Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K86 — The Crying Child.
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 small (usually capricious) child is ignored, sent away from home, abandoned on the road, or given to another person for a time. As a result, the child is carried away by an animal or a spirit.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| F58 | 98.26% | The character spends the night with a group of women, concealing his nature and/or intentions. In the end, he is either identified and punished, or he slips away to continue his mischief. |
| M32 | 97.96% | The character swallows food or water, or his own entrails, pieces of flesh flow out and fall out of his ass. |
| M42B | 97.87% | After losing his eyes, the character makes new ones out of resin or wax, sees again (often this is an episode on the way to finding good eyes, while tar eyes do not see well). |
| L31A | 97.58% | An object descends from the sky. Children playing climb into it or stick to it, and it carries them away to the sky. See motif L31. |
| M87 | 97.24% | The character comes to a place that is abandoned or seems to have been abandoned by the inhabitants. He tries to take or touch things, but invisible owners prevent him from doing so, or the things themselves hurt him. |
| K27N3A | 97.02% | The character who gives the hero difficult tasks or subjects him to trials is associated with the sun, moon, thunder or wind (cloud, downpour). See motif K27. |
| M22 | 96.71% | A long-necked bird living near water (crane, heron, bittern, swan) helps a fugitive escape from his pursuer (indicated in brackets). See motifs J44-J46 (a long-legged bird helps cross the river, drowns the pursuer; the pursuer is most often a bear). |
| I49 | 96.25% | Earthquake – an anthropomorphic character (or category of characters) that moves around, shaking the earth. |
| H15 | 96.25% | The dead or spirits cannot hear cries when the living call them, but they can hear whispers, yawns, gurgles, etc. See motif H12. |
| M19 | 96.18% | The character ties another person (usually a child) to the end of a line, using them as bait or forcing them to catch fish with their hands. |
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
70 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 70 traditions: Khoekhoe (=Hottentot; incl Nama, Korana); Damara, Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Melanesians and Papuans of Northern Solomons: Buka, Bougainville (Siuai, Buin), Melanesians and Papuans of Central Solomons: Vella la Vella (Bilua language), Shortland islands (Mono language), San Cristobal, Saint Georgia, Eddystone, Vangunu, Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Basques, 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, Vepsians, Ainu, Olcha (Ulch), Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chukchi, Central Yupik, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Athna, Mackenzie Delta, Eyak, Haida, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Osage, Carrier, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Sechelt (incl Sisiatl), Squamish, Halcomelem, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Kalapuya, Kutenai, Karok, Pomo, Chumash, Yokuts, Kawaiisu, Mono (Monache), Tubatulabal, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Ute, Chemehuevi, Serrano, Luiseño, Juaneño, Hopi, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Huichol, Guajiro, Sicuani, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Bora, Ticuna (Tucuna), Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Kamayura, Iranxe, Paresi, Makka, Chorote, Japan, Halkomelem (Snaymuk)
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