Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I102 — The Milky Way – a tree.
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
OverviewThe Milky Way – a tree, the trace of a tree.
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations.
I10 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI10a. Individual layers or categories of the sky or clouds differ in colour.
I10b. Individual layers or categories of earth differ in colour (and other characteristics).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| H7G1 | 90.91% | A man (usually looking for a godfather for his newborn son) rejects God (the saints) and the devil, but praises Death: it treats everyone without prejudice (or is richer than everyone else). |
| L43 | 89.88% | Characters dangerous to the hero (demons, robbers, merchants) mistake excrement, insects, snakes and other disgusting things (not intended for food) for something pleasant (edible). |
| B102 | 89.87% | Clouds are formed from smoke rising from the ground. |
| A2E | 86.19% | The sun and/or moon – severed heads of anthropomorphic beings. |
| L4 | 86.10% | The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains. |
| L49 | 86.01% | Individual parts or pieces of a character's body are successively thrown down. (In American variants, those below usually mistake them for game, honey, or fish). |
| K27G2 | 85.43% | The character must build a house out of bird feathers or cover the roof, bridge, etc. with feathers. |
| L23D | 84.73% | A man captures a desirable woman. Trying to free herself, she transforms into various substances, materials, animals or (urarina, setebo) orders various dangerous animals to attack the man who captured her. |
| L73 | 84.40% | Trying to drink a river, lake, or sea, the antagonist bursts. |
| C24 | 84.33% | Someone is gnawing or chopping at the pillar supporting the sky or the earth; certain creatures are trying to destroy the barrier separating their world from the world of humans; if the work is completed, humans will perish. |
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
11 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Malagasy, Simeulue, Nias, France, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Finns, Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Yana, Trio, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Sundanese
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