Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E5D — The predator watches over those who leave.
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 people to arrive on earth and settle within a limited space are threatened by a predator or monster.
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.
E5 has 6 other sub-motifs
RelatedE5. God makes man out of clay. He must wait until it dries, but tries to stand up earlier.
E5a. The first humans (or only the first men or first women) were not created by a demiurge, but emerged from under the ground (from a cave) or from a small object on its surface (a tree, stone, pumpkin, etc.). There are many emerging humans (or humans and animals). Cf. motif E5B: first ancestors from the underworld.
E5aa. The first people grew out of the ground like trees, grass, and mushrooms.
E5b. The first human (a group of brothers) or the first human couple emerge from underground (from a cave) or from a small object on the surface (a mound, a reed, a tree, a stone, a pumpkin). Cf. motif E5A: people from the underworld.
E5c. The first humans or deities-ancestors descend to earth from the sky.
E5d. The first people to arrive on earth and settle within a limited space are threatened by a predator or monster.
E5e. People or animals come out from under the ground or descend from the sky. The two-headed creature following them gets stuck in the opening or is not allowed to come out.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I29 | 95.04% | A character climbs into an animal's burrow and finds himself in the underworld, or digs a deep hole and finds himself in a world inhabited by burrowing animals. |
| I14A | 94.31% | People without anuses regurgitate what they have eaten through their mouths or other (marked) orifices. See motif I14. |
| I24 | 94.14% | A snake (or fish) forms a bridge across a river. |
| F24 | 93.85% | Women lose blood when they are bitten by fish, snakes, etc. |
| D2 | 93.68% | A woman gives birth to a son who is very hot. |
| M5 | 93.28% | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. |
| H8 | 92.97% | Unable to bring themselves to touch something unclean, poisonous, dangerous or hot, people lost their immortality (var.: did not receive the blessings that came to Europeans). |
| L35 | 92.40% | A shaman or spirit comes at night and, reaching his hand into the hut, steals food or disturbs a woman. A man in the hut cuts off or tears off the hand. |
| K19A | 92.27% | A man marries a star woman. |
| C1 | 92.11% | In the past, a catastrophic shift in the layers of the universe occurred or will occur in the future. Among the variants (sometimes combined): the sky fell to the earth; the present earth or underground world swapped places with the sky; the earth turned upside down; it fell into the underworld; the layers of the universe successively collapsed onto the earth or will swap places in the future. |
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
20 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Murle, Me'en (Bodi), Didinga, Hehe, Pangwa (Upper Rufudji area), Bena, Matumbi, Ngoni, Pogolo, (Ma)konde, Mawiha, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Wa (incl Kawa), Bulang, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Svans, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Arikara, Lipan, Kaxuyana (Warikyana, Arikena), Kandoshi (Murato, Maina); Iquito, Chayahuita , Yuracare, Yabuti, Amniapä, Kumana, Wari (Aikana), More (Itene), Kamayura, Toba (incl Pilagá), Caduveo, Mbaya, Lisu, Lolo (incl. Bai), Achang, Yi, Axi, Nasu, Jino, Taungyo
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