Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I4B — Thunder in trouble: fighting the enemy.
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
OverviewA person helps thunder defeat the enemy.
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
I4 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedI4. When a vehicle moves across the sky, thunder rumbles.
I4a. Thunder falls to earth and cannot rise. Usually, a person helps it return to the sky.
I4b. A person helps thunder defeat the enemy.
I4c. The enemy of the thunderer temporarily defeats and captures him.
I4d. An enemy steals a weapon (usually a musical instrument) used by the thunder god to summon a storm. The thunder god or his assistant comes unrecognised to the thief, takes possession of his weapon and kills his enemies.
I4d1. An enemy steals the tendons (heart and eyes) of a thunder god, who returns them and prevails over his enemy. Cf. motif L57A, "The hero's companion returns his organ."
I4e. An anthropomorphic deity (associated with thunder and rain) rides on a cloud or a cloud.
I4F. The hero and his opponent engage in single combat and are still fighting in the sky. This is thunder.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K38B2 | 91.22% | A character (almost always a giant bird) brings the hero to its nest, after which the hero accidentally or at the bird's request kills the monster that was devouring the character's children (usually chicks). |
| L30 | 87.92% | The one who broke the food taboo experiences terrible thirst and drinks a huge amount of water. |
| K10B | 87.26% | A huge bird carries away to its nest a cage, bag or other container in which people are located. See motif 10A. |
| L69 | 86.09% | A monster attacks a person; a puma, jaguar or dog fights the monster, kills or drives it away; the person returns home. |
| K41 | 85.93% | A character representing a thunderstorm or a giant bird fights a snake or other large creature living in water or underground. |
| L28 | 85.67% | A person who eats unusual or forbidden meat or fish, or touches something forbidden, turns into a reptile or a fish. |
| J22E | 84.78% | The second character emerges from the afterbirth of the first. |
| I80A | 84.73% | Upon meeting the Thunders, a person becomes one of them. |
| J40 | 80.65% | The sky is inhabited by creatures that descend to kill people. Usually, the creature carries away a person or many people, or a human head. The hero (usually a close relative of the deceased) avenges the killer and/or returns the kidnapped person (persons; the carried-away body part). |
| I65 | 80.15% | The Milky Way is a path to another world, followed by the souls of the dead and/or shamans, or it is the path of a funeral procession. |
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
24 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 24 traditions: Ngbakka, Mbum (incl Mbai), Mundang, Fali, Tupuri, Maya (=Bali), Nyong, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Poles, Lithuanians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Eastern Cree, Huron (incl Wyandot), Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Mandan, Arikara, Plains Cree, Assiniboine, Crow, Hidatsa, Cherokee, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Tzutujil, Tzotzil, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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