Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
H28C — Mosquitoes bring back wives.
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 character creates blood-sucking insects to influence the behaviour of a mating partner.
Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
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.
H28 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedH28. A creature that has been killed and destroyed (often burned) (usually a cannibal, a ferocious animal, or a powerful shaman) turns into stinging insects or other harmful, unpleasant, or dangerous creatures.
H28a. When a character is burned, the smoke and sparks turn into mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects that scatter throughout the world.
H28b. Shorn hairs on animal skins or ash and smoke from burnt skins covered with wool turn into blood-sucking insects.
H28c. The character creates blood-sucking insects to influence the behaviour of a mating partner.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L38 | 86.32% | The demon sets a trap, and people fall into it. Cf. motif K64A. |
| D9 | 83.23% | The raven or other large dark-coloured bird of prey is the owner, embodiment, spouse, provider or thief of fire, the sun or daylight. |
| F80 | 82.49% | The first men and/or women have no genitals, then they acquire them. |
| B42K | 82.22% | In stories about cosmic hunting, the object of pursuit or the hunters are identified with the Pleiades. See motif B42. |
| I50B | 81.65% | Describes or depicts a predatory animal with six or more legs. |
| L33B | 80.66% | The character challenges someone who, at first glance, is unable to move (a stump, a boulder, fire) to race or roll over it. The challenged party sets off, crushes or burns the character, or runs away with their property. |
| M94 | 80.01% | One character invites the other to roll down the mountain to destroy him. Cf. Motive L42C. |
| D13H | 79.47% | Those who have entered the world of the dead should not laugh. |
| I7C | 79.12% | When a character in the upper world urinates, it rains (dew falls) on earth. |
| B38C | 78.33% | The raven and the loon paint each other. |
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
3 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 3 traditions: Chukchi, Koyukon, Caduveo, Mbaya
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