The Mythology and Folklore Database
C30C - Drinking the sea.
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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
A man promises to drink the sea (to count how many drops of water there are in the sea), but asks his opponent to first separate the sea water from the water of the rivers flowing into the sea.Berezkin category: Disasters
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior
C30 has 4 other sub-motifsC30. In order to free himself from an obligation, the character sets a condition that is formally logical and uncomplicated, but in reality impossible to fulfil. C30a. A man borrows money on the condition that if he fails to repay it by a certain date, he will have to give the lender a certain amount of his own flesh. The lender cannot cut off the flesh, because he is unable to fulfil the formally logical but essentially absurd demand made of him. C30b. In response to the claims of an animal or spirit, a person offers to remove their traces from the field or to walk without leaving any traces. The spirit is unable to do so. C30c. A man promises to drink the sea (to count how many drops of water there are in the sea), but asks his opponent to first separate the sea water from the water of the rivers flowing into the sea. C30d. The character agrees that his locus will be contaminated with excrement, but only on condition that not a drop of urine is spilled. It turns out to be impossible to fulfil this condition. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of C30's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M112B | 99.84% | Animals that do not see the sun (moles, shrews, earthworms) refuse to build the road with everyone else and are punished for it. |
| F83B | 99.82% | A strong female animal chases a weak male, but gets stuck between trees, rocks, etc. The fugitive mocks his pursuer, usually raping her. {In ATU, motifs f83a and f83b are described as one plot type, ATU 36. The degree of their plot connection can only be determined by having the original texts}. |
| M114D1 | 99.74% | The character demands that chicks be hatched (from boiled eggs), a chicken be raised, and it be cooked within a day. Another character responds with equally absurd demands. |
| K103D | 99.54% | An animal (rarely a demonic creature) orders the hero or heroine to retrieve necessary items from its ear or to enter its ear in order to transform, fall asleep, etc. |
| M78C | 99.47% | A tiny little man emerges from a severed finger. |
| M39A8B | 99.36% | Using a stratagem, someone who hides in a tree cuts (bits) off the tongue of a dangerous person and the latter is unable to describe situation to his partners |
| K56A4 | 99.35% | When a kind girl returns home, an animal or bird (usually a dog) announces that she is well, but when an unkind girl returns or when her dead body is brought back, the dog (rooster, crow) announces that something is wrong with her. |
| K103B | 99.33% | A cow (goat) miraculously spins or weaves: it chews tow, turning it into thread, orders the yarn to be wound onto its horns, put into its ear, etc. |
| L42G1 | 99.32% | Father (stepfather) takes children into the forest and slips away unnoticed. To make the children think he is nearby chopping wood, father hangs a board, pumpkin, etc. on a tree, which bangs against the trunk in the wind. |
| M135B | 99.31% | The wolf (rarely a bear, jackal, or fox) approaches various domestic animals in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil their request, remains hungry and usually beaten, and in conclusion blames himself ("Am I a mullah to read?" etc.). In the Persian version, the fox tells him this. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Ireland, Portuguese, Portugal, 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, Ancient Greece, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Tats, Georgians, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Montenegro