Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I15A — Vertical incision of the mouth.
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
OverviewDue to ignorance or haste, the mouth of anthropomorphic creatures is first cut vertically.
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
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.
I15 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedI15. Creatures without mouths. Usually, their mouths are cut open later.
I15a. Due to ignorance or haste, the mouth of anthropomorphic creatures is first cut vertically.
I15a1. The demonic character has vertical slits for eyes.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L74 | 97.02% | A bear or other powerful character tears off and carries away another character's hand. A third character steals the hand and returns it to the one from whom it was torn off. |
| G1 | 96.02% | In order to acquire or regain values (land, soil, cultivated plants, sun, fire, shamanic knowledge, luck), people lure or steal the son or daughter of a certain character. |
| L59 | 95.32% | A woman eats the best food or eats fruit before it is ripe; as punishment, she undergoes metamorphosis. |
| K27D | 90.17% | The test: to stay alive in a room full of predatory, poisonous and other dangerous creatures. See motif K27. |
| I18 | 89.97% | Visiting the world of people without an anus or mouth (the underworld, if not otherwise), the hero or heroine enters or attempts to enter into sexual relations with the local inhabitants. See motif I14. |
| I7A | 88.19% | Lightning is associated with a snake. |
| K22C | 86.60% | Inhabitants of another world who are birds (bird-people) are afraid of birds or animals that are not dangerous to ordinary people, but which regularly attack them. |
| K10F | 86.41% | The character turns the children of a flying monster into ordinary eagles or owls. |
| I15 | 86.41% | Creatures without mouths. Usually, their mouths are cut open later. |
| H20 | 85.03% | All the fish or (rarely) molluscs were concentrated in one place. A certain character allows them to escape or deliberately releases them into rivers or the sea. {In some cases, the theme of the spread of fish concentrated in a small container is difficult to separate from the theme of the spread of water. In any case, neither of these exist in Africa}. |
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
4 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Blackfoot, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena
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