Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I38A — Dogs – husbands of women.
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 husbands of human women are dogs or dog-headed creatures.
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
I38 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI38. There are creatures that combine the characteristics of dogs and humans (usually people with dog faces or heads).
I38a. The husbands of human women are dogs or dog-headed creatures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A6 | 97.73% | The sun and moon are considered female characters (including cases – Tuscarora, Oneida, when the gender is not directly specified, but both arise from the body of a female character). |
| C30D | 96.21% | The character agrees that his locus will be contaminated with excrement, but only on condition that not a drop of urine is spilled. It turns out to be impossible to fulfil this condition. |
| M152A | 95.74% | A strong predator (a giant cannibal) and a weak predator are tied together with a rope to feel more confident. The strong one flees and drags the weak one behind him. |
| M130A | 95.52% | A trickster lures an animal into a hunter's trap. Another animal advises the victim to pretend to be dead and helps it escape. |
| B116C | 95.47% | In the past, the people possessed writing and knowledge, but these were lost, or the people missed the opportunity to acquire them. |
| E31A2 | 95.27% | The girl must be given to one of several men. She herself or someone else explains that one of the suitors can be called her father, another her brother (etc.), and only one can be her husband. |
| M29W2 | 95.15% | As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the tiger dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. |
| L81D | 94.92% | Two cripples with different physical disabilities quarrel and fight, and as a result become whole and healthy. |
| C6I | 94.73% | A zoomorphic character returns from the underworld covered in mud. He shakes himself off, or the mud is scraped off him, and earth emerges from it. |
| K56D1 | 94.71% | A pumpkin or watermelon (grown from gifted seeds) given to a person turns out to contain treasures. |
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: Shilluk, Anuak, Melanesians of the northern coast New Guinea, nearest off-shore islands and Huon Gulf (Morobe district): Watut, Bilbil (Bilibili), Jabim (incl Kai), Tami, Bukawac, Wogeo, Tumleo, Yakamul, Manam, Sissano, Sio, Mentawai, Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Uyghur, Greenland
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