Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M72 — Hand in the back of the tapir
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 puts his hand into the anus of a tapir or other large herbivore and is unable to pull it out. The animal rushes to run and drags a person with it for a long time.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| G28 | 99.14% | The tree contains a fish in its trunk. |
| G13C | 99.06% | Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms. |
| L7A | 98.82% | A character who sticks to another creature and refuses to let go, first sticking to a human, then to an animal, or first sticking to an animal, then to a bird. |
| K19A | 98.44% | A man marries a star woman. |
| C4 | 98.17% | During the flood or at the beginning of time, fruits, seeds, or other objects fall into the water one after another. As this happens, the water begins to recede, exposing the earth. |
| H21A | 98.10% | The fish are concentrated in a small container, from which the owner takes as many as he needs. Another character opens the container, breaking the rules, and the fish escape. |
| F40A | 97.64% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| M11A | 97.55% | The character gives others the fish extracted from his body. |
| B34 | 97.18% | After the vessel of night is opened, a person caught by the onset of darkness turns into a bird or animal. |
| G13 | 97.05% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba â Ceiba L., balsa â Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
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
19 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 19 traditions: Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Fon, 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, Bali, Lombok, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Karok, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Sicuani, Warao, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Karijona, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Tariana, Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Mundurucu, Curuaia, Trumai, Rikbaktsa, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa, Matses (Mayoruna)
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
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