Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I59A — Thief in the sky.
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
OverviewAstral objects or lunar spots are associated with stories about the theft of various items, the value of which is insignificant (straw, firewood, cabbage, etc.).
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations.
I59 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedI59. The Milky Way is associated with agriculture and scattered objects – straw, chaff, less commonly flour, hay, peas.
I59a. Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with stories about the theft of various items, the value of which is insignificant (straw, firewood, cabbage, etc.).
I59b1. The Milky Way – the road to a distant city, usually with religious significance (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.).
I59b2. The Milky Way – St. James' Way.
I59b3. The Milky Way – the road of salt traders, "Chumak Way".
I59b4. The Milky Way is associated with snow, hoarfrost, and cold.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I82G | 99.84% | Venus or another star (Arcturus, Sirius, etc.) is called the Shepherd's Star (the star of the Shepherd, Sheepherder, Cowherd, Swineherd, etc.). |
| K117 | 99.82% | A woman will marry the man who makes her laugh; a man promises a reward to anyone who makes his daughter, mother or son laugh. |
| B33C | 99.81% | The month on the border between winter and spring (usually March) takes (rarely: buys, steals) a few days from its neighbour. |
| K65F | 99.74% | Once in the locus of demons, a person sees them in their true form. Upon returning, the person sees the demon again, which ordinary people are incapable of doing. The demon blinds him. |
| K61D | 99.74% | A young woman accidentally gives her fiancé, husband or mother-in-law the impression that she works a lot. To prevent the deception from being revealed, she or someone else makes others believe that women's work makes them ugly or turns them into animals. The husband forbids his wife to work. |
| K57B | 99.73% | To stop a beautiful woman from running away, a man in love with her smears resin or glue on the threshold (porch). The shoe sticks, and all the girls try it on to find its owner. |
| B33A1 | 99.73% | A person (animal, bird) teases or insults March or another calendar month and is punished as a result. |
| M118A | 99.72% | The chieftain (demon) brings robbers (other demons) to the courtyard of someone else's house, hiding them in empty jugs, barrels, etc. At night, they are supposed to attack the owners. A girl or young woman (less often, the owner of the house) learns of the danger and destroys the robbers (usually by pouring boiling water into each jug or barrel). |
| K165 | 99.70% | The young man has never experienced fear and wants to know what it is like. Robbers and evil spirits do not frighten him. |
| K117C | 99.70% | When a character plays a pipe (violin, horn, etc.), people and animals begin to dance against their will. |
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
46 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 46 traditions: Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Gondi (mostly Northern Gondi), Konkani (incl Goa), Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Basques, Catalan, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Livonians, Estonians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Swedes, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Wakhi, Ishkashimi (including Sanglich), Munji, Iranian literary tradition (including Avesta, Pahlevi scripts, Sah-nameh, Marzban-nameh); Zoroastrians of Iran, Indian Parsees, Zoroastrianism, Ossetians, Armenians, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Wallons, Picardie, Kolam, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Frisians, Bosnians, Montenegro
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