Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K59 — Osiris's chest.
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
OverviewOne person places another in a box and closes the lid, or ties the other to a board, a boat, etc., and throws them into the water. The coffin (box, board) is nailed to a distant land, where the captive is freed. Usually, he returns and takes revenge on his enemy.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A43 | 94.94% | The character runs away in a hurry and undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a bird or rising into the sky. He is missing one trouser leg, or a shoe on one foot, or one mitten. |
| M46B | 92.05% | The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif. |
| L42A | 91.47% | The cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves. |
| I133 | 91.23% | Star objects in different parts of the sky are associated with separate parts (as well as items of clothing, jewellery, etc.) of a single anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figure. |
| A13A1 | 91.22% | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). |
| C19A | 91.05% | The character (except Quileut: Raven) turns into a child, asks for and receives heavenly bodies to play, or (Chukchi) comes to play with the little daughter of the owner of the stars. |
| F30A | 90.64% | A woman nurses a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) instead of a child; people kill the monster. |
| L79 | 90.48% | The girl marries a powerful, benevolent character; his first wife is a monster; he kills her or is satisfied that she has been killed by his new wife. |
| M46C | 90.42% | The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif. |
| B44F | 90.35% | In the dispute over whether the world should be bright, the fox is on the side of light (almost always against the bear). |
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
30 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 30 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Arabs of Egypt, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Baluch, Uyghur, Udeghe, Chukchi, Asiatic Eskimo (Sirenek, Naukan, Chaplino), Aleuts, Nunivak Island, Hare (K'ahsho Got'ine), Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Koyukon, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Sechelt (incl Sisiatl), Squamish, Halcomelem, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Kodiak, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Morocco, Berbers of Algeria, Egypt
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements Š Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
Š 2024â2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.