The Mythology and Folklore Database
B33A - Frozen in spring.
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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
Deciding that it has become (or will soon become) warm, the character believes that winter is over (most often an old woman goes to graze cattle), but dies from the cold or the cattle driven out to pasture perish. Cf. motif I84A ("The frozen son of God").Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks 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
B33 has 14 other sub-motifsB33. There is a female character who embodies the wind or is considered the mother or mistress of the winds. B33a. Deciding that it has become (or will soon become) warm, the character believes that winter is over (most often an old woman goes to graze cattle), but dies from the cold or the cattle driven out to pasture perish. Cf. motif I84A ("The frozen son of God"). B33a1. A person (animal, bird) teases or insults March or another calendar month and is punished as a result. B33b. At the border between winter and spring, a bird (usually a thrush) flies away prematurely into the cold and dies, or raises chicks and they die or suffer from the cold. B33c. The month on the border between winter and spring (usually March) takes (rarely: buys, steals) a few days from its neighbour. B33d. An elderly woman embodies winter, is associated with snow, and/or at the border between winter and spring (autumn) there are several very cold days associated with a certain old woman. B33d1. In narrative folklore, the days of the week (most often Friday and Wednesday) are special (female) characters with a more or less pronounced demonic nature. B33e. The last cold month regrets that it did not come earlier or that it is too short. In that case, it would have frozen everyone. B33e1. It is said that the cold, which is stronger than anything else, can freeze boiling water, a foetus in the womb, etc. b33e2. The severity of the cold in early spring is said to break the horns of large hoofed animals. B33f. A certain character performs actions that determine the change from dark to light times of day. It always involves yarn, thread, rope, or fabric, which the character unravels or winds up, or with which the hero binds the entity responsible for the daily cycle. B33f1. By performing certain actions, the (old) woman determines the daily cycle. B33f2. At night, the fire goes out. The young man goes to look for fire and on the way ties up an old woman or an old man (usually a character responsible for the length of night and day). B33g. Horsemen or horses represent celestial bodies or different periods of the day. B33h. The sun has a mother who lives with him (less often with her) in the same house. Cf. motif K27x6b ("The character goes to the mother of the sun") Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of B33's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K152 | 99.91% | A man saves a devil who is suffering from the proximity of a certain character or object. To reward his saviour, the devil promises to possess a princess and leave her when the man comes to treat her. The devil either breaks his promise or warns the man not to try to cure those whom the devil will possess later. The man informs the devil that the character or object he fears so much is approaching again. The devil flees and never returns. |
| J32D | 99.82% | The girl will be won by the one who, on horseback or by some other means, quickly reaches a hard-to-reach place (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top steps of a staircase, a bridge, the bottom of a chasm, jumps over a moat, etc.). Usually, the girl herself is located where the suitor must climb or (rarely) descend. In Italian versions, the hero wins tournaments. |
| K27R2 | 99.77% | Task: bring objects (fruit, wood, water, etc.) that perform actions characteristic of humans (sing, dance, yawn, laugh, etc.). |
| K157 | 99.75% | The character lures his opponents out one by one and cuts off each one's head as soon as they appear. Less commonly, a multi-headed opponent sticks out its heads one by one, and the hero cuts them off. |
| K152A | 99.68% | A man saves a devil (snake, predator) suffering from the proximity of a certain character or object. To reward his saviour, the devil promises to possess a princess and leave her when the man comes to treat her. The devil either breaks his promise or warns the man not to try to cure those whom the devil will later possess. The man informs the devil that the character or object he fears so much is approaching again. The devil flees and never returns. |
| K35A1 | 99.67% | Setting off on a journey, a person (often against the advice of their horse) picks up a precious feather. Upon learning of this, an authoritative character gives them difficult tasks. |
| M199L | 99.63% | When the giant blew, sneezed, etc., or let go of the bent tree on which the man was sitting, the man was thrown far away. The man says that he did it of his own free will (to show how he can fly, to repair the roof, etc.). |
| M39F | 99.59% | A fool is left headless (usually trying to get into a bear's den). When asked whether the deceased had a head, wife or someone else, they say that there was a hat (beard), but they definitely do not remember the head. |
| L100E | 99.58% | Before entering, the guest notices the mistress with her lover in the house. When the husband arrives, the guest pretends to be clairvoyant and shows the husband where the lover is hiding and where the food prepared for him is. |
| B103 | 99.55% | The character thinks that since the cornel blooms earlier than other fruit trees, its fruits will ripen earlier than others. The character is mistaken and is left without fruit. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Ireland, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Wakhi, Ishkashimi (including Sanglich), Munji, Yazgulami, Yagnobi, Tajik, Armenians, Gagauz, Bashkirs, Galicians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)