Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
H9B — Children as plant shoots.
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
OverviewPeople have become like plants, which, although mortal, live on in their descendants (shoots).
Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 4, Origin of death, diseases and hard life.
H9 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedH9. People are mortal (they get sick and grow old) because they are compared to something weak, fragile, easily subject to destruction or decay (upper Tanana: people have not died out because they are made of durable material rather than ephemeral material).
H9a. Of two women, one of whom is associated with a stone and the other with a plant, only the plant woman leaves offspring, which is why people are what they are (mortal, capable of speech, etc.). Alternatively, children born to two women have opposite characteristics (skilled and unskilled, etc.).
H9b. People have become like plants, which, although mortal, live on in their descendants (shoots).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I96 | 96.29% | A rainbow consisting of blood either heralds war and death. |
| I133A | 94.85% | There is a constellation that represents a bird and corresponds to several large constellations in European traditions (mainly equatorial, rather than circumpolar). |
| J64 | 92.67% | Without touching the fire or burning, the character rises into the sky or crosses the river on clouds of smoke. |
| B77C | 92.58% | A snake-like creature pushes the sky away from the earth. See motif B77. |
| M44A | 92.58% | The character discovers that someone is stealing game or fish from his trap, mountain, etc. or ravages his garden, field; he or his messengers wait and catch the thief [magical tales clearly of European origin (e.g. Chamacoco, Wilbert, Simoneau 1987a, No. 121) are not included]. The kidnappers are the first people to get out of the ground, the first men. |
| M1B | 92.39% | A caiman/crocodile carries a monkey across a river. She manages to jump ashore and runs away from the caiman. |
| E27 | 92.21% | People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. |
| H36E | 91.57% | The rat is to blame for the fact that man is mortal. |
| E39 | 89.85% | The child of a pig or boar is a woman or man – the ancestor of a certain group of people. |
| G20 | 89.80% | Edible (cultivated or wild) plants emerge from the body of an old woman, a young woman or a girl. |
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
11 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Malagasy, Ceram: Alune and Wemale (West Ceram), Patasiwa (Ceram), Honitetu (West Ceram Highlands); Nusawele, Hatuolu, Huaolu, Patasiwa; Ambon; Buru, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Malay; Temuan (incl Mantra or Mentra), Jakun (Moken), Palawan (incl Agutaynen), Mindanao and Sulu: Blaan (Bilaan), Bagobo, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Hiligáynon, Binukid, Magindaan (=Magindanao: main Muslim population), Mandaya, Mansaka, Manobo (Agusan, Ata, Dibabawon, Sarangani, Ilianen), Maranao, Samal, Subanon (=Subanun), Subanen, Tboli, Ainu, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Bororo, Ayoreo, Kenya
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.