Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J32B — Extended night.
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
OverviewIn order to accomplish what he wants, the hero prolongs the night by changing the behaviour of the character on whom the alternation of day and night depends.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
J32 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedJ32. Someone regularly steals livestock (horses, sheep, etc.) or crops (apples, hay, peas, flowers, etc.). Those who undertake to guard them (usually the older brothers) fail to catch the thief, and only the hero (usually the younger brother) discovers him.
J32a. When dying, a person orders that someone spend the night at his grave or bring something to the grave.
J32a1. But at night someone tramples the field, steals hay, etc. The hero learns that it is horses doing this.
J32b. In order to accomplish what he wants, the hero prolongs the night by changing the behaviour of the character on whom the alternation of day and night depends.
J32c. At night, a demonic character comes to the grave of the deceased, intending to harm him.
J32d. The girl will be won by the one who, on horseback or by some other means, quickly reaches a hard-to-reach place (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top steps of a staircase, a bridge, the bottom of a chasm, jumps over a moat, etc.). Usually, the girl herself is located where the suitor must climb or (rarely) descend. In Italian versions, the hero wins tournaments.
J32e. Every time a mare foals, the foal is stolen. The hero finds out who is doing this.
J32f. While standing guard, the hero discovers who is stealing fruit (usually apples) from the garden.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M39A2D | 100.00% | Fools plant meat, horns, or bones in the hope of raising animals. |
| B106 | 99.72% | First, the heavenly rooster crows (or the underground roosters crow), and only then do the earthly roosters crow. |
| K35A6 | 99.72% | The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found. |
| K56F | 99.64% | A man divides a roasted rooster (goose) according to the social ranks of those present (the head to the host, the wings to the daughters, etc.), usually taking the least prestigious but meatiest part for himself. |
| M182A | 99.57% | A person smears resin on a bull, a horse (usually making a figure that comes to life), or some object; wild animals or demons stick to it. Cf. motif K133. |
| M39I | 99.54% | After going broke, a person decides to hang himself, but finds gold (specially put by the father where his son hangs). |
| M191B | 99.48% | A man does good (does no harm) to a snake (fish, lion) and benefits from it. His son (less often someone else or himself) wounds the snake (usually cuts off its tail) and, if it is his son, dies from the bite. The snake refuses to continue its relationship with the man, and neither of them will forget their loss. |
| K35A5 | 99.09% | An authoritative character leaves an object (a letter) for a little boy, by which he will be able to recognise him when he grows up and comes to him. |
| K33A7 | 99.07% | After the death of a woman, her daughter or son advises her father to marry a neighbour, teacher, etc., who usually persuades the teenager to give such advice. After marrying the widower, the new wife begins to tyrannise her stepdaughter or stepson. |
| I92 | 98.99% | A person who has come into contact with a rainbow in a certain way (walked under it, drunk water where the rainbow drinks, etc.) changes their gender. |
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
10 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 10 traditions: Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis)
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.