The Mythology and Folklore Database
I4A - Thunder in trouble: falls to the ground.
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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
Thunder falls to earth and cannot rise. Usually, a person helps it return to the sky.Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
I4 has 7 other sub-motifsI4. When a vehicle moves across the sky, thunder rumbles. I4a. Thunder falls to earth and cannot rise. Usually, a person helps it return to the sky. I4b. A person helps thunder defeat the enemy. I4c. The enemy of the thunderer temporarily defeats and captures him. I4d. An enemy steals a weapon (usually a musical instrument) used by the thunder god to summon a storm. The thunder god or his assistant comes unrecognised to the thief, takes possession of his weapon and kills his enemies. I4d1. An enemy steals the tendons (heart and eyes) of a thunder god, who returns them and prevails over his enemy. Cf. motif L57A, "The hero's companion returns his organ." I4e. An anthropomorphic deity (associated with thunder and rain) rides on a cloud or a cloud. I4F. The hero and his opponent engage in single combat and are still fighting in the sky. This is thunder. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I4's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I14A | 96.41% | People without anuses regurgitate what they have eaten through their mouths or other (marked) orifices. See motif I14. |
| G6 | 94.94% | One of the trees is the main, original tree, which is very different from the others (it was the first to appear; the progenitor of trees; the progenitor of wild or cultivated plants; the sea and rivers within it; the world axis; higher than the others; obscuring the sky). |
| G24 | 94.46% | The first seeds (shoots, tubers) of cultivated or important wild food plants and/or agronomic knowledge were brought from the sky (received from the gods). |
| E7 | 93.55% | The path from one part of the world to another passes through a narrow opening. The character gets stuck in the opening, permanently severing the connection between the worlds. |
| H4 | 92.38% | Those who change their skin (bark, clothing) are immortal (forever young). (Cf. motif K56a5a: Skinning oneself to become young: To become a young beauty, an old or ugly woman asks to have her skin skinned off). |
| I29 | 91.79% | A character climbs into an animal's burrow and finds himself in the underworld, or digs a deep hole and finds himself in a world inhabited by burrowing animals. |
| H8 | 91.54% | Unable to bring themselves to touch something unclean, poisonous, dangerous or hot, people lost their immortality (var.: did not receive the blessings that came to Europeans). |
| M44B | 91.21% | The character discovers that someone is stealing game or fish from his trap, mountain, etc. or ravages his garden, vegetable garden, field; he or his messengers wait and catch the thief. The kidnappers are women, or the aquatic animal is the kidnapper, but when caught, it gives the hero a woman. |
| F76 | 91.12% | People learn how to make love by watching birds, fish or animals mating; animals teach people how to make love or arouse desire in them. |
| C1 | 91.05% | In the past, a catastrophic shift in the layers of the universe occurred or will occur in the future. Among the variants (sometimes combined): the sky fell to the earth; the present earth or underground world swapped places with the sky; the earth turned upside down; it fell into the underworld; the layers of the universe successively collapsed onto the earth or will swap places in the future. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 30 traditions: Tonga, Hehe, Pangwa (Upper Rufudji area), Bena, Matumbi, Ngoni, Pogolo, (Ma)konde, Mawiha, Bemba (Wemba, Babemba; incl Ambo, Lala, Lamba, Bisa), Holoholo, Kaonde, Melanesians of the northern coast New Guinea, nearest off-shore islands and Huon Gulf (Morobe district): Watut, Bilbil (Bilibili), Jabim (incl Kai), Tami, Bukawac, Wogeo, Tumleo, Yakamul, Manam, Sissano, Sio, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Yap, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Kalmyk, Kets, Southern and Central; Ryukyu Islands: Yaeyama, Miyako, Okinawa, Reindeer Koryak, Eyak, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Chinantec, Mazatec, Zapotec, Chatino, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Nambikwara, Ayoreo, Chamacoco (Ishir), Mataco, Toba (incl Pilagá), Caduveo, Mbaya, Ndebele, Pedi, Thonga (Tsonga incl Ronga), Hlengwe, Matabele (Tebele), Tonga (Tsonga; incl, Soli, Sala, Lenje), China, Japan