Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J55 — The unrecognised hero encounters enemies.
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
OverviewThe hero encounters characters who, not recognising him, say that they are waiting for so-and-so (naming him) to kill him. He easily kills them or turns them into animals.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J50B | 95.56% | The father (alone or with his brother) is only partially resurrected and is unable to live among people (he cannot be a warrior). The hero leaves him (in another world) or allows him to die completely. |
| I112 | 95.53% | The boat is a living creature with a mouth, a fish. |
| L15A1 | 95.47% | The character's vulnerable spot is located at the bottom of the foot (heel, toe, sole, ankle). |
| K87A | 95.23% | A forest woman receives or kidnaps a little boy and raises him to be her lover. |
| K27N3A | 95.18% | The character who gives the hero difficult tasks or subjects him to trials is associated with the sun, moon, thunder or wind (cloud, downpour). See motif K27. |
| M71 | 94.83% | A character (usually carried away by a river or fallen from a height) turns into a piece of wood. Someone is picking it up. The character then takes on his true form, usually in the absence of the hosts. |
| A34 | 94.76% | The jackal, coyote or fox are associated with the moon (usually with the appearance of lunar spots). |
| B28D | 94.39% | Not understanding who they are dealing with, the characters respond to the wandering Transformer that they are preparing weapons to kill so-and-so or a hiding place to escape from so-and-so. The Transformer kills them himself or turns them into animals. |
| H20 | 94.15% | All the fish or (rarely) molluscs were concentrated in one place. A certain character allows them to escape or deliberately releases them into rivers or the sea. {In some cases, the theme of the spread of fish concentrated in a small container is difficult to separate from the theme of the spread of water. In any case, neither of these exist in Africa}. |
| F28D | 94.09% | By masturbating with an artificial penis, a woman conceives children. |
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
42 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 42 traditions: Baluch, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Georgians, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Inland Tlingit, Kaska, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Micmac, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Montagnais, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Iowa, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Plains Ojibwa, Carrier, Lillooet, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Comox, Pentlatch, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Kutenai, Klamath, Modoc, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Panamint, Eastern Shoshone, Ute, Sicuani, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Mai Huna (Coto, Orejon), Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Tariana, Yagua, Moseten, Chimane, Kayabi, Tapirape, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori
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