The Mythology and Folklore Database
B31 - Women turn into aquatic mammals.
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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
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.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 |
|---|---|---|
| E15 | 93.16% | People learn how to build boats and row from birds; a bird or part of its body serves as a model for building a boat. |
| B37 | 91.52% | The character decorates various birds (less often fish) and distributes fat to animals. Since then, the corresponding species have possessed their current characteristics. |
| F80 | 91.51% | The first men and/or women have no genitals, then they acquire them. |
| J37 | 90.18% | Transforming into a powerful bird or creating one, the hero lifts his opponent into the air and carries him away. |
| D9 | 90.18% | The raven or other large dark-coloured bird of prey is the owner, embodiment, spouse, provider or thief of fire, the sun or daylight. |
| F9E1 | 89.64% | A woman's womb is dangerous because it contains a toothy or stinging animal (not just its mouth) or many such creatures. |
| I22F | 88.04% | The character must pass small objects (trees, logs, blades) that constantly collide and diverge, fall and rise. |
| M75D | 86.83% | A man bereaves vultures of their hunting weapons or amulets |
| D13H | 86.11% | Those who have entered the world of the dead should not laugh. |
| J54 | 85.88% | The heroes of the narrative exterminate animals or demons of a certain species. This species could have disappeared altogether if one or more individuals (often a pregnant female) had not been saved. {This motif does not include aetiological endings, according to which the current creatures of a certain species originate from a dismembered original creature}. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 27 traditions: Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Melanesians and Papuans of Central Solomons: Vella la Vella (Bilua language), Shortland islands (Mono language), San Cristobal, Saint Georgia, Eddystone, Vangunu, Khmer, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Chukchi, Aleuts, Tanana, North Alaskan Inupiat, Netsilik, Caribou, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, West Greenland, Tillamook, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Wayana, Aparai, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Karijona, Cubeo, Juruna, Parintintin; Villa Bella (tribal affiliation unknown), Tapirape, Puelche, Selknam, Faroe Islands, Palau