Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I76B — A mouse becomes a bat.
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
OverviewAfter a certain amount of time or after performing certain actions, an ordinary mouse turns into a bat.
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.
I76 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI76a. After a certain period of time, a snake or fish transforms into another creature, usually a dragon.
I76b. After a certain amount of time or after performing certain actions, an ordinary mouse turns into a bat.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B113 | 99.67% | Due to certain events during the time of creation, women have cold backsides (and men have cold knees, or vice versa). |
| I110 | 99.13% | Constellations are associated with agricultural tools or with people engaged in agricultural work (most often ploughing and haymaking). See motifs I110A (plough), I110B (haymaking). |
| K35A4 | 98.72% | In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns. |
| B94 | 98.64% | Trees (and animals) used to talk, asking people not to cut them down or kill them. |
| M120B | 98.58% | The character is looking for a nanny (nurse, wet nurse, shepherd, husband) and consistently rejects those whose voice he does not like. He settles on the one with the most beautiful voice, but the choice turns out to be unsuccessful (usually the nurse eats the child, the sick person, the sheep, etc.). |
| K56E | 98.53% | Two people have the same physical defect (a bump, a hump). The first one finds himself in a place where spirits gather, and they rid him of his defect. The second comes to the spirits, and they double his defect, giving him what they took from the first person. (Uther 2004 mentions Kasevich, Osipov 1976, No. 171; the Karen text is published there and does not correspond to the definition of the motif). |
| F54E | 98.43% | Not knowing who is in front of him, a young man kills his father. |
| H54B | 98.37% | The character's gaze brings death (and destruction). |
| C35B | 98.29% | The frog (toad) prevents more than one sun from shining in the sky. |
| K27G3 | 98.29% | To fell all the trees in the forest, a man fells one (lightly touching it with an axe), after which all the trees fall. |
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: Poles, Slovakians, Slovaks, Macedonians, Balkarians, Finns, Western Ukrainians, Gagauz, Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Mayo, Yaqui, Sinaloa, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Russian Federation
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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