A widespread motif, especially among archaic peoples, concerns the supposed descent of the human species from plants or animals. These descent traditions usually name a particular species as humanity’s ancestor, and the peoples frequently take their name from the plant or animal. In some myths, an asexual mode of creation is implied; a child, for example, appears from the bud of a tree or from a split fruit, or a human being is a featherless bird sent from the sky. Even the motif of human birth from an egg is predominantly an asexual motif inasmuch as no preliminary coition is ...(100 of 22834 words)