The Mythology and Folklore Database
B56 - The crocodile's fiery tongue.
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 crocodile/caiman is left without a tongue after swallowing or losing the fire (which it previously possessed); something associated with heavenly fire (lightning, sunbeams, etc.) emerges from the crocodile's severed tongue.Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
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
B56 has 1 other sub-motifsB56. The crocodile/caiman is left without a tongue after swallowing or losing the fire (which it previously possessed); something associated with heavenly fire (lightning, sunbeams, etc.) emerges from the crocodile's severed tongue. B56A. The reptile's tongue is cut off or mutilated (no association with fire). See motif B56. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of B56's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| F19 | 99.99% | After copulating with a frog, a man's penis is crippled (unless otherwise stated: it becomes long, see motif F18A). |
| M9A | 99.99% | A character who eagerly sucks honey from a hollow and/or gets stuck in a hollow turns into a tree frog. See M9 motif. |
| A1A | 99.70% | Before the sun appeared, the world was lit by a large bird with bright colours (a parrot or toucan). |
| A26 | 99.70% | The bird embodies the sun, daylight; it can be caught, released, killed. |
| B25 | 99.70% | Characters who climb trees or vines and then fall turn into wild pigs or other game animals. |
| B75D | 99.70% | The sound of leaves or grass rustling in the wind has been heard since the time of creation. |
| F29A | 99.70% | To kill a woman's lover, who has the appearance of a worm or snake and crawls into her vagina from under the ground, boiling water, resin or hot coals are poured on him. |
| J12C | 99.70% | A girl meets her fiancé at a dance and then follows in his footsteps. See motif J12. |
| K8F | 99.70% | The swallowed one discovers a living deer in the belly of the monster. See motif K8A. |
| I54 | 99.30% | Inside a snake or other aquatic creature are aquatic animals or live fish; an aquatic monster gives birth to fish, is the master of fish; turns into many fish. |
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 15 traditions: Ngbakka, Mbum (incl Mbai), Mundang, Fali, Tupuri, Maya (=Bali), Nyong, Tepehua, Totonac, Gulf Nahuatl, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Chorti, Bribri, Cabecar, Terraba; Chiriqui (AD 800-1500) iconography, Guajiro, Piaroa, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Akawai, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Mundurucu, Curuaia