Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M49A — A substituted shaman
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
Overviewhero needs to penetrate unnoticed into the locus of dangerous creatures; he meets an old woman (usually a shaman, a doctor) going there, puts on her skin, and penetrates into dangerous ones in her guise creatures.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
M49 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedM49. The hero meets a character from the enemy camp and, taking on his form, penetrates enemies. Usually, the hero kills the person he meets and puts on his skin.
M49a. hero needs to penetrate unnoticed into the locus of dangerous creatures; he meets an old woman (usually a shaman, a doctor) going there, puts on her skin, and penetrates into dangerous ones in her guise creatures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27B | 99.62% | Test: smoke a huge or poisonous pipe or breathe in clouds of poisonous smoke. See motif K27. |
| K43B | 99.17% | People leave a boy, a girl, a sister and brother, a young woman or young spouses alone and leave, or drive them away. Those who are left behind or driven away discover unusual abilities or helpers, obtaining blood and food. Those who are abandoned eat their fill, while those who abandon them go hungry. A character (often a bird - a crow, magpie, seagull, etc.) visits the abandoned and brings a piece of fat or meat to the camp of the starving. |
| J61 | 99.05% | The character has the ability to move or hover in the air like a feather or a fluff. |
| L1B1 | 98.89% | A woman comes into conflict with her brothers and turns into a dangerous demon. |
| H19 | 98.83% | The raven hides game animals in a pen or cave or scares them away from hunters. See motif H18. |
| K52A | 98.64% | The hero goes to the bottom of the sea for a woman. The slave pours water into the hearth in the house of the water dwellers. Hiding behind clouds of steam, the hero takes the woman away. See motif K52. |
| L72F | 98.62% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws behind him the entrails or stomach contents of an animal, which become an obstacle in the path of his pursuer. |
| M41 | 98.45% | The character throws his eyes (an inhaler has a tooth) up or into the distance. At first they return to the eye sockets, but then they disappear. |
| L1F | 98.25% | The sister, using magic or transforming herself into a monster, kills her brothers in revenge for the death of her lover or husband. |
| K50 | 98.13% | A man approaches the enemy disguised as a woman and kills him at night (usually cutting off his head and taking it with him). |
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: Chukchi, Central Yupik, Koyukon, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Northern Saulteaux, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Montagnais, Menominee, Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Carrier, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Tillamook, Takelma, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Coos, Alcea, Kutenai, Hupa, Chilula, Kawaiisu, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Southern Paiute, Chemehuevi, Serrano, Hopi, Zuni, Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Pima
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