Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F99 — An infant copulates with its mother.
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
OverviewAn infant turns into an adult man, copulates with his mother, then returns to his former appearance.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F86A | 80.81% | The character cares for a fish, crab or other creature. Others watch the character, kill and eat his pet, or try to do so. |
| K29B | 78.95% | The hero is asked to climb (or is thrown) into a pit, which is immediately filled with earth or into which a pole or stones are lowered, K959,6 (Posthole murder). The hero proves his magical abilities by climbing out of the pit alive. |
| M3 | 78.62% | The character crosses a water or air barrier on the backs of chained animals, birds, or fish. |
| E5B | 78.36% | 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. |
| I119 | 77.89% | Earthquakes are caused by inhabitants of the underworld; during earthquakes, they try to get to the surface of the earth to check whether people are still alive. |
| A41 | 77.83% | Two characters have children (brothers and sisters, mothers). One suggests killing these children (mothers), giving reasons in favour of such a decision. In fact, he hides his own children, while his interlocutor actually kills his children. One of the characters and/or the surviving child is the sun. |
| G8F | 77.15% | Characters cut down a tree, but the trunk grows back. They manage to finish the job after the splinters are carried away or burned. |
| E40 | 76.98% | The first humans had nostrils facing upwards, into which rain poured. |
| F40B | 76.24% | A single man finds himself in a village of women. Usually, he is forced to satisfy a woman against his will, or each woman demands to have sex with him. |
| C8C | 76.19% | After a global catastrophe, at the beginning of time or when settling a new land, a woman and her son give birth to humans. |
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
7 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Khoekhoe (=Hottentot; incl Nama, Korana); Damara, Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Ifaluk, Woleai, Lamutrek, Faraulip Satawal, Elato, Western Fayu, Tzotzil, Shavante, Yamana (Yaghan), Alacaluf
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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