The Mythology and Folklore Database
J22C - Conjoined women.




6 Myths, Legends and Folktales
5 Unique Narratives for Motif J22C
5 Cultures & Traditions where J22C is told
8 Mythemes Indexed
4 Sub-Motifs of Motif J22C


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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

There is a demonic character in the form of Siamese twins – two semi-fused women.

Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle

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


J22 has 4 other sub-motifs


J22a.  Two men or a brother and sister emerge from a single body or embryo cut in half, or the second emerges from a part of the body or from the secretions of the first. Cf. motif M37.
J22b.  A woman is cut or torn in half, and two new ones appear.
J22c.  There is a demonic character in the form of Siamese twins – two semi-fused women.
J22d.  Foreigners or animals of two different species emerge from a single person or animal cut in half.
J22e.  The second character emerges from the afterbirth of the first.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
K6990.64%Several men walk towards the horizon to ascend to the sky and visit the Sun or another supreme deity. Usually, one or more of them perish along the way, while others reach their destination. They return by a shorter route than they came.
F45A190.45%A woman, against her will, conceives from the wind.
K10490.45%The youngest of the brothers stays at home, wounds a red swan or duck, and follows its trail.
M75A90.00%The character lures a veteran to avenge his fall from the sky. Either the (potauatomi) shovel drops the character or leaves him on top to avenge being lured and caught.
M66A89.54%After eating a certain food, the trickster leaves a mountain of excrement that is larger than himself.
M13A89.07%A deity and a human meet so that the former can fulfil the latter's request. As a result, the human is turned to stone. Usually (except for the Squamish), one of the supplicants wants eternal life and is turned to stone. See motif M13.
B42A88.70%Hunters chase a bear across the sky and kill it in August-October. The bear's blood or fat falls to the ground in the form of dew or colours the foliage red. See motif B42.
H37B88.70%One character gives another his power (usually a skunk gives his volley). The other wastes the resource unnecessarily to test its effect. Usually, when the need arises, the resource no longer works.
L7588.30%One of two brothers is the embodiment of evil; at birth, he cuts open his mother's body, killing her.
M53C87.89%trickster, inviting birds to dance around him with their eyes closed, kills them one at a time and threatens to turn red at the one that opens their eyes; this is an empty threat, or for a bird that opens eyes and eyes have really turned red ever since.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 5 traditions: Santa Cruz Islands (incl Nguna, Reef Islands), Winnebago, Teton (incl Oglala), Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Sicuani


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