Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I3A — Lightning – whip.
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
OverviewDuring a thunderstorm, the character strikes with a whip – these are flashes of lightning.
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.
I3 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI3. Lightning (and thunder) is produced by an object (sword, arrow, whip, mirror, etc.) in the hands of a character; lightning is an object.
I3a. During a thunderstorm, the character strikes with a whip – these are flashes of lightning.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L81B | 99.42% | The hero's rivals abandon him, cutting off his legs (usually leaving a sword at the entrance to his tent, and when the hero rushes out, the blade wounds him). |
| M114A | 99.35% | The character is offered to sew clothes or shoes from stone or iron, or to remove the skin from the stone. |
| L10A | 99.34% | A demonic character approaches a man's campfire. The man leaves a log in his place and hides. The character throws himself on the log, mistaking it for a sleeping man; usually, the hunter kills or wounds the demon. |
| B73A | 99.32% | 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. |
| I87 | 99.21% | The characters use an object belonging to the world of giants (a skull, an animal shoulder blade, a mitten) as a shelter. Cf. I87C: animals use an object belonging to the world of humans (a skull, a mitten, a sieve, etc.) as a shelter. |
| I87AC | 99.10% | Something huge gets into a person's eye, which he mistakes for a speck of dust. Usually, a bird carries away an animal or fish and drops a bone into the man's eye. It is difficult to find and remove (to do this, they get into a boat and float it inside the eye, throw a net into the eye, pull it out with oxen, etc.). |
| M120C | 99.06% | Two animals agree to raise children together. One of them eats the other's children, continuing to pretend that the children are shared and that it does not matter which ones are missing. |
| B105 | 99.05% | The father-in-law or mother-in-law catches the daughter-in-law in a situation she is ashamed of (with her hair down, bathing, etc.). Out of shame, she turns into a bird (usually a hoopoe) or a turtle. |
| K27Z7 | 98.72% | The character promises to fulfil a request if the other person reveals the secret behind someone's strange behaviour. |
| M199J | 98.72% | 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. |
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: Bulgarians, Balkarians, Persians, Rutul, Tsakhur, Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Kumyk, Terekemen, Nogai, Tats, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kazakh, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvash, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Waiwai, Russian Federation
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