Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M46A — A picked up baby
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 character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60).
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.
M46 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedM46. Some creatures steal or own valuables. To return (get) them, the character turns into a small object, from contact with which a woman becomes pregnant, or into a baby. A picked up or born baby takes on its true appearance and steals valuables (including making the girl who picked it up pregnant, if that was his goal).
M46a. The character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60).
M46b. The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif.
M46c. The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif.
M46d. A small child cries and calms down only after being given a valuable item hidden in the house to play with. After receiving an item, a child or an associated character takes it away.
M46e. They (promise to) give a child the Sun (and or the Moon) to play with
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M42C | 99.02% | Falling off a cliff and breaking his leg, the character eats his bone marrow. |
| J53C | 98.47% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. |
| J52A | 98.03% | A she-bear or bear treacherously kills his companion, neighbour, etc., who is associated with a herbivorous animal or a weaker predator. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children or flee. See motifs J52, J54. |
| H22 | 97.66% | Large game animals did not have a sense of smell. They acquired it and began to flee from hunters after someone created olfactory organs for them or gave them a strong smell to smell. Cf. motif H22A. |
| K8C4 | 97.51% | A small animal (bird, mouse, porcupine, fox) or (rarely) a tiny human being allows itself to be swallowed by a large ungulate (elk, deer, bison, tapir) in order to rip open its belly (and eat it). |
| E37 | 97.46% | The creator collects many sticks, feathers, reeds, etc., and turns them into people (either people of both sexes and all ages, or no mention is made of gender or age). |
| K23A | 97.43% | Birds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover the mouths of their victims. |
| K8C3 | 97.34% | One (zoomorphic) character refuses to use any part of another's body except the one he uses to kill him. |
| J53B | 97.22% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her, brings her meat home and starts cooking it. The children of the deceased notice their mother's breasts (in California â eyes or liver), or the mother's breasts themselves turn to her children. |
| H20A | 97.21% | A woman or several women keep fish or water in some kind of container; a man releases all the fish into rivers or the sea, releases the water. See motif H20. |
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
41 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 41 traditions: Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Basques, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Nenets, Nganasans, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Dolgans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Western Tungus (Evenki), Western Siberia Tungus (Evenki): Sym River, Ket River, Ainu, Negidal, Central Yupik, Haida, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Yuchi, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Quinault, Tillamook, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Kutenai, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Yokuts, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Mixtec, Trique, Cuicatec; Amuzgo, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area, Russian Federation
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