Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G8G — The Great Oak and Its Inhabitants.
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
OverviewThere 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.
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I4D1 | 98.06% | An enemy steals the tendons (heart and eyes) of a thunder god, who returns them and prevails over his enemy. Cf. motif L57A, "The hero's companion returns his organ." |
| J62B1 | 96.48% | A sorceress living on an island turns men into animals. |
| A19C | 94.85% | The sun is associated with a horseman or rides in a carriage drawn by horses (equidae). |
| K56AB | 94.61% | A girl marries a monster. On their wedding night, he orders her to take off her shirt, and she orders him to take off his skin. The girl survives, and the monster becomes handsome â usually because she has more shirts (or skins worn in advance) than he does. |
| A19C1 | 94.08% | The sun or moon travels across the sky in a chariot or sleigh. |
| L72I | 93.90% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws soap behind him, which turns into an obstacle for his pursuer (a slippery mountain, river, etc.). |
| M114J | 93.47% | A woman does not refuse those who harass her, but calmly explains that there is no point in trying to possess many, since they are all the same (they differ no more than eggs painted in different colours). |
| K65E1 | 93.26% | A woman delivers a baby (baptises a child) for a creature that in the human world has the appearance of a toad or frog. |
| K33H1 | 92.88% | The hero's wife (mother, servant) is unaware of the magical properties of an object kept in the house and exchanges it for something more attractive, but in reality incomparable in value. |
| K72A | 92.41% | The king notices that his prohibition on lighting fires at night has been violated. |
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: Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Setu, Finns, Armenians
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