Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
H52 — The Land of Immortality, ATU 470B.
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 man finds a land where there is no death. Having decided to visit his native places, he never returns to it.
Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
H52 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedH52. A man finds a land where there is no death. Having decided to visit his native places, he never returns to it.
H52a. Returning from the land of immortality, a person must not touch the ground. However, he dismounts from his horse to help an old man (old woman). Death, who has taken the form of an old man, immediately kills him. Rarely: at the last moment, the hero decides not to perform actions that are fatal for him.
H52b. Setting out in search of a land where there is no death, a man encounters characters engaged in tasks that can only be completed in an impossibly long time. However, the man needs eternal life, and so he continues on his way.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K145B | 99.82% | After a man and a woman are left alone (usually on their wedding night), the woman turns into a predator or monster and eats the man. |
| K131B | 99.81% | Having received and then lost a magical object, the hero returns it with the help of a new one (a club, a box with an army, etc.), received in exchange for the first or obtained by the hero's brother. The episode may be repeated several times. |
| I120A | 99.74% | Entering the ear of an animal (usually a horse or a cow) and coming back out, the character becomes beautiful (well-fed, well-dressed). |
| K101 | 99.70% | A girl or boy disappears at night. Usually, the girl's clothes or shoes are worn out overnight, or the boy looks sick and tired in the morning. The girl or boy is followed and seen spending the night in another world. |
| M114I | 99.69% | When asked where her father, mother, brother, etc. are, the girl or boy answers in such a way that only an intelligent person can guess what is meant (father went to make an enemy out of a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains the meaning of similar phrases uttered by others. |
| H7D | 99.68% | A man calls Death, and when it comes, asks it to help him lift a bundle of firewood or pull a cart with firewood. |
| K142 | 99.68% | After killing several people, a man asks a gravedigger to bury the dead and each time says that the dead man has returned. The gravedigger buries everyone, but believes that there is only one dead man. |
| M106A | 99.67% | The character who caused the damage calls himself by a fictitious name such as "Nobody," "I Myself," etc. Usually, others decide that the victim himself is to blame for what happened. |
| M136C | 99.66% | Based on indirect signs or someone's words, the fool believes that he has died and lies motionless. |
| M91C6 | 99.64% | A person sells a hat to others, convincing them that it pays the bill, you just have to lift it up (throw it on the floor, etc.). He actually paid the innkeeper in advance. |
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
28 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 28 traditions: Viet, Muong, Ireland, Portuguese, Portugal, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Dutch, Flemish, Poles, Hungarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Estonians, Finns, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Ossetians, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Kazakh, Mordvins, Khakas, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Japan
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