Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L97 — Those rooted in the earth.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewSeeing 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.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J40B | 98.99% | 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 |
| L33F | 98.43% | A rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces. |
| L1B1 | 98.40% | A woman comes into conflict with her brothers and turns into a dangerous demon. |
| B85A | 98.20% | 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. |
| J45 | 98.06% | 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. |
| F18C | 98.03% | The character sees a girl on the other side of the river and copulates with her in an unusual way (sends his penis across the river; turns it into a bridge for the girl to cross the river; into a dam that blocks the river in front of her; dives, swimming up to the girl underwater; sends an object into the girl's vagina). See motif F18B. |
| J61 | 98.02% | The character has the ability to move or hover in the air like a feather or a fluff. |
| L33A | 97.82% | The trickster takes an object lying on or near a rock or other inanimate object, which he has given to that object. The object pursues or otherwise punishes the offender. See motif L33. |
| K21A | 97.67% | A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband. |
| I93 | 97.65% | The Milky Way – the backbone, support, pillar of the sky or world. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Cite this map
Distribution of the traditions attesting motif L97, ‘Those rooted in the earth.’, as recorded in the Berezkin–Duvakin Analytical Catalogue of Folklore Motifs (22 traditions mapped). Geolocation and cartography by Jonathan Fielder-White, Folklore Database, release 1.26206.1 (25 July 2026), https://www.folkloredatabase.com/motif/L97 (accessed 8 August 2026). Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Traditions
22 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 22 traditions: Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Western Tungus (Evenki), Western Siberia Tungus (Evenki): Sym River, Ket River, Inland Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Micmac, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Menominee, Plains Ojibwa, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area
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