Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

B85B — Wind in a bag.

40 Myths, legends and folktales
40 Unique narratives for motif B85B
29 Cultures & traditions where B85B is told
2 Sub-motifs of motif B85B
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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 wind was or is in a small container, released from it or flying out of it from time to time.

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.

B85 has 2 other sub-motifs

Related

B85.  The wind blows too strongly, it is forced to calm down.
B85a.  The wind stops blowing (after blowing too strongly). A character approaches it and establishes the necessary balance. Since then, the wind blows, but usually not too strongly.
B85b.  The wind was or is in a small container, released from it or flying out of it from time to time.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of B85’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
L15D95.75%The object in which the character's life is concentrated is separate from him. The character dies when this external form is destroyed.
H46A94.91%The possibility of using cereals for food is determined by the behaviour of the dog in the era of creation. See motif H46.
K7994.84%Finding himself in a helpless situation, a man sees how a small animal finds a cure for itself or another animal. The man uses the same cure, saves himself or saves another.
K56C94.77%A man loses his axe. A spirit or chief offers him a golden one, but the man says that the axe is not his and for this he receives axes of gold and silver as a reward. Another man deliberately loses his ordinary axe, seeking to obtain a golden one, but suffers a fiasco.
M11394.55%In summer, during the height of the heat, or constantly, birds of a certain species are not allowed to drink from ponds and springs. It is generally believed that they drink only rainwater and cry out, begging for rain. See motif M112.
L37A94.46%On the way to a powerful being, a person meets characters who ask him to ask questions on their behalf (usually to find out the cause of their misfortunes).
F6294.42%A (supposedly) sick (weak, unattractive, poorly dressed) character is left alone when others leave for the festival; he (she) arrives there later in the guise of a handsome man or beautiful woman; those who arrived earlier do not recognise him (her) and take an interest in him (her). (This motif is also found in texts containing the motif k57, Cinderella).
M198B94.40%A man who is unable to find lost items and expose thieves successfully does so thanks to a fortunate coincidence.
K33G94.39%The person who eats the fruit (leaf, etc.) grows horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal, while the other fruit (leaf, etc.) returns to its normal appearance.
A23A94.29%Arguing about superiority or seniority, the characters agree to decide in favour of the one who first sees the rising sun (the beginning of the year). The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely. (In Uther 2004(1), No. 120: 87, the definition of the motif includes the detail that the winner looks not to the east but to the west and sees the tops of trees illuminated by rays of light. In Europe, in most cases (except for the Scots) that have been verified, this detail is indeed present. However, it is absent in American and some Asian traditions).

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

29 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Samoa, Niue, Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, France, Slovenians, Slovenes, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Livonians, Estonians, Western Sami, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Ingush, Armenians, Kalmyk, Mordvins, Mongols (Khalkha), Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Kets, Nanai, Han, Netsilik, West Greenland, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Shuswap, Hopi, Mixtec, Trique, Cuicatec; Amuzgo

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