Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B77C — The serpent pushed back 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
OverviewA snake-like creature pushes the sky away from the earth. See motif B77.
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.
B77 has 6 other sub-motifs
RelatedB77. The sky was close to the ground, then rose.
B77a. One or more anthropomorphic characters push the sky away from the earth. See motif B77.
B77b. The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a long object (a pestle, a broom, etc.) during work. Cf. motifs B77b1 and B77b2.
B77b1. The sky receded and/or the connection between humans and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck during work with a pestle used to pound in a mortar or with a spoon used to stir porridge (Ewe, Nubians, Nyiman).
B77b2. The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a broom.
B77b3. In the past, either in a distant country, the sky was or is so low that various objects are placed on it as needed.
B77c. A snake-like creature pushes the sky away from the earth. See motif B77.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M44A | 100.00% | The character discovers that someone is stealing game or fish from his trap, mountain, etc. or ravages his garden, field; he or his messengers wait and catch the thief [magical tales clearly of European origin (e.g. Chamacoco, Wilbert, Simoneau 1987a, No. 121) are not included]. The kidnappers are the first people to get out of the ground, the first men. |
| M1B | 95.26% | A caiman/crocodile carries a monkey across a river. She manages to jump ashore and runs away from the caiman. |
| H9B | 92.58% | People have become like plants, which, although mortal, live on in their descendants (shoots). |
| F42A | 90.37% | In the community of the first ancestors, young men or boys turn into birds or bats and fly away. |
| I125 | 89.44% | Hyades (sometimes, possibly, Pleiades or Orion) â jaw or severed head of a large animal or anthropomorphic creature. |
| F48 | 89.44% | Individual women differ physically because the pieces of flesh divided from the first woman were not identical, or because the males who copulated with the first woman were animals of different species. |
| D12 | 88.78% | People in the past or inhabitants of distant lands cooked food in the sun; or the owner of the fire lies, saying that the food was cooked in this way. |
| M7A1 | 88.39% | Person gets to a place from which he is unable to come out. Several (more than two) different celestial bodies rise and move near him or above him. He puts attention to them (and asks their help) |
| G23A | 87.62% | Parts of the body and organs of living beings are transformed into various plants (teeth into corn, testicles into yams, etc.). |
| I30 | 87.50% | In the world of the dead, its master or mistress copulates with all new arrivals. |
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
6 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Tuvalu (Ellice), Tanana, Tacana, Moseten, Chimane, Nauru
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