The Mythology and Folklore Database
B44F1 - The bear wants night.
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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
In the dispute over whether the world should be light (warm), the bear is on the side of darkness (and cold); or the world is plunged into darkness because the bear hides the sun in his house.Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
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
B44 has 7 other sub-motifsB44. The first ancestors (usually human-animals) argue about how long the year, winter, night, or other periods of time should last, and whether cold and darkness should be replaced by warmth and light. B44a. Characters argue about the number of discrete units of time that determine the duration of a certain period of time (most often winter or night). See motif B44. B44b. The number and/or nature of the alternation of fingers, claws, feathers, hairs, and stripes on animal skins determines the number of time intervals in the calendar or daily cycle. See motif B44. B44c. The characters argue about whether there should be darkness or light, cold or warmth on earth. See motif B44. B44d. Night and day alternate because the slain beast was black and white, spotted. B44e. First ancestors (usually birds or animals) argue with each other about the length of time periods in the calendar or daily cycle, or about the desirability of the dominance of cold and dark or warm and light times. See motif B44. B44f. In the dispute over whether the world should be bright, the fox is on the side of light (almost always against the bear). B44f1. In the dispute over whether the world should be light (warm), the bear is on the side of darkness (and cold); or the world is plunged into darkness because the bear hides the sun in his house. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of B44's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27Y | 99.46% | The hero is sent or, knowing the danger, goes himself to obtain various (at least two) materials for making a bow and arrows (shafts, feathers, bowstring, flint for arrowheads, paint for colouring arrows, resin and fibres for attaching the arrowhead or feather to the shaft, etc.). See motif K27. |
| L1A | 98.82% | A young woman turns into a bear (in Asia, a tigress) and attacks her close relatives or husband. |
| M81B | 98.47% | The character is warned not to try to reach an arrow if it gets stuck in a tree. He breaks the ban and gets into trouble. |
| B97 | 97.89% | The character rewards (rarely punishes) a bird living by the water, determining its current appearance (crest, beak, feather colouring). |
| L66 | 97.38% | To help the hero, a small animal digs an underground passage beneath the lying monster, and the hero strikes it from below. |
| I6A | 96.94% | The male and female of a huge bird carry different types of precipitation (for example, the eagle carries snow, and the eagle carries rain). Or (Buryats of Mongolia) the same bird carries different types of precipitation depending on whether it is angry or not. See motif i6. Traditions associated with Na-Dene languages are highlighted in italics in the list. |
| K27P | 96.79% | The antagonist sends the hero to places where he is attacked by dangerous creatures; the hero kills them and brings them to the antagonist. The creatures turn out to be relatives, pupils or helpers of the antagonist, whom he (or his close relatives) mourns or revives. See motif K27. |
| L67 | 96.76% | Having dug an underground passage to a lying monstrous hoofed animal, a small animal gnaws the wool from the place on the skin where the heart beats; the hero thrusts a spear or arrow into this place. See motif L66. |
| K87B | 96.70% | A woman is picking berries, steps in bear droppings, and scolds the bears. The offended bear takes her away and marries her. |
| A38C | 96.70% | The Sun exchanges a cape made of animal or bird skins with a boy or girl, or spoils it. As a result, the boy or girl raises their status or takes revenge on the Sun. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 22 traditions: Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Chipewyan, Dogrib, Slavey, Han, Tutchone, Koyukon, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Copper, Netsilik, Iglulik, Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Jicarilla, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos)