Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L31 — The sticky monster.
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
OverviewPeople are forced against their will to follow an object, person or animal (usually sticking to it) that carries them far away (usually into water or into the sky).
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L31 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedL31. People are forced against their will to follow an object, person or animal (usually sticking to it) that carries them far away (usually into water or into the sky).
L31a. An object descends from the sky. Children playing climb into it or stick to it, and it carries them away to the sky. See motif L31.
L31b. Upon discovering a reptile on land, people touch it or sit on it, stick to it, and it crawls away with them into the water. See motif L31.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L31B | 97.35% | Upon discovering a reptile on land, people touch it or sit on it, stick to it, and it crawls away with them into the water. See motif L31. |
| D4J | 96.78% | The thief, the thief's assistant, or the owner of fire is a rabbit, a hare, or (ofaye) a guinea pig. See motif D4A. |
| M29H | 95.93% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| B27B | 95.91% | The characters ponder what they should transform into and decide to become a celestial object. |
| L123 | 95.67% | In order to confuse the pursuer, the character leaves traces leading in all directions before running away. |
| F25 | 95.52% | Women have been stained with someone else's or their own blood, or with blood-like paint, ever since women began menstruating. |
| K27YY4 | 95.33% | The hero must obtain tree bark, which is fraught with danger. |
| J56 | 95.30% | A son or sons come to their father. He subjects them to trials in order to find out whether they are really his children. |
| K20 | 95.25% | Looking at the sky at night, a man or woman expresses a desire to marry a star or the Moon (kuchin: to possess a star as an object). See motifs K19a, K19b. |
| L68 | 94.93% | Left alone (usually at night in a deserted place) with his companion, a man undergoes a monstrous metamorphosis. |
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
33 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 33 traditions: Tuamotu, incl Pukapuka (different from Pukapuka in Cook Islands), Vahitahi, Anaa, Hao, Fangatau, Ireland, Svans, Nivkh, Inland Tlingit, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Lenape (Delaware), Eastern Cree, Blackfoot, Shawnee, Yuchi, Cheyenne, Teton (incl Oglala), Arikara, Pawnee, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Plains Cree, Crow, Caddo, Lipan, Bribri, Cabecar, Terraba; Chiriqui (AD 800-1500) iconography, Trio, Wayapi, Emerillon, Juruna, Xipaya, Kamayura, Caduveo, Mbaya, Ofaie, Yamana (Yaghan), Alacaluf
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.