The Mythology and Folklore Database
K85A - The horse-thought and the horse-wind.




16 Myths, Legends and Folktales
16 Unique Narratives for Motif K85A
12 Cultures & Traditions where K85A is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
5 Sub-Motifs of Motif K85A


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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

When assessing the speed of a horse, the speed of thought (lightning, or something else) and wind are compared.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 13, Formulae


K85 has 5 other sub-motifs


K85.  The antagonist owns the fastest horse. The hero obtains an even faster horse (usually the brother or sister of this horse), which is the only one that surpasses the antagonist's horse and usually orders the antagonist to throw off his rider.
K85a.  When assessing the speed of a horse, the speed of thought (lightning, or something else) and wind are compared.
K85b.  The three-legged horse is distinguished by its strength and speed, and is ridden by a rider of non-human nature.
K85c.  A three-legged horse is strong and fast, but its four-legged brother is faster.
K85d.  Covered with skins (coated with resin and sprinkled with sand, etc.), the mighty horse becomes invulnerable to the bites of other horses.
K85e.  Magical horses live in water.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
A32M100.00%The moon is called the "Gypsy sun".
A35B100.00%The character tries to cover the moon with resin (so that it shines less brightly).
B123100.00%A fly lands on the chest of the crucified Jesus. His persecutors, who intended to drive a nail into his heart, do not do so, believing that the nail has already been driven in.
B124100.00%Ever since a piece of flesh was torn from a person's foot, a hollow has formed between the toe and the heel.
B49B100.00%In the past, cows had more teats on their udders than they do now.
C32100.00%Demonic characters will make a ship out of nail clippings.
F101100.00%With the help of magic, a rival or the spouse's mother tries to prevent a woman from giving birth.
F57100.00%A girl or her father (rarely: mother) picks a plant (usually a flower) and as a result encounters a character with a non-human appearance and/or inhabiting the underworld. The girl becomes the character's wife. In some cases, the picked plant is the character's hair, but more often there is no direct association of this kind.
F87B100.00%A snake crawls onto the clothes of a bathing girl, climbs down in exchange for a promise to marry him, and takes her to the underwater world. She is happy there and gives birth to children. Together with them, she visits her relatives. They call the snake out of the water and kill it. After that, the wife transforms her children and/or herself into plants.
H52A100.00%Returning from the land of immortality, a person must not touch the ground. However, he dismounts from his horse to help an old man (old woman). Death, who has taken the form of an old man, immediately kills him. Rarely: at the last moment, the hero decides not to perform actions that are fatal for him.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 12 traditions: Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, 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, Hungarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Armenians, Mordvins, Galicians


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