Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E41 — The blacksmith kneads iron with his hands.
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 skilled blacksmith, as a special gift, can take iron heated in a furnace with his bare hands, knead it like dough, and shape it as desired. Usually, he breaks a certain taboo and loses his gift. (The motif was identified and the material collected by Ruslan Doutalieyev).
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 6, Origin and interpretation of culture elements, in particular related to agriculture, inadequate forms of subsistence and economic activity before the establishment of the present norms.
E41 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedE41. A skilled blacksmith, as a special gift, can take iron heated in a furnace with his bare hands, knead it like dough, and shape it as desired. Usually, he breaks a certain taboo and loses his gift. (The motif was identified and the material collected by Ruslan Doutalieyev).
E41a. The first ticks were made as a result of observing animals (a dog's crossed paws, two snakes, snake jaws, etc.).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I87AD | 99.59% | A giant hides a persecuted person in his mouth – usually (perhaps always) in a tooth cavity; or the person remains alive in the giant's mouth, hiding in a tooth cavity. Cf. motif M21a. |
| K83A | 99.41% | To fulfil the task, the character's sons must travel to a place where he has never been (or once was). |
| B46A1 | 99.41% | The stars of the Big Dipper – thieves or robbers. |
| I89 | 99.38% | There is a star that brings death and misfortune; it is usually told how people mistake a star or constellation rising at night for the Morning Star, set off on a journey and lose their way. |
| M29Z | 99.31% | hero of the story is a character named “Beardless” or Aldar-Kose (Aldar is a “deceiver”, a braid is “beardless”). |
| J32C | 99.31% | At night, a demonic character comes to the grave of the deceased, intending to harm him. |
| K90B | 99.15% | The antlers of a deer or the tusks of an elephant, which a snake or dragon is trying to swallow, get stuck in its mouth. |
| K35C | 99.04% | The dev (ajdaha, sea king) did not kill the man who descended to him, as people assumed, but rewarded him because he greeted him and/or answered his question correctly. |
| K75B | 98.95% | Wanting to show that it is time for them to marry, daughters of different ages send their father fruits of varying degrees of ripeness (bread baked in different ways). |
| K61E | 98.93% | Seeing an absurd situation, a powerful (supernatural) character laughs and is thereby usually cured of his ailment. For this, the people involved in the situation are rewarded and saved from danger. |
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
7 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Bulgarians, Balkarians, Uzbek, Tajik, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Armenians, Kirghiz, Russian Federation
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