Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E9F — The magical wife – the parrot.
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 parrot.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| G5 | 99.09% | The fruits and shoots of various cultivated plants or the fruits of various wild plants grow on the branches of a single tree or on a single vine; the cultivated plant has a tree-like form that is not characteristic of it in nature. |
| C4 | 99.03% | During the flood or at the beginning of time, fruits, seeds, or other objects fall into the water one after another. As this happens, the water begins to recede, exposing the earth. |
| G17 | 98.72% | Cultural or important food crops, partially cultivated plant species owe their origin to snakes, moray eels or crocodiles/caimans. |
| H30 | 98.63% | When meeting two women (together or one after the other), the hero must or may choose one. Usually, he chooses either the less beautiful or the dangerous one, bringing trouble or misfortune upon himself or upon people in general. |
| K55 | 97.98% | A powerful character finds out whether his guest has made love to his daughter or wife (if the character is a woman: whether he has attempted to have sexual contact with her). A man who is impotent or (successfully pretends to be) chaste is rewarded (at least not punished). In most cases, the other character engages in sexual contact or is unable to hide what he has done and is punished as a result. |
| G13C | 97.87% | Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms. |
| L7 | 96.96% | While chasing a person, spirit, monster or beast, mistakenly chases after a large two-legged object passing by, usually an animal. |
| B9 | 96.86% | A huge amount of water is contained in the trunk of a tree, or the tree turns into water. |
| M72 | 96.64% | The character puts his hand into the anus of a tapir or other large herbivore and is unable to pull it out. The animal rushes to run and drags a person with it for a long time. |
| F9B | 96.51% | A biting piranha in a woman's genitals. |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Bunak, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Aceh (Acheh), Bribri, Cabecar, Terraba; Chiriqui (AD 800-1500) iconography, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Wayapi, Emerillon, Cañari, Kandoshi (Murato, Maina); Iquito, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Chayahuita , Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Caraja, Tapirape, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay)
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