Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E9C — The magical wife – a hoofed animal.
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
OverviewBefore meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a large hoofed mammal (buffalo, antelope, moose, etc.).
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.
E9 has 21 other sub-motifs
RelatedE9. The character notices that someone is running the house in his absence and catches the person doing so by surprise.
E9a. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a fox.
E9aa. A man searches for a missing woman, who is a fox by nature, and comes to the burrow where she has hidden. Various bird or animal women come out of the burrow and offer themselves in place of the fox. Then they let him inside.
E9b. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of an elephant (elephant tusk).
E9c. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a large hoofed mammal (buffalo, antelope, moose, etc.).
E9d. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a dog or puppy (wolf cub).
E9e. An animal or object received by a young man from supernatural beings as a reward for his kindness, upon the young man's return home (to earth), turns into a girl.
E9f. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a parrot.
E9g. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a vulture.
E9h. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a dove.
E9i1. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a swan.
E9i2. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper, adopted daughter) takes the form of a duck.
E9i3. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a goose.
E9i4. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a crane.
e9i5. Before meeting the hero, his wife takes the form of a snail.
E9j. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a monkey, or the man hides the woman and pretends that the mistress is a monkey.
e9j1. Humans are considered descendants of monkeys.
E9k. The husband or wife is the embodiment of honey or a human bee.
E9l. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat).
E9m. A man marries a bear (white or grizzly) that takes the form of a woman, or a woman who takes the form of a bear.
E9n. A man marries a female seal, seal or dolphin that has taken the form of a woman and lives with her among people.
E9o. A man marries a woman who has the appearance of a frog or toad.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M96 | 97.53% | In order not to share with family members, the character pretends to have guests and eats everything himself. |
| M24A | 90.27% | turtle man goes to war, kills people (usually a woman). He gets caught or killed. In his animal form, he continues to live on. See M24 motif. |
| K68 | 90.09% | A strong man takes food from a weak man and forces him to work for him (usually a son-in-law mistreats his father-in-law). A boy appears in the house of the wronged man from a clot of animal blood that has been collected. He kills the offender. |
| J19 | 90.00% | While her husband or brother is hunting, an evil spirit comes to his wife or sister; he kills her or takes her away. Her sons, who were torn from her womb or born at that time, are saved. |
| K25B | 89.93% | A woman climbs a tree trying to catch a porcupine and ends up in the sky. |
| M79 | 89.93% | A person joins the dancers; it turns out that the dancers are reeds or trees in the wind. |
| F93A | 89.71% | A man's penis begins to talk incessantly, falling silent only after his mother-in-law takes it in her hand. |
| J12J | 89.38% | A girl or sisters end up with a false groom who plays the role of a jester in the chief's house. See motif J12. |
| M48 | 89.29% | Trickster asks another zoomorphic character to turn him into a creature of his kind, but if he breaks the condition for transformation, he becomes himself again. Usually, a trickster asks a bison or elk to turn it into a bison or elk. The bison (elk) rushes to the trickster, which bounces off in fear. The next time the trickster stays in place, metamorphoses, but regains its former appearance after trying to turn another trickster into a bison, etc. |
| J18 | 88.87% | A pregnant woman or a woman with a child falls from the sky. She or her newborn daughter dies or undergoes a metamorphosis. Her son or her daughter's son survives and grows up. Cf. motif K9. |
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
30 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 30 traditions: Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Sara, incl. Ngambaye (Ngambaï), Mbaï, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Dan (=Gio), Guro (=Kweni, incl Gagu, Neio), Toura, Mano, Ngere, Beng, Guro , Thai of Vietnam, Tai Lue, Khao (Kho, Tai Don, White Tai), Tai Dam (Black Tai), Nung; Zhuang, Buyi; Shui, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Svans, Daur (Daghur), Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Menominee, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Omaha, Ponca, Arikara, Pawnee, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Crow, Shuswap, Caddo, Cherokee, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Sicuani, Lisu, Lolo (incl. Bai), Achang, Yi, Axi, Nasu, Jino, Taungyo, Lao, Scythians, Scythe, Chad
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