The Mythology and Folklore Database
I52 - Fish – the support of the earth.
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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
The world rests on a fish or fish-like creature, or the earth itself is such a creature or originated from a fish. See motif I8B.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
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27X3 | 97.67% | The ruler seeks to take possession of the wife or bride of a man of lower social status and, in order to get rid of him, gives him impossible tasks or secretly kills him. {Both ATU and some regional indexes (e.g., Cardigos 2006: 110) list texts that do not meet the definition of plot 465: the king's desire to take possession of the hero's wife is not explicitly stated as the reason why the king seeks to get rid of the hero}. |
| I85 | 97.44% | Polar Star – stake, nail, hitching post, etc. |
| B79A | 97.03% | At the beginning of time, a bird flies, lays an egg or eggs, and various objects or creatures hatch from them. |
| K73A | 96.91% | Malicious women replace the newborn with an animal or an inanimate object (they tell the baby's father that his wife gave birth to an animal or an object). See motif K73. |
| K38 | 96.87% | For doing good to chicks (rarely: young of non-ornithomorphic flying creatures), their mother or father does a favour for the person. |
| M153A | 96.40% | A predator is about to eat a human or herbivorous animal. The intended victim asks to be allowed to wash first, and as a result is saved. (Among the Transylvanian Saxons, this involves being baptised with water). |
| I57 | 96.27% | Thunder's enemies are animals, reptiles, and spirits that live in burrows. They usually hide from him in various objects and items, and Thunder (a god, angel, etc.) strikes his enemies or these objects with lightning. |
| K73 | 95.85% | A young wife (promises to give birth and) gives birth to wonderful children (or one son). In the absence of her husband, attempts are made to kill the wife or her child (usually by slandering them to the husband), but they remain alive. (For medieval European variants, see Newell 1906). |
| M152 | 95.68% | Seeing a predator (a giant, etc.) approaching, the weak character pretends to thank the one who is leading the predator for his promise to bring prey, or his wife and children (rarely: he himself) begin to talk aloud about how they are going to eat the predator or how they have eaten his companions before. |
| N37 | 95.68% | The character is said to sleep under the sky (like a blanket). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 67 traditions: Algeria Arabs, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Minangkabau; Kerinci, Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Northern Taiwan: Atayal (Tayal; Taruko (Toda, Taokas, Torok, Taroko), Pazeh, Sedeq (Sediq, Seedeq, Sazek), Saisiyat (Saixia), Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Bengali, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Lahu, Kucong, Nosu, Nisu, Nusu, Sani, Jino, Lepcha, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Uzbek, Tajik, Persians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Nogai, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Talysh, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Chuvash, Udmurt, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Forest Nenets, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Khakas, Shor, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Southern Selkups, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Ainu, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Udeghe, Oroch, Nivkh, Manchu, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Terek Cossacks, Morocco, Egypt, China