The Mythology and Folklore Database
B37 - Living beings are given their appearance.
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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 character decorates various birds (less often fish) and distributes fat to animals. Since then, the corresponding species have possessed their current characteristics.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 |
|---|---|---|
| F80 | 97.41% | The first men and/or women have no genitals, then they acquire them. |
| D9 | 93.66% | The raven or other large dark-coloured bird of prey is the owner, embodiment, spouse, provider or thief of fire, the sun or daylight. |
| K87 | 93.19% | A woman becomes the wife of an animal (rarely another non-human creature). The husband takes care of her, but the marriage ends with the murder of the husband, the woman, their offspring, the woman's relatives, the transformation of the woman herself into an animal, leading to hostility between humans and animals, etc. |
| M18 | 93.10% | The character turns into an object of fishing or hunting and presents himself as a target. The fisherman or hunter does not harm them, but they take away what they use: arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, bait; or they catch fish, having turned themselves into hooks; or they are caught but escape death by taking on human form again. |
| D8 | 92.89% | The first fire (or summer) is stolen from a large predator – a lion or leopard in Africa, a tiger in Asia, a bear in northern Asia and North America, and a jaguar in South America. |
| B31 | 91.52% | A woman (usually after coming into conflict with a man or being left alone), or a man and a woman (spouses, lovers, brother and sister) turn into aquatic mammals. |
| F20 | 89.88% | After copulation, the man and woman are unable to break their embrace. |
| L135 | 89.81% | A person leaves home and finds himself in unfamiliar places. His journey is marked by encounters with various strange creatures. In the end, he either returns home or leaves the earth for another world. (With an abundance of episodes, the story often either breaks off or does not contain the initial episodes explaining the reason for the hero's departure from home). |
| F80A | 89.76% | Genitals exist independently of people; they can be left behind, attached to the body, etc. |
| F46 | 89.54% | At the beginning of time, two or more men (human-animals) had only one woman. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 89 traditions: Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Melanesians of the islands of Massim District ( =Milke Bay Province) to the east of New Guinea: Dobu, Rossel, Fergusson, Goodenough, Murua (Woodlark), Trobrian Islands, d'Entrecasteau Islands, Central Vanuatu: Espiritu Santo, Araki, Aore, Maewo, Malekula, Vao, Efate (Vate), Nguna, Mae, Ambrim, Pentecost, Oba (=Aoba, East Ambae, Lepers'), Omba, Southern Vanuatu: Tanna, Aneiteum (Polynesian component not included), Eromanga, Samoa, Niue, Tikopia, Bellona, Rennell, partly Aneytium, Futuna (=Erronan, not to be mixed with Futuna in Western Polynesia), Vaeaka-Taumato, incl Matema, Nifeloli, Nukapu, Nupani, Pileni, Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Hawaii, Kapingamarangi, Nukuoro, Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Kayan, Bahau, Kenja, Aoheng, Punan (Bukat, Basap, Oloh Ot, etc); "Klemantan", Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Bahnar, Bana, Sedang, Por, Khmer, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Swedes, Yazgulami, Karachays, Balkar, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Evens (Lamuts), Ainu, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Udeghe, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chugach, Chipewyan, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Athna, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Netsilik, Caribou, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, Baffin Land Inuit, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Eyak, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Shuswap, Comox, Pentlatch, Quinault, Shasta; Chimariko, Karok, Yurok, Yana, Western Mexico Nahuatl, Guajiro, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Waiwai, Trio, Hixkariyana, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Akawai, Locono, Maue (Mawe), Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Amuesha, Machiguenga, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Cashibo, Chacobo, Parintintin; Villa Bella (tribal affiliation unknown), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Rikbaktsa, Kayabi, Paresi, Vilela, Ayoreo, Mataco, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Chorote, Manao, Katawishi (Teffe lake); groups of uncertain affiliation mostly from Rio Jamunda, Kodiak, Biloxi, Tokelau, Terek Cossacks, Greenland, Vietnam, Palau