The Mythology and Folklore Database
K8C2 - The swallowed mouse.
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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 mouse is swallowed by a large land animal and comes out by cutting it open from the inside.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior
K8 has 11 other sub-motifsK8a. The character enters the belly of an aquatic creature or a giant creature whose appearance and habitat are not precisely described. He kills the creature from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. Upon emerging from the belly, he often finds himself bald (K921). Cf. motifs I81B (Charybdis) and L110 (Devourer). K8aa. A huge bird swallows people. The hero kills it, freeing those who have been swallowed, or, if he himself has been swallowed, he manages to get out alive. K8b. A raven finds itself in the belly of a whale; the woman inside asks it not to touch a certain organ of the whale (usually the heart) or a burning lamp. The raven breaks the prohibition, the woman disappears, and the whale dies. K8c. The character enters the belly of an ordinary land animal, kills it from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. Cf. motif M118. K8c1. A tiny man is first accidentally swallowed by a large herbivore, then carried off by a wolf that began to eat the carcass of this animal. K8c2. The mouse is swallowed by a large land animal and comes out by cutting it open from the inside. K8c3. One (zoomorphic) character refuses to use any part of another's body except the one he uses to kill him. K8c4. A small animal (bird, mouse, porcupine, fox) or (rarely) a tiny human being allows itself to be swallowed by a large ungulate (elk, deer, bison, tapir) in order to rip open its belly (and eat it). K8c5. A zoomorphic character no larger than a fox allows itself to be swallowed by a bear and kills it by tearing it apart from the inside. K8d. The character enters the body of an anthropomorphic creature, kills it from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. K8e. The character penetrates inside the creature through the anus. K8f. The swallowed one discovers a living deer in the belly of the monster. See motif K8A. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K8's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I22B | 97.58% | Migratory birds (or shamans in the form of birds) fly from our world to another; the path lies through a narrow opening between jutting rocks, or the sky strikes the earth, crushing those who fly through; and/or at the passage to the other world there is a character who feeds on birds; and/or in the world on the other side of the pulsating barrier there is the mistress of the birds. |
| B72 | 96.44% | Since the children do not give their mother water, she turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) and flies away. |
| B42MN | 96.08% | Only one character (rather than several) chases an animal (elk or bear) across the sky, associated with one of the circumpolar constellations, but not with the Pleiades or Orion. (In the Kalevala tradition, there is no identification with stars). |
| B48A | 95.85% | The bodies of animals, birds or fish contain internal organs or muscles that were originally parts of the bodies of other animals, birds, fish or monsters. Cf. motif B36C. |
| B68 | 95.26% | The giant hazel grouse became small – it was usually torn into pieces, which turned into the current hazel grouse. |
| K44B | 95.26% | The hero or heroine returns after a long absence. Seeing (usually from the roof of the house) his or her parents (mother, husband) languishing in poverty, he or she throws food at them, extinguishes the fire, pushes them, etc. At first, they usually do not understand what is going on. |
| I22B1 | 95.11% | Some migratory birds (shamans in the form of birds) die on the border of our world. |
| M162A | 94.87% | The character pretends to eat his own genitals. Another believes him and castrates himself. |
| A32G | 94.74% | On the lunar disc, a character can be seen holding onto a tree or bush and ending up on the moon with them. See motif A32D. |
| B11A | 94.67% | The mammoth, represented as an underground fish-like creature, creates rugged terrain on wet ground and digs river beds. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Finns, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Forest Nenets, Mongols (Khalkha), Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Yughs