Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B48D — Pike swallows people.
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 or objects swallowed by a pike become part of its body (bones in its head, liver).
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
B48 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedB48. Harmless and herbivorous animals were or could become dangerous predators.
B48a. The bodies of animals, birds or fish contain internal organs or muscles that were originally parts of the bodies of other animals, birds, fish or monsters. Cf. motif B36C.
B48b. The bodies of animals that are now hunted contain a piece of human flesh that has remained since these animals had an anthropomorphic appearance.
B48c. In the head of the pike there are (visible) tools used by people.
B48d. People or objects swallowed by a pike become part of its body (bones in its head, liver).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K32K | 100.00% | The false wife, replacing the real one â a foul-smelling beetle or larva. |
| B42F | 91.39% | The Big Dipper (as a whole or only the dipper) is identified with a large hoofed animal (elk, deer, mountain sheep). Unless otherwise specified, see motif B42 in the description of cosmic hunting. |
| B42T | 91.02% | All seven stars of the Big Dipper (and not just the stars of the dipper) are considered to be the figure of an animal - a bear, moose, deer, ram, camel, or dog. |
| L72H | 90.16% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws behind him a tool for kindling fire (flint, tinder, match, kindling), which becomes an obstacle in the path of his pursuer. (A discarded flint is counted if it serves to strike fire, and is not counted if it is simply a hard stone that turns into a mountain). |
| I55 | 85.50% | Stars â holes in the sky; or holes in the canopy, in the roof of a dwelling, appear to be stars. |
| M7B | 82.50% | zoomorphic character (usually a fox) finds himself in a place he can't get out of, and consistently asks for help from animals (fish) passing by or approaching him. The latter helps. |
| B71 | 82.17% | The northern lights are people who play, dance, sit by the fire, fight or run with torches. |
| I50B | 81.65% | Describes or depicts a predatory animal with six or more legs. |
| L41C | 81.65% | A cannibal grabs children as they slide down a hill. |
| L101 | 80.18% | While running away, a person gradually undresses and throws items of clothing behind them. The pursuer wastes time picking them up or destroying them. |
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
3 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 3 traditions: Latvians, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Koyukon
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