Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B4 — The elongated land.
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
OverviewIslands or mainland pulled out of the ocean, pulled by a rope.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
B4 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedB4. Islands or mainland pulled out of the ocean, pulled by a rope.
B4a. Fish beat against the ground, breaking off islands from the mainland.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B4A | 97.30% | Fish beat against the ground, breaking off islands from the mainland. |
| E39 | 86.69% | The child of a pig or boar is a woman or man – the ancestor of a certain group of people. |
| E8A | 86.36% | Women or people in general emerge from fruits (often coconuts), or fruits or, less commonly, leaves turn into people or only women. Cf. motif k33c. |
| G21 | 86.31% | A coconut palm grows out of the character's head. |
| F49 | 86.25% | Women had their stomachs cut open to remove the baby. Someone explains how to give birth or makes childbirth possible. |
| M111 | 86.25% | Two animals (usually a monkey and a turtle) agree to gather fruit. The one who can climb trees eats the good fruit and throws one peel or rotten fruit to its companion. The companion takes revenge. |
| L85B1 | 86.14% | After ascending to the sky (meeting God, returning from the sky to earth), a physically disabled young man (usually with only half a body) becomes whole. |
| L112 | 85.72% | A physically defective boy is born (tiny, with one head, half a body, etc.). After a series of adventures, he gains physical completeness. |
| A12E | 84.36% | The spider attacks the sun or moon (usually causing lunar eclipses). |
| A21A | 84.23% | The moon is an object that was accidentally released by its owners or stolen from them and ended up in the sky. |
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
29 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Tonga, Loyalty Islands (Uvea, Lifu, Mare), Fiji, Samoa, Rotuma, Wallis (=Uvea, different from Melanesian Uvea), Futuna, Tikopia, Bellona, Rennell, partly Aneytium, Futuna (=Erronan, not to be mixed with Futuna in Western Polynesia), Vaeaka-Taumato, incl Matema, Nifeloli, Nukapu, Nupani, Pileni, Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Society Islands: Tahiti, Borabora, Raiatea, Northern Cook Islands: Rakahanga, Manihiki, Tongareva, Tuamotu, incl Pukapuka (different from Pukapuka in Cook Islands), Vahitahi, Anaa, Hao, Fangatau, Mangareva, Marquesas, Hawaii, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Yap, Ulithi, Ngulu, Truk, Eastern Fayu, Losap, Pulap, Puluwat, Mortlock (incl. Satawan), Central islands and Bikol: Vizaya, Mansaká, Bikol, Mangyan, Panayan, Sulod, Cebuano (Cebu), Capiz, Romblomanon, Manuyu, Early Chinese written sources, Ainu, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Central Yupik, Koyukon, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Tonga (Tsonga; incl, Soli, Sala, Lenje), Fiji
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 © 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.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.