Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
D13F — Laughter and fire.
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
OverviewLaughter causes the appearance or spread of fire or the sun. Usually, the owner of fire or the sun loses it after bursting into laughter.
Berezkin category: Fire and Laughter
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.
D13 has 11 other sub-motifs
RelatedD13. A character loses their values (gives them away) and/or suffers damage/is healed/is transformed if they laugh or hear laughter.
D13A. To amuse the owner of fire or the Sun, others dance indecently, imitate copulation, display their genitals, or publicly relieve themselves.
D13B. Menstruation passes from men to women after women laugh at an old man.
D13c. Two companions or brothers live together. The older one has a wife, whom he hides. To discover her, the younger one, left alone in the house, makes her laugh.
D13d. One character tries to make another character, who is hiding somewhere in the house, laugh in order to find them.
D13e. Hunters perish because they laughed at the killed (and revived) animal.
D13f. Laughter causes the appearance or spread of fire or the sun. Usually, the owner of fire or the sun loses it after bursting into laughter.
D13g. When the character starts laughing, people see his or her scary mouth (lots of teeth, human flesh on the teeth); they kill the monster or run away.
D13h. Those who have entered the world of the dead should not laugh.
D13hh. A person visiting another world should not laugh or show surprise when seeing strange things. Those who break this rule will perish or suffer harm.
D13i. The character amuses the audience in order to identify the deceiver and thief by his broken tooth. The latter laughs and gives himself away.
D13i1. The characteristics of a character can be determined by his teeth. By laughing and showing his teeth, the character reveals himself.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B20 | 91.69% | People ascend to the sky to hunt, fish, or gather honey; they do not give honey, fish, or good meat to the person who remained below; that person makes sure that they remain in the sky forever. |
| B21 | 87.20% | People climb trees to hunt, fish or gather honey. The tree is felled, people fall down and undergo a metamorphosis, or remain in the upper world. |
| I7C | 84.43% | When a character in the upper world urinates, it rains (dew falls) on earth. |
| F78 | 83.56% | The character has teeth in the anus or a second head in place of the anus. |
| E13A | 83.37% | Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world. |
| L44A | 83.06% | The demon demands that the man hiding in the shelter give him parts of his body. The man gives the demon parts of the body of a dead animal. The demon does not understand the deception and dies, giving parts of his own body in return. |
| C9A | 83.05% | During the flood or when crossing a river, those who drowned or were saved turn into aquatic or amphibious animals. |
| J36 | 82.90% | The turtle drags the hero's parents under water. |
| D13C | 82.21% | Two companions or brothers live together. The older one has a wife, whom he hides. To discover her, the younger one, left alone in the house, makes her laugh. |
| I28A | 82.21% | Large animals that are hunted go underground and cause earthquakes. |
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
16 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Queensland: Mungkan (Wikmunkan), Wiknatara, Bloomfield River, Cape Bedford, Cape Grafton, Kokowara (Koko-Warra), Koko-yalunyu (Kokokulunggur), Bunya Bunya, Waka-Waka (Wakawaka), Kabikabi, Chepara, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Chukchi, Yuchi, Wailaki, Mattole, Lassik, Sinkyone, Cahto, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Chumash, Cahuilla, Cupeño, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Ticuna (Tucuna), Sanapana, Lengua (incl Angaite), Mataco, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay)
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