Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L90C — Horns reaching the sky and the earth.
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
OverviewOne horn of an animal (deer, ram, bull, goat, wolverine) touches the ground, while the other is raised to the sky or reaches the sky.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
L90 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedL90. One lip (one fang, horn, etc.) of the creature reaches the sky, while the other drags along the ground.
L90a. Describes a house that stands on the legs or a single leg of a bird or small animal and/or rotates (is capable of turning).
L90b. One tooth (fang) of the creature touches the sky, the other reaches the earth or the underworld.
L90c. One horn of an animal (deer, ram, bull, goat, wolverine) touches the ground, while the other is raised to the sky or reaches the sky.
L90d. The hero attaches the upper lip (jaw) of the monster to the sky, and the lower lip to the earth.
L90E. Human heads are impaled on stakes outside the house of a dangerous character, and one head is missing (or there is a wall of heads, with one missing). It is assumed that the head of the hero of the story should be there.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| C33B | 100.00% | The demise of the first race is associated with the appearance of wind. |
| F100A | 100.00% | In order to revive a man or remove an arrowhead (bullet) from his body, a chaste girl or woman must touch (step over) the dead or wounded man. |
| J59C | 100.00% | A character strikes the remains of the deceased with a whip or a lash, and the deceased comes back to life. |
| K167B | 100.00% | A boy is able to determine the sex and colour of a young animal in the womb. |
| K172 | 100.00% | A man describes his daughter to a potential groom as ugly and crippled. The groom agrees to the marriage, and the bride turns out to be beautiful. |
| K182 | 100.00% | A supernatural defender comes to the rescue upon hearing the alarm, but stops doing so after the alarm has been raised in vain. |
| K27U2 | 100.00% | An authoritative character orders to find out where the tumbleweed is rolling or what news it brings. |
| K73B2 | 100.00% | It is necessary to boil the pot by telling an incredible but nevertheless true story. |
| L103A | 100.00% | A girl, a young woman, runs away from a demonic character; she manages to run home, but her relatives do not open the door. The pursuer finds and eats her. (A musical instrument is made from her hair or intestines). (Overview of variants in Rakhno 2016: 475-484). |
| L110B | 100.00% | The stomach (spleen) removed from the body of a domestic animal or bird turns out to be a voracious monster. |
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
8 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Laks, Kumyk, Terekemen, Georgians, Kazakh, Bashkirs, Chuvash, Mongols (Khalkha)
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