The Mythology and Folklore Database
H9B - Children as plant shoots.
Please log on to view the narratives.
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
People have become like plants, which, although mortal, live on in their descendants (shoots).Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 4, Origin of death, diseases and hard life
H9 has 2 other sub-motifsH9. People are mortal (they get sick and grow old) because they are compared to something weak, fragile, easily subject to destruction or decay (upper Tanana: people have not died out because they are made of durable material rather than ephemeral material). H9a. Of two women, one of whom is associated with a stone and the other with a plant, only the plant woman leaves offspring, which is why people are what they are (mortal, capable of speech, etc.). Alternatively, children born to two women have opposite characteristics (skilled and unskilled, etc.). H9b. People have become like plants, which, although mortal, live on in their descendants (shoots). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of H9's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I96 | 96.29% | A rainbow consisting of blood either heralds war and death. |
| I133A | 94.85% | There is a constellation that represents a bird and corresponds to several large constellations in European traditions (mainly equatorial, rather than circumpolar). |
| J64 | 92.67% | Without touching the fire or burning, the character rises into the sky or crosses the river on clouds of smoke. |
| B77C | 92.58% | A snake-like creature pushes the sky away from the earth. See motif B77. |
| M44A | 92.58% | The character discovers that someone is stealing game or fish from his trap, mountain, etc. or ravages his garden, field; he or his messengers wait and catch the thief [magical tales clearly of European origin (e.g. Chamacoco, Wilbert, Simoneau 1987a, No. 121) are not included]. The kidnappers are the first people to get out of the ground, the first men. |
| M1B | 92.39% | A caiman/crocodile carries a monkey across a river. She manages to jump ashore and runs away from the caiman. |
| E27 | 92.21% | People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. |
| H36E | 91.57% | The rat is to blame for the fact that man is mortal. |
| E39 | 89.85% | The child of a pig or boar is a woman or man – the ancestor of a certain group of people. |
| G20 | 89.80% | Edible (cultivated or wild) plants emerge from the body of an old woman, a young woman or a girl. |
See more...
Please log on to view the narratives.
Map of Motif Dispersal
Click here for a clustered map
Drag the map around by clicking and using the mouse, use the wheel to zoom
This motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Malagasy, Ceram: Alune and Wemale (West Ceram), Patasiwa (Ceram), Honitetu (West Ceram Highlands); Nusawele, Hatuolu, Huaolu, Patasiwa; Ambon; Buru, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Malay; Temuan (incl Mantra or Mentra), Jakun (Moken), Palawan (incl Agutaynen), Mindanao and Sulu: Blaan (Bilaan), Bagobo, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Hiligáynon, Binukid, Magindaan (=Magindanao: main Muslim population), Mandaya, Mansaka, Manobo (Agusan, Ata, Dibabawon, Sarangani, Ilianen), Maranao, Samal, Subanon (=Subanun), Subanen, Tboli, Ainu, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Bororo, Ayoreo, Kenya