Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K65C2 — Man and tiger.
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 or female animal gives birth to several sons, including a human and a tiger.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks 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 |
|---|---|---|
| A8 | 100.00% | The sun, moon and stars â three brothers or three sisters. |
| B119 | 100.00% | A woman of non-human nature agrees to live with a man, but leaves him upon learning of his real or imagined infidelity. |
| B121 | 100.00% | A small bird carries pebbles and sticks, trying to fill the sea. |
| B49A | 100.00% | Powerful animals could have many cubs, but now they give birth to only one every few years. |
| B6A | 100.00% | The first woman gives birth to several eggs. One or two of them remain unchanged for a long time and are thrown into the river, believing them to be spoiled. However, it is precisely from these eggs that characters of high status emerge (or should have emerged). |
| B77B2 | 100.00% | The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a broom. |
| B93A | 100.00% | Once a year, birds form a bridge across the heavenly river with their bodies. Usually, the feathers on their heads are worn away as a result. |
| C39 | 100.00% | When the sky split or partially collapsed, it was repaired. |
| C39A | 100.00% | A hole in the sky or a crack in the ground was plugged with a piece of ice, which is why it is cold in the north (north-west, north-east). |
| C40 | 100.00% | At first, stones fell from the sky and crushed people. |
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: Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Oraon (Kurukh), Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal)