Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

I105 — Hand in the sky.

28 Myths, legends and folktales
28 Unique narratives for motif I105
21 Cultures & traditions where I105 is told
1 Sub-motifs of motif I105
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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

Overview

One of the constellations is associated with the hand (with five marked fingers).

Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations.

I10 has 1 other sub-motifs

Related

I10a.  Individual layers or categories of the sky or clouds differ in colour.
I10b.  Individual layers or categories of earth differ in colour (and other characteristics).

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of I10’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
J3999.95%The antagonist makes the woman his slave. Other characters secretly come to her and kill a small animal or bird for her. The antagonist suspects that the woman could not have caught the game herself, but she insists that she did.
B44D99.76%Night and day alternate because the slain beast was black and white, spotted.
I37E99.76%Tree mushrooms cry out like people.
K27V99.76%The character must hit the bird with an arrow or a stone. (Cf. motif K27M, where it is not the accuracy of the archer that is important, but the unusual appearance of the creature that needs to be caught).
L1C99.76%Those fleeing from the monstrous bear ascend to the sky and turn into stars.
M29D99.76%See the motives in square brackets.
F28C99.18%A woman masturbates with the penis of a large animal that one of the men killed while hunting.
L33F99.14%A rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces.
L1B98.86%A young woman turns into a monstrous bear and kills most people except her younger sister (Ojibwa: the younger sister of her former husband). Their brothers (or one brother) return from hunting and kill the bear, or she dies while chasing them. Cf. motif L65D.
K1H98.38%The character finds himself inside a tree trunk or inside a rock; someone frees him by making a hole from the outside.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

21 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 21 traditions: Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Osage, Arikara, Crow, Hidatsa, Cherokee, Chumash, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Luiseño, Juaneño, Hopi, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Diegueño: Ipai, Tipai, Kamia (Kumeai), Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Scythians, Scythe

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