Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

I52 — Fish – the support of the earth.

236 Myths, legends and folktales

236 Unique narratives for motif I52

92 Cultures & traditions where I52 is told

0 Sub-motifs of motif I52

Please log on to view the narratives.

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

The world rests on a fish or fish-like creature, or the earth itself is such a creature or originated from a fish. See motif I8B.

Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
K27X3	97.67%	The ruler seeks to take possession of the wife or bride of a man of lower social status and, in order to get rid of him, gives him impossible tasks or secretly kills him. {Both ATU and some regional indexes (e.g., Cardigos 2006: 110) list texts that do not meet the definition of plot 465: the king's desire to take possession of the hero's wife is not explicitly stated as the reason why the king seeks to get rid of the hero}.
I85	97.44%	Polar Star – stake, nail, hitching post, etc.
B79A	97.03%	At the beginning of time, a bird flies, lays an egg or eggs, and various objects or creatures hatch from them.
K73A	96.91%	Malicious women replace the newborn with an animal or an inanimate object (they tell the baby's father that his wife gave birth to an animal or an object). See motif K73.
K38	96.87%	For doing good to chicks (rarely: young of non-ornithomorphic flying creatures), their mother or father does a favour for the person.
M153A	96.40%	A predator is about to eat a human or herbivorous animal. The intended victim asks to be allowed to wash first, and as a result is saved. (Among the Transylvanian Saxons, this involves being baptised with water).
I57	96.27%	Thunder's enemies are animals, reptiles, and spirits that live in burrows. They usually hide from him in various objects and items, and Thunder (a god, angel, etc.) strikes his enemies or these objects with lightning.
K73	95.85%	A young wife (promises to give birth and) gives birth to wonderful children (or one son). In the absence of her husband, attempts are made to kill the wife or her child (usually by slandering them to the husband), but they remain alive. (For medieval European variants, see Newell 1906).
M152	95.68%	Seeing a predator (a giant, etc.) approaching, the weak character pretends to thank the one who is leading the predator for his promise to bring prey, or his wife and children (rarely: he himself) begin to talk aloud about how they are going to eat the predator or how they have eaten his companions before.
N37	95.68%	The character is said to sleep under the sky (like a blanket).

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

Drag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below

🌐 Open as Airocean (Dymaxion) map ↗

Traditions

92 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 92 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Arabs of Egypt, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Nuba, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Minangkabau; Kerinci, Malay; Temuan (incl Mantra or Mentra), Jakun (Moken), Northern Taiwan: Atayal (Tayal; Taruko (Toda, Taokas, Torok, Taroko), Pazeh, Sedeq (Sediq, Seedeq, Sazek), Saisiyat (Saixia), Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Bengali, Bhils (incl Barela-Bhilala), Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Lahu, Kucong, Nosu, Nisu, Nusu, Sani, Jino, Early Chinese written sources, Lepcha, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Uzbek, Tajik, Persians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Nogai, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Talysh, Kazakh, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Chuvash, Udmurt, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Tofa (Karagas), Khakas, Shor, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Nenets, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Western Tungus (Evenki), Western Siberia Tungus (Evenki): Sym River, Ket River, Ainu, Udeghe, Oroch, Uilta (Orok), Nivkh, Manchu, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Early Russian written sources, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area, Bosnians, China, Japan, Russian Federation

Please log on to view the narratives.

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 © 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.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.