Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G13C — What to eat before the advent of agriculture.
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
OverviewBefore the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms.
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 6, Origin and interpretation of culture elements, in particular related to agriculture, inadequate forms of subsistence and economic activity before the establishment of the present norms.
G13 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedG13. Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba – Ceiba L., balsa – Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood.
G13a. Before the advent of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills), people ate earth, clay, and stones.
G13b. Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate mushrooms. Creatures of a non-human nature feed on mushrooms. Mushrooms are imaginary, inferior food.
G13c. Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M72 | 99.06% | The character puts his hand into the anus of a tapir or other large herbivore and is unable to pull it out. The animal rushes to run and drags a person with it for a long time. |
| C4 | 98.96% | During the flood or at the beginning of time, fruits, seeds, or other objects fall into the water one after another. As this happens, the water begins to recede, exposing the earth. |
| K19A | 98.72% | A man marries a star woman. |
| F40A | 97.97% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| G13 | 97.88% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba – Ceiba L., balsa – Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
| E9F | 97.87% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a parrot. |
| G28 | 97.77% | The tree contains a fish in its trunk. |
| H21A | 97.37% | The fish are concentrated in a small container, from which the owner takes as many as he needs. Another character opens the container, breaking the rules, and the fish escape. |
| L7A | 97.22% | A character who sticks to another creature and refuses to let go, first sticking to a human, then to an animal, or first sticking to an animal, then to a bird. |
| G17 | 96.80% | Cultural or important food crops, partially cultivated plant species owe their origin to snakes, moray eels or crocodiles/caimans. |
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
29 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Society Islands: Tahiti, Borabora, Raiatea, Bidayuh (incl. Maloh), Iban (Sea Dayak), Sakarram; Brunei, Khmer, Sinhalese; Vedda, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Yokuts, Popoloca; Tlapanec, Sicuani, Makiritare (Yecuana), Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Mai Huna (Coto, Orejon), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Chayahuita , Witoto, Ocaina, Xipaya, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Ashaninca (Campa), Machiguenga, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Kamayura, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Craho, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Suya, Txukarramae, Shavante, Papua-New Guinea Northern Lowland Papuan groups (Trans New Guinea and unclassified): Komba, Gimi, Susure, Orokaiva, Bogadjim, Ngain, Sentani, Bargam, Imonda, Nankina, Yupta Valley, Urawa Valley, Warupu (Barupu), Pondoma (Anam), Matses (Mayoruna)
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