Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F30A — Child-worm.
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
OverviewA woman nurses a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) instead of a child; people kill the monster.
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.
F30 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedF30. A girl or woman takes a snake, eel, moray eel, lizard or worm as a lover or spouse. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or their offspring, or she herself turns into a snake. Cf. motif K76B (the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man). See motif F29.
F30a. A woman nurses a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) instead of a child; people kill the monster.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I133 | 99.69% | Star objects in different parts of the sky are associated with separate parts (as well as items of clothing, jewellery, etc.) of a single anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figure. |
| M68 | 99.22% | Because of his own stubbornness, the character suffers from an irrepressible gas eruption and scares away the game with a loud sound. Almost starves to death. |
| M46C | 99.18% | The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif. |
| M46B | 98.74% | The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif. |
| M46D | 98.41% | A small child cries and calms down only after being given a valuable item hidden in the house to play with. After receiving an item, a child or an associated character takes it away. |
| K32C | 98.27% | The deceiver takes the place of the real wife, and the real wife becomes an owl. See motif K32. |
| M123 | 98.27% | A bird of prey or scavenger (raven, owl, hawk, coyote) marries (or attempts to marry) a partner who (or whose brothers) are geese or other waterfowl. The marriage is disrupted or proves unsuccessful. |
| M61A1 | 98.27% | The character (always a raven) provokes a seagull to quarrel with another bird, telling each one that the other was hostile or offensive towards her. |
| K27N3C2 | 98.25% | The hero's father-in-law, the bear, sets him difficult tasks and trials. |
| M190 | 98.25% | The beaver carries the porcupine across a water barrier. Usually, he throws it into the water or leaves it on an island. |
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: Bidayuh (incl. Maloh), Iban (Sea Dayak), Sakarram; Brunei, Chukchi, Central Yupik, Tagish, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Copper, Caribou, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, Baffin Land Inuit, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Haida, Tsimshian, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Greenland
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