The Mythology and Folklore Database
A4B - The sun is afraid of the night.
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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 sun decided to walk across the sky during the day because it is afraid of the night.Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 1, Sun and Moon
A4 has 3 other sub-motifsA4. The Sun is a woman (the Moon is usually a man, sometimes also a woman, see motif A6; highlighted in bold italics in the list of ethnic groups below). A4a. So that people do not look at it, the Sun blinds their immodest eyes (usually with needles, which are its rays). A4b. The sun decided to walk across the sky during the day because it is afraid of the night. A4e. An anthropomorphic person associated with the thunder and rain rides on the clouds (uses them as a vehicle) Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of A4's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| A4A | 98.21% | So that people do not look at it, the Sun blinds their immodest eyes (usually with needles, which are its rays). |
| A37A | 97.93% | A small animal (marmot, rabbit, mole, toad, frog, earthworm) or a person who turns into such an animal tries to hit the heavenly body with arrows or helps the archer. Since then, this animal has been hiding in burrows and in water. |
| B93 | 97.76% | Once a year or once every few years, celestial beings or messengers of the gods meet among the stars. |
| H6D | 97.39% | Having obtained a means of ensuring immortality, the character falls asleep or leaves the means unattended. At this time, another character steals the means. |
| M167A | 97.35% | A strong predator mistakes an unfamiliar word for the name of a creature that is stronger than him and flees. |
| K136D | 97.13% | A young man receives two flutes (pipes, horns) from a cow (buffalo), which produce different effects when played (joy and sorrow, prosperity and a call for help, etc.). |
| K73A3 | 97.13% | The midwife's ill-wishers replace the baby with a statue or doll (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a doll). |
| M21B | 97.13% | The character consistently harms others in such a way that each person who has been deceived is used as a tool to harm the next. |
| M106D | 97.10% | By saying that his name is "Son-in-law" ("Husband," "Uncle," etc.), the character deceives others. The victims find no sympathy, since as a relative he has the right to behave in this manner. |
| A2C2 | 97.04% | The catastrophe threatening the earth is associated with the appearance of not only several suns, but also several moons. |
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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, Koreans, Ingush, Armenians, Ainu, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Hani, Akha, China, Russian Federation