Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

K103A — The tree raises its branches.

60 Myths, legends and folktales
60 Unique narratives for motif K103A
42 Cultures & traditions where K103A is told
9 Sub-motifs of motif K103A
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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

A suddenly grown plant (tree, vine, lotus) bends (raises its branches, etc.), allowing only the hero or heroine to climb it or pick its fruits (flowers).

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

K10 has 9 other sub-motifs

Related

K10.  A monstrous bird (bat) attacks people, heroes engage in battle with it. See motifs K10A – K10G.
K10a.  Heroes kill a dangerous bird; during or before the battle, they hide in a shelter (hut, cage, vessel, sack, well) or cover themselves with an object that protects the body.
K10b.  A huge bird carries away to its nest a cage, bag or other container in which people are located. See motif 10A.
K10c.  The hero (twins) is weighed down with the blood-filled intestines of an animal. A bird pierces them with its claw, blood flows, the bird thinks its prey is dead, and brings the man to its nest. He kills the adult bird and either kills or transforms the chicks. Cf. motif M91A.
K10d.  A flying monster carries the hero away to a distant island. The hero kills the monster and uses a boat, bridge or rope made from part of the monster's body to return.
K10e.  In the bird's habitat, the hero finds the people it has kidnapped and helps them return home.
K10f.  The character turns the children of a flying monster into ordinary eagles or owls.
K10g.  Finding himself in the nest of a giant bird on a tree or rock, a man descends to the ground with the help of an adult bird (attaching its feathers or wings to himself), and more often - a chick (grabbing its legs, sitting on the chick, attaching its feathers or wings).
K10h.  A bird carries a woman or boy to its nest, feeds them, but does not let them go. The captive runs away.
K10i.  The tree opens its trunk and hides the hero fleeing from a man-eating bird. The monster that flies in after him is held tightly by the tree, which squeezes its trunk again.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of K10’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
L37B198.91%To cure a sick person or rid a house of other misfortunes, one must kill (catch, expel) a toad, frog or snake hiding in the house (in the garden, under the roots).
H4998.86%A dog or other animal kills a creature that threatened a small child. The owner or other people mistake the saviour for an aggressor and kill it.
I110A98.77%Orion (rarely - another constellation) - plough.
M75B398.52%Enemies are shown a life-size or larger image of a horse or bull. Not realizing that this is a ruse, they bring the figure to their own territory and are defeated as a result.
L108C98.39%To prevent the victim from recognising him and opening the door, the predator, the cannibal, shows part of his clothing, his hand, his paw, making the victim believe that his mother, teacher, etc. has come.
K76G98.11%The son or foster son of a married couple – a crab. He marries a princess and turns into a handsome man.
M75B1A97.84%A high-ranking person finds out that a (just born) poor or ugly girl is intended for him, or the girl herself finds out that she is destined to become a man's wife of high origin. A betrothed or someone else tries to kill a girl, but only hurts her and the prediction is fulfilled; if the girl is ugly, she becomes beautiful.
C3597.44%It becomes known that if characters representing natural phenomena and parts of the universe marry, it will lead to disaster. The marriage is broken off.
B8997.41%The eagle owl (owl) was the chief among birds, claimed this position or behaved badly when choosing the head of the birds; now he avoids other birds and/or other birds chase him.
K33G97.32%The person who eats the fruit (leaf, etc.) grows horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal, while the other fruit (leaf, etc.) returns to its normal appearance.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

42 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 42 traditions: Yemen, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Saho, Afar, Burmese, Intha, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Northern Naga: Konyak, Lungshang, Wancho, Nokte, Moclum, Lunshan, Chang, Maring, Naga of Myanmar, Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Bengali, Nepali; Tharu, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Konkani (incl Goa), Assamese, Sinhalese; Vedda, Dards (Kalash, Kho, Kohistani, Shina, Pashai), Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, ThΓΌringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, RΓΌgen, Poles, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Tajik, Tats, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Mordvins, Dogrib, Slavey, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Lutsi (Ludza), Terek Cossacks, Yemen, Russian Federation

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