Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I50 — Many-legged beast (hoofed animal), B15.6.3.
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
OverviewDescribes or depicts a hoofed animal with six or more legs.
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.
I50 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedI50. Describes or depicts a hoofed animal with six or more legs.
I50a. A demon sequentially tears off the legs of an animal that helps the hero (usually the horse on which the hero rides).
i50a1. The character sequentially tears off the dog's legs, but the dog continues to do what it considers necessary.
I50b. Describes or depicts a predatory animal with six or more legs.
I50c. Describes a hoofed animal with a second set of legs on its back that runs either normally or upside down. This makes it tireless.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| H40 | 98.71% | The dog guards and protects (successfully or unsuccessfully) a human figure that has not been completely finished by the creator, or the entrance to paradise. |
| M39A | 97.04% | fool lives with his brother (and mother), is sent on business, does ridiculous things (all or part of the above): releases animals from the trap, kills (trapped) mother ; cuts off the pet's legs or skins; takes the fontanel on the baby's skull for a boil and squeezes it out; tears a large piece of cloth and ties the pieces to swaying reeds; hearing the murmur of water, throws food into the water; puts the plague in the water; wants to salt the water and pours all the salt into the river. (There are other common episodes as well). |
| C6J | 95.80% | In the same narrative, the story of the creation of man and the attempt to prevent it follows immediately after the story of obtaining earth from the bottom of the sea or from the underworld. |
| D1 | 95.20% | A woman (usually elderly) is the embodiment of fire â alone or together with her husband, the master of fire. Cf. motif D5 (woman possesses fire). |
| K52C | 94.98% | Demonstrating his power, a shaman, sorcerer or other character with magical abilities causes the dwelling in which he and other people are located to begin to fill with water. Sometimes it is said that this water is an illusion and that those present also see animals (waterfowl, fish or marine mammals). |
| B1E | 94.49% | The protagonist of the narrative is one of many (seven or more) brothers with whom he is in conflict, but who are not his irreconcilable enemies. |
| B68A | 93.73% | Birds quarrel, and the one who claimed high status cripples the weak one. For this, the others order her to carry the crippled one on her back. |
| H42 | 93.58% | Having created human bodies or conceived creation, the creator or his representative leaves for a time. Another character, out of malice or incompetence, spoils or tries to spoil the results of the work, creating something that the creator would have done better. Most often, this leads to humans being mortal or susceptible to disease. See motif H40. |
| M100 | 93.44% | Zoomorphic characters lie down to sleep on the edge of a cliff. At night, one of them suggests moving (turning), and his companion (companions) falls and breaks. |
| H27A | 93.26% | When creating the earth, a negative character asks a positive character for as much earth as is necessary to prop up a staff, stake. |
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
53 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 53 traditions: Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Kashmiri, Ireland, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Western Ukrainians, Persians, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Karachays, Balkar, Nogai, Armenians, Kalmyk, Kazakh, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Daur (Daghur), Darkhad, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Nenets, Central Yakuts (Sakha), 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, Oroch, Manchu, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chuvans, Russian-speaking Creols of Markovo, Chukchi, Central Yupik, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Transylvanian Saksons, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area, Greenland, China
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