Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

L73 — Drink the river! G522

117 Myths, legends and folktales

117 Unique narratives for motif L73

60 Cultures & traditions where L73 is told

4 Sub-motifs of motif L73

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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

Overview

Trying to drink a river, lake, or sea, the antagonist bursts.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

L73 has 4 other sub-motifs

L73.  Trying to drink a river, lake, or sea, the antagonist bursts.
L73a.  The fugitives make sure that darkness spreads behind them, hindering their pursuers (while light pours in front of them).
l73a1.  Throwing some object behind him, the fleeing character creates fog or darkness in the path of his pursuer.
L73b.  The fugitive draws a line on the ground (ice), creating an obstacle in the path of the pursuer.
L73c.  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.).

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of L73’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
L4	97.88%	The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains.
I121	95.26%	Constellations (usually Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) are considered as two similar, paired objects. (For Africa, Eurasia and Alaska – paired names; for most of America – semantic association, but the names are not paired).
K38F6	94.33%	A creature consisting of fire is mentioned.
K38B3A	93.42%	A mighty bird helps a man for feeding its chicks.
L57B	93.38%	A person tears off or cuts off a part of the body of a predatory animal or demonic creature and uses it. The creature comes for the lost part, usually killing or maiming the person.
L73C	93.22%	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.).
B90	93.14%	There is an anthropomorphic patron, master or mistress of wolves; he usually gives instructions to the wolves on a certain day of the year.
J41D	93.13%	The strongman orders an iron club (sword, etc.) of monstrous size to be made, but breaks it and demands a new one, even heavier (often throwing it into the air and exposing his forehead, etc. – the club breaks).
M168	93.12%	Hares are desperate because they are more cowardly than everyone else, but they rejoice when they learn that there are animals (frogs, sheep) that are afraid of them.
K73B1	93.12%	A woman with her newborn son (pregnant with a boy) or a girl with a young man are placed in a barrel (box; rarely: in a boat) and lowered into the sea (river).

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

60 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 60 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Egypt, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Songhai, Sinhalese; Vedda, England, British, Bretons, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, 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, Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Setu, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Ossetians, Laks, Tats, Svans, Georgians, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Nenets, Kerek, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chukchi, Central Yupik, Chugach, Ingalik (Der Hit’an), Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Netsilik, Caribou, Polar Inuit, Baffin Land Inuit, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Tzeltal, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Pasco, Junin, Huancavelica departments: Central Peru, Sierra (Kechua-speaking communities in Spanish sources XVI-XVII centuries), Kechua-speaking communities of Apurimac, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno departments; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Callawaya (Kechua with Pukina substratum), Aimara, Chipaya, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Terek Cossacks, Itelmen, Russian Federation

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