The Mythology and Folklore Database
C24 - The world is in danger of falling.
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Motif Summary - Motifs with Simlar Dispersals - Map of Myth Distribution - List of Traditions - Myths |
Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of Motif
Someone is gnawing or chopping at the pillar supporting the sky or the earth; certain creatures are trying to destroy the barrier separating their world from the world of humans; if the work is completed, humans will perish.Berezkin category: Disasters
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| H7G1 | 89.54% | A man (usually looking for a godfather for his newborn son) rejects God (the saints) and the devil, but praises Death: it treats everyone without prejudice (or is richer than everyone else). |
| L43 | 85.27% | Characters dangerous to the hero (demons, robbers, merchants) mistake excrement, insects, snakes and other disgusting things (not intended for food) for something pleasant (edible). |
| B102 | 85.26% | Clouds are formed from smoke rising from the ground. |
| M38A1 | 84.87% | The character imitates the sisters' sons-in-law or husbands, or the wife's brothers (shoshone's) or wives (comox and chalkomel). {ATU combines a motive with another}. |
| I102 | 84.33% | The Milky Way – a tree, the trace of a tree. |
| H28B | 81.99% | Shorn hairs on animal skins or ash and smoke from burnt skins covered with wool turn into blood-sucking insects. |
| F43A | 81.78% | In the community of the first ancestors, women kill, attempt to kill, or transform men. |
| F3A | 81.46% | A man carries a child like a woman. |
| F43 | 81.09% | The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men. |
| F20 | 80.82% | After copulation, the man and woman are unable to break their embrace. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Kayabi, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Sherente, Morocco