Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

F1 — Transformed man.

64 Myths, legends and folktales
64 Unique narratives for motif F1
40 Cultures & traditions where F1 is told
0 Sub-motifs of motif F1
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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

Overview

The first woman, female deity, or female animals were originally men (males) who then changed their gender.

Berezkin category: Gender and sex

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.

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
B5488.69%Wood chips, branches or pieces of bark that have fallen or been thrown into the water turn into fish and aquatic animals.
A2088.18%The Sun and the Moon (less often the Sun and a star, the Moon and a star) are brothers (sisters, brother and sister) who initially live on earth, but at the end of the story, as teenagers or young adults, ascend to the sky and become celestial bodies.
K27O287.75%To destroy the hero, his opponents play ball with him, throwing a heavy dangerous object (a ball made of ice, bone, stone, iron, a walrus head, a biting skull, etc.).
F2886.42%There is a separate penis character with whom the first women, Amazons, or simply some woman copulate.
K15A86.28%The hero secretly replaces the weapon or magical tool of a powerful character with a worthless fake. Traditions in which the replaced weapon belongs to Grom are highlighted in bold.
B2686.02%A person who follows wild animals (temporarily) turns into one of them or their master, or lives with animals that look like humans to him.
M75D85.32%A man bereaves vultures of their hunting weapons or amulets
I1884.86%Visiting the world of people without an anus or mouth (the underworld, if not otherwise), the hero or heroine enters or attempts to enter into sexual relations with the local inhabitants. See motif I14.
I3183.08%In the afterlife, the souls of the dead are met by a pair of mythological characters – a man and a woman, or the master of the dead appears to women in female form and to men in male form.
F28A83.07%A penis grows out of the ground or out of the water in a lake. Women summon it as needed.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

40 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 40 traditions: Lunda (Alunda), Songe (Kisonge), Bena-Matembo, Zulu, Swazi, Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Dan (=Gio), Guro (=Kweni, incl Gagu, Neio), Toura, Mano, Ngere, Beng, Guro , Samoa, Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Andamanese, Lepcha, Livonians, Nganasans, Nunivak Island, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Tutchone, Inland Tlingit, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Netsilik, Iglulik, Tlingit, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Klamath, Modoc, Yurok, Huastec (Teenek), Tzotzil, Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Sibundoy: Kamsa, Ingano (Inga), Guayabero, Sanema, Warao, Kofan, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Chayahuita , Urarina, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Mura (PirahΓ£), Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), China

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