Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I118 — The spider-advisor.
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 female spider (less commonly, an old spider) protects the hero or heroine, who live with her, and the hero marries her daughter. (Texts in which the spider only lifts the hero up to the sky or lowers him to the ground are not included; see motif I117).
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
I11 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedI11. 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).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F65C | 98.88% | A man pretends to be dead (in order to marry his daughter or to be able to eat the meat of hunted animals alone). One of his younger children recognises their (adoptive) father or notices that the supposed dead man is alive (he runs away from the funeral pyre, laughs, etc.). |
| J53C | 96.48% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. |
| B45 | 96.27% | The arrival of warm (bright, abundant) or cold (hungry, dark) times is associated with the marriage of a certain character who brings cold, warmth, abundance, etc. |
| M42C | 95.83% | Falling off a cliff and breaking his leg, the character eats his bone marrow. |
| M46A | 95.78% | The character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60). |
| K8C4 | 95.50% | A small animal (bird, mouse, porcupine, fox) or (rarely) a tiny human being allows itself to be swallowed by a large ungulate (elk, deer, bison, tapir) in order to rip open its belly (and eat it). |
| C38 | 95.32% | Characters from the time of creation say that real people will appear soon, so we must do this and that. |
| I93 | 95.01% | The Milky Way â the backbone, support, pillar of the sky or world. |
| M42A | 94.83% | The character (usually after losing his own eyes) inserts seeds or berries into his eye sockets and sees again. |
| K44 | 94.76% | 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. |
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
19 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 19 traditions: Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Chukchi, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Athna, Polar Inuit, Mandan, Pawnee, Kiowa, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Navajo, Hopi, 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), Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Itelmen
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