Thunderer.” According to one source “ the Lord with
the axe” lives in the eighth heaven. Other sources speak
separately of the gods of Thunder and of Lightning. In such
cases the Yakuts call the Thunderer “ Bold Screamer ” and the
Lightning-maker “ the Lord with the axe.” Both are sup-
posed to pursue demons and evil spirits. In order to rid
their homes of the evil spirits which endeavour to hide
themselves there when a thunder-storm threatens, the
Yakuts smoke them out by burning pieces of a tree struck
by lightning, crying at the same time: “The Bold Screamer
shrieked, the Lord with the axe moved! Away, away! ” They
then throw the bits of wood far out on the meadow. Thunder-
bolts, which the people believe they find in the earth, are
treasured in the houses as important talismans against light-
ning.15 The Goldes call old stone weapons found in the
ground “ thunder-axes.” 16

The Yakut “ Lord with the axe,” who pursues demons, is
most probably, like the corresponding figures in European
myths, derived from the ancient civilized peoples of Asia.

Of another origin also is the other conception of the god
of Thunder, met with already among the Finns, according to
which the Thunder god is a skilful archer. The Altai Tatars
tell of a mighty hero whose bow is the rainbow and whose
arrow the lightning.17 In some Ostiak districts the rainbow is
explained to be the Thunder god’s bow and ancient stone
weapons found in the ground his arrows, which he shoots in
order to kill the Forest spirit hiding in the trees.18

Generally the peoples of the Altaic race do not speak of
the rainbow as the Thunder god’s weapon, nor do they call
it the thunder-bow. Very common is the fancy that the
rainbow is a kind of being that drinks water. The Tatars
have probably transmitted this idea to the Yenisei Ostiaks,
who call the rainbow:   “The thunder drinks water.”19

What this animated water-drinker, as the Votiaks also call it,
really is, does not appear from the beliefs of the Turco-Tatar
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

444

peoples. On the other hand the East European peoples, ac-
cording to whom the rainbow sucks water from seas, lakes and
rivers, sprinkling it anew on the earth as rain, imagine it to
be a kind of giant snake. The Esthonians say that it has the
head of an ox, which it lowers down to a river, emptying it
of water.20 Could this be the Vrtra or Ahi (“ snake ”) of the
Veda} from whose power the Thunder god Indra releases the
waters?

The Yakuts believe that the rainbow can also raise people
from the ground. A tale relates how it once lifted up a girl
in the District of Verchoyansk and set her down again near
Irkutsk.21

Both the Yakuts and Buriats call the rainbow also “the
urine of the she-fox.”22 The southern Tatar tribes have
several names for it, such as tc rainbelt,” “ the half-bow of the
pot,” “ God’s sword” (Caucasus). The Kirghis name, “the
old woman’s sheep-halter,” is explained by the following tale:
A certain man had two wives who were always quarrelling.
The mother-in-law cursed the older, who had three sons, so
that she fled to the heavens with her sons and her cattle, and
now tethers her sheep to the rainbow.23

The conception of the rainbow as the weapon of the Thunder
god seems thus to be quite local to Middle and Northern Asia,
where it occurs sporadically. Another tale written down some-
where in the district of the Altai belongs to a still more limited
area. It tells of a camel moving in the sky with three persons
on its back. The first beats a drum, whence the rumbling of
thunder, the second waves a scarf, whence the lightning, the
third pulls at the reins, causing water to run from the camel’s
mouth, whence the rain.24 In other places it is said that a great
shaman beats a drum in the sky when it thunders. The latter
opinion, though only occasionally met with, belongs naturally
to Siberia, the land of shamanism.

The Tatars, like many other of the peoples of the world,
imagine the lightning, which for a moment draws a livid,
 
 PLATE XLIX

Shaman Drums from the Minusinsk
District

(See pages 287, 520.)
 j.
 i

Sr

I

•• I
 THUNDER   445

winding streak of light across the sky, to be a fiery snake fall-
ing down from Heaven.25 The same idea has been earlier met
with in a Finnish poem on the origin of fire.

The most northerly peoples of Siberia, with the exception of
The Yakuts, do not sacrifice to the Thunder god. Some, e.g.,
the Yenisei Ostiaks, bid him during a storm pass by quietly
without raising a tempest. Records of Thunder worship are
found more among other Siberian peoples. Old Chinese
chronicles relate that the Northern Uigurs fear the thunder,
and cry out and shoot towards the sky at every crash. They
then leave the place and separate. The following spring they
assemble again at the spot where the lightning struck and
slaughter a ram there. A certain Persian historian mentions
that the Mongolians were greatly afraid of thunder and poured
milk and kumiss on the ground, begging it not to hurt their
dwellings or their cattle. It has been a custom with the Tatars
of the Altai to assemble village by village on high mountains,
when the first roll of thunder is heard in spring, and to sprinkle
milk towards the four points of the sky.26

Special attention is awakened by the thunder when it hap-
pens to kill a human being or a domestic animal. Such victims
of the lightning are regarded as sacred and so too is the spot
where the lightning has struck. According to the Buriats,
people and animals slain by lightning must always be buried
in the air upon a platform built on four posts. If the light-
ning strikes a house, the house must at once be removed to
another place, or certain rites, called “ the raising,” have to be
observed, the intention of which is the sending of the thunder-
bolt back into the sky. Unless this be done danger is be-
lieved to threaten. These rites, which must take place on the
third day after the thunder-storm, are conducted by. a magician
and his eight assistants, who ride on horseback three times
round the dwelling in question, stopping before the door at
every round. The magician has a branch of a silver-fir in
his hand, the others a drinking-cup. While the magician re-
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

446

peats a prayer his assistants sprinkle liquid from their cups.
The most important of these rites seems to be the raising of a
felt carpet spread before the tent, on which some article re-
sembling or intended to represent a thunderbolt has been laid.
a The raising,” from which the ritual gets its name, is per-
formed by the eight assistants. Finally, molten tin is dropped
into a liquid to test by the shapes thus obtained whether the
raising has been successful. If the tin, on falling into a basin
containing wine or milk, forms into a single lump, the sign
is favourable.27

Exceedingly strange is the fancy of the Buriats that the
Tengeris who are mentioned as the senders of thunderbolts
sometimes pour down from the sky urak (the a first-milk,”
differing in colour from other milk given by a cow after
calving). Although many such Tengeris are mentioned, e.g.,
Khan-Budal-Tengeri, Urak-Sagan-Tengeri, Kharan-Budal-
Tengeri (budd} a to let down ”), of which the last mentioned
is fancied to belong to the black, be., the eastern Tengeris, it
is probable that all these names originally meant one and the
same being. According to tales, the urak dropped down from
the sky is a thick yellowish-white liquid. The person who re-
ceives some of this afirst milk” during a thunder-storm is
deemed very fortunate and is believed to remain rich for ever.
It is, however, an extremely rare event for a person to receive
urak. When a Buriat perceives that he has been the recipient
of special heavenly favour, urak appearing sometimes in his
milk-foods, he turns to the magician, who witnesses the fact
and examines from which Tengeri the urak has come. The
liquid is then poured into a vessel made of birch-bark and
placed on a high place, to prevent it from becoming defiled on
the earth. The Buriats believe that the urak can rise into the
sky again. According to the common custom, it must always,
like a thunderbolt, be returned to heaven.28

This urak> which falls from the sky during a thunder-storm
and must immediately be sacrificed to its sender again, reminds
 THUNDER

447

one of the Indo-Iranian tales about Haoma or Soma which an
eagle brings down from the sky. The Soma, sometimes called
“ first milk ” in the Rgveda3 was originally the favourite drink
of Indra, the god of Thunder. It provides the “ Bearer of
thunderbolts ” with giant powers for his great deeds. Doubt-
less, the eagle itself, which, according to tales, procured this
drink for its master, was the bird of Indra. Compared with
Indo-Iranian legends, the beliefs of the Buriats seem to repre-
sent a more primitive standpoint. On the ground of these
tales we may conjecture that the Indo-Iranians, like the peoples
of Northern Siberia, orginally regarded thunder as a giant
bird resembling an eagle. The fact that the liquid brought
down from the sky by the Thunder bird is sacrificed to the
Thunder god, may easily have given rise to an idea that there
are two separate beings, of which the one brings and the other
receives the Soma.

In a Yakut tale about how the son of Ulu-Tojon fought
with a giant, even the thunder-bolt seems to appear personi-
fied. The tale begins with the description of a terrible storm
and then goes on to relate how “ suddenly pitch-black darkness
covered the earth, a frightful roar, louder than the strongest
peal of thunder, was heard, and at the same time a man three
fathoms long, made half of fire, half of iron, came flying and
twirling down in a mighty, whirlwind. He sank over a yard
deep into the earth, but bounced up again and stepped before
the giant.”29

That the Thunder god has not so prominent a place among
the nomads, hunters, and fishers of Northern Siberia as in the
mythology of the agricultural peoples of Nearer Asia, India
and Europe is explained by the fact that the life of the farmers
is in a much greater degree dependent on weather and rain.
There are, it is true, even in the districts of the Altai, certain
persons and even families, whose duty it is to bring about rain
or drought as necessary, but these rainmakers (Jadatshy.) do
not seem to appeal to any special Thunder god, but to the god
 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

448

of Heaven in general (Kaira-Khan), or to sundry gods living
at the springs of certain rivers, who are believed to cause rain.
Extremely famous in this respect are Mordo-Khan and Abakan-
Khan, who are said to live at the spring of the Abakan river.30

The Buriats also speak of a separate Rain-god, Khuran-
Nojon (“the Lord of Rain”), who is believed to have nine
water-barrels in heaven. When he opens only one of them,
a three days’ rain ensues.31 There is no information, how-
ever, as to whether this god has ever been worshipped with
sacrifices.
 CHAPTER XV
FIRE

WIERE did fire first appear to me, what is its purpose
and its power, who has given it birth? ” So cries in a
Yakut tale a hero, supposed to be the ancestor of this tribe,
arriving at last at the conclusion that fire is the son of Yryn-
Ai-Tojon who sits on a milk-white throne to which three flights
of silver stairs lead up.1 The belief that the first fire came
down from heaven is very common among the peoples of the
Altaic race.

Tales gathered from different peoples show the origin of
this belief. The Tungus told me that the Thunder bird
brought down fire from the sky to earth. A fire caused by
lightning is considered sacred by them and they dare not put
out a forest-fire which has been lighted from Heaven. Among
the Yakuts also the fancy is most common that the Thunder
god Ulu-Tojon gave people the first fire.2 The Buriats call
the god of Fire, who was also the first sender of fire, Galta-
Ulan-Tengerij he is further the god of heat and drought, who
a dries up the growing grass to the roots and the running
rivers with their springs,” and the sender of the lightning,
who sets on fire all that he strikes.3 The Altai Tatars declare
that mankind originally, lived on vegetables and fruits and
therefore neither needed fire nor missed it, but with the
change in their manner of nourishing themselves fire became
necessary for the preparing of food. It was then that Ülgen
took two stones, a white one and a black one, and struck them
together so that the spark which flew from the sky to the earth
set fire to the dry grass. From this man learned to strike
fire.4 Through the mouth of the Buriat shaman, fire declares
 450

SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY

itself to be “ the middle son of the day-sky, the youngest son
of the night-sky.”5

Certain other North Siberian peoples explain the origin of
fire in the same way. The Ostiaks on the Yenisei give a more
detailed account of how their ancestors received fire from
lightning. The lightning kindled a tree, and some great
shaman taught the people to make use of the fire. At first a
great fire was kept burning, from which everyone could borrow
a flame. Later on, fire-steel and tinder were placed beside it,
and fire was thus transferred to these objects.6

In some tales about the origin of fire there figures also an
inventor of fire, often an animal. In Buriat tales this wise
animal is the porcupine, which has also in other ways already
figured as an inventor. In the beginning, it is told, neither
gods nor men could make fire, with one exception — the Porcu-
pine, which was then a human being. One day a crowd had
gathered round the Porcupine to hear the secret of fire-making.
But the young maidens, seeing the strange shape of Porcupine,
began to laugh, and this angered him so much that he decided
to tell his secret only to his own wife, and even to her only
against a promise of silence. But the hawk, whom the gods
had sent out to steal his secret, happened to hear Porcupine
explaining to his wife where flintstone was to be found and
how steel could be made, with which two articles it was easy
to strike fire, and the hawk told the secret to the gods. From
these men learned the art of making fire. Later, the descen-
dants of Porcupine became porcupines.7

In the tales of the Altai Tatars the frog advises Ülgen, who
is in perplexity as to where men could get the necessities for
striking fire, that “the mountains contain stones and the birch
tinder.” 8 The Mongols say: “ Iron is the father of fire and
stone its mother.”9 The above tales give thus two different
explanations: fire has come down from heaven with the light-
ning, or its spark has sprung from a stone. Both fancies are
also met with in Finnish poems on the origin of fire.
 FIRE   451