Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

I117 — The spider carries from world to world.

112 Myths, legends and folktales

112 Unique narratives for motif I117

59 Cultures & traditions where I117 is told

2 Sub-motifs of motif I117

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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

Overview

A spider or spider woman lifts a hero or heroine up to the sky, helps them descend to earth, or otherwise helps them cross the path leading to another world.

Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures

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.

I11 has 2 other sub-motifs

I11.  The turtle (toad, frog) serves as a support (embodiment) of the earth (sky), or the supports of the sky are made from its body.
I11a.  Describes how, in the process of creation, the earth is placed on the back of a turtle or frog, which becomes its support.
I11b.  The pillars of the sky are made from the legs of a four-legged animal (usually a turtle).

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of I11’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
M42	97.48%	The character takes his eyes out of his orbits and loses them. He usually regains his eyes later, makes new ones, takes away from another character, etc. See the M41 motif.
M29I	97.10%	See the motives in square brackets.
E10	97.08%	Characters who have shed their animal (plant, object) forms become the children of women or spouses who catch them off guard.
K27N3A	96.74%	The character who gives the hero difficult tasks or subjects him to trials is associated with the sun, moon, thunder or wind (cloud, downpour). See motif K27.
F65	96.32%	To satisfy their secret desire, which involves breaking social norms (forbidden sex, refusing to share food with relatives), the character pretends to be dying, abandoned at the burial site.
M84B	96.29%	An animal, bird or fish that is killed and eaten comes to life after its bones are thrown into the water. See M84 motif.
E30	96.21%	A man has no wife or a woman has no husband, and uses a wooden substitute as a spouse.
I112	95.49%	The boat is a living creature with a mouth, a fish.
K8C5	95.40%	A zoomorphic character no larger than a fox allows itself to be swallowed by a bear and kills it by tearing it apart from the inside.
M41	95.39%	The character throws his eyes (an inhaler has a tooth) up or into the distance. At first they return to the eye sockets, but then they disappear.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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🌐 Open as Airocean (Dymaxion) map ↗

Traditions

59 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 59 traditions: Yao, Makua, Kerewe, Sukuma, Kwaya, Kumbi, Busiba, Gusii, Suba, Luba (Baluba, Luba-Katanga, Shaba), (Ba)Holoholo, Tumbwe, Bena-Piana, Tabwa, Benabena-Mitumba, Zela, Bene-Marungu, Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Mongo (Mongo-Nkundu), Nkundu, Ngelima, Ngombe, (Ba)Tetela), Pende, Wu(Kusu), (Ba)Mbala (incl Saie, Kwilu), Lozi (Losi, Rotse, Barotse), Lui, Subiya (Subia), Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Chukchi, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Inland Tlingit, Athna, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), North Alaskan Inupiat, Polar Inuit, Tlingit, Eastern Cree, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arikara, Pawnee, Kiowa Apache, Plains Cree, Hidatsa, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Quinault, Tillamook, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Coos, Wailaki, Mattole, Lassik, Sinkyone, Cahto, Achomavi, Yana, Yokuts, Navajo, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Zuni, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Eastern Keres (Cochiti, Sia, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Paguate, Seama), Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Guajiro, Makiritare (Yecuana), Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Northeastern Yakuts (Sakha): Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma Basins, Vanuatu

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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com

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