Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
N29 — Until the boiler boils
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
Overviewtime required to perform an action or elapsed since the event described is estimated by comparing it with the time it takes for water to boil and/ or food has been prepared.
Berezkin category: Fabulous and epic formulas
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 13, Formulae.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27N3A1 | 99.12% | In the course of his courtship, the hero enters into a struggle with characters (more than two) who embody the elements, celestial bodies, and parts of the universe. |
| M38D1 | 97.24% | bubble-head, the straw leg, the hair-neck are successively dying, trying to act like ordinary people. |
| I91 | 96.48% | At the foot or around the base of a tree connecting the tiers of the universe or of gigantic size and considered the main tree of the world, there is a spring or water body, the water of which usually has unusual properties. |
| M133 | 96.48% | Cumulative tale: a bird is injured by a thorny plant and asks for it to be punished, but everyone refuses because someone else has failed to do something; the last to be asked is the wind, which blows and causes all the characters to perform the necessary actions one after another. |
| A29B | 96.17% | A character associated with the upper world and a character associated with the earth or the lower world each seek to possess the hero or heroine who is associated with the Moon. |
| M171B | 95.48% | The character pretends to have brought meat on a shoulder blade and gives it to the hosts to cook. Taking a bare bone without meat out of the pot, he accuses the hosts of stealing the meat. |
| L42C | 94.87% | The character hides from someone stronger, sometimes inside the house, sometimes outside, and the stronger character cannot catch him. |
| N28G | 94.50% | In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a gall of horse or ass is mentioned |
| H27A | 94.07% | When creating the earth, a negative character asks a positive character for as much earth as is necessary to prop up a staff, stake. |
| J26A | 93.46% | Among children of a woman or two women living together, there is a boy and a puppy, or a puppy was placed with a woman, and her son was thrown out. The puppy lives with the woman and helps her. |
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
13 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Uzbek, Rushani, Shughni, Khufi, Bartangi, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Tats, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Udmurt, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Nenets, Central Yakuts (Sakha)
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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