The Mythology and Folklore Database
J54 - The last female escapes.
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
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}.Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
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
J54 has 2 other sub-motifsJ54. 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}. J54a. Two women, both or one of whom are animal characters, live together and have children. One of them kills and eats the other or is about to do so. The son of the murderer kills his mother for this, remains the sworn brother of the son of the murdered woman, or the children of the murderer and the victim run away together. Cf. motif J54B. J54b. The antagonist's son and the hero are half-brothers or full brothers (uncle and nephew; sworn brothers). When the antagonist tries to destroy the hero, the antagonist's son takes the hero's side. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of J54's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I22F | 93.16% | The character must pass small objects (trees, logs, blades) that constantly collide and diverge, fall and rise. |
| H28 | 91.89% | A creature that has been killed and destroyed (often burned) (usually a cannibal, a ferocious animal, or a powerful shaman) turns into stinging insects or other harmful, unpleasant, or dangerous creatures. |
| I16 | 88.91% | Early humans have no mouth, anus, or genitals, and their women are unable to give birth. |
| L14 | 88.56% | 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). |
| K10 | 88.51% | A monstrous bird (bat) attacks people, heroes engage in battle with it. See motifs K10A – K10G. |
| E8 | 88.50% | The first humans or the wife of the first ancestor were made of wood. |
| G13A | 88.32% | Before the advent of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills), people ate earth, clay, and stones. |
| I17 | 88.25% | 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*). |
| I8F | 88.12% | The sky, the world rests on a single object (a pillar or tree). |
| G23 | 87.90% | 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}. |
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 31 traditions: Kalenjin; including Sabaot, Nandi (Nande), Arusha, Kipsigis, Pokot (Suk), Keiyo (Elgeiyo), Marakwet, Sebeei, Northern Halmahera Papuans: Galela, Loda, Pagu, Modole, Tabaru (Tobaru), Tobelo, Tidore, Ternate, Numfoor, Warope, Wamesa (Wandamen, Windesi), Lavrung, Jiarong; Qiang (incl rGyalrong), Western Sami, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Forest Nenets, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Menominee, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Comox, Pentlatch, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Kalapuya, Takelma, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Yurok, Wailaki, Mattole, Lassik, Sinkyone, Cahto, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Chumash, Yokuts, Mono (Monache), Andoque, Mataco, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Salars