The Mythology and Folklore Database
I35A2 - Thunder – rolling stones, vessels.
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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
Thunder is heard when stones or large vessels are rolled, dragged or overturned in the sky.Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
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
I35 has 7 other sub-motifsI35. Thunder is produced by a (tanned) animal skin or (rarely) a person being dragged, or clothing being dragged behind or shaken out. I35a. Thunder is produced by an old woman in the sky. I35a1. The character claims the role of the thunder god and imitates him. I35a1a. The character considers himself equal to the deity, imitating him, mocking him or trying to kill him. I35a2. Thunder is heard when stones or large vessels are rolled, dragged or overturned in the sky. I35b. The sky is considered to be metallic. The process of its creation resembles metal forging. I35b1. The sky is made of ice. I35c. One of the mythological characters who, using his craft skills, first makes (usually forges) tools and natural objects; he is the patron of craftsmen (usually blacksmiths). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I35's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27SS | 99.52% | A strong man must overtake a woman, often an old woman. This is difficult or impossible to achieve. |
| M152B | 99.46% | When seeing a herbivorous ungulate (usually a donkey) for the first time, a large predator thinks that it is strong and dangerous. The herbivore's subsequent behaviour usually convinces the predator that its first impression was correct. |
| M127A | 99.44% | In response to a character's request to make him laugh or feed him, a bird sits on a person's or animal's head or on a fragile object. Another person tries to knock the bird down, kills or maims the person on whom the bird has landed, or breaks the object. Alternatively, the bird distracts the person's attention, and during this time the character eats the food that the person was carrying. |
| M84A | 99.42% | After supernatural characters put the bones of a dead and eaten deer, cow, ram, or goat in its skin, the animal is whole (and usually comes to life). See M84 motif. |
| N27C | 99.28% | It is claimed that the bird has no milk and/or breasts |
| J32A1 | 99.18% | But at night someone tramples the field, steals hay, etc. The hero learns that it is horses doing this. |
| N27B | 99.09% | It is said that someone is only lacking bird’s milk or that somewhere the only thing missing is bird’s milk |
| N27A | 99.03% | It is said that somewhere there is (or was) even bird’s milk |
| N33 | 98.79% | hero drives the enemy into the ground, or he and the enemy alternately drive each other into the ground (ankle-deep, waist-deep, etc.). |
| I87AA | 98.72% | Describes a giant bull (rarely: horse): head in one field, body in another; a bathhouse on its tail, a lake on its back; people standing at its head and tail have to walk a long way to meet each other; etc. Usually the bull is killed and eaten (by people in Baltic-Finnish traditions and in Olonets antiquity; by birds in most southern traditions). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, 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, Estonians, Abaza (Abazins), Ossetians, Ingush, Svans, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Wallons, Picardie