Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K65C — Eve's Unwashed Children, ATU 758.
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
OverviewA woman (rarely a man) hides some of her children (less often, all of them) or some of her domestic animals from God. According to God, the hidden children become either poor people or creatures of a non-human nature, and the hidden domestic animals become wild.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
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.
K65 has 10 other sub-motifs
RelatedK65. Having been cast out, discarded, or born of the first ancestors, creatures of a certain category acquire individuality, transforming into spirits who are the masters of various loci.
K65a. After being thrown from a height or expelled, various creatures end up in different locations, acquiring corresponding functions and names.
K65b. Spirits (deities) or unpleasant animals (snakes, frogs, worms, etc.) are generated by the same first anthropomorphic pair or the same pair of first ancestors as humans (deities).
K65c. A woman (rarely a man) hides some of her children (less often, all of them) or some of her domestic animals from God. According to God, the hidden children become either poor people or creatures of a non-human nature, and the hidden domestic animals become wild.
K65c1. A woman gives birth to many children, but hides some of them from God. Those who are hidden become the progenitors of people of low social status, and those who are shown become the progenitors of people of high status. {The definition of plot 758 in Uther 2004 largely coincides with ours, but the references also include traditions in which children hidden from God become spirits rather than people of low status}.
K65c2. A woman or female animal gives birth to several sons, including a human and a tiger.
K65c3. A woman (alone or with her husband) hides some of her children from God because she is ashamed of having given birth to so many offspring.
K65d. The first human couple initially only have miscarriages, or their children are spirits or unpleasant and dangerous animals. After performing a formal marriage ceremony or repeating it according to new rules, the woman gives birth to real people or gods.
K65e. A woman is invited into the non-human world, where she delivers a child for one of the creatures (or serves as a nanny for a certain period of time, baptises the child). Then she returns to the human world.
K65e1. A woman delivers a baby (baptises a child) for a creature that in the human world has the appearance of a toad or frog.
K65f. Once in the locus of demons, a person sees them in their true form. Upon returning, the person sees the demon again, which ordinary people are incapable of doing. The demon blinds him.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K107A1 | 99.66% | When the head of the household leaves on business, those left behind ask him to bring them gifts. The elders ask for something of obvious value (usually clothing and jewellery), while the youngest ask for something unusual and, at first glance, of little value (a flower, a bird, etc.). As a result, it is the youngest who, having overcome trials, achieves success in life. |
| M206 | 99.51% | A guard (nobleman) agrees to let a man pass to an authoritative figure on condition that he gives him half of the expected reward. The man asks for a beating as a reward or expected it from the outset. |
| I59A | 99.39% | Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with stories about the theft of various items, the value of which is insignificant (straw, firewood, cabbage, etc.). |
| M128 | 99.38% | Having agreed with his opponent that he would get animals with certain external characteristics or behaving in a certain way, the hero takes all or almost all of them when the livestock is divided. |
| K130 | 99.31% | A woman (rarely: a man) asks who is the most beautiful of all and receives the answer that she (he) is. One day she (he) is told that someone else is more beautiful. |
| K103C | 99.29% | Sitting on a bull or a cow, a young man or woman runs away from their stepmother's house. Along the way, the bull fights other bulls (monsters), the last of which usually kills it. |
| M199B | 99.27% | A man and his opponent agree to test their strength by throwing a stone. The opponent throws the stone, and the man releases a bird he had hidden beforehand. The bird does not return, and the opponent admits defeat. |
| K57B | 99.25% | To stop a beautiful woman from running away, a man in love with her smears resin or glue on the threshold (porch). The shoe sticks, and all the girls try it on to find its owner. |
| K164 | 99.22% | The person himself or someone else creates a situation in which he becomes convinced that his wife is not his best friend. Usually, the treacherous wife is contrasted with a loyal dog. |
| I20C1 | 99.19% | Dwarves do not live deep underground, but inside hills, in rocks, in mines, etc., and usually come out from there onto the ground. |
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
46 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 46 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Nuba, Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Shilluk, Anuak, Amhara; Zay, Harari; Silte, Gogot, Oromo (Galla), Konso, Sidamo, Darasa, Bussa (Bassa), Kambata, Guji, Hausa, Songhai, Wales, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Poles, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Lithuanians, Livonians, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Danish, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Armenians, Kirghiz, Mari (Cheremis), Udmurt, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Icelanders, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Frisians, Bosnians, Montenegro, Russian Federation
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