The Mythology and Folklore Database
H28 - Creature turns into reptiles, A2034.
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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 creature that has been killed and destroyed (often burned) (usually a cannibal, a ferocious animal, or a powerful shaman) turns into stinging insects or other harmful, unpleasant, or dangerous creatures.Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 4, Origin of death, diseases and hard life
H28 has 3 other sub-motifsH28. A creature that has been killed and destroyed (often burned) (usually a cannibal, a ferocious animal, or a powerful shaman) turns into stinging insects or other harmful, unpleasant, or dangerous creatures. H28a. When a character is burned, the smoke and sparks turn into mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects that scatter throughout the world. H28b. Shorn hairs on animal skins or ash and smoke from burnt skins covered with wool turn into blood-sucking insects. H28c. The character creates blood-sucking insects to influence the behaviour of a mating partner. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of H28's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L18 | 95.21% | A bird with two or more heads in descriptions or images. |
| C5A | 95.06% | A bird, various birds, or people who then turn into birds are sent to explore the earth (whether it exists, whether it has dried up, whether there are any survivors, why smoke is rising from the earth, etc.) or with the task of bringing back a piece of solid substance to create dry land. |
| I14 | 94.91% | Creatures without an anal opening are described. |
| B12 | 92.75% | The riverbed follows the path of a snake, fish, dragon, or crab; the river arises from parts of the snake's body; the river is a snake. |
| E1A | 92.24% | The first humans are made of fragile materials (clay, wax, fire, honey, etc.) and prove to be unviable. |
| J54 | 91.89% | The heroes of the narrative exterminate animals or demons of a certain species. This species could have disappeared altogether if one or more individuals (often a pregnant female) had not been saved. {This motif does not include aetiological endings, according to which the current creatures of a certain species originate from a dismembered original creature}. |
| C2 | 91.34% | The inhabitants of the middle world (in part) are destroyed (or will be destroyed) once by fire or drought, another time by a flood, or the world is flooded with a stream of fire and boiling water. |
| I78 | 90.81% | The earth is thought of as rectangular (usually square). |
| D1B | 90.68% | The man is the master or embodiment of fire (alone or alongside the woman-fire). |
| L13 | 89.66% | People feed a dangerous creature, or it grows on its own in a man-made enclosure. Once it becomes big and strong, it starts to destroy people. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 110 traditions: Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Tenda (incl Bedik, Basari), Biafada, Nalu, Pajadinka, Badyara (Badiaranke), Batak (Toba, Dairi), 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, Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Semang, Senoi, SW Arunachal Pradesh: Sherdukpen, Tawang (Monpas), Aka (Hrusso), Miji, Early Chinese written sources, Lepcha, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Koreans, Poles, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Ancient Greece, Finns, Karelians, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Iranian literary tradition (including Avesta, Pahlevi scripts, Sah-nameh, Marzban-nameh); Zoroastrians of Iran, Indian Parsees, Zoroastrianism, Karachays, Balkar, Ingush, Armenians, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, Kurds, Chuvash, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Forest Nenets, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Evens (Lamuts), Ainu, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Udeghe, Oroch, Nanai, Negidal, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chipewyan, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Tanana, Beaver, Netsilik, Iglulik, Tlingit, Lenape (Delaware), Malecite, Passamaquoddy, Micmac, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Blackfoot, Plains Ojibwa, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Comox, Pentlatch, Sechelt (incl Sisiatl), Squamish, Halcomelem, Flathead, Alabama, Koasati, Western Mexico Nahuatl, Kekchi; Mopan, Paya (Pech), Sumu, Misquito, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Bari, Guajiro, Sicuani, Cuiva, Guayabero, Makiritare (Yecuana), Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Colorado (Tsachila), Cañari, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Karijona, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Puinave, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Tariana, Juruna, Tenetehara, Machiguenga, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Moseten, Chimane, Chacobo, Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Kamayura, Kayabi, Nambikwara, Paresi, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Chamacoco (Ishir), Mataco, Toba (incl Pilagá), Caduveo, Mbaya, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa, Selknam, Yughs, Dong, Maonan