The Mythology and Folklore Database
M78E - Baby ear




11 Myths, Legends and Folktales
11 Unique Narratives for Motif M78E
5 Cultures & Traditions where M78E is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
7 Sub-Motifs of Motif M78E


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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 tiny boy comes from an animal's ear, compared in size to an ear, his name is “ear”.

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


M78 has 7 other sub-motifs


M78.  A tiny little man performs a series of tricks, mocks people he meets and opponents.
M78a.  A tiny little man emerges from the severed tail of a goat or sheep.
M78b.  Wishing a baby, a childless woman gives birth to many tiny boys. She or her husband kill them or throw them away, but she stays alone and helps their parents.
M78c.  A tiny little man emerges from a severed finger.
M78d.  A tiny boy (rarely a girl) comes from a pea (bean, seed) or from a spool of goat droppings, he is almost as tall as a pea. Or he was born after his mother ate a pea.
M78e.  A tiny boy comes from an animal's ear, compared in size to an ear, his name is “ear”.
M78f.  When a woman falls asleep, a joker (usually a tiny boy) places an embryo or the entrails of an animal or something similar next to her to make the woman herself or others think she has a miscarriage or that her viscera has fallen out.
M78g.  When the inhabitants of the house fall asleep, a joker (usually a tiny boy) ties them together in pairs so that when they wake up, they quarrel.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
C33B100.00%The demise of the first race is associated with the appearance of wind.
F100A100.00%In order to revive a man or remove an arrowhead (bullet) from his body, a chaste girl or woman must touch (step over) the dead or wounded man.
J59C100.00%A character strikes the remains of the deceased with a whip or a lash, and the deceased comes back to life.
K167B100.00%A boy is able to determine the sex and colour of a young animal in the womb.
K172100.00%A man describes his daughter to a potential groom as ugly and crippled. The groom agrees to the marriage, and the bride turns out to be beautiful.
K182100.00%A supernatural defender comes to the rescue upon hearing the alarm, but stops doing so after the alarm has been raised in vain.
K27U2100.00%An authoritative character orders to find out where the tumbleweed is rolling or what news it brings.
K73B2100.00%It is necessary to boil the pot by telling an incredible but nevertheless true story.
L103A100.00%A girl, a young woman, runs away from a demonic character; she manages to run home, but her relatives do not open the door. The pursuer finds and eats her. (A musical instrument is made from her hair or intestines). (Overview of variants in Rakhno 2016: 475-484).
L110B100.00%The stomach (spleen) removed from the body of a domestic animal or bird turns out to be a voracious monster.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 5 traditions: Nogai, Kazakh, Turkmen, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians


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