The Mythology and Folklore Database
M43 - Bait figure
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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
To kill or catch a monster, he sees a figure made of wood or clay or a living person. Most often, a monster's claws or sharp leg get stuck when they pierce a tree.Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I83 | 98.08% | Birds (especially vultures and eagles) lived or live in the sky, usually on one of several tiers of the upper world. |
| H35 | 97.97% | Human teeth are made of fragile material. Usually, the motif explains the aetiology of toothache. |
| C1 | 97.72% | In the past, a catastrophic shift in the layers of the universe occurred or will occur in the future. Among the variants (sometimes combined): the sky fell to the earth; the present earth or underground world swapped places with the sky; the earth turned upside down; it fell into the underworld; the layers of the universe successively collapsed onto the earth or will swap places in the future. |
| E26 | 97.39% | People, or only women, go underwater and turn into fish. Men catch them with fishing gear. Those who are caught become human (women) again. (Narratives about the transformation of only one caught fish into the hero's wife are not included; see motif F7). |
| E25 | 97.04% | People learn the art of weaving from a spider or from a person who later becomes a spider; the spider makes fabrics for humans. |
| K19A | 97.03% | A man marries a star woman. |
| M5 | 96.98% | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. |
| M75 | 96.95% | The character attracts and catches corpse eaters (usually birds) and as a result obtains valuables or returns something valuable (fire, woman, animals, etc.). |
| H37 | 96.91% | A magical item that makes hunting or fishing easy and reliable falls into the hands of a character who is unable to control it or abuses it. |
| F13 | 96.84% | The genitals of humans or monkeys acquire their current shape and colour as a result of copulation with a girl who had a toothy womb or no vagina. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Southeast Australia: Kamilaroi, Yualarai (Ualarai, Euahlayi), Milpulo (Mailpurgu), Wuradjeri (Wiradjurim, Wiradjeri, Wurundjeri, Yarra, Yarra Yarra), Wongaibon (Wonghibon), Noongahburrah (Narran, Narran River), Kurnai, and many others (see file 0.doc), Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Mansi, Miami, Illini, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Twana (Skokomish), Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Makiritare (Yecuana), Waiwai, Trio, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Kofan, Machiguenga, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Cashibo, Bororo, Caraja, Craho, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje)