Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E38C — The first humans are mute.
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
OverviewThe first humans were mute and began to speak after being struck by something, made to laugh, etc.
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.
E38 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedE38a. A woman gives birth to a pumpkin, a sack, a sack of eggs, a piece of meat. The newborn is cut open, chopped up, and the pieces turn into new people; numerous people (usually tribal ancestors) emerge from the pumpkin or sack. Cf. motif F47.
E38b. After a global catastrophe or at the beginning of time, a pumpkin appears on earth, from which the ancestors of humans emerge.
E38c. The first humans were mute and began to speak after being struck by something, made to laugh, etc.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F47 | 98.61% | Pieces of a creature cut into many parts or a lump of living flesh are scattered or dispersed. After that, people emerge from them. Cf. motifs E38A and K98. |
| H36G | 97.15% | God sends a messenger to the people to tell them to eat infrequently (once a day, once every three days, etc.). The messenger says that one should eat often â at least two or three times a day. |
| D2A | 96.48% | A woman gives birth to a son who is the embodiment of fire or the sun and dies from burns. |
| A8 | 94.87% | The sun, moon and stars â three brothers or three sisters. |
| B119 | 94.87% | A woman of non-human nature agrees to live with a man, but leaves him upon learning of his real or imagined infidelity. |
| B121 | 94.87% | A small bird carries pebbles and sticks, trying to fill the sea. |
| B49A | 94.87% | Powerful animals could have many cubs, but now they give birth to only one every few years. |
| B6A | 94.87% | The first woman gives birth to several eggs. One or two of them remain unchanged for a long time and are thrown into the river, believing them to be spoiled. However, it is precisely from these eggs that characters of high status emerge (or should have emerged). |
| B77B2 | 94.87% | The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a broom. |
| B93A | 94.87% | Once a year, birds form a bridge across the heavenly river with their bodies. Usually, the feathers on their heads are worn away as a result. |
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
4 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: Khmu (Kammu), Puoc, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Terena (Tereno) , Lisu, Lolo (incl. Bai), Achang, Yi, Axi, Nasu, Jino, Taungyo
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