Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

K69 — Pilgrims to the deity.

39 Myths, legends and folktales
39 Unique narratives for motif K69
21 Cultures & traditions where K69 is told
0 Sub-motifs of motif K69
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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

Several men walk towards the horizon to ascend to the sky and visit the Sun or another supreme deity. Usually, one or more of them perish along the way, while others reach their destination. They return by a shorter route than they came.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

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

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
M65A99.24%The trees are creaking in the wind. Hearing a creak, the character climbs a tree and gets stuck. See M65 motif.
M13A98.38%A deity and a human meet so that the former can fulfil the latter's request. As a result, the human is turned to stone. Usually (except for the Squamish), one of the supplicants wants eternal life and is turned to stone. See motif M13.
L7597.82%One of two brothers is the embodiment of evil; at birth, he cuts open his mother's body, killing her.
B42A97.78%Hunters chase a bear across the sky and kill it in August-October. The bear's blood or fat falls to the ground in the form of dew or colours the foliage red. See motif B42.
M53C97.55%trickster, inviting birds to dance around him with their eyes closed, kills them one at a time and threatens to turn red at the one that opens their eyes; this is an empty threat, or for a bird that opens eyes and eyes have really turned red ever since.
M66A97.47%After eating a certain food, the trickster leaves a mountain of excrement that is larger than himself.
M61A397.39%The character tells each of two different species of fish how the other allegedly used to be hostile or offensive towards the former. Fish kill each other and the character prepares them to eat.
B5C97.36%At the beginning of time, there are an old woman and a young woman. One or both of them conceive in a miraculous way. A son or twins are born, who settle the world.
M75A97.04%The character lures a veteran to avenge his fall from the sky. Either the (potauatomi) shovel drops the character or leaves him on top to avenge being lured and caught.
H37B96.35%One character gives another his power (usually a skunk gives his volley). The other wastes the resource unnecessarily to test its effect. Usually, when the need arises, the resource no longer works.

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

21 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 21 traditions: Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Palau (Western Carolines), Mindanao and Sulu: Blaan (Bilaan), Bagobo, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Hiligáynon, Binukid, Magindaan (=Magindanao: main Muslim population), Mandaya, Mansaka, Manobo (Agusan, Ata, Dibabawon, Sarangani, Ilianen), Maranao, Samal, Subanon (=Subanun), Subanen, Tboli, Malecite, Passamaquoddy, Micmac, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ottawa, Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Shawnee, Yuchi, Assiniboine, Chitimacha, Alabama, Koasati, Creek, Seminole; Tuskegee; iconography of Kentucky Hopewell, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Cherokee, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Palau

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