Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B46A1 — The Big Dipper – robbers.
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 stars of the Big Dipper – thieves or robbers.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations.
B46 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedB46. Each of the seven stars of the Big Dipper is an adult male.
B46a. One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from the others (usually stolen by the stars of the Big Dipper and identified with Alcor).
B46a1. The stars of the Big Dipper – thieves or robbers.
B46b. Each of the seven main stars of the Big Dipper is a separate female character. {Included in the online database, but not in the correlation table in *sav)}.
B46c. Each of the stars of the Big Dipper is a separate character (people or animals).
B46d. Men, each of whom excels others in a particular art, turn into stars.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M29Z | 99.87% | hero of the story is a character named “Beardless” or Aldar-Kose (Aldar is a “deceiver”, a braid is “beardless”). |
| I89 | 99.68% | There is a star that brings death and misfortune; it is usually told how people mistake a star or constellation rising at night for the Morning Star, set off on a journey and lose their way. |
| I87AD | 99.54% | A giant hides a persecuted person in his mouth – usually (perhaps always) in a tooth cavity; or the person remains alive in the giant's mouth, hiding in a tooth cavity. Cf. motif M21a. |
| E41 | 99.41% | A skilled blacksmith, as a special gift, can take iron heated in a furnace with his bare hands, knead it like dough, and shape it as desired. Usually, he breaks a certain taboo and loses his gift. (The motif was identified and the material collected by Ruslan Doutalieyev). |
| A32I | 99.38% | A shepherd (shepherd and girl, shepherd and his flock, dogs) can be seen on the lunar disc. |
| B108 | 99.38% | An anthropomorphic character that has fallen apart into pieces turns into snow. |
| K156 | 99.38% | A girl pretends to be a man. To determine who it really is, flowers are placed under the pillow or mattress. If a man is sleeping, they will remain fresh, but if a woman is sleeping, they will wilt by morning (or if a woman is sleeping, the milk left under the bed will sour). |
| K77B3 | 99.38% | Goats encounter a wolf. One goat has one stomach, the second has two, the third has three, and so on. The goat with the most stomachs kills or scares away the wolf. |
| L65A2 | 99.38% | A man shoots off (damages) the finger of a demonic creature, and then sees that his sister, lying in her cradle, has lost her finger. |
| L85D | 99.38% | The hero encounters a giant and a strongman (usually a ploughman) with one arm, one leg, or one eye. He was crippled by a character who turned out to be much bigger and stronger than him. |
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
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Basques, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Uzbek, Kumyk, Terekemen, Nogai, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Khakas, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians
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