M84 — Revived from bones, E32, E33

A person, animal, fish, or (rarely) a large fruit is killed and eaten. After a meal, what is eaten revives, usually after the bones (seeds) are put together. Cf. motive C16.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.

M84.  A person, animal, fish, or (rarely) a large fruit is killed and eaten. After a meal, what is eaten revives, usually after the bones (seeds) are put together. Cf. motive C16.
M84a.  After supernatural characters put the bones of a dead and eaten deer, cow, ram, or goat in its skin, the animal is whole (and usually comes to life). See M84 motif.
M84b.  An animal, bird or fish that is killed and eaten comes to life after its bones are thrown into the water. See M84 motif.
M84b1.  A person enters a country from where fish come to people (and comes back).
M84b2.  The character carefully preserves the bones of migratory birds eaten (not fish or animals) and the birds come to life again. (Episodes of reviving a domestic goose or rooster are not taken into account in everyday tales).
M84b3.  
M84c.  Sleeping in a deserted place, a person finds himself among spirits. One of them explains that he has a guest, that is the same person.
M84d.  A person hears trees talking, one of which is (fatally) ill and suffers.

This motif has been recorded in 95 traditions: Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Malayali; Kannikaran, Sindhi, Kafir, or Nuristani: Prasun; Kati (incl. Paruni), Ashkun (Ashunu), Waigali, Dards (Kalash, Kho, Kohistani, Shina, Pashai), Burusho (Hunza), Ireland, Wales, England, British, Bretons, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, France, 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, Hungarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Estonians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Uzbek, Rushani, Shughni, Khufi, Bartangi, Iranian literary tradition (including Avesta, Pahlevi scripts, Sah-nameh, Marzban-nameh); Zoroastrians of Iran, Indian Parsees, Zoroastrianism, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Laks, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Georgians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Kazakh, Bashkirs, Chuvash, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Kets, Chukchi, Central Yupik, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Athna, Tanana, Caribou, Tlingit, Haida, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Montagnais, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Winnebago, Arapaho, Osage, Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Comanche, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Carrier, Chilkotin, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Quinault, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Alabama, Koasati, Chumash, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Ute, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Eastern Keres (Cochiti, Sia, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Paguate, Seama), Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Tzotzil, Ticuna (Tucuna), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Chechens, Maldives, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Byzantine, Russian Federation, Halkomelem (Snaymuk)