Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E4 — Creation from mud on the skin, A1263.3.
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
OverviewFrom mud on the skin (rarely: from under the fingernails), the character creates the earth, people or other creatures.
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B28C | 96.67% | Lice grab a person and drag him into the sea. |
| G23B | 96.57% | People from different ethnic groups arise from parts of the creature's body, or people from different groups receive their names (and characteristics) depending on which parts of the creature's body they have received. |
| M74 | 96.31% | A weak character regurgitates previously swallowed unusual food, or replaces his belching with a strong character's belching, or interprets his secretions as remains strong animals he ate. The strong believe that the weak are strong or have unusual abilities. |
| F72 | 92.76% | A woman asks a man to tie her up before intercourse so that it looks like she is being raped. |
| A37 | 92.05% | The character deliberately and by resorting to special means (usually shooting with a bow) strikes the sun or several suns or attempts to do so. |
| M29X1 | 90.59% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| F55A | 90.52% | A demonic character persuades a woman to expose a certain part of her body, because that is the only place where a certain object should be placed. The demon kills the woman, tearing off that part of her body. Usually, the woman uses or names various locations, and the character rejects each one in turn until he finds the right one. |
| L1C2 | 89.57% | Fleeing from a demonic creature, the characters hide their children (younger brother or sister) in a camouflaged pit, usually under the hearth. See motif L1C. |
| H2 | 89.30% | Animals ask God to make humans (tigers: domestic animals) mortal or otherwise reduce their numbers, as they fear that humans will trample them, deprive them of food or habitat, force them to work, etc. |
| B46D | 88.90% | Men, each of whom excels others in a particular art, turn into stars. |
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
35 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 35 traditions: Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Dusun, Murut, Kelabit, Tombonuwo, Bajau, Tidong, Bidayuh (incl. Maloh), Iban (Sea Dayak), Sakarram; Brunei, Santali, Turi, Mahli, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Oraon (Kurukh), Konds (Khonds; language is Kui, incl Kuttia, Konda-Dora), Koya; Pengo, Gondi (mostly Northern Gondi), Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Gujarati, Balahi; Lambadi (Banjaaa), Bhils (incl Barela-Bhilala), Lahu, Kucong, Nosu, Nisu, Nusu, Sani, Jino, Lepcha, Manchu, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Kiowa Apache, Lillooet, Quinault, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Pomo, Achomavi, Chemehuevi, Navajo, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Pima, Papago, Japan
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