Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
C24 — The world is in danger of falling.
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
OverviewSomeone is gnawing or chopping at the pillar supporting the sky or the earth; certain creatures are trying to destroy the barrier separating their world from the world of humans; if the work is completed, humans will perish.
Berezkin category: Disasters
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| H7G1 | 89.54% | A man (usually looking for a godfather for his newborn son) rejects God (the saints) and the devil, but praises Death: it treats everyone without prejudice (or is richer than everyone else). |
| L43 | 85.27% | Characters dangerous to the hero (demons, robbers, merchants) mistake excrement, insects, snakes and other disgusting things (not intended for food) for something pleasant (edible). |
| B102 | 85.26% | Clouds are formed from smoke rising from the ground. |
| M38A1 | 84.87% | The character imitates the sisters' sons-in-law or husbands, or the wife's brothers (shoshone's) or wives (comox and chalkomel). {ATU combines a motive with another}. |
| I102 | 84.33% | The Milky Way – a tree, the trace of a tree. |
| H28B | 81.99% | Shorn hairs on animal skins or ash and smoke from burnt skins covered with wool turn into blood-sucking insects. |
| F43A | 81.78% | In the community of the first ancestors, women kill, attempt to kill, or transform men. |
| F3A | 81.46% | A man carries a child like a woman. |
| F43 | 81.09% | The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men. |
| F20 | 80.82% | After copulation, the man and woman are unable to break their embrace. |
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
11 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Arabs of Egypt, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Armenians, Cheyenne, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Kayabi, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje)
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.