The Mythology and Folklore Database
B125 - Animals exchange characteristics.
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Motif Summary - Motifs with Simlar Dispersals - Map of Myth Distribution - List of Traditions - Myths |
Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of Motif
The absence or presence of certain organs in animals (less often in plants) and the peculiarities of these organs are caused by the fact that during the era of creation, one species exchanged with another or, having borrowed a foreign organ, refused to return it. In some cases, a reverse exchange and return to the original state is described, as well as the transfer of part of one's body to another animal without compensation. Instead of one of the animals, there may be a human or a deity.Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I39 | 91.19% | The rainbow is a bridge, a road, a staircase. |
| B40A | 91.10% | Nowadays, hornless animals lose their horns or are deprived of the opportunity to grow them. See motif B40. |
| A32 | 90.76% | A figure or imprint of some creature or object is visible on the lunar disc. Statistical calculations also include motifs A32A – A32J (a rabbit, frog, predatory animal, human, tree, etc. are visible on the moon). |
| B2A | 90.57% | The earth is a female character (alone or alongside a male character) and is considered to be female or associated with women. |
| K27 | 89.92% | The character receives tasks that are deadly dangerous or can only be accomplished with supernatural abilities or helpers; the hero completes the tasks and/or miraculously survives. The confrontation between the characters unfolds as a game or competition in which the loser loses their life or status. |
| E11 | 89.61% | The future family member reveals himself or remains with the person after the object that defines the character's non-human appearance is destroyed. After the person destroys (usually burns) the discarded animal skin, the character retains his human appearance. See motif E9. |
| E9 | 89.49% | The character notices that someone is running the house in his absence and catches the person doing so by surprise. |
| M30 | 88.73% | character who has no natural wings or can't fly long distances rises into the air, but falls or, having lost its wings, stays where he can't return from. (The motive includes several options, but even when taken together, they don't cover the whole world. Texts with M25 and M28 motifs are counted as including the M30 motif). |
| H1D | 88.32% | The deceased returns, but people send him back, dissatisfied with his appearance, refusing to accept him or burying him again. From then on, death is final. |
| K25 | 87.70% | A man consciously marries a woman who belongs to the non-human world. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 75 traditions: Malagasy, Somali, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Chagga (Jagga; incl Wasu), Pare, Digo, Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Dogon, Hadza, Arnhem Land: Enindhilyagwa (Groote Eilandt), KuTiwi, Yulengor, Mara, Oenpelli, Murngin, Roper River, Maung, Murinbata, Murngin (Duwal), Millingimbi, Goulburn Island, Ngulugwongga, Yirrkalla, Voctoria River Downs, Alawa, Anu, Kunwinjku, Kimberley Plateau: Gwini, Roebuck Bay, Forest River tribes, Drysdale River tribes, Njulnjul, Ungarinyin, Unambal, Bad (Baada), Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Roti, Flores, incl Mangarai (Western Flores), Nage, Keo, Riung, Ngada or Nad'a (Central Flores), Sika (Eastern Flores), Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Central Taiwan: Bunun (Vonum), La'arua, Tsou, Kanabu, Kanakanabu, Burmese, Intha, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Northern Naga: Konyak, Lungshang, Wancho, Nokte, Moclum, Lunshan, Chang, Maring, Naga of Myanmar, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Sinhalese; Vedda, Early Chinese written sources, Ireland, Portuguese, Portugal, Maltese, France, 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, Czech, Czechs, Hungarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Livonians, Estonians, Karelians, Western Sami, Western Ukrainians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Netsilik, Caribou, Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Tlingit, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Menominee, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Quinault, Tillamook, Kalapuya, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Cherokee, Pomo, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Warihio (Guarijío), Tarahumara, Huichol, Tepecano, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Tzotzil, Guajiro, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Ese’ejja, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Lisu, Lolo (incl. Bai), Achang, Yi, Axi, Nasu, Jino, Taungyo, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Sundanese