The Mythology and Folklore Database
J27A - The rejected child kills his father.




11 Myths, Legends and Folktales
11 Unique Narratives for Motif J27A
6 Cultures & Traditions where J27A is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
2 Sub-Motifs of Motif J27A


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

One of the babies is abandoned and lives in a river, forest, etc.; the other remains at home; after the abandoned brother returns home, the brothers kill their father or his men. See motifs J19, J25.

Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures


J27 has 2 other sub-motifs


J27.  A little boy (several babies) was abandoned, born to a mother who had already died, lives in a river, in a forest, etc. Another boy lives with his father or mother, but in the end the first one moves to live in the locus of the second. Often (see motif J25, "Infants hide and return"), the brother living in the river, in the forest, etc., first secretly meets with his "home" brother (with his brothers; with other children from his clan; with a puppy nursed by his mother).
J27a.  One of the babies is abandoned and lives in a river, forest, etc.; the other remains at home; after the abandoned brother returns home, the brothers kill their father or his men. See motifs J19, J25.
J27b.  An infant is thrown into a lake or river and occasionally comes ashore. In addition to his earthly parents, he has a father (and mother) in the underwater world. He does not want to part with them, nor do they want to let him go.

 Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of J27's motifs?



Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
M61A399.00%The character tells each of two different species of fish how the other allegedly used to be hostile or offensive towards the former. Fish kill each other and the character prepares them to eat.
M32A97.78%character's insides or pieces of flesh fall out of his back. He eats them, mistaking them for regular meat and fat.
L7597.02%One of two brothers is the embodiment of evil; at birth, he cuts open his mother's body, killing her.
J41B96.61%The son returns, finds his mother, who was humiliated and tortured in his absence, and burns his tormentor and his men, summoning fire and heat with magic.
M29J96.55%See the motives in square brackets.
B42A96.48%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.
H5396.21%The wolf participates in the creation of the earth or is the brother of the creator and/or conqueror of the demons of the underworld. He dies and/or is considered the first to die and/or becomes the lord of the land of the dead.
M65A96.08%The trees are creaking in the wind. Hearing a creak, the character climbs a tree and gets stuck. See M65 motif.
C25A95.62%In the sky, on the moon, somewhere outside our world, a character (usually an old woman) cooks soup. The fate of the universe depends on his (her) behaviour.
K1J95.62%The abandoned one turns into a bird and returns home faster than the one who abandoned him.

 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 6 traditions: Micmac, Eastern Cree, Plains Cree, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Alabama, Koasati, Creek, Seminole; Tuskegee; iconography of Kentucky Hopewell


Please log on to view the narratives.