Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
H10 — The sunken stone.
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
OverviewPeople are mortal, as they are likened to a stone thrown into water; they usually miss the opportunity to resemble organic matter that floats in water.
Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 4, Origin of death, diseases and hard life.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M29I | 95.06% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| K8E | 92.49% | The character penetrates inside the creature through the anus. |
| I117 | 92.22% | A spider or spider woman lifts a hero or heroine up to the sky, helps them descend to earth, or otherwise helps them cross the path leading to another world. |
| E10 | 91.76% | Characters who have shed their animal (plant, object) forms become the children of women or spouses who catch them off guard. |
| F65 | 90.34% | To satisfy their secret desire, which involves breaking social norms (forbidden sex, refusing to share food with relatives), the character pretends to be dying, abandoned at the burial site. |
| M42 | 90.15% | The character takes his eyes out of his orbits and loses them. He usually regains his eyes later, makes new ones, takes away from another character, etc. See the M41 motif. |
| I1 | 89.91% | Creatures that cause or embody rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or winged anthropomorphic characters. {Traditions in which birds are associated with thunderstorms and rain, but Thunder itself is not a bird, are marked with an asterisk (*). |
| M89 | 89.77% | A character is humiliated after an object or creature made of wax, resin, or excrement that he made himself or that he thought was strong melts warmly, the present. |
| M87 | 89.71% | The character comes to a place that is abandoned or seems to have been abandoned by the inhabitants. He tries to take or touch things, but invisible owners prevent him from doing so, or the things themselves hurt him. |
| K27YY | 88.49% | The hero is sent to a tree that is supposed to fall on 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
28 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 28 traditions: Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Shilluk, Anuak, Tsamai (Tsamako), Omotic: Ari (incl Baka, Male, Schangama, Ubamer), Kafa, Dime, Banna, Basketo, Nao, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Southeast Australia: Kamilaroi, Yualarai (Ualarai, Euahlayi), Milpulo (Mailpurgu), Wuradjeri (Wiradjurim, Wiradjeri, Wurundjeri, Yarra, Yarra Yarra), Wongaibon (Wonghibon), Noongahburrah (Narran, Narran River), Kurnai, and many others (see file 0.doc), Central Vanuatu: Espiritu Santo, Araki, Aore, Maewo, Malekula, Vao, Efate (Vate), Nguna, Mae, Ambrim, Pentecost, Oba (=Aoba, East Ambae, Lepers'), Omba, Dogrib, Slavey, Hare (K'ahsho Got'ine), Tutchone, Tagish, Kaska, Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa Apache, Comanche, Gros Ventre, Carrier, Navajo, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Lipan, Kamayura, Botocudo, Chamacoco (Ishir)
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements Š Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
Š 2024â2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.