Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I95A — Orion – scales.
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
OverviewOrion (probably always Orion's Belt) is Libra.
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.
I95 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedI95. The Pleiades are a sieve or riddle for sifting agricultural products. See motif I95.
I95a. Orion (probably always Orion's Belt) is Libra.
I95b. Orion is a yoke.
I95c. Orion's belt – staff, stick, three sticks, rod, crutch, etc.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L37B3 | 99.59% | From the birds' conversation, humans learn that their bodies or secretions have miraculous properties. |
| K90A | 99.31% | Seeing two snakes of contrasting colours fighting, a man tries to strike one, but accidentally hits the other. The relatives of this snake gather to punish him, but upon learning what happened, they reward him. |
| K133 | 99.23% | A man notices that his horse (donkey) looks tired and learns that an animal or demonic creature is riding it. Cf. motif M182a. |
| N7 | 99.06% | fairy-tale text ends with a formula that says that three apples fell from the sky or tree, at least one of which went to the narrator. Or it is said that someone give/should give the narrator one or three apples. |
| K27X4 | 98.61% | The character is told to climb a tree (pole, mountain, etc.) while holding a full open vessel in his hand and not spilling a drop from it. |
| K95A | 98.50% | The lovers are buried in the same grave or nearby. Two plants grow in this place, reaching towards each other, and between them is a thorny bush, embodying the character who separated the lovers. |
| C33A1 | 98.02% | A bird of prey flies to the chained character every day and pecks at his internal organs. The character recovers overnight, and the cycle repeats itself. |
| M100B | 97.91% | One of the characters persuades another to jump from a high cliff or tree, because, allegedly, the other's ancestor did so. The other jumps, crashes or falls into the clutches of the first. |
| M39A5 | 97.91% | fool led the goats to the fruit tree and killed them because they ate the fruit he had thrown. |
| K99A3 | 97.85% | A person sees the sun, moon and stars (all together or some of them) in a dream. At the end of the story, the meaning of the dream becomes clear: these are people who love or worship him (often two wives and a child). |
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
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Yazgulami, Yagnobi, Tajik, Persians, Kumyk, Terekemen, Georgians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kazakh, Kirghiz, Turkmen, Udmurt, Siberian Tatars, China