Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J58C — Bridge of arrows.
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
OverviewA chain of arrows forms a bridge across a water barrier.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
J58 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedJ58. Characters shoot arrows (darts) that stick into each other and form a chain. They usually climb up the chain to the upper world.
J58a. To cross the river, each of the three men uses his own magical method.
J58b. With the help of a chain of arrows, the sky or the sun is pulled down or pushed up, or a hole is made in the sky.
J58c. A chain of arrows forms a bridge across a water barrier.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F76 | 94.11% | People learn how to make love by watching birds, fish or animals mating; animals teach people how to make love or arouse desire in them. |
| H4 | 91.90% | Those who change their skin (bark, clothing) are immortal (forever young). (Cf. motif K56a5a: Skinning oneself to become young: To become a young beauty, an old or ugly woman asks to have her skin skinned off). |
| I5 | 91.65% | Thunder (lightning, rain) has the appearance of a four-legged mammal - a pig, buffalo, camel, anteater, tapir, dog, cat, leopard, monkey, etc. |
| E24 | 91.29% | Joints appeared in humans after the first ancestor (or several first ancestors) fell from a height, breaking their arms and legs. |
| F4 | 89.18% | In the days of the first ancestors, children were conceived not through sexual intercourse, but in vessels, piles of earth, lumps of clay, etc. |
| L21 | 88.21% | A cannibal or demon under a tree intends to grab a person who has climbed a tree; the person throws his prey or some object far away, and while the cannibal is looking for, picking up or eating what has been thrown, he runs away. |
| M33 | 87.23% | The character plugs or seals his anus tightly (with wax, clay, grass, etc.), or someone else does it. See M32 motif. |
| J56A | 86.60% | Heroic brothers are transformed into pots or frying pans, but only the elder is able to sit in the fire long enough. |
| I41 | 85.57% | A rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake), less often a fish or snake-like, usually dangerous, object (snake tongue, scorpion tail). |
| H11 | 85.48% | People are mortal or defective because they respond to the call (or pronounce the name) of a creature that brings death, or do not hear the call (do not pronounce the name; do not respond to the call, do not notice) of a creature that promises immortality (power). |
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
10 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 10 traditions: Hausa, Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Gola, Lepcha, Nivkh, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Tenetehara, Kayabi, Mataco, Vanuatu
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