Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K85A — The horse-thought and the horse-wind.
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
OverviewWhen assessing the speed of a horse, the speed of thought (lightning, or something else) and wind are compared.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 13, Formulae.
K85 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedK85. The antagonist owns the fastest horse. The hero obtains an even faster horse (usually the brother or sister of this horse), which is the only one that surpasses the antagonist's horse and usually orders the antagonist to throw off his rider.
K85a. When assessing the speed of a horse, the speed of thought (lightning, or something else) and wind are compared.
K85b. The three-legged horse is distinguished by its strength and speed, and is ridden by a rider of non-human nature.
K85c. A three-legged horse is strong and fast, but its four-legged brother is faster.
K85d. Covered with skins (coated with resin and sprinkled with sand, etc.), the mighty horse becomes invulnerable to the bites of other horses.
K85e. Magical horses live in water.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A32M | 100.00% | The moon is called the "Gypsy sun". |
| A35B | 100.00% | The character tries to cover the moon with resin (so that it shines less brightly). |
| B123 | 100.00% | A fly lands on the chest of the crucified Jesus. His persecutors, who intended to drive a nail into his heart, do not do so, believing that the nail has already been driven in. |
| B124 | 100.00% | Ever since a piece of flesh was torn from a person's foot, a hollow has formed between the toe and the heel. |
| B49B | 100.00% | In the past, cows had more teats on their udders than they do now. |
| C32 | 100.00% | Demonic characters will make a ship out of nail clippings. |
| F101 | 100.00% | With the help of magic, a rival or the spouse's mother tries to prevent a woman from giving birth. |
| F57 | 100.00% | A girl or her father (rarely: mother) picks a plant (usually a flower) and as a result encounters a character with a non-human appearance and/or inhabiting the underworld. The girl becomes the character's wife. In some cases, the picked plant is the character's hair, but more often there is no direct association of this kind. |
| F87B | 100.00% | A snake crawls onto the clothes of a bathing girl, climbs down in exchange for a promise to marry him, and takes her to the underwater world. She is happy there and gives birth to children. Together with them, she visits her relatives. They call the snake out of the water and kill it. After that, the wife transforms her children and/or herself into plants. |
| H52A | 100.00% | Returning from the land of immortality, a person must not touch the ground. However, he dismounts from his horse to help an old man (old woman). Death, who has taken the form of an old man, immediately kills him. Rarely: at the last moment, the hero decides not to perform actions that are fatal for him. |
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
12 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 12 traditions: Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Hungarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Armenians, Mordvins, Galicians
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