The Mythology and Folklore Database
I17 - Physical abnormalities of inhabitants of the other world.
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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
Creatures without mouths, anuses, or genitals, unable to give birth, live underground, in the sky, across the sea, or in certain areas. (Traditions describing women unable to give birth are marked with an asterisk*).Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects
I17 has 1 other sub-motifsI17. Creatures without mouths, anuses, or genitals, unable to give birth, live underground, in the sky, across the sea, or in certain areas. (Traditions describing women unable to give birth are marked with an asterisk*). I17a. Creatures without an anal opening or mouth - dwarves. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I17's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I18 | 95.26% | Visiting the world of people without an anus or mouth (the underworld, if not otherwise), the hero or heroine enters or attempts to enter into sexual relations with the local inhabitants. See motif I14. |
| K10 | 93.78% | A monstrous bird (bat) attacks people, heroes engage in battle with it. See motifs K10A – K10G. |
| B29 | 93.22% | People turn into animals, birds or stones, living beings acquire their current characteristics at a general meeting, festival, after a festival, after performing a ritual or after defeating a common enemy. |
| I19 | 92.43% | Anthropomorphic creatures satisfy their hunger with the vapours of food being prepared. See motifs I14 (people without anuses), I15 (people without mouths). |
| H12 | 92.03% | The living visit the afterlife to bring back the dead (except for texts about a shaman bringing back the soul of a sick person), or, without a specific goal, go there accompanied by or following in the footsteps of the recently deceased. |
| I16 | 91.06% | Early humans have no mouth, anus, or genitals, and their women are unable to give birth. |
| I28 | 90.91% | Wild or domestic animals live inside a mountain, in a cave or in the underground world, or once came out of there into our world; often animals take on human form underground and have an owner. See motif H18. |
| I47 | 90.60% | The rainbow smells disgusting, is associated with foul-smelling animals, is a stream of excretions, is associated with the lower body, causes inflammation or skin diseases, and is associated with death. |
| F33 | 90.55% | A woman or group of women take a water animal or water monster as their lover. The husband(s), brother(s) or (adopted) children of the woman(s) kill or maim the lover and (in some cases) the woman(s). |
| F53 | 90.03% | An unattractive man marries, but hides his face. When he is seen, the marriage is dissolved. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 67 traditions: Sepik-Ramu stock: Abelam, Yatmul, Aibom, Ayom (incl Tembregak, Asai-river pygmies), Tangu, Porapora (Ambakich), Rao and other groups of Middle Ramu and Upper Keram River tribes; Kwanga, Watam, Kaian, Gamei, Awar; Kire (Lower Ramu), Melanesians of southeastern New Guinea: Mekeo, Motu, Sinagoro, Koita (Koitapu), Mukawa (Are), Wagawaga, Taupota, Awaiama, Gelaria, Goodenough Bay, Bartle Bay, Wedau (Wamira village), Santa Cruz Islands (incl Nguna, Reef Islands), Rotuma, Niue, Mangareva, Tuvalu (Ellice), Yap, Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Sumbawa (incl Dongo), Flores, incl Mangarai (Western Flores), Nage, Keo, Riung, Ngada or Nad'a (Central Flores), Sika (Eastern Flores), 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, Central Taiwan: Bunun (Vonum), La'arua, Tsou, Kanabu, Kanakanabu, Northern Taiwan: Atayal (Tayal; Taruko (Toda, Taokas, Torok, Taroko), Pazeh, Sedeq (Sediq, Seedeq, Sazek), Saisiyat (Saixia), Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Mansi, Forest Nenets, Nganasans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Tagish, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), North Alaskan Inupiat, Copper, Netsilik, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, Tlingit, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Mandan, Hidatsa, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Tillamook, Kalapuya, Klamath, Modoc, Yurok, Yokuts, Mono (Monache), Zuni, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Paez, Guambia, Pijao; Ilama culture, Guajiro, Cuiva, Guayabero, Sanema, Locono, Colorado (Tsachila), Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Kofan, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Yagua, Cashibo, Rikbaktsa, Paresi, Chamacoco (Ishir), Kodiak, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Kayapa