The Mythology and Folklore Database
L73 - Drink the river! G522
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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
Trying to drink a river, lake, or sea, the antagonist bursts.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L73 has 4 other sub-motifsL73. Trying to drink a river, lake, or sea, the antagonist bursts. L73a. The fugitives make sure that darkness spreads behind them, hindering their pursuers (while light pours in front of them). l73a1. Throwing some object behind him, the fleeing character creates fog or darkness in the path of his pursuer. L73b. The fugitive draws a line on the ground (ice), creating an obstacle in the path of the pursuer. L73c. By waving a piece of cloth (towel, scarf, item of clothing) or throwing it, placing it on water, etc., the character creates obstacles (in the path of the pursuer) or a means of overcoming them (bridge, etc.). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L73's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L4 | 97.88% | The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains. |
| I121 | 95.26% | Constellations (usually Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) are considered as two similar, paired objects. (For Africa, Eurasia and Alaska – paired names; for most of America – semantic association, but the names are not paired). |
| K38F6 | 94.33% | A creature consisting of fire is mentioned. |
| K38B3A | 93.42% | A mighty bird helps a man for feeding its chicks. |
| L57B | 93.38% | A person tears off or cuts off a part of the body of a predatory animal or demonic creature and uses it. The creature comes for the lost part, usually killing or maiming the person. |
| L73C | 93.22% | By waving a piece of cloth (towel, scarf, item of clothing) or throwing it, placing it on water, etc., the character creates obstacles (in the path of the pursuer) or a means of overcoming them (bridge, etc.). |
| B90 | 93.14% | There is an anthropomorphic patron, master or mistress of wolves; he usually gives instructions to the wolves on a certain day of the year. |
| J41D | 93.13% | The strongman orders an iron club (sword, etc.) of monstrous size to be made, but breaks it and demands a new one, even heavier (often throwing it into the air and exposing his forehead, etc. – the club breaks). |
| M168 | 93.12% | Hares are desperate because they are more cowardly than everyone else, but they rejoice when they learn that there are animals (frogs, sheep) that are afraid of them. |
| K73B1 | 93.12% | A woman with her newborn son (pregnant with a boy) or a girl with a young man are placed in a barrel (box; rarely: in a boat) and lowered into the sea (river). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 36 traditions: Songhai, Sinhalese; Vedda, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Poles, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Norwegians, Swedes, 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), Ossetians, Georgians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Nenets, Kerek, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chugach, Tsetsaut, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Netsilik, Caribou, Polar Inuit, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Pasco, Junin, Huancavelica departments: Central Peru, Sierra (Kechua-speaking communities in Spanish sources XVI-XVII centuries), Aimara, Chipaya, Terek Cossacks, Egypt