Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M10 — The girl and the honey.
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 girl or woman gets stuck in a hollow while extracting honey, or greedily sucks honey in some other way and as a result dies or undergoes a metamorphosis; a woman stuck in a narrow passage turns into honey, into a honey bee.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M9 | 99.80% | The character puts his head or hand in a hollow or (rarely) another hole), gets stuck in it, or falls into a hollow. Usually, as a result, the character dies or undergoes a metamorphosis. |
| F29 | 99.65% | A girl (woman) sits on the ground and copulates with a snake, worm or eel that crawls out of the ground towards her. This usually happens when she is busy with housework (cooking, weaving, etc.). |
| L5D | 99.64% | The rolling head suffers from thirst. See motif L5. |
| B22A | 99.59% | Boys climb a tree to eat fruit and refuse to throw the fruit down to the tapir, who tries to kill the boys. |
| E9K | 99.59% | The husband or wife is the embodiment of honey or a human bee. |
| F84 | 99.59% | A guest or younger brother has sexual intercourse with the wife of the host or older brother. Wanting to demonstrate long abstinence, the character sprinkles ash on the head of his penis or smears it with fruit juice. |
| M29W | 99.57% | As a result of their stupidity or antisocial behavior, a jaguar (puma, ocelot) dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. The character is named if it is a puma or ocelot; otherwise, a jaguar. |
| J15B | 99.55% | While travelling, a woman finds herself in the house of a frog or toad. See motif J15. |
| F32 | 99.50% | Small children or a single infant, who temporarily transform into adult men and/or emerge from their mother's womb, or a snake living in a woman's womb, climb a tree and help her gather fruit, bark, tree mushrooms, etc.; or a father discovers his daughter's connection with a snake when he climbs a tree to gather fruit for her. |
| B24 | 99.11% | People who have entered into conflict or violated a prohibition are transformed into wild boars or peccaries. |
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
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Batak (Toba, Dairi), Zapotec, Chatino, Trio, Wayapi, Emerillon, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Xipaya, Kechua-speaking communities of Apurimac, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno departments; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Callawaya (Kechua with Pukina substratum), Yabuti, Amniapä, Kumana, Wari (Aikana), More (Itene), Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Toba (incl Pilagá)
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