The Mythology and Folklore Database
J33A - An old woman beats a scarecrow.




4 Myths, Legends and Folktales
0 Unique Narratives for Motif J33A
4 Cultures & Traditions where J33A is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
1 Sub-Motifs of Motif J33A


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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 boy, a young man, or two children live in an old woman's house. They kill her husband—a man or a large animal—and make a scarecrow out of him. Angry that her husband is not responding to her, the old woman beats the scarecrow and then discovers that her husband has been killed. See motif J33.

Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures


J33 has 1 other sub-motifs


J33.  A boy, a young man, or two children live in the house of an older character. In order to elicit a certain reaction from him, they kill a person or a large animal, stuff the scarecrow with insects, worms, ashes, grass, or inflate it.
J33a.  A boy, a young man, or two children live in an old woman's house. They kill her husband—a man or a large animal—and make a scarecrow out of him. Angry that her husband is not responding to her, the old woman beats the scarecrow and then discovers that her husband has been killed. See motif J33.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
A10100.00%The sun gets its sparkling eyes (eye) from an animal.
A11C100.00%The Sun and Moon kill a monster whose eyes shine differently. At first, the Moon takes the brighter eye, but then swaps with the Sun.
B23100.00%The deity forbids the use of fire for cooking and punishes those who violate the prohibition.
B39100.00%An insect or character, which later turns into an insect, knows where food (cultivated plants) or water is located, but refuses to share this knowledge. To find the valuables (usually to force the insect to reveal its secret), the first ancestors pull on a rope tied around the character's waist (the origin of the bridge between the abdominal and thoracic sections of insects).
G12100.00%A huge tree bearing various fruits and/or containing water in its trunk grows out of a human body or is a transformed human being.
G27100.00%Cultivated plants appear together with urine or in the place where the hero urinated.
J12A100.00%A girl or two sisters come to an old woman who invites them to marry her son. In reality, he is a worm, a snake or a penis, which his mother hides in a vessel during the day. The girl (sisters) do not allow him to approach them and run away. See motif J12.
J51B100.00%The moon has been eaten or has died and its body has decomposed. It is revived, but a small part (the bone) is missing. This determines the characteristics of the moon or the characteristics of human anatomy.
G399.75%Cultivated plants or fertile soil for their cultivation are hidden inside the rock. Birds or thunder gods pierce a hole in the rock.
G1699.41%Ants are the first to find cultivated plants that are unknown to others and concentrated in one place.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: Western Mexico Nahuatl, Zapotec, Chatino, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Zaparo


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