Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B64C — Small bones: fish fall from the sky.
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
OverviewFish, together with other earthly creatures, wage war on the inhabitants of the sky. Falling to the ground, they break their bones, which is why fish have many small bones in their bodies. See motif B64.
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.
B64 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedB64. Bones in the bodies of fish are the result of fights, battles, military expeditions; they are arrows stuck in them (gill openings â from stuck arrows), or small bones â fragments of the original large bones.
B64a. Fish and birds fight (usually by shooting arrows at each other). Since then, fish have had many small bones in their bodies and/or birds' legs have taken on their current form.
B64b. Two types of fish shoot arrows at each other. Since then, the fish have had many small bones in their bodies, or some of their bones have split in two.
B64c. Fish, together with other earthly creatures, wage war on the inhabitants of the sky. Falling to the ground, they break their bones, which is why fish have many small bones in their bodies. See motif B64.
B64d. Certain bones in the bodies of living creatures (usually birds and fish) are arrows shot into them.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A5A | 100.00% | The younger brother (usually the Sun) is made from the urine and swaddling clothes of his older brother (usually the Moon), who was kidnapped as a baby. See motif A5. |
| B107 | 100.00% | During the (world) fire, the oyster burns, which is why oyster shells are black. |
| B28B | 100.00% | The inhabitants of the area where the hero finds himself are afraid of creatures that are tools, utensils, and plants that are now harmless. The hero easily defeats these creatures and usually transforms them into what they are now. |
| B28D1 | 100.00% | Not understanding who he is facing, the man promises to kill the Transformer. The Transformer turns his weapon into deer antlers and him into a deer. |
| B61 | 100.00% | The mole had to hold up the fallen sky and sun. Since then, its paw (hand) has remained dislocated backwards. |
| B91 | 100.00% | The snail had (the most keen-eyed) eyes. Another character borrows them and does not return them. |
| D1A | 100.00% | A girl marries a man whose mother is fire. |
| D4I | 100.00% | The beaver obtains fire for humans. See motif D4A. |
| D4Q | 100.00% | The fly rubs its legs together and produces fire. |
| E29 | 100.00% | Two characters (usually a coyote and a lizard) argue about whether human hands should be shaped like paws or end in fingers. |
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
4 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: Shuswap, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Okanagon, Sanpoil, Kutenai
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