The Mythology and Folklore Database
M46 - An imaginary baby
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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
Some creatures steal or own valuables. To return (get) them, the character turns into a small object, from contact with which a woman becomes pregnant, or into a baby. A picked up or born baby takes on its true appearance and steals valuables (including making the girl who picked it up pregnant, if that was his goal).Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior
M46 has 5 other sub-motifsM46. Some creatures steal or own valuables. To return (get) them, the character turns into a small object, from contact with which a woman becomes pregnant, or into a baby. A picked up or born baby takes on its true appearance and steals valuables (including making the girl who picked it up pregnant, if that was his goal). M46a. The character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60). M46b. The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif. M46c. The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif. M46d. A small child cries and calms down only after being given a valuable item hidden in the house to play with. After receiving an item, a child or an associated character takes it away. M46e. They (promise to) give a child the Sun (and or the Moon) to play with Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of M46's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| J65 | 98.21% | After the attack by enemies, a woman and her daughter remain. She rejects the marriage proposals of animal suitors and agrees to give her daughter to the heavenly deity (the Sun). The children from this marriage take revenge on their enemies. |
| M53A | 98.21% | raven gathers seals or other marine mammals around and deceives them into killing them. |
| M53D | 98.08% | The character pretends to be enemies coming; when people run away in fear, the character takes what the deceived people owned. |
| L66 | 97.86% | To help the hero, a small animal digs an underground passage beneath the lying monster, and the hero strikes it from below. |
| F67 | 97.54% | An old woman lives with her (adopted) daughter, niece or daughter-in-law. She (supposedly) turns into a man, marries a girl or tries to do so. |
| L67 | 97.48% | Having dug an underground passage to a lying monstrous hoofed animal, a small animal gnaws the wool from the place on the skin where the heart beats; the hero thrusts a spear or arrow into this place. See motif L66. |
| M61A | 97.35% | To get valuables, the character provokes a quarrel between their owners. When they start fighting each other, valuables fall out of their bodies and end up at the character's disposal. |
| L57 | 97.33% | The character loses an internal organ or part of the body, which is taken away by others; he approaches unnoticed and takes back what was lost. |
| K43A | 97.30% | People leave a boy, a girl, a sister and brother, a young woman or young spouses alone and depart. Someone sympathises with those who have been abandoned and secretly hides fire for them. |
| B7A | 97.17% | Someone possesses water or a drink. Another character swallows what is hidden, runs away and spits out what is hidden, making the water or drink available to everyone. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 44 traditions: Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Ifaluk, Woleai, Lamutrek, Faraulip Satawal, Elato, Western Fayu, Truk, Eastern Fayu, Losap, Pulap, Puluwat, Mortlock (incl. Satawan), Central Taiwan: Bunun (Vonum), La'arua, Tsou, Kanabu, Kanakanabu, Western Sami, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Forest Nenets, Nganasans, Dolgans, Negidal, Aleuts, Chipewyan, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Athna, Koyukon, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Quinault, Tillamook, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Kodiak