Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
H23 — Fatty horns.
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
OverviewThis hard and now inedible object originally consisted of fat.
Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K44 | 91.33% | The character kidnaps the boy or hides him from his mother or father, pretending to be his mother or father. The kidnapped boy learns the truth and leaves the kidnapper. |
| J66 | 91.27% | The character cuts or bites through bowstrings and other straps in advance, punctures boats, preventing opponents from fighting or pursuing him. |
| C6C | 87.98% | The bird dives and brings up the desired object from the bottom. See motif C6. |
| B42F | 86.48% | The Big Dipper (as a whole or only the dipper) is identified with a large hoofed animal (elk, deer, mountain sheep). Unless otherwise specified, see motif B42 in the description of cosmic hunting. |
| C38 | 86.21% | Characters from the time of creation say that real people will appear soon, so we must do this and that. |
| B42K | 86.11% | In stories about cosmic hunting, the object of pursuit or the hunters are identified with the Pleiades. See motif B42. |
| M17B | 85.72% | The wife directs the blind man's arrow at game, lies that he has missed, and eats the meat herself. |
| H22A | 85.49% | Large game animals were concentrated in one place and were not afraid of people. They scattered after someone touched them, hit them lightly (often on the nose), or smeared them with something. Cf. motif H22. |
| B42T | 84.62% | All seven stars of the Big Dipper (and not just the stars of the dipper) are considered to be the figure of an animal - a bear, moose, deer, ram, camel, or dog. |
| F74 | 84.34% | Upon seeing a dangerous character, a man or woman undresses and pretends to be dead (or the character undresses the woman). Examining and sniffing the supposed corpse, the character finds what he takes to be a wound or signs of decay and leaves. |
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
13 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Tofa (Karagas), Kets, Kaska, Koyukon, Kiowa Apache, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Navajo, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay)
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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