Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

M109A — Sitting on the ice, waiting for food from the sky.

15 Myths, legends and folktales
15 Unique narratives for motif M109A
10 Cultures & traditions where M109A is told
0 Sub-motifs of motif M109A
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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

One zoomorphic character advises another to sit on the ice for a long time – usually until food falls from the sky. The one who sits on the ice freezes to it.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
N2199.62%The warrior-hero was made of dough and then became alive (his name is β€œThe Dough”)
B11599.57%Conifers and some other trees and shrubs (small shrubs) became evergreen after the elixir of immortality was accidentally spilled on them. Cf. motif H6b.
N699.54%horse tells the rider to whip it so hard that his blood splashes, his skin peels off, the meat is cut to the bone, etc. The rider follows these instructions.
K13799.52%The brother is killed, the sister, dressed in her brother's clothes and disguised as a young man, finds women who are able to revive the dead, puts her brother's clothes back on his body, and the women who have come revive him. Or the sister is killed, the brother lures women capable of reviving the dead, puts his clothes on his dead sister, the women think it is their husband, and revive the girl.
K137A99.52%The brother is killed. The sister, dressed in his clothes, finds a woman. The brother comes back to life, the sister puts on women's clothes again, and the woman believes that the girl's brother was the one who married her.
K27L199.28%Voluntarily subjecting himself to trials, the character allows himself to be frozen in ice and cannot free himself.
K15999.26%When two characters are fighting, someone nearby wants one of them to slip (while the other remains firmly on their feet) and throws something under their feet for this purpose.
J32E99.05%Every time a mare foals, the foal is stolen. The hero finds out who is doing this.
K14899.05%Every night or every year, a mare gives birth to a foal, and every time someone steals it.
I87A198.93%Two people engage in a dialogue, contradicting each other in their descriptions of the sizes of creatures and objects.

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

10 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 10 traditions: Karachays, Balkar, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kazakh, Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Tofa (Karagas), Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks

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