Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I35A — Thunder – an old woman.
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
OverviewThunder is produced by an old woman in the sky.
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
I35 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedI35. Thunder is produced by a (tanned) animal skin or (rarely) a person being dragged, or clothing being dragged behind or shaken out.
I35a. Thunder is produced by an old woman in the sky.
I35a1. The character claims the role of the thunder god and imitates him.
I35a1a. The character considers himself equal to the deity, imitating him, mocking him or trying to kill him.
I35a2. Thunder is heard when stones or large vessels are rolled, dragged or overturned in the sky.
I35b. The sky is considered to be metallic. The process of its creation resembles metal forging.
I35b1. The sky is made of ice.
I35c. One of the mythological characters who, using his craft skills, first makes (usually forges) tools and natural objects; he is the patron of craftsmen (usually blacksmiths).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27Z7 | 99.29% | The character promises to fulfil a request if the other person reveals the secret behind someone's strange behaviour. |
| K99A3 | 99.29% | A person sees the sun, moon and stars (all together or some of them) in a dream. At the end of the story, the meaning of the dream becomes clear: these are people who love or worship him (often two wives and a child). |
| M199A | 99.22% | A man buried something soft and liquid in the ground, and when he stamped on it (shot an arrow into it) and the buried object splashed onto the surface, he said that he had squeezed the brain (innards) out of the earth. |
| K100F | 98.94% | A man catches an unusual fish (rarely: a bird or some kind of aquatic creature). His son (a worker) releases it. For this, the father (king) drives him away, or the one who released the fish leaves on his own. The rescued fish helps him. |
| M199J | 98.83% | A giant puts a man on his shoulders to carry him across a river. Believing that the man is strong, he asks why he is so light. The man replies that if he puts all his weight on the giant, the giant will not be able to carry him. The giant pricks him with an awl (knife, nail) and asks him not to put all his weight on him again. |
| L65A1 | 98.81% | A demonic character successively devours parts of the horse on which the hero arrived, each time returning to the hero and then leaving to devour another part. (Often asks whether the hero arrived on a three-legged, two-legged or one-legged horse). |
| K90A | 98.69% | Seeing two snakes of contrasting colours fighting, a man tries to strike one, but accidentally hits the other. The relatives of this snake gather to punish him, but upon learning what happened, they reward him. |
| B73A | 98.57% | A girl (a young man, a girl with her brother; two little brothers) searches for a lost horse, cow, sheep and, as a result (alone or with her brother; both brothers), turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) with a characteristic call. |
| L125A | 98.57% | The woman with whom the man has come together is a creature of a non-human nature. This becomes clear after she suffers from thirst at night and, finding no water in the house, takes on her true form, turning into a snake, separating her limbs from her torso, etc. |
| K95A | 98.57% | The lovers are buried in the same grave or nearby. Two plants grow in this place, reaching towards each other, and between them is a thorny bush, embodying the character who separated the lovers. |
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
13 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Lithuanians, Wakhi, Ishkashimi (including Sanglich), Munji, Yagnobi, Tajik, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Nogai, Talysh, Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Uyghur, Turkmen, Galicians, Russian Federation
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