The Mythology and Folklore Database
G23 - Multiple objects from a single creature.
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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
The origin of various (more than two) creatures or objects is explained by the metamorphosis of a living creature or part of its body. {Only texts of an aetiological nature are taken into account. For statistical purposes, all texts with motifs G23A and G23B are also included in motif G23}.Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature
G23 has 2 other sub-motifsG23. The origin of various (more than two) creatures or objects is explained by the metamorphosis of a living creature or part of its body. {Only texts of an aetiological nature are taken into account. For statistical purposes, all texts with motifs G23A and G23B are also included in motif G23}. G23a. Parts of the body and organs of living beings are transformed into various plants (teeth into corn, testicles into yams, etc.). G23b. People from different ethnic groups arise from parts of the creature's body, or people from different groups receive their names (and characteristics) depending on which parts of the creature's body they have received. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of G23's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I108 | 95.12% | The Pleiades are a single character, not a group of people. |
| L14 | 94.81% | People bring a small creature (usually a worm or reptile) into their home and raise it, or it settles into a man-made dwelling on its own. The creature turns into something terrifying or magnificent. See motif L13 (raised monster attacks people). |
| I33 | 93.54% | The soul on its journey to the afterlife stops at a certain tree. |
| J47 | 93.03% | A character climbs up to the sky using a rope, ladder, etc., or climbs a tree or rock, or descends from the sky to the ground, or rises to the ground from the underworld. Another character climbs after them, but the rope or ladder breaks or is cut, and the character falls. |
| K27N3B | 92.78% | The character who gives the hero or heroine difficult tasks or subjects them to trials lives in the sky, but is not associated with the sun, moon, thunder or wind. See motif K27. |
| I62 | 92.51% | The Milky Way is a heavenly river, a body of water, a chain of creatures floating in the water. |
| F16 | 92.22% | Men possessed biological characteristics that are now characteristic of women, or vice versa (beards, menstruation, breasts, childbearing). |
| A12A | 91.00% | During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12. |
| K25E | 90.76% | Humans in general or a specific ethnic, tribal or social group are considered descendants of an earthly man and woman of supernatural origin. |
| I8F | 90.19% | The sky, the world rests on a single object (a pillar or tree). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 72 traditions: Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Algeria Arabs, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Hadza, Trans-New Guinea and unclassified Papuan groups of Irian Jaya: Mejprat, Arandai-Bintuni, Inanwatan-Berau, Papua of Gelvink (Cenderawasih) Bay, Kamoró, Marind Anim, Sawi, Mafore; Korowai; Kwerba; Momina, Eipo, Yale, Awyu, Central Vanuatu: Espiritu Santo, Araki, Aore, Maewo, Malekula, Vao, Efate (Vate), Nguna, Mae, Ambrim, Pentecost, Oba (=Aoba, East Ambae, Lepers'), Omba, Yap, Sumbawa (incl Dongo), Minahasa (incl. Tondano, Tentemboan), Bantik, Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Central islands and Bikol: Vizaya, Mansaká, Bikol, Mangyan, Panayan, Sulod, Cebuano (Cebu), Capiz, Romblomanon, Manuyu, 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, Wa (incl Kawa), Bulang, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Juang, Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Early Chinese written sources, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Ingush, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Forest Nenets, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Dolgans, Udeghe, Oroch, Nanai, Negidal, Kerek, Tanana, Beaver, Iglulik, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Tuscarora, Winnebago, Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Pawnee, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Nez Perce, Chelan, Wenatchi, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Zuni, Kiliwa, Mayo, Yaqui, Sinaloa, Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Puinave, Ese’ejja, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Mataco, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Mustang, Lao, China