Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L120B — The fighting hero wakes his brothers.
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
OverviewThe hero fights the serpent and calls for help, but no one hears him. Then he throws an item of his footwear or clothing, and his awakened brothers or his horse come to his aid.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
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 |
|---|---|---|
| M114E | 99.78% | A girl offers a visitor to tie his horse to winter or summer, which means to a sleigh or a cart. |
| L73C | 99.66% | By waving a piece of cloth (towel, scarf, item of clothing) or throwing it, placing it on water, etc., the character creates obstacles (in the path of the pursuer) or a means of overcoming them (bridge, etc.). |
| M57D4 | 99.31% | A person receives a reward from a character who is associated with frost. |
| K38F7 | 99.28% | The character acquires wild animals (at least two different species) that serve him like dogs. |
| M199D | 99.22% | A man and his opponent agree to compete in wrestling and running. The man sends his "relatives" â a bear and a hare â to compete in his place. (ATU numbers 1071 and 1072 are combined, as they are almost always paired.) |
| M197E1 | 99.12% | The demon claims that the harvest in a field belonging to a human belongs to him. But if the human brings him an animal unknown to him, he will renounce his claims. The man brings his wife, smeared with something sticky and covered in feathers, standing on all fours, with her hair loose, etc. The demon admits defeat. |
| K102A3 | 99.11% | Someone (usually a woman) places a poisonous tooth (bone, nail, etc.) in the hero's bed. The young man dies, but is then revived. |
| I90 | 98.98% | The character goes towards their goal, following a rolling ball of thread (less often an apple or a ball). |
| M38D6 | 98.95% | Several characters embody small objects and die one at a time. The last one left laughs and rejoices so much that he bursts with laughter (breaks his head, etc.). |
| H6C1 | 98.78% | To obtain the desired object, the character grabs the young or the female bird (snake, crab) and promises to release them if the father (mother, male) bird delivers the desired object. |
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: Latvians, Setu, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Abaza (Abazins), Mansi, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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