Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F53A — The Bat or Owl hides its face.
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
OverviewThe husband hides his face from his wife because she does not know that he is a bat or an owl.
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.
F53 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedF53. An unattractive man marries, but hides his face. When he is seen, the marriage is dissolved.
F53a. The husband hides his face from his wife because she does not know that he is a bat or an owl.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| E3 | 95.32% | After the destruction of the previous world, new people (rarely: new earth) are made from the remains of the dead. |
| K4 | 94.90% | The character climbs a tree or rock to get a bird, bird eggs, or chicks, climbs into a bird's nest, comes into conflict with another character, and/or cannot climb down. See motifs K1, K2A. Traditions in which the nest destroyer is a woman are highlighted in italics; bold italics indicate those in which the character falls into the trap not through the fault of another person, but by accident, or, having climbed up to destroy the nest, does not fall into the trap at all, although he quarrels with his companion; an asterisk* marks those in which the character remains in the trap (undergoes a metamorphosis). |
| I10B | 94.87% | Individual layers or categories of earth differ in colour (and other characteristics). |
| L54 | 94.59% | To overcome the disaster, hot stones or ashes are thrown into the water. |
| L63 | 93.70% | The character eats food with the womb or anus. See motif F9A. |
| J12 | 93.41% | A girl or two sisters wander, usually in search of a suitable groom or husband who has left or lives far away. Along the way or upon reaching their destination, they encounter false suitors. (Traditions in which two heroines travel rather than one are highlighted in bold (motif j13). |
| F18A | 93.35% | The penis of a male character is much longer than normal or becomes so. During intercourse, it usually crawls towards the woman like a snake. (Only texts with a focus on authenticity are included, not anecdotes). |
| M8A | 93.16% | Animals, and more often birds, find it difficult to break through a rock from the outside or inside, make a hole in the tree, in the body of an absorber creature, tear fetters, etc., to help a character or get out of the confined space by yourself. The list <b><i>includes</i></b> groups whose texts deal with the exit of the first ancestors to earth from a confined space. |
| L34 | 92.77% | The character kills or maims the enemy by setting fire to their clothes, mask, headdress, hair, or an object behind their back. |
| F9A | 91.97% | There are teeth, blades or sharp stones in a woman's vagina or on the inside of her thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. (Only texts with a focus on authenticity are taken into account, not anecdotes). |
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
21 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 21 traditions: Maka (Makaa), Baya, Kaka, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Mongols (Khalkha), Darkhad, Chukchi, Cherokee, Chumash, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Chemehuevi, Mayo, Yaqui, Sinaloa, Guajiro, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Kofan, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Makka, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Toba (incl Pilagá)
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