Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G17 — The gift of the reptile.
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
OverviewCultural or important food crops, partially cultivated plant species owe their origin to snakes, moray eels or crocodiles/caimans.
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 6, Origin and interpretation of culture elements, in particular related to agriculture, inadequate forms of subsistence and economic activity before the establishment of the present norms.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| C4 | 98.94% | 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. |
| E9F | 98.72% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a parrot. |
| I125 | 98.15% | Hyades (sometimes, possibly, Pleiades or Orion) – jaw or severed head of a large animal or anthropomorphic creature. |
| G5 | 97.70% | 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. |
| B55 | 96.94% | Fish grow on tree branches or tree leaves turn into fish. |
| B9 | 96.88% | A huge amount of water is contained in the trunk of a tree, or the tree turns into water. |
| G13C | 96.80% | Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms. |
| K55 | 96.07% | 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. |
| H30 | 95.40% | 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. |
| M72 | 95.16% | 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. |
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
29 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Melanesians and Papuans of Central Solomons: Vella la Vella (Bilua language), Shortland islands (Mono language), San Cristobal, Saint Georgia, Eddystone, Vangunu, Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Melanesians of Admiralty Islands (incl Manus); Seimat (Western Islands), Yap, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Wa (incl Kawa), Bulang, Sinhalese; Vedda, Persians, Caddo, Sicuani, Piaroa, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Trio, Locono, Chayahuita , Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Bora, Maue (Mawe), Juruna, Xipaya, Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Bororo, Umotina (Umutina), Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin)
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