Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

B7B — Water from a vessel.

55 Myths, legends and folktales

55 Unique narratives for motif B7B

38 Cultures & traditions where B7B is told

3 Sub-motifs of motif B7B

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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

Overview

The sea (flood, river) flows out of a small container.

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.

B7 has 3 other sub-motifs

B7a.  Someone possesses water or a drink. Another character swallows what is hidden, runs away and spits out what is hidden, making the water or drink available to everyone.
B7b.  The sea (flood, river) flows out of a small container.
B7c.  Fresh water, which its sole owner hides in a vessel or pond, is scattered throughout the world.
B7d.  Water pours from a broken bone, flooding the earth.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of B7’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
B17	95.99%	Darkness is a special object that can be carried and transferred (usually brought from the original owner in a vessel or bag).
L70	95.48%	The character is killed or maimed by an object dropped from above, the fall of which he expects, but has a false idea of its nature or weight (fruit, piece of bark, turtle, log, etc.).
D4A	94.01%	Fire is stolen from its original owner, returned to people by the thief, or (the motif of theft is not expressed) brought with difficulty from a distant place.
M76	93.94%	A woman cuts off a man's leg when he climbs a tree; a man cuts off a woman's leg when she climbs a tree. See K13A motif.
F28B	93.67%	A woman uses a penis made of wax, wood, fruit or root. Usually her husband or male relative smears it with pepper, and the woman is maimed or killed.
L63	93.49%	The character eats food with the womb or anus. See motif F9A.
K13C	93.39%	The cannibal's daughter takes revenge on her husband for her mother's death and manages to cut off his leg. See motif K13A.
E8	93.29%	The first humans or the wife of the first ancestor were made of wood.
M8A	93.17%	Animals, and more often birds, find it difficult to break through a rock from the outside or inside, make a hole in the tree, in the body of an absorber creature, tear fetters, etc., to help a character or get out of the confined space by yourself. The list <b><i>includes</i></b> groups whose texts deal with the exit of the first ancestors to earth from a confined space.
F33	93.00%	A woman or group of women take a water animal or water monster as their lover. The husband(s), brother(s) or (adopted) children of the woman(s) kill or maim the lover and (in some cases) the woman(s).

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

38 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 38 traditions: Kerewe, Sukuma, Kwaya, Kumbi, Busiba, Gusii, Suba, Ewe, Kposso, "Togo-Restvölker" (Adele, Akebu, Akposso, Bowiri/Bowili, Santrokofi, Lelemi, Borada Akrade, Teteman, Baakwa, Bowiri), Southeast Australia: Kamilaroi, Yualarai (Ualarai, Euahlayi), Milpulo (Mailpurgu), Wuradjeri (Wiradjurim, Wiradjeri, Wurundjeri, Yarra, Yarra Yarra), Wongaibon (Wonghibon), Noongahburrah (Narran, Narran River), Kurnai, and many others (see file 0.doc), Sepik-Ramu stock: Abelam, Yatmul, Aibom, Ayom (incl Tembregak, Asai-river pygmies), Tangu, Porapora (Ambakich), Rao and other groups of Middle Ramu and Upper Keram River tribes; Kwanga, Watam, Kaian, Gamei, Awar; Kire (Lower Ramu), Melanesians and Papuans of Bismark Archipelago: New Britain (Paparatava, Lakalai, Kuni, Sulka, Gazelle peninsula), New Ireland, St Matthias Group, Mioko (Melanesians between New Britain and New Ireland), Central Vanuatu: Espiritu Santo, Araki, Aore, Maewo, Malekula, Vao, Efate (Vate), Nguna, Mae, Ambrim, Pentecost, Oba (=Aoba, East Ambae, Lepers'), Omba, SW Arunachal Pradesh: Sherdukpen, Tawang (Monpas), Aka (Hrusso), Miji, Kazakh, Tsetsaut, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Tillamook, Yurok, Caddo, Ohlone (Costanoan), Chemehuevi, Hopi, Guajiro, Cuiva, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Locono, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Mai Huna (Coto, Orejon), Zaparo, Karijona, Juruna, Xipaya, Northern Peru: Costa (Spanish speaking communities from Ecuadorian border till Ancash and Huanuco departments included; Moche pre-Columbian iconography; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Moseten, Chimane, Yuracare, Bakairi, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Kamayura, Trumai, Caraja, Suya, Txukarramae, Australia, China

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