K25D — The forbidden tuber in the heavens.

After digging up the root, a person pierces the sky or the earth, sees the world below, and descends there. Usually, the hole is made by a woman who has fallen into the sky; her husband, a sky dweller, or his relatives forbid her to dig up a certain root; breaking the ban, the woman sees the earth below and decides to descend. See motif K19B.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

K25.  A man consciously marries a woman who belongs to the non-human world.
K25a1.  A magical wife leaves her earthly husband when she finds her clothes, which he has hidden (often feathers, if she is a bird woman), persuades him to give them back, makes new ones or receives them from her relatives. (The variant in which the wife leaves her husband because she is offended is not entirely alternative, but in most texts it does not fit with the motif of found clothing).
K25a2.  An anthropomorphic character flies away or tries to fly away, attaching feathers shed by birds flying in the sky to his body.
K25a3.  The magical bird-wife flies away when she makes herself new feather clothing from feathers collected on the ground.
K25a4.  A man (rarely a woman) finds himself in the power of an aquatic-chthonic creature (usually a siren, fish, sea monster, sometimes a sorcerer). The captive is lifted above the water (above the ground; usually after the antagonist lifts him) several times. After that, the captive escapes (most often by flying away as a bird).
K25a4a.  A young woman finds herself in the power of a water creature, and when she comes ashore, she is chained. To free the woman, the chain must be broken.
K25a5.  The older brother is a hunter, the younger brother (rarely a sister) is a housekeeper. Learning that bird maidens come down to the younger brother, the older brother teaches the younger brother what he must do so that the older brother can catch one of them and make her his wife. The wife finds feather clothing and flies away (often the younger brother, out of simplicity, gives it to her), and the husband sets off in search of her.
K25a6.  A woman from another world agrees to live with a man in his earthly world, but leaves him when she learns that he has broken a taboo (often his infidelity). Cf. motif F94 (the hero betrays his magical wife in her world); motif K12B (the hero visits his world alone, contrary to the warning of his magical wife).
K25a7.  The older brother hunts, the younger brother takes care of the household. After catching the winged maiden, the older brother takes her as his wife, while the younger brother, out of naivety, returns her wings to her. The older brother sets off in search of his wife.
K25b.  A woman climbs a tree trying to catch a porcupine and ends up in the sky.
K25c.  While digging roots, gathering shellfish, etc., a woman finds a baby. He grows up and enters into a struggle with dangerous characters.
K25d.  After digging up the root, a person pierces the sky or the earth, sees the world below, and descends there. Usually, the hole is made by a woman who has fallen into the sky; her husband, a sky dweller, or his relatives forbid her to dig up a certain root; breaking the ban, the woman sees the earth below and decides to descend. See motif K19B.
K25e.  Humans in general or a specific ethnic, tribal or social group are considered descendants of an earthly man and woman of supernatural origin.

This motif has been recorded in 30 traditions: Alor, Solor, Wetar, Atauru, Svans, Aleuts, Inland Tlingit, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Western Woods Cree, Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Mandan, Oto, Arikara, Pawnee, Kiowa, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Crow, Hidatsa, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Kutenai, Caddo, Washo, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet