The Mythology and Folklore Database
N4 - Fused ribs




41 Myths, Legends and Folktales
41 Unique Narratives for Motif N4
16 Cultures & Traditions where N4 is told
60 Mythemes Indexed
0 Sub-Motifs of Motif N4


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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

Fused ribs are a sign of heroic strength. {The motive was highlighted and the material was collected by Kostyantin Rahno}.

Berezkin category: Fabulous and epic formulas

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 13, Formulae



Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
L12599.26%After meeting a beautiful woman, a man finds her in a situation where her inhuman nature is revealed. After that, the marriage falls apart.
I87A98.97%A character of gigantic size turns out to be small in comparison with a character of even greater size, or the same character turns out to be small in some episodes and gigantic in others.
K13998.55%A servant is so struck by the beauty of a girl (rarely: a boy) that he lets the meat or bread intended for his master burn.
I50A98.44%A demon sequentially tears off the legs of an animal that helps the hero (usually the horse on which the hero rides).
B46A97.60%One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from the others (usually stolen by the stars of the Big Dipper and identified with Alcor).
M78F97.53%When a woman falls asleep, a joker (usually a tiny boy) places an embryo or the entrails of an animal or something similar next to her to make the woman herself or others think she has a miscarriage or that her viscera has fallen out.
K38B97.50%A snake or monster of aquatic-chthonic or indeterminate nature eats or maims the young of a bird or other flying creature – in most cases, the chicks of a huge bird. A man kills the snake (monster). See motif K38.
M149B97.31%A person says that in his stomach (in a box) there are dangerous creatures that he has swallowed (put in a box) and that they may come out. A predator that is about to eat (bite) a person believes this and runs away.
M39A6B97.30%The ruler, to whom the master builder went to work, is going to kill or maim him. The master asks to send a person to his house asking him to bring a forgotten instrument or something else. The daughter-in-law understands the true meaning of the request, captivates the messenger and saves her father-in-law.
L9097.29%One lip (one fang, horn, etc.) of the creature reaches the sky, while the other drags along the ground.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Lithuanians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Svans, Georgians, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, 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), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Darkhad, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Shor, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, China


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