Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B75C — Sounds of the era of creation: the sound of water.
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
OverviewThe sound of the surf or water on the rapids has been heard since the time of creation.
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.
B75 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedB75a. The voice of a character who once lived can still be heard (most often it is an echo; A1195, The origin of Echo).
B75b. The creaking or crackling of trees is the voice of a transformed character.
B75b1. The character pushes his mother-in-law or wife into a hollow, and she turns into the creaking of trees or an echo.
B75c. The sound of the surf or water on the rapids has been heard since the time of creation.
B75d. The sound of leaves or grass rustling in the wind has been heard since the time of creation.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B28C | 81.65% | Lice grab a person and drag him into the sea. |
| E4 | 78.93% | From mud on the skin (rarely: from under the fingernails), the character creates the earth, people or other creatures. |
| G23B | 78.56% | People from different ethnic groups arise from parts of the creature's body, or people from different groups receive their names (and characteristics) depending on which parts of the creature's body they have received. |
| M74 | 78.33% | A weak character regurgitates previously swallowed unusual food, or replaces his belching with a strong character's belching, or interprets his secretions as remains strong animals he ate. The strong believe that the weak are strong or have unusual abilities. |
| F72 | 77.46% | A woman asks a man to tie her up before intercourse so that it looks like she is being raped. |
| H2 | 75.96% | Animals ask God to make humans (tigers: domestic animals) mortal or otherwise reduce their numbers, as they fear that humans will trample them, deprive them of food or habitat, force them to work, etc. |
| F55A | 75.59% | A demonic character persuades a woman to expose a certain part of her body, because that is the only place where a certain object should be placed. The demon kills the woman, tearing off that part of her body. Usually, the woman uses or names various locations, and the character rejects each one in turn until he finds the right one. |
| A37 | 75.53% | The character deliberately and by resorting to special means (usually shooting with a bow) strikes the sun or several suns or attempts to do so. |
| F90 | 74.68% | A brother and sister marry. When the children born of this union learn of their origins, the marriage breaks down (the children kill their parents, the father kills or attempts to kill the children, the parents commit suicide, the wife/sister commits suicide after the death of her husband/brother, the wife/sister leaves her husband/brother). |
| A12B | 74.64% | During an eclipse or at sunset (marked *), the luminaries are swallowed by a toad or frog. |
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: Chamorro (Guam and other Marianas), Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Yamana (Yaghan), Alacaluf
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