Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
C38 — People will appear soon.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewCharacters from the time of creation say that real people will appear soon, so we must do this and that.
Berezkin category: Disasters
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B45 | 96.97% | The arrival of warm (bright, abundant) or cold (hungry, dark) times is associated with the marriage of a certain character who brings cold, warmth, abundance, etc. |
| I118 | 95.32% | A female spider (less commonly, an old spider) protects the hero or heroine, who live with her, and the hero marries her daughter. (Texts in which the spider only lifts the hero up to the sky or lowers him to the ground are not included; see motif I117). |
| F65C | 93.15% | A man pretends to be dead (in order to marry his daughter or to be able to eat the meat of hunted animals alone). One of his younger children recognises their (adoptive) father or notices that the supposed dead man is alive (he runs away from the funeral pyre, laughs, etc.). |
| J66 | 91.39% | The character cuts or bites through bowstrings and other straps in advance, punctures boats, preventing opponents from fighting or pursuing him. |
| K44 | 91.34% | The character kidnaps the boy or hides him from his mother or father, pretending to be his mother or father. The kidnapped boy learns the truth and leaves the kidnapper. |
| J53C | 88.99% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. |
| M42A | 88.89% | The character (usually after losing his own eyes) inserts seeds or berries into his eye sockets and sees again. |
| L38A | 88.76% | The character sticks to an object, usually by successively sticking individual parts of their body to it. The object is either a trap for a demonic creature or is itself a creature of a non-human nature. Cf. motif M182 (tar doll), probably brought to the New World after Columbus from Africa. |
| M42C | 88.41% | Falling off a cliff and breaking his leg, the character eats his bone marrow. |
| B5A | 87.58% | At the beginning of time, female and male characters meet and engage in dialogue. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Nganasans, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Eastern Cree, Plains Cree, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Kutenai, Hupa, Chilula, Sierra Miwok, Lake Miwok, Plains Miwok, Coastal Miwok, Tepehua, Totonac
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