Thompson A1030 — World-fire

World-fire. A conflagration destroys the earth. Sometimes (as with the flood legends) the tradition is somewhat local and does not refer to an actual destruction of the whole earth; sometimes the fire marks the end of the world.—*Olrik Ragnarök 483 s.v. "Weltbrand", *Danske Studier (1913) 204ff.; *Eisler Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt 452.—Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 336ff., Boberg; Greek: Grote I 94; Lithuanian: Balys Tautosakos Darbai VI 133f.; Jewish: Neuman; Babylonian: Meissner Babylonien und Assyrien II 118; Siberian: Holmberg Siberian 368ff.; Hindu: Keith 105; India: Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Eberhard FFC CXX 84.—Maori: Dixon 47 n. 33; N. Am. Indian: *Thompson Tales 287 n. 57d.; S. Am. Indian (Yuracare, W. Brazil): Alexander Lat. Am. 313, (Araucanian): ibid. 330, (Chaco, Tupinamba, Apapocuva-Guarani, Tembé, Shipaya, Carajá, Mura, Cashinawa, Witoto, Arawak, Yuracare): Métraux MAFLS XL 36 (Mataco): ibid. 35, (Toba): ibid. 33, (Tucuna): Nimuendajú BBAE CXLIII (3) 724, (Bacairi): Lévi-Strauss ibid. (3) 347.