The Mythology and Folklore Database
E8 - Wooden people.
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 first humans or the wife of the first ancestor were made of wood.Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms
E8 has 3 other sub-motifsE8. The first humans or the wife of the first ancestor were made of wood. E8a. Women or people in general emerge from fruits (often coconuts), or fruits or, less commonly, leaves turn into people or only women. Cf. motif k33c. e8b. A woman hides inside a fruit brought into the house and comes out when no one is around or when the fruit is cut open. e8c. A woman hides inside a splinter or branch brought into the house and comes out when no one is around. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of E8's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| G13A | 98.22% | Before the advent of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills), people ate earth, clay, and stones. |
| B17 | 96.31% | Darkness is a special object that can be carried and transferred (usually brought from the original owner in a vessel or bag). |
| F40A | 94.91% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| D5 | 94.34% | The original owner or inventor (but not the embodiment) of fire is a female character. |
| E6 | 94.19% | When a woman of childbearing age (she is menstruating, miscarrying, pregnant, with a child, or simply fat) tries to pass from one world to another, the connection between the worlds is severed forever. |
| L3 | 94.04% | The demon takes on human form and comes to his wife (less often to another woman). Usually, the woman (alone or with a child) runs away and/or kills the monster, either by herself or with someone's help. |
| L46 | 93.97% | The character walks, climbs or descends upside down, or sees the world turned upside down. |
| M5 | 93.97% | 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. |
| M11 | 93.61% | The character gives others food extracted from his or someone else's body or contaminated with bodily secretions, without revealing the source of the food. |
| F27 | 93.57% | It is dangerous for girls or women to approach water (water creatures drag them away or swallow them; a girl who approaches water dies; she becomes pregnant by a snake; through her fault, a flood or other disaster occurs; water spirits themselves come to a girl who has her first period). |
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 46 traditions: Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Bushmen (all groups), Southern Australia: Dieri, Urabunna (Arabana), Flinderce Mountains, Kujani, Andyamatana (Andjamatana, Wailpi), Melanesians of Admiralty Islands (incl Manus); Seimat (Western Islands), Niue, Minahasa (incl. Tondano, Tentemboan), Bantik, Bidayuh (incl. Maloh), Iban (Sea Dayak), Sakarram; Brunei, Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Andamanese, Livonians, Swedes, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Aleuts, Tutchone, Tagish, Athna, Tlingit, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Plains Ojibwa, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Yana, Yupa (Yukpa), Guajiro, Sicuani, Guayabero, Sanema, Wayana, Aparai, Karijona, Cubeo, Andoque, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Tenetehara, Machiguenga, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Bakairi, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Kamayura, Trumai, Suya, Txukarramae, Ofaie