Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
D7 — Toad and fire.
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 frog or toad possesses the first fire, steals it from its original owner, and tries to extinguish it or save it from dying out. See motif D4.
Berezkin category: Fire and Laughter
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
D7 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedD7. The frog or toad possesses the first fire, steals it from its original owner, and tries to extinguish it or save it from dying out. See motif D4.
D7a. The spider possesses the first fire or steals it from its original owner (texts in which the spider acts together with other animals and does not play the main role are not included).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F13 | 99.80% | The genitals of humans or monkeys acquire their current shape and colour as a result of copulation with a girl who had a toothy womb or no vagina. |
| I83 | 99.41% | Birds (especially vultures and eagles) lived or live in the sky, usually on one of several tiers of the upper world. |
| M8D | 99.18% | Birds break through the hard cover on the character's body to reach his entrails. |
| G13 | 99.12% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba â Ceiba L., balsa â Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
| K13A | 98.81% | The character's leg (rarely: both legs) is cut off, bitten off, torn off, or damaged. The character ascends to the sky: to the moon; becomes the moon; turns into a star or constellation; becomes the sun; blood flowing from the leg colours the sky. |
| F40A | 98.73% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| A27 | 98.29% | The light and/or heat of the sun and/or moon is contained in their crowns, necklaces or clothing (made of feathers or animal teeth). |
| J28A | 98.09% | When asking how one of his parents died, the hero receives a series of false answers. He often exposes himself to the same dangers, but remains alive, proving the falsity of the proposed versions. |
| M75 | 98.01% | The character attracts and catches corpse eaters (usually birds) and as a result obtains valuables or returns something valuable (fire, woman, animals, etc.). |
| H37 | 97.73% | A magical item that makes hunting or fishing easy and reliable falls into the hands of a character who is unable to control it or abuses it. |
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
40 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 40 traditions: Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Tanana, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Karok, Yurok, Yana, Navajo, Hopi, Mayo, Yaqui, Sinaloa, Rama, Guatuso, Guaymi, Bocota, Dorasque; XVI century data on Western Panama, Chimila (Ette), Yupa (Yukpa), Sicuani, Yaruro, Makiritare (Yecuana), Yabarana, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Wayana, Aparai, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Ashaninca (Campa), Tacana, Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Parintintin; Villa Bella (tribal affiliation unknown), Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Kamayura, Bororo, Caraja, Tapirape, Suya, Txukarramae, Mataco, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa, Manao, Katawishi (Teffe lake); groups of uncertain affiliation mostly from Rio Jamunda, Matses (Mayoruna)
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