Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L33F — The nightjar breaks the rock.
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
OverviewA rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L33 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedL33. The stone rolls after the character, trying to crush him.
L33a. The trickster takes an object lying on or near a rock or other inanimate object, which he has given to that object. The object pursues or otherwise punishes the offender. See motif L33.
L33b. The character challenges someone who, at first glance, is unable to move (a stump, a boulder, fire) to race or roll over it. The challenged party sets off, crushes or burns the character, or runs away with their property.
L33c. The trickster and the boulder agree to race down the slope. The boulder rolls faster and faster and crushes the trickster. See motif L33.
L33d. A rolling stone-monster kills people. The hero destroys it. See motif L33.
L33e. The trickster demands back or takes the cloak belonging to the skale or another character (usually he himself had previously given this cloak as a gift).
L33f. A rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces.
L33g. A tree, a creature on a tree, a stone kills (seriously injures) anyone who calls it a certain way, climbs on it, etc. The character provokes others to do this and eats the dead, the last of the invited guests deceives the provocateur himself.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L33A | 99.72% | The trickster takes an object lying on or near a rock or other inanimate object, which he has given to that object. The object pursues or otherwise punishes the offender. See motif L33. |
| M22A | 99.43% | In a foreign house, in a foreign country, where the hero finds himself, the crane or heron is a watchman who must raise the alarm in case of strangers appearing. |
| I105 | 99.14% | One of the constellations is associated with the hand (with five marked fingers). |
| J39 | 99.13% | The antagonist makes the woman his slave. Other characters secretly come to her and kill a small animal or bird for her. The antagonist suspects that the woman could not have caught the game herself, but she insists that she did. |
| L1B | 99.08% | A young woman turns into a monstrous bear and kills most people except her younger sister (Ojibwa: the younger sister of her former husband). Their brothers (or one brother) return from hunting and kill the bear, or she dies while chasing them. Cf. motif L65D. |
| M86 | 99.02% | A rock stalks or otherwise punishes a character when he unfairly insults her (usually takes away her property, see motive L33). |
| B44D | 98.98% | Night and day alternate because the slain beast was black and white, spotted. |
| I37E | 98.98% | Tree mushrooms cry out like people. |
| K27V | 98.98% | The character must hit the bird with an arrow or a stone. (Cf. motif K27M, where it is not the accuracy of the archer that is important, but the unusual appearance of the creature that needs to be caught). |
| L1C | 98.98% | Those fleeing from the monstrous bear ascend to the sky and turn into stars. |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Blackfoot, Arapaho, Arikara, Pawnee, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Crow, Tillamook, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Ute
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.