The Mythology and Folklore Database
J40 - Enemy from the sky.
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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
The sky is inhabited by creatures that descend to kill people. Usually, the creature carries away a person or many people, or a human head. The hero (usually a close relative of the deceased) avenges the killer and/or returns the kidnapped person (persons; the carried-away body part).Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
J40 has 2 other sub-motifsJ40. The sky is inhabited by creatures that descend to kill people. Usually, the creature carries away a person or many people, or a human head. The hero (usually a close relative of the deceased) avenges the killer and/or returns the kidnapped person (persons; the carried-away body part). J40A. Returning after a long absence, the hero finds his parents or other close relatives in humiliating slavery, orders them to demonstratively show disobedience, and punishes those who humiliated them. J40b. After the hero comes back after a long absence and finds his parents enslaved, he tells them to demonstrate openly a lack of respect to their masters and punishes those who were cruel with them Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of J40's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K10G | 93.84% | Finding himself in the nest of a giant bird on a tree or rock, a man descends to the ground with the help of an adult bird (attaching its feathers or wings to himself), and more often - a chick (grabbing its legs, sitting on the chick, attaching its feathers or wings). |
| K41 | 92.55% | A character representing a thunderstorm or a giant bird fights a snake or other large creature living in water or underground. |
| L30 | 87.19% | The one who broke the food taboo experiences terrible thirst and drinks a huge amount of water. |
| I13A | 86.46% | A huge aquatic or celestial serpent, dragon, or snake-like creature with horns on its head. |
| J12D | 85.32% | After a girl marries a worthy suitor, the rejected suitor or his relatives kill the rival. See motif J12. |
| C5A | 83.60% | A bird, various birds, or people who then turn into birds are sent to explore the earth (whether it exists, whether it has dried up, whether there are any survivors, why smoke is rising from the earth, etc.) or with the task of bringing back a piece of solid substance to create dry land. |
| I9 | 83.42% | Each (or at least three) of the four cardinal directions (as well as the zenith and nadir) and/or the objects located there have their own colour. Abbreviations: E: east, S: south, W: west, N: north. (Cf. Podosinov 2000: 143-147). |
| H34B | 82.96% | Somewhere there is or was a river that flowed or, according to the plan, was supposed to flow in two directions at once. |
| L28 | 82.77% | A person who eats unusual or forbidden meat or fish, or touches something forbidden, turns into a reptile or a fish. |
| J25 | 82.41% | Heroes (one, two or one of two), while still infants or embryos, disappear or are thrown away (often into water). To bring them back to the world of humans, they are lured, persuaded or (with difficulty) caught. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 22 traditions: Ossetians, Kalmyk, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Nanai, Nivkh, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Inland Tlingit, Koyukon, Haida, Tsimshian, Menominee, Winnebago, Crow, Hidatsa, Tillamook, Alcea, Karok, Hitchiti, Pomo, Sierra Miwok, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Tzotzil