The Mythology and Folklore Database
I24 - Snake bridge.
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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
A snake (or fish) forms a bridge across a river.Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
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
I24 has 1 other sub-motifsI24. A snake (or fish) forms a bridge across a river. I24A. The body of water over which the snake bridge is thrown separates our world from another. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I24's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L35 | 95.15% | A shaman or spirit comes at night and, reaching his hand into the hut, steals food or disturbs a woman. A man in the hut cuts off or tears off the hand. |
| M5 | 94.86% | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. |
| E6 | 94.74% | When a woman of childbearing age (she is menstruating, miscarrying, pregnant, with a child, or simply fat) tries to pass from one world to another, the connection between the worlds is severed forever. |
| G31 | 94.69% | A character ties trees with rope and effortlessly knocks them all down at once or pretends to do so. |
| E5D | 94.14% | The first people to arrive on earth and settle within a limited space are threatened by a predator or monster. |
| F27 | 94.14% | It is dangerous for girls or women to approach water (water creatures drag them away or swallow them; a girl who approaches water dies; she becomes pregnant by a snake; through her fault, a flood or other disaster occurs; water spirits themselves come to a girl who has her first period). |
| C2 | 93.87% | The inhabitants of the middle world (in part) are destroyed (or will be destroyed) once by fire or drought, another time by a flood, or the world is flooded with a stream of fire and boiling water. |
| F51 | 93.16% | Someone under cover of night/incognito approaches a person of the opposite sex. The marriage partner deliberately (to determine who it is) or accidentally (thereby exposing the visitor) makes a mark on his/her body (clothing). See motif A31. |
| F18A | 93.06% | The penis of a male character is much longer than normal or becomes so. During intercourse, it usually crawls towards the woman like a snake. (Only texts with a focus on authenticity are included, not anecdotes). |
| M43 | 92.76% | To kill or catch a monster, he sees a figure made of wood or clay or a living person. Most often, a monster's claws or sharp leg get stuck when they pierce a tree. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 21 traditions: Efe Pygmies, Kango (Mbuti) Pygmies, Melanesians of the islands of Massim District ( =Milke Bay Province) to the east of New Guinea: Dobu, Rossel, Fergusson, Goodenough, Murua (Woodlark), Trobrian Islands, d'Entrecasteau Islands, Abaza (Abazins), Georgians, Shor, Udeghe, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arikara, Plains Ojibwa, Crow, Mono (Monache), Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Waiwai, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Yagua, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Paresi