A31A. The severed breast .39.-.41.

Upon learning that her husband or lover has done something incompatible with accepted norms, the woman cuts off her breasts and shows them to him. See motif A31.

SV Asia. Chukchi [The raven pretends to be dead; Mitya carries the corpse on a sledge to a dugout intended for burial; on the way, the wind blows, the Raven laughs; the son notices this, says to his mother, she reproaches the boy; M. leaves the Crow a bag of meat and a bag of fat; the fox notices how he cooks (or just sees smoke), says M.; she cuts off one breast, sews her plucked breast instead partridge, falls on the Raven through a smoke hole; he is frightened, returns home]: Bogoras 1902, No. 10:648; coastal Koryaks [Big Raven (Kikinnyaku) harnesses mice into sledges comes to reindeer people; they laugh at loading a lot of meat on the sledge; unexpectedly for them, K. leaves with luggage; at home pretends to be dying, asks his sons not to burn the corpse, but to leave it empty with provisions dugout; eats alone; sons find him; his wife plucks the partridge, cuts off her breasts, ties it to a partridge, shows it to K.; he is frightened, returns to his wife]: Jochelson 1908, No. 65:224.

The Arctic. Central Yupik; Northern Alaska Inupiate; Polar Eskimos; Labrador Eskimos; Angmassaliks; West Greenland.

Subarctic. Inhalic.