Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B5A — The pair of creators: dialogue.
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
OverviewAt the beginning of time, female and male characters meet and engage in dialogue.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
B5 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedB5a. At the beginning of time, female and male characters meet and engage in dialogue.
B5b. A woman (alone or with her companion) creates or gives birth not only to humans, but also to various creatures, objects, and parts of the universe.
B5c. At the beginning of time, there are an old woman and a young woman. One or both of them conceive in a miraculous way. A son or twins are born, who settle the world.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F10 | 94.34% | A woman has a second mouth (usually in her vagina) with sharp teeth. A man inserts or throws a stone, bone, stick, etc. into this mouth, knocking out the teeth or extracting toothy animals from it in this way. |
| K27C | 94.29% | Test: to remain alive when coming into contact with piercing, cutting, or crushing instruments. See motif K27. |
| J53C | 94.27% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. |
| K8C4 | 94.12% | A small animal (bird, mouse, porcupine, fox) or (rarely) a tiny human being allows itself to be swallowed by a large ungulate (elk, deer, bison, tapir) in order to rip open its belly (and eat it). |
| M46A | 93.79% | The character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60). |
| I8C | 93.25% | The earth is prevented from falling or swaying because it is tied with ropes. |
| I112 | 93.21% | The boat is a living creature with a mouth, a fish. |
| A40 | 93.16% | The Toad or Frog is the wife (or one of the wives) of the Sun or Moon. Traditions in which the frog jumps onto the face (chest, back) of the Moon and remains there are highlighted in italics; those in which the frog is visible on the lunar disc are marked with an asterisk; traditions in which the frog or toad is the wife of the Sun are marked with a hash (#). |
| H32A | 93.15% | A young woman is the embodiment of fertility; she comes to live with people, and food becomes readily available. The woman is wronged, she leaves, and the superabundance ends. |
| I118 | 92.86% | A female spider (less commonly, an old spider) protects the hero or heroine, who live with her, and the hero marries her daughter. (Texts in which the spider only lifts the hero up to the sky or lowers him to the ground are not included; see motif I117). |
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
13 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Central Vanuatu: Espiritu Santo, Araki, Aore, Maewo, Malekula, Vao, Efate (Vate), Nguna, Mae, Ambrim, Pentecost, Oba (=Aoba, East Ambae, Lepers'), Omba, Mansi, Khakas, Nganasans, Southern and Central; Ryukyu Islands: Yaeyama, Miyako, Okinawa, Luiseño, Juaneño, Navajo, Jicarilla, Zuni, Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Rama, Guatuso, Yaruro, Japan
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