The Mythology and Folklore Database
J45 - The leg serves as a bridge, R246.
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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 character extends his leg (dafla: arm; upper tanana: tail) or neck as a bridge across a water barrier. Usually, those being pursued or walking ahead cross such a bridge to the other side, while the pursuer or those walking behind fall into the water because the character removes his bridge. See motif J44.Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| J40B | 99.41% | After the hero comes back after a long absence and finds his parents enslaved, he tells them to demonstrate openly a lack of respect to their masters and punishes those who were cruel with them |
| L97 | 98.06% | Seeing a character who is unable to move (nailed to the ground, his lower body rooted to the ground, petrified, completely absent), the hero himself manages to avoid a similar fate. |
| K8C5 | 97.86% | A zoomorphic character no larger than a fox allows itself to be swallowed by a bear and kills it by tearing it apart from the inside. |
| J59A | 97.17% | After shooting an arrow (rarely: throwing a ball), a person flies on it, behind it or in front of it, or sends another person on the flying arrow. Cf. motif J59. |
| J61 | 97.02% | The character has the ability to move or hover in the air like a feather or a fluff. |
| F65C | 96.95% | A man pretends to be dead (in order to marry his daughter or to be able to eat the meat of hunted animals alone). One of his younger children recognises their (adoptive) father or notices that the supposed dead man is alive (he runs away from the funeral pyre, laughs, etc.). |
| M84B | 96.77% | An animal, bird or fish that is killed and eaten comes to life after its bones are thrown into the water. See M84 motif. |
| B85A | 96.59% | The wind stops blowing (after blowing too strongly). A character approaches it and establishes the necessary balance. Since then, the wind blows, but usually not too strongly. |
| K8C4 | 96.30% | A small animal (bird, mouse, porcupine, fox) or (rarely) a tiny human being allows itself to be swallowed by a large ungulate (elk, deer, bison, tapir) in order to rip open its belly (and eat it). |
| E30 | 96.18% | A man has no wife or a woman has no husband, and uses a wooden substitute as a spouse. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 48 traditions: Mon, Andamanese, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Oroch, Nivkh, Kerek, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chukchi, Chipewyan, Tutchone, Malecite, Passamaquoddy, Micmac, Wawenock, Abenaki, Penobscot, Montagnais, Menominee, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Osage, Pawnee, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Tonkawa, Comanche, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Quinault, Kalapuya, Takelma, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Klamath, Modoc, Yurok, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Wappo, Pomo, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet