Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I56A — Man is an evil spirit in the world of spirits.
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
OverviewWhen a person who has entered another world touches the local inhabitants, they become ill or die.
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.
I56 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI56. Moving between worlds, the same living person is visible to some and invisible to others.
I56a. When a person who has entered another world touches the local inhabitants, they become ill or die.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J27B | 99.60% | An infant is thrown into a lake or river and occasionally comes ashore. In addition to his earthly parents, he has a father (and mother) in the underwater world. He does not want to part with them, nor do they want to let him go. |
| M91D | 99.54% | The character deceives others by passing off the dead as alive, directing suspicions of murder to innocent people, etc. When a shaman (less often a shaman) is ready to discover the truth, he succeeds in it kill and avoid being charged with murder. |
| B11A | 99.52% | The mammoth, represented as an underground fish-like creature, creates rugged terrain on wet ground and digs river beds. |
| K52C1 | 99.52% | 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. One episode: the magical specialist orders those present to catch the birds or fish that have appeared with the water, or they begin to catch them on their own initiative; when the water disappears, people see that they are holding not caught animals, but their penises or something else. |
| B81 | 99.51% | The creator and his opponent consider whether to give the dog the ability to shoot (with a bow or a gun). |
| K89C | 99.37% | A girl parts with her brother or sister. He or she becomes the wife or husband of a bear and helps the girl. |
| B74 | 99.24% | The eyes of the capercaillie or black grouse turned red from tears. |
| M186 | 99.15% | An animal (fox, wolf, leopard) runs along the shore, while a fish (burbot, goby, catfish) swims in the water. The animal calls out to the fish, which is always ahead (usually keeping other fish at a distance, but in the Negidal variant, the motif of competition is omitted). |
| B38E | 98.35% | The character kicks a loon or other waterfowl. Since then, it has had a flattened tail and finds it difficult to walk on land. |
| N5 | 98.24% | Long trips, hikes, flights, or battles are described using a formula that indicates that characters learn about winter through snow or frost, and summer through warmth, rain, dew or other similar signs. |
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
28 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 28 traditions: Kazakh, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Darkhad, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Tofa (Karagas), Khakas, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Kets, 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, Uilta (Orok), Nivkh, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Asiatic Eskimo (Sirenek, Naukan, Chaplino), Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements Š Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
Š 2024â2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.