Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

F49 — Caesarean section, T584.

130 Myths, legends and folktales

130 Unique narratives for motif F49

75 Cultures & traditions where F49 is told

3 Sub-motifs of motif F49

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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

Women had their stomachs cut open to remove the baby. Someone explains how to give birth or makes childbirth possible.

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.

F49 has 3 other sub-motifs

F49.  Women had their stomachs cut open to remove the baby. Someone explains how to give birth or makes childbirth possible.
F49a.  A small animal (mouse, rat, rabbit, two-wombed animal, bird) explains how to give birth. See motif F49.
F49B.  The hero comes to a people whose women do not know how to give birth. See motif F49.
F49C.  In the beginning of time, women do not know how to give birth. See motif F49.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of F49’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
F40C	87.69%	An authoritative man systematically kills the boys born to his wives or his sister.
B4A	87.55%	Fish beat against the ground, breaking off islands from the mainland.
B4	86.25%	Islands or mainland pulled out of the ocean, pulled by a rope.
K26	85.34%	Approaching an opening or making one, the character sees the world below (usually seeing the earth from the sky). See motif K25.
K1C	84.59%	A man is abandoned on an island but survives. After some time, the person who abandoned him comes to look at his bones. The abandoned man sails away in his boat, leaving him to die.
D13E	84.16%	Hunters perish because they laughed at the killed (and revived) animal.
L105	83.76%	A wounded animal, fish or anthropomorphic character runs or swims away – usually with a hook, harpoon, arrow or other hunting or fishing implement stuck in its body; local healers cannot cure the wounded creature (usually because they cannot see the object that caused the wound); a person comes to the wounded person's village and successfully treats them (usually by removing the object that caused the wound). Cf. motif M60A.
M60A	83.71%	The creature/character runs away or swims away with a hook, harpoon, arrow, or other object thrown by the hero in his body. Local shamans can't heal an existence/character. The hero or his friend comes to the wounded man's village, takes out the object that caused the injury, or drives him even deeper into the body. The patient recovers or dies accordingly. See L105 and M60 motifs.
A12E	82.02%	The spider attacks the sun or moon (usually causing lunar eclipses).
H9	81.33%	People are mortal (they get sick and grow old) because they are compared to something weak, fragile, easily subject to destruction or decay (upper Tanana: people have not died out because they are made of durable material rather than ephemeral material).

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

75 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 75 traditions: Nuba, Bari (incl Fajulu), Kakwa, Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Melanesians of the northern coast New Guinea, nearest off-shore islands and Huon Gulf (Morobe district): Watut, Bilbil (Bilibili), Jabim (incl Kai), Tami, Bukawac, Wogeo, Tumleo, Yakamul, Manam, Sissano, Sio, Melanesians and Papuans of Northern Solomons: Buka, Bougainville (Siuai, Buin), Rotuma, Niue, Tikopia, Bellona, Rennell, partly Aneytium, Futuna (=Erronan, not to be mixed with Futuna in Western Polynesia), Vaeaka-Taumato, incl Matema, Nifeloli, Nukapu, Nupani, Pileni, Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Tuamotu, incl Pukapuka (different from Pukapuka in Cook Islands), Vahitahi, Anaa, Hao, Fangatau, Mangareva, Marquesas, Hawaii, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Kapingamarangi, Nukuoro, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Tuvalu (Ellice), Palau (Western Carolines), Yap, Truk, Eastern Fayu, Losap, Pulap, Puluwat, Mortlock (incl. Satawan), Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Bunak, Flores, incl Mangarai (Western Flores), Nage, Keo, Riung, Ngada or Nad'a (Central Flores), Sika (Eastern Flores), Ceram: Alune and Wemale (West Ceram), Patasiwa (Ceram), Honitetu (West Ceram Highlands); Nusawele, Hatuolu, Huaolu, Patasiwa; Ambon; Buru, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Malay; Temuan (incl Mantra or Mentra), Jakun (Moken), Kayan, Bahau, Kenja, Aoheng, Punan (Bukat, Basap, Oloh Ot, etc); "Klemantan", Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Central Yupik, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Koyukon, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Copper, Netsilik, Polar Inuit, Tlingit, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Carrier, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Karok, Hupa, Chilula, Klamath, Modoc, Yurok, Mono (Monache), Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Bari, Guajiro, Sicuani, Cuiva, Locono, Waorani, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Urarina, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Kodiak, Lele, Tobanga, Matses (Mayoruna), Dong, Maonan, Cook Islands, Nauru, Palau, Russian Federation

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