Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G8E — Cutting down a tree on the moon.
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 character unsuccessfully cuts down a tree growing on the moon.
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations.
G8 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedG8. People or animals cut or gnaw at a tree, mountain, or pillar of the sky. The damage disappears as soon as the workers are distracted from their task (usually when they take a break) or periodically (at certain times).
G8a. A man cuts down a tree to make a boat or something else from the trunk (Yap: a board for building a house; one of the texts from Ulithi: a wooden bird), goes away to rest, and upon returning finds the tree intact again. Usually, the character who restored the tree in the man's absence then cuts down the tree himself and makes what the hero needs.
G8b. A person hides in a tree or (Kazakhs) hides behind walls. Another tries to cut down the tree (break down the walls) to get the person, but the cut tree grows back (or the already felled tree rises, the wall is restored).
G8c. The first ancestors try to cut down a tree (less often a high rock) to get useful plants hanging on the branches (at the top) or water or fish in the trunk. The damage disappears as soon as the workers are distracted from their work, or periodically.
G8d. A tree (pillar, mountain) is cut down (gnawed, ground down) or prevented from being cut down in order to save the world (or the gods, the king, etc.) from danger.
G8e. A character unsuccessfully cuts down a tree growing on the moon.
G8f. Characters cut down a tree, but the trunk grows back. They manage to finish the job after the splinters are carried away or burned.
G8g. There is a unique tree that must be bent or felled. Different creatures inhabit its separate parts and/or objects of special importance are made from its wood.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| E38B | 98.84% | After a global catastrophe or at the beginning of time, a pumpkin appears on earth, from which the ancestors of humans emerge. |
| F51B | 98.80% | To find out the nature or location of a character's locus, another person secretly attaches a long thread to it and follows it. |
| M45C | 98.41% | The character advises the other person to plant or sow boiled or roasted seeds or tubers, who follows the advice. |
| A8 | 98.02% | The sun, moon and stars â three brothers or three sisters. |
| B119 | 98.02% | A woman of non-human nature agrees to live with a man, but leaves him upon learning of his real or imagined infidelity. |
| B121 | 98.02% | A small bird carries pebbles and sticks, trying to fill the sea. |
| B49A | 98.02% | Powerful animals could have many cubs, but now they give birth to only one every few years. |
| B6A | 98.02% | The first woman gives birth to several eggs. One or two of them remain unchanged for a long time and are thrown into the river, believing them to be spoiled. However, it is precisely from these eggs that characters of high status emerge (or should have emerged). |
| B77B2 | 98.02% | The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a broom. |
| B93A | 98.02% | Once a year, birds form a bridge across the heavenly river with their bodies. Usually, the feathers on their heads are worn away as a result. |
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
6 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), China
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