I87A — One creature is larger than another.

A character of gigantic size turns out to be small in comparison with a character of even greater size, or the same character turns out to be small in some episodes and gigantic in others.

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.

I87.  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.
I87a.  A character of gigantic size turns out to be small in comparison with a character of even greater size, or the same character turns out to be small in some episodes and gigantic in others.
I87a1.  Two people engage in a dialogue, contradicting each other in their descriptions of the sizes of creatures and objects.
I87a2.  The antagonist names numbers from one to 7, 12, etc., the hero answers what each number corresponds to, and the antagonist is unable to refute him.
I87aa.  Describes a giant bull (rarely: horse): head in one field, body in another; a bathhouse on its tail, a lake on its back; people standing at its head and tail have to walk a long way to meet each other; etc. Usually the bull is killed and eaten (by people in Baltic-Finnish traditions and in Olonets antiquity; by birds in most southern traditions).
I87ab.  Strong men or a crowd of people cannot move the body of a dead animal or the leg of a motionless person, but a child or a woman can do it easily. Cf. motif B83.
I87ac.  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.).
I87ad.  A giant hides a persecuted person in his mouth – usually (perhaps always) in a tooth cavity; or the person remains alive in the giant's mouth, hiding in a tooth cavity. Cf. motif M21a.
I87b.  When a character boasts of his strength, his wife or mother says that there is someone stronger than him. He sets off in search and meets a character who is much stronger than him. {ATU gives a definition of the plot (or rather, the first half of it) similar to ours, but some of the references given refer to our motif i87a, not i87b}.
I87c.  Animals use a small object belonging to the human world (skull, mitten, jug, etc.) for shelter or transportation. Cf. motif I87: characters use an object (skull, animal shoulder blade, mitten) belonging to the world of giants as a shelter.
I87c1.  A mouse makes itself a boat out of a small object.
I87d.  In the past, giants inhabited the earth. One of them finds a tiny human being and brings him to his father or mother. They usually say that such people will replace the current giants.
I87e.  After the present humans, dwarves will live on earth.
I87f.  Before modern humans, there lived others who differed in strength, height, nobility, or other qualities. They disappeared after committing suicide.

This motif has been recorded in 42 traditions: Malay; Temuan (incl Mantra or Mentra), Jakun (Moken), Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Nepali; Tharu, Koreans, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Finns, Danes, Danish, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Ingush, Laks, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Nogai, Svans, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Mordvins, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Chechens, Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, Maldives, Dhimal, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, China, Japan, Russian Federation