Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

J25 — Infants hide and return.

161 Myths, legends and folktales

161 Unique narratives for motif J25

91 Cultures & traditions where J25 is told

4 Sub-motifs of motif J25

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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

Heroes (one, two or one of two), while still infants or embryos, disappear or are thrown away (often into water). To bring them back to the world of humans, they are lured, persuaded or (with difficulty) caught.

Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

J25 has 4 other sub-motifs

J25.  Heroes (one, two or one of two), while still infants or embryos, disappear or are thrown away (often into water). To bring them back to the world of humans, they are lured, persuaded or (with difficulty) caught.
J25a.  The mother dies or is killed. The child in her womb or the newborn baby is buried with her. He comes out of the grave, meets people, returns to the grave, or is found in the entrails of his dead mother. In the end, the child stays with the people. See motif J25.
J25a1.  A woman dies, but remains incorrupt and gives birth to a child in the grave. He is found and brings his mother back to life.
J25b.  A pregnant woman dies and is buried. Her spirit leaves the grave to bring food to the child. The child is found and grows up.
j25c.  A she-wolf nurses an abandoned infant. He becomes an outstanding leader.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of J25’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
H34B	91.62%	Somewhere there is or was a river that flowed or, according to the plan, was supposed to flow in two directions at once.
L68	90.28%	Left alone (usually at night in a deserted place) with his companion, a man undergoes a monstrous metamorphosis.
L5C	89.95%	The monster head pursues celestial bodies, people, or attaches itself to someone else's body. See motif L5.
K27O	89.22%	The confrontation between heroes and antagonists unfolds in the form of a ball game.
C34	88.87%	The flood begins after people kill (harm, maim) some kind of creature (usually aquatic).
I13A	88.07%	A huge aquatic or celestial serpent, dragon, or snake-like creature with horns on its head.
L28	87.60%	A person who eats unusual or forbidden meat or fish, or touches something forbidden, turns into a reptile or a fish.
A17	87.25%	Having travelled halfway across the sky or the underworld, the Sun stops to rest.
L29	87.11%	A person catches fish where it should not be, usually in a small forest pond isolated from running water; those who eat this fish die, undergo metamorphosis and/or are attacked by monsters. See motif L28.
H18	87.10%	Hunted animals were concentrated in one place. A certain character creates them there or allows them to scatter.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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🌐 Open as Airocean (Dymaxion) map ↗

Traditions

91 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 91 traditions: Ngbakka, Mbum (incl Mbai), Mundang, Fali, Tupuri, Maya (=Bali), Nyong, Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Melanesians of Admiralty Islands (incl Manus); Seimat (Western Islands), Rotuma, Tuvalu (Ellice), Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Oraon (Kurukh), Sinhalese; Vedda, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Ossetians, Uyghur, Turkmen, Bashkirs, Mansi, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Nenets, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Oroch, Nanai, Tsimshian, Micmac, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Winnebago, Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arapaho, Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Arikara, Pawnee, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Kiowa Apache, Gros Ventre, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Crow, Hidatsa, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Kutenai, Klamath, Modoc, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Alabama, Koasati, Cherokee, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Jicarilla, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Lipan, Gulf Nahuatl, Tzotzil, Makiritare (Yecuana), Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Wayapi, Emerillon, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Tariana, Yagua, Maue (Mawe), Amuesha, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Harákmbet (=Mashco), Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Kamayura, Manao, Katawishi (Teffe lake); groups of uncertain affiliation mostly from Rio Jamunda, Papua-New Guinea Northern Lowland Papuan groups (Trans New Guinea and unclassified): Komba, Gimi, Susure, Orokaiva, Bogadjim, Ngain, Sentani, Bargam, Imonda, Nankina, Yupta Valley, Urawa Valley, Warupu (Barupu), Pondoma (Anam), Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Itelmen, Vanuatu

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