Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
A38C — The Sun's Cloak.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewThe Sun exchanges a cape made of animal or bird skins with a boy or girl, or spoils it. As a result, the boy or girl raises their status or takes revenge on the Sun.
Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 1, Sun and Moon.
A38 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedA38. The sun falls into a snare, a trap, and finds itself tied by a rope.
A38a. The sun is caught in a loop made of a woman's pubic hair.
A38b. The sun gets caught in a trap. Only a mouse or other small animal manages to gnaw through the trap and free the sun.
A38c. The Sun exchanges a cape made of animal or bird skins with a boy or girl, or spoils it. As a result, the boy or girl raises their status or takes revenge on the Sun.
A38d. Because the Sun has harmed the character (ruined or burned his cloak, the fur on his skin, etc.), he catches it in a trap or kills it.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M53 | 98.69% | The character invites others to gather around him, focusing on an activity (usually dancing with their eyes closed or lowered), and then kills the crowd (usually one at a time). |
| L5E | 98.15% | The decapitated body of a woman pursues her husband, while her head pursues their children. |
| L1A | 98.10% | A young woman turns into a bear (in Asia, a tigress) and attacks her close relatives or husband. |
| K27Y | 98.04% | The hero is sent or, knowing the danger, goes himself to obtain various (at least two) materials for making a bow and arrows (shafts, feathers, bowstring, flint for arrowheads, paint for colouring arrows, resin and fibres for attaching the arrowhead or feather to the shaft, etc.). See motif K27. |
| D4N | 98.00% | A boy or (among the Kutené) a woman cries, demanding the absent elements - summer, fire, rain. See motif D4A (demand for summer). |
| J19B | 97.98% | An evil spirit kills a woman by burning through her body. |
| M69 | 97.64% | character is attracted by the inside of a large animal's skull (small animals or insects are dancing or feasting inside, or eating some meat); he sticks his head inside , it gets stuck. |
| B42C | 97.42% | In the cosmic hunting plot, the object of pursuit is a bear. See motifs B42 and B42P. |
| A38D | 97.01% | Because the Sun has harmed the character (ruined or burned his cloak, the fur on his skin, etc.), he catches it in a trap or kills it. |
| A38B | 96.80% | The sun gets caught in a trap. Only a mouse or other small animal manages to gnaw through the trap and free the sun. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
14 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 14 traditions: Tagish, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Attikamek, Menominee, Winnebago, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Comox, Pentlatch, Halkomelem (Snaymuk)
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