Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

I29 — To the underworld through an animal's burrow.

51 Myths, legends and folktales

51 Unique narratives for motif I29

32 Cultures & traditions where I29 is told

0 Sub-motifs of motif I29

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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 character climbs into an animal's burrow and finds himself in the underworld, or digs a deep hole and finds himself in a world inhabited by burrowing animals.

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.

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
D2	97.62%	A woman gives birth to a son who is very hot.
F24	96.99%	Women lose blood when they are bitten by fish, snakes, etc.
E25	95.38%	People learn the art of weaving from a spider or from a person who later becomes a spider; the spider makes fabrics for humans.
H8	95.35%	Unable to bring themselves to touch something unclean, poisonous, dangerous or hot, people lost their immortality (var.: did not receive the blessings that came to Europeans).
E5D	95.04%	The first people to arrive on earth and settle within a limited space are threatened by a predator or monster.
I14A	94.87%	People without anuses regurgitate what they have eaten through their mouths or other (marked) orifices. See motif I14.
J2	94.81%	Husband or lover – tree (temporarily transformed into a human).
M43	93.79%	To kill or catch a monster, he sees a figure made of wood or clay or a living person. Most often, a monster's claws or sharp leg get stuck when they pierce a tree.
M11A	93.79%	The character gives others the fish extracted from his body.
E26	93.52%	People, or only women, go underwater and turn into fish. Men catch them with fishing gear. Those who are caught become human (women) again. (Narratives about the transformation of only one caught fish into the hero's wife are not included; see motif F7).

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

32 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 32 traditions: Zulu, Swazi, Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Sinhalese; Vedda, 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, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Western Tungus (Evenki), Western Siberia Tungus (Evenki): Sym River, Ket River, Ainu, Oroch, Uilta (Orok), Negidal, Nivkh, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Guajiro, Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Locono, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Wayapi, Emerillon, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Chayahuita , Piro (Yine), Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Tacana, Kamayura, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area

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