Baikal RegionTungus/Evenki



Tradition title rus: 
Байкальские эвенки: токминско-верхнеленские, непские (киренские), северобайкальские, баунтовские (Баунт – озеро в северном Забайкалье), каларские (самый северный район Забайкальского края), баргузинские, витимо-нерчинские, витимо-олекминские (вкл талочских), тунгиро-олекминские, верхнеалданско-зейские
Areal ID: 
9.3.2.3
Tradition analysis result motif count all: 
203.00
Tradition analysis result motif count cosmo: 
88.00
Motifs: 

Motif

a4


Name_eng: 
Female sun
Description: 

The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female




Motif

a5


Name_eng: 
The Sun and the Moon are males
Description: 

The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual




Motif

a32


Name_eng: 
Figure on lunar disc
Description: 

A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32)




Motif

a32d


Name_eng: 
Man in the Moon
Description: 

Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon




Motif

a32e


Name_eng: 
Person with an object in hands
Description: 

Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)




Motif

a32f


Name_eng: 
Water-carrier in the Moon
Description: 

Person who went to fetch water and/or holds in hands a container for liquid is seen in the moon




Motif

a32h


Name_eng: 
The Moon plant
Description: 

A tree or bush is seen in the moon




Motif

b2a


Name_eng: 
The female earth
Description: 

The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman




Motif

b3a


Name_eng: 
Primeval waters
Description: 

Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later




Motif

b42


Name_eng: 
Cosmic hunt
Description: 

Certain stars or constellations are interpreted as hunters, their dogs and game that the hunters pursue




Motif

b42b


Name_eng: 
Sky hunters pursue an ungulate
Description: 

In the cosmic hunt tale the game pursued by the hunters is an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.)




Motif

b42f


Name_eng: 
Ursa major is an ungulate
Description: 

Ursa major (seven stars or only four stars of a dipper) is identified with an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.)




Motif

b42l


Name_eng: 
Animal is the dipper, hunters are the handle
Description: 

Stars of the handle of the Big Dipper are identified with the hunters, the dipper itself with the game (bear or elk) or a neat-barn ravaged by bear




Motif

b46


Name_eng: 
Big Dipper is seven men
Description: 

Every one of the seven main stars of the Ursa mayor is a an adult man




Motif

b68


Name_eng: 
The giant grouse
Description: 

Hazel-grouse was big and dangerous. He is torn to pieces which are shared between other birds and animals. What remains is the present grouse




Motif

b69


Name_eng: 
Chipmunk's back scratched: hence his stripes
Description: 

To thank or to punish a small mammal like chipmunk or (ground) squirrel, animal or person scratches or paints it producing stripes on its back




Motif

b70


Name_eng: 
Ears of the hare
Description: 

Person beats hares, foxes or other medium size animals who became helpless (usually closed in his house). Tale explains why tips of the animals' ears or tails have a particular color




Motif

b74


Name_eng: 
The red-eyed wood-grouse
Description: 

Eyes of wood-grouse became red because it shed tears




Motif

c2


Name_eng: 
Deluge and conflagration combined
Description: 

Inhabitans of the Middle World are (partly) destroyed (or will be destoyed) once by fire or draught, another time by a flood or the world is destroyed with a flood of fire or boiling water




Motif

c6


Name_eng: 
Valuables brought from the lower world
Description: 

Persons or animals dive or otherwise decend to the lower world to get a desired object and to bring it to earth (besides episodes in the fairytales, cf. motif k27x9)




Motif

c6a


Name_eng: 
The diver is turtle or frog
Description: 

A turtle or a frog (toad) brings the desired object from the bottom of the water body or from the lower world




Motif

c6d


Name_eng: 
The aquisition of the earth from the lower world
Description: 

The dry land (the earth) grows from a small amount of solid substance (sand, clay, dirt and the like) brought from the lower world (usually from the bottom of the ocean)




Motif

c19


Name_eng: 
Acquisition of the sun
Description: 

The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again)




Motif

c26


Name_eng: 
Guardian at the border of the non-human world
Description: 

Monsters or ghosts try to invade our world. Powerful person or creature is on guard and prevents the invasion




Motif

d1


Name_eng: 
Female spirit of fire
Description: 

Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire




Motif

d4a


Name_eng: 
Theft of fire
Description: 

Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before




Motif

d9


Name_eng: 
Fire and vulture
Description: 

Raven or other big dark-feathered bird scavenger is the owner, personification, spouse, obtainer or stealer of fire, daylight, or the Sun




Motif

d13i


Name_eng: 
Broken tooth
Description: 

Person knows that the deceiver and trickster has one of his teeth broken. To identify him, person makes others laugh and thus open their mouths




Motif

f64


Name_eng: 
The lecherous parent
Description: 

Person changes his or (rare) her guise to marry his or her close relative in descending or (rare) ascending line




Motif

f86


Name_eng: 
Conditional signal
Description: 

Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself)




Motif

g6


Name_eng: 
Primeval tree
Description: 

One of the trees is the principal, original one (emerged before all the other; ancestor of wild or cultivated plants; ocean or rivers inside it; world axis; higher than all the others; overshadows sky)




Motif

g23


Name_eng: 
Alive being turns into many objects
Description: 

Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered)




Motif

g29


Name_eng: 
Demon made of artifacts
Description: 

Demonic person turns into or consists of different household objects or tools (and into elements of a landscape)




Motif

h6c


Name_eng: 
The immortal raven
Description: 

Raven is associated with death or contrasted with people as an immortal with mortals (is sent to the medicine of immortality; drinks itself water of immortality; gives instructions concerning funeral rites; etc.)




Motif

h18


Name_eng: 
Hoarded game released
Description: 

Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world




Motif

h36ff


Name_eng: 
Death and the raven
Description: 

Raven is responsible for introduction of permanent death




Motif

h40


Name_eng: 
Dog is the guard of man
Description: 

Dog guards (successfully or unsuccessfully) the (still unfinished) physical body of man or the entrance to paradise




Motif

h41


Name_eng: 
Death and the dog
Description: 

Dog is responsible for people being mortal or imperfect. Usually the antagonist bribes dog with a warm fur and the dog lets him spoil the half-ready human figures




Motif

h42


Name_eng: 
Creator goes away for a while
Description: 

After creating the bodies of the first people or after getting a conception how to do it the Creator goes away for a while. During his absence another person, because of his or her ignorance or intentionally, spoils the creation or makes himself or herself what the Creator would make in a better way. Usually because of this people are mortal and subject to diseases




Motif

i1


Name_eng: 
The thunderbirds
Description: 

Creatures that produce rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or anthropomorphic beings with wings; or (rare) some or all birds are connected with thunder, lightning or rain though Thunder is not a bird




Motif

i8e1


Name_eng: 
Four supports of the world
Description: 

The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants)




Motif

i11


Name_eng: 
Cosmic turtle or toad
Description: 

A turtle, toad, or frog supports the earth (sky) or is its embodiment




Motif

i12


Name_eng: 
The world axis
Description: 

A tree or post pierces and unites different layers of the universe




Motif

i13a


Name_eng: 
The horned serpent
Description: 

Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head




Motif

i22


Name_eng: 
Objects in permanent movement
Description: 

There are objects which remaining on the same place are moving permanently or periodically (meet and part. rise and fall down, shut and open, rotate)




Motif

i22a


Name_eng: 
Rising and falling sky
Description: 

The sky is constantly moving up and down in respect to earth




Motif

i32


Name_eng: 
Tree of the babies
Description: 

There is (or was) a tree on which souls of still unborn babies grow, which leaves transform into people, or which trunk is covered with female breasts or flowers that innumerable babies are sucking




Motif

i46


Name_eng: 
Rainbow belt
Description: 

Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt




Motif

i50a


Name_eng: 
Torn off legs of the helpful animal
Description: 

Demon tears off or devours one by one legs of aт animal who helps the hero, usually of his riding horse




Motif

i56


Name_eng: 
Ghosts do not see people from earth
Description: 

The alive person who is travelling between the worlds is visible for inhabitants of one world and invisible for inhabitants of another




Motif

i78


Name_eng: 
The square earth
Description: 

The earth is square, the sky is usually round




Motif

i84


Name_eng: 
Milky Way is a snow-shoes track
Description: 

Milky Way is a path of a person who was walking on snow-shoes




Motif

i117


Name_eng: 
Spider ferries from one world to another
Description: 

Spider person raises the hero to the sky, helps him or her to return back to earth or otherwise helps to overcome the borderlines between worlds




Motif

i127


Name_eng: 
Ursa major is a bed
Description: 

Ursa major is a bed, a cot, a bedstead




Motif

j13


Name_eng: 
Two sisters
Description: 

Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre




Motif

j25


Name_eng: 
Babies escape and return
Description: 

Heroes (usually one or two), being still babies or embryos, escape or are thrown away, often into the water. To bring them back into the human world, they are lured (persuaded) to come out or caught with difficulty




Motif

j28a


Name_eng: 
Truth about father
Description: 

Hero asks how one of his parents died and receives a series of false answers. Usually he successively exposes himself to the same dangers, survives and thus demonstrates that truth is still concealed from him




Motif

j44


Name_eng: 
The broken bridge
Description: 

Person or his helper draws his enemies on the unstable bridge and destroys it. The enemies fall into water, into a precipice




Motif

j46


Name_eng: 
Enemy drowns
Description: 

Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body




Motif

k1f


Name_eng: 
Conflict because of a woman
Description: 

A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife




Motif

k2


Name_eng: 
The destroyed ladder
Description: 

Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)




Motif

k2a


Name_eng: 
Hero marooned in the underworld
Description: 

Hero is sent to the lower world though a well, precipice, etc. After he obtains valuables (young women), his envious companions cut the rope to get rid of him but he succeeds in returning back




Motif

k12


Name_eng: 
Woman is lost and returned
Description: 

By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back




Motif

k15b


Name_eng: 
Substituted barrel of water
Description: 

Because containers with alive and dead water (one makes one stronger, another weaker) are imperceptibly exchanged, during the battle the hero drinks the alive water and overcomes his enemy who drinks the dead water




Motif

k24


Name_eng: 
Stolen clothes of supernatural woman
Description: 

Women who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a man hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him




Motif

k25


Name_eng: 
Magic wife
Description: 

A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world




Motif

k27n


Name_eng: 
Difficult tasks of the in-laws
Description: 

A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage




Motif

k28


Name_eng: 
Father or uncle is rival and enemy
Description: 

Maternal uncle or father (or grandfather if he replaces father who is not mentioned) of the young man is his rival or enemy and tries to kill him




Motif

k29a


Name_eng: 
Surviving in a fire
Description: 

Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation




Motif

k30


Name_eng: 
Flying enemy abducts woman
Description: 

Flying person or creature abducts a woman but is ultimately killed or the woman escapes from him




Motif

k32


Name_eng: 
The false wife
Description: 

An ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc.




Motif

k32g


Name_eng: 
Punishment: torn apart by horses
Description: 

To punish an antagonist, he or she is tied to a horse (camel, bull) and dragged or he or she is torn apart (usually by horses)




Motif

k37


Name_eng: 
Recognition-test
Description: 

To return or to get his or her son, wife, husband, domestic animal or (rare) object, person must recognize her, him or it among several identical persons, animals or objects




Motif

k38c


Name_eng: 
Bird brings the hero to his destination
Description: 

After the hero helps a powerful bird (usually does good to her nestlings), the grateful bird brings him to the place where he is eager to get or tells to do it one of her nestlings. (It is not the vertical movement between layers of the world. According to the Sumerian variant, the bird endows the hero with capability to move with extraordinary speed and directs him to his destination)




Motif

k39


Name_eng: 
Man feeds his own flesh to a creature who helps him
Description: 

Person has to feed powerful creature (usually a giant bird) giving it regularly pieces of meat. When meat supply is exhausted, he cuts off a piece of his own flesh




Motif

k60a


Name_eng: 
How strong are these bonds?
Description: 

Person lets be firmly tied up when another one say that it's only a joke (e.g. a test to see can the first one break bonds)




Motif

k62a


Name_eng: 
Quarrel of mouse and bird
Description: 

A mouse (rat, mole, etc.) and a small bird quarrel because they cannot divide supplies for the winter. (Usually this episode initiates the story about the war between animals and birds)




Motif

k66


Name_eng: 
Extraordinary companions
Description: 

Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity




Motif

k70


Name_eng: 
Two sisters-in-law: the girl and the frog
Description: 

One brother marries a girl, another a frog or toad, both bring them to their parents, or one man takes two wives, a woman and a frog. Both wives have to pass a test. Values of the girl are highly assessed, the frog’s poor qualities are revealed




Motif

k72


Name_eng: 
Three maidens
Description: 

Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status




Motif

k73


Name_eng: 
Children of the youngest wife
Description: 

A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman




Motif

k73a4


Name_eng: 
Baby child substituted with a pup
Description: 

Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a pup (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a pup)




Motif

k74


Name_eng: 
Hero, his companions and a dwarf
Description: 

The hero and his companion or companions live together. Every morning one stays at home while another or others go to hunt, etc. A demonic person comes, eats up all the food and beats the cook. Or the man who remained at home comes to the demon himself in search of fire and is maltreated by him. The hero kills or neutralizes the demon




Motif

k74a


Name_eng: 
Only the hero gets to overcome the demon whose track he then follows
Description: 

Every time a demon commits an outrage upon one of the men who remains at home. When it is the hero’s turn, he overcomes the demon and follows his track to his world




Motif

k79


Name_eng: 
Snake serves an example of resuscitation
Description: 

Person in a desperate situation gets to see how a snake or other small animal uses remedy to revive or to cure itself or other animals. The person uses the remedy, succeeds




Motif

k81


Name_eng: 
The handless girl
Description: 

For minor offence or because of false accusation a young girl or woman is maimed and expelled from home (rare: killed or she kills herself). The maimed person magically obtains her body integrity (the dead revives)




Motif

k89


Name_eng: 
A girl and a witch: presents of kinsfolk
Description: 

A girl and her rival (a witch, a frog) marry two brothers. Both daughters-in-law have to bring presents from their kinsfolk. The girl finds her brother, brothers or sister who were lost or died in the beginning of the tale and they give her valuables. Presents brought by the rival are worthless




Motif

k89a


Name_eng: 
In search of the place to abandon the sister
Description: 

A girl with her maimed sister or brother escapes from a danger. The sister (brother) rejects some places where the girl wants to abandon her or him but agrees with her last suggestion




Motif

k102


Name_eng: 
Woman associated with the hero conspires in favor of his enemy
Description: 

A woman who initially is friendly to the hero (his mother, sister, more rare his wife, sexual partner) begins to cooperate with his enemy. For this she provokes the hero to do something that is mortally dangerous for him




Motif

k108


Name_eng: 
A revived wife betrays her husband
Description: 

Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished




Motif

k110


Name_eng: 
Reflection of golden sword
Description: 

Person must get a treasure from the bottom of water body. He understands that what he sees is a reflection in water while the treasure is high in a tree




Motif

k112


Name_eng: 
Farm-hand revenges on the Sun
Description: 

A poor man condemns the Sun and other supernatural personages responsible for weather, wild animals, etc. that because of them he lost his property. He finds them and punishes them




Motif

k126


Name_eng: 
Wolf pays for the eaten up horse
Description: 

A wolf (lion, etc.) or a demon eats up hero's horse but gives him a fair compensation (usually provides a wife)




Motif

l5f


Name_eng: 
Helpful skull
Description: 

A bodiless head, face, or skull is a woman's husband, suitor or son. He is not dangerous but a good provider, saves people from hunger, etc.




Motif

l5h


Name_eng: 
Person stuck in an opening, head is torn off
Description: 

Two sisters or two brothers get into demon's house. One crawls out through a tiny opening, another sticks there. Brother or sister pulls him or her by the head but tears it off




Motif

l15d


Name_eng: 
The external soul
Description: 

Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed




Motif

l19b


Name_eng: 
Beings with odd number of heads
Description: 

Being (any besides birds) with more than ten heads or with odd (but more than one) number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. If beings with ever more number of heads are named, the row ends with a being that has odd (or more than ten) number of heads




Motif

l38


Name_eng: 
Demon’s trap
Description: 

A demon puts a trap to catch people, hero gets into it




Motif

l38a


Name_eng: 
A sticky trap
Description: 

Person sticks to an object, usually touching it one by one with his body members. The object is a trap of demonic creature or is a non human creature itself




Motif

l41


Name_eng: 
Hero escapes on the way
Description: 

An ogre or ogress catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way or immediately after reaching the ogre's house




Motif

l41a


Name_eng: 
Stone in basket
Description: 

Hero escapes from the demon's basket or bag letting stone (a piece of wood, some sand) instead of him




Motif

l42


Name_eng: 
Hero carried to ogre’s home
Description: 

An ogre or ogress catches a person and brings him to his or her home where he or she plans to cook and eat him. The hero escapes




Motif

l42b


Name_eng: 
Credulous children of the ogre
Description: 

An ogre's child or (rare) wife believes in what hero tells him (or her) and releases him. Usually the hero kills the child and puts its meat to cook in the very pot where the ogre planned to cook the hero




Motif

l42d


Name_eng: 
Ogre’s tongue frozen to ice
Description: 

Person escapes from an ogre, runs over frozen water body and spills some blood on ice. The ogre rushes to lick the blood, his tongue freezes to ice. Or the ogre slips on ice, falls, is badly hurt, dies




Motif

l42e


Name_eng: 
Caught again
Description: 

An ogre catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way. The ogre comes back, this time carries the person to his home. Or the ogre catches a group of children, most of them escape on the way, one is brought to the ogre's place




Motif

l42f


Name_eng: 
Prisoner escapes, wife is killed
Description: 

Person that has to be eaten up imperceptibly runs away. The master of the house thinks that his wife had eaten the food alone and cuts her belly open




Motif

l56


Name_eng: 
Fire in monster’s belly
Description: 

A monster or a big animal dies when fire is kindled in its belly




Motif

l60


Name_eng: 
Picked up baby-demon
Description: 

Two or more sisters pick up a baby boy. In their absence he turns into adult man but when they come back they find him again in guise of a baby lying in its cradle




Motif

l65


Name_eng: 
Demonic baby
Description: 

A baby or small child proves to be a demon, devours or injures people




Motif

l72


Name_eng: 
The obstacle flight
Description: 

Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer




Motif

l72a


Name_eng: 
Comb becomes a thicket
Description: 

Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin)




Motif

l72b


Name_eng: 
Whetstone becomes a mountain
Description: 

Running away from a dangerous being, person throws objects that turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer. One of the thrown objects is a whetstone which turns into a mountain




Motif

l85


Name_eng: 
One-sided people
Description: 

One-sided people have one leg and/or also one arm, one half of a head, etc. The second leg is not cut or burned off, preserved as a stump but is absent completely




Motif

l94


Name_eng: 
Child promised to demon
Description: 

A demon helps a man or a woman or lets him or her free. As a reward, the person is forced to promise to give the demon his child




Motif

l95


Name_eng: 
Coming back to pick up toys
Description: 

Person (usually a kid or lad) returns to the former place to pick up the forgotten object (often a toy) and is caught there by a demonic being




Motif

l100


Name_eng: 
Transformation flight
Description: 

A youth and a girl who run away from pursuer transform themselves into a pair of persons, creatures or objects (pond and duck, church and priest, etc.) in order to escape detection by the pursuer




Motif

l103


Name_eng: 
Obstacle flight (Atalanta type)
Description: 

Treasure, or the like, is thrown back to tempt pursuer to delay




Motif

l126


Name_eng: 
The bird indifferent to pain
Description: 

A small bird makes a powerful anthropomorphic person lose his temper. The bird cannot be annihilated, cries from inside person's stomach, the person suffers or dies




Motif

m21


Name_eng: 
A protector hides fugitives
Description: 

Person pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him




Motif

m29b


Name_eng: 
Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote
Description: 

In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote




Motif

m39a


Name_eng: 
Fool takes off boots from animals’ legs
Description: 

Two or three brothers live together (with their mother). One of them makes stupid actions like (all or some of them): lets free animals that got into a snare but kills his mother; cuts off the legs of domestic animals or flays them; thinks that a certain place on a head of a baby is a tumor, sucks baby's brains out; cuts a cloth into pieces and ties them to reeds of to branches of a tree; hearing a murmur of water throws food into the water; tries to build a hut not on a river bank but in the river




Motif

m40


Name_eng: 
The distorted instructions
Description: 

Person is sent to receive something of relatively low value. He asks to give him quite different object (to provide a service) and asks one who had sent him to confirm the demand. Usually a person or animal comes to a wife or a son of a powerful one and tells her or him that her (his) husband or father tells to give him food, to make love to him, to marry him, etc.




Motif

m45a


Name_eng: 
Old man and animals
Description: 

A man falls asleep or pretends to be sleeping or dead. Animals take him for dead: mourn, carry to bury, are going to eat up, etc. The man kills a lot of animals or obtain valuables otherwise




Motif

m60b


Name_eng: 
False doctor: a finished off victim
Description: 

The deceiver who promised to cure a sick or wounded person or animal devours him or suggests a remedy that makes the sick one to feel ever worse




Motif

m74a


Name_eng: 
Strange names of the babies
Description: 

An animal person pretends to be invited to be godfather or he gives names to different places along which he travels in a sledge, boat, etc. The names look strange but become understandable when other people or animals get to know that their companion has devoured all the supplies




Motif

m74ab


Name_eng: 
Fox in a boat
Description: 

Travelling in a boat or on a sledge, animal person (always the fox) steals food supplies or ruins objects and accordingly to his deeds, names different places. These names seem strange to the person’s companions (“River of broken arrows” and the like)




Motif

m85


Name_eng: 
The fox bluffs
Description: 

An animal person (usually a fox or a jackal) threatens to cut down a tree on which mother bird (squirrel) made its nest unless she will throw down one of her nestlings (squirrel children) or eggs. Another bird lets the mother bird know that the predator is unable to realize his threat




Motif

m91


Name_eng: 
The killed corpse
Description: 

Person pretends that a person (often his or her mother, spouse or lover) who recently died is alive, claims that the death of the false alive resulted from negligence of others and gets a reward




Motif

m91c2


Name_eng: 
Put into the bag
Description: 

Person is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed




Motif

m100


Name_eng: 
Sleep at the edge of a cliff
Description: 

Animal persons lie to sleep at the edge of a bluff or cliff. At night one of them tells another (others) to move a little, the companion (companions) falls down and dies




Motif

m108


Name_eng: 
Trickster carries away people's property
Description: 

Person suggests to do some work (usually to ferry people's property across river) but carries away the property that he was entrusted to control




Motif

m108a


Name_eng: 
Trickster as an adopted child
Description: 

An old couple live alone and adopt a boy (a trickster-animal) as a son. He steals their property (and runs away)




Motif

m109


Name_eng: 
The tail-fisher
Description: 

Animal person puts his tail (penis) down and waits in hope to get something edible. The tail (penis) is torn or cut off, the person escapes or dies




Motif

m123c


Name_eng: 
Unlucky flight with migratory birds
Description: 

A bird-person who usually does not fly away in the autumn makes attempt to fly with migratory birds but is unable to reach destination




Motif

m133


Name_eng: 
Wind saves situation
Description: 

Cumulative tale: a small bird cuts itself with a sharp blade of grass or a thorn and asks the others to punish the plant. Everyone finds an excuse why they cannot do anything (sheep, wolves, boys, etc.). The last one is the wind, it blows making all other persons act




Motif

m150


Name_eng: 
The deceitful herdsman`
Description: 

An animal person becomes a herdsman but eats the entrusted animals up




Motif

m183


Name_eng: 
A race: one against many
Description: 

Many animals of one species that all look identical together fulfill the task that would be impossible for any of them if he were alone; the competitors believe that the task was fulfilled by only one animal. Usually a slow and a fast animals agree to race. The slow one puts other animals of his species at the finish or along the distance, each one answering the fast one that he is ahead of him. The fast one accepts his loss




Motif

b46c


Name_eng: 
Big Dipper is seven persons or animals
Description: 

Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal




Motif

k25a1


Name_eng: 
Magic wife finds her clothes
Description: 

Magic wife abandons her mortal husband when she finds her clothes (often, her feathers if she is a bird-woman), makes herself the new clothes, receives them from her kin or her husband gives her her clothing believing that she will not abandon him. (Versions with magic wife abandoning her husband because she feels herself offended is not alternative to the “found clothes but in most of the texts these motifs are not combined)




Motif

k33h


Name_eng: 
The cat, the dog and the magic object
Description: 

A man obtains an object that fulfills his wishes. The object is stolen but brought back by the animals (which had been saved by the man before)




Motif

k27 (motif is not in the correlation table)


Name_eng: 
Competitions and difficult tasks
Description: 

Person is suggested to fulfill tasks that are mortally dangerous or cannot be fulfilled without supernatural helpers or capacities. The person fulfills the tasks and remains alive. A contest between persons has form of a competition or game in which the loser is deprived of his status or life




Motif

e35


Name_eng: 
Webbed fingers
Description: 

First people or people made by Creator's rival were imperfect, not completely anthropomorphic (often: had webbed fingers)




Motif

l17


Name_eng: 
Face on breast
Description: 

There is a headless anthropomorphic being who has eyes and/or mouth on his or her breast




Motif

i51b


Name_eng: 
The earth is an animal
Description: 

The earth or the sky are identified with a big quadruped mammal or are made of parts of its body




Motif

b42mn


Name_eng: 
One hunter chases the sky elk
Description: 

In the cosmic hunt tale only one hunter (not many) pursues an animal (elk or bear) associated with a circumpolar constellation but not with Orion or the Pleiades. (In Kalevalaic tradition the association with particular sideral objects is absent




Motif

i85a1


Name_eng: 
Polaris is the hole in the sky
Description: 

Polaris is the opening though which one can get into the upper world




Motif

i82h


Name_eng: 
Venus’ name is Čolpan
Description: 

The name of the Venus is like Čolpan, Čolbon, Tsulmon, etc.




Motif

m186


Name_eng: 
Race competition: a fish and an animal
Description: 

An animal (fox, wolf, leopard) runs along the shore while a fish (burbot, goby) swims in the water. The animal calls him and every time hears his voice from ahead. (Usually the fish puts other fish along the distance but in the Negidal version the competition motif is absent)




Motif

b112


Name_eng: 
Bird helps to return property and is decorated
Description: 

Person suggests to do some work (usually to ferry people's property across river) but carries away the property that he was entrusted to control, A woodpecker or tit helps to return the property. The owner decorates the bird, thence the color of its plumage




Motif

k25a5


Name_eng: 
Two brothers and the swan-maidens
Description: 

The elder brother is a hunter, the younger brother (rare: sister) stays at home. When the elder gets to know that the bird-maidens visit the younger, he instructs him what he should do to catch one of the girls. The elder brother marries her but she finds her feathered clothes and flies away (in many versions the younger brother is a simpleton and tells his sister-in-law where her clothes are hidden). The elder brother goes away in search of his lost wife




Motif

n5


Name_eng: 
They recognize winter by rime, summer by rain
Description: 

Long trips, campaigns, flights or battles are described using cliché which contain expressions like “they get to know that it is winter seeing rime, that it is summer, seeing rain” and the like




Motif

m29b1


Name_eng: 
The wolf is a failure
Description: 

Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies




Motif

m29b2


Name_eng: 
The bear is a failure/enemy
Description: 

Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies




Motif

k52c1


Name_eng: 
Penis instead of a fish
Description: 

A shaman, wizard or other character with magical powers demonstrates his skill. The dwelling in which he and other people are situated begins to fill with water. It is sometimes said that this water is an illusion. One of the episodes: the character tells the people to take the waterfowl or fish that have appeared with the water or they start to catch them on their own initiative; when the water disappears, the people see that they hold in their hands not those animals, but their own penises or something else




Motif

m94


Name_eng: 
Sliding downhill
Description: 

One person or animal suggests another to slide downhill to kill or harm him or her




Motif

k56a3


Name_eng: 
Not to fix laces on clothes and shoes
Description: 

Though laces on her clothes or shoes get loose, a girl on her way to the powerful persons or back should not tie them up




Motif

j27b


Name_eng: 
The water father
Description: 

Besides his parents on earth, the baby who had been thrown into a river or lake and comes from time to time to the shore has another father (and mother) under the water. He does not want to be separated from them or they do not want let him go




Motif

k73a


Name_eng: 
Baby child substituted with object or animal
Description: 

Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with an animal or an object (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to an animal or an object)




Motif

l94b


Name_eng: 
Give me what you do not know at home!
Description: 

Person promises to give (sacrifice) to a supernatural the being that will be the first to come to him when he will return home (or something that he has never seen in his house, or an object that he will first see behind the door; etc.). The person thinks that it will be something insignificant but it is his own child




Motif

m94a1


Name_eng: 
Sliding downhill: animal tricksters
Description: 

Being irresponsible and light-minded, animal person slides downhill and dies or gets into trouble (falls on sharp pole, into the water, etc.)




Motif

k62a1


Name_eng: 
A man cures the wounded eagle
Description: 

A man saves (spares) a wounded bird. When the bird becomes strong again, it carries the man to a distant land (to the sky)




Motif

m29b3


Name_eng: 
The fox (jackal, coyote) is a failure
Description: 

Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies




Motif

h6c1


Name_eng: 
Valuables in exchange for the nestling
Description: 

To obtain a desired object, person catches a child or spouse of an animal person (bird, snake, crab) and promises to release it as soon as its parent (spouse)) brings the object




Motif

k38f


Name_eng: 
The dragon-slayer
Description: 

A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot




Motif

b43a


Name_eng: 
Person created from many objects
Description: 

A person or creature is created from several different materials or objects or from material brought from different places




Motif

j45


Name_eng: 
The stretched out leg (crane bridge)
Description: 

Person stretches his or her leg or neck as a bridge across water body. The fugitives or those who walk ahead cross the bridge; the persecutor or those who are behind usually fall because the person takes his bridge off




Motif

k60b


Name_eng: 
Invitation to coffin
Description: 

Person is lured into a trap being invited to lie in a box or a hole to measure it. Being unable to liberate himself from the box etc., the person remains in power of his enemies




Motif

l27


Name_eng: 
Girl eaten up
Description: 

Two girls or young women meet a demon. One or both are not aware of danger. One is eaten up, another escapes




Motif

b12


Name_eng: 
Rivers and snakes
Description: 

The river bed follows the way of a snake, fish, dragon or crab; pieces of the snake’s body turn into rivers; a river is a snake




Motif

b41


Name_eng: 
The talking dog
Description: 

Because the dog was spreading some information, altercated with its masters, was talking in a wrong time, etc. it lost the ability to speak




Motif

b48a


Name_eng: 
Other creatures’ flesh
Description: 

Particular pieces of flesh or inner organs in the bodies of animals, birds, or fish originally belonged to other creatures




Motif

h43aa


Name_eng: 
Figure of the first man smeared with filth
Description: 

After making human body, creator goes away for a time. In his absence another person spits on the human figure that was not yet alive, smears it with filth, etc.




Motif

h48


Name_eng: 
Daughters of evil spirit
Description: 

Diseases are sisters (rare: brothers), usually children of evil spirit




Motif

l65b3


Name_eng: 
The escape on the tree
Description: 

Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)




Motif

m91d


Name_eng: 
The drowned shaman
Description: 

Person deceives the other (giving out a corpse for alive person, accusing incent people of murder, etc.). When a shaman (almost) gets to know the truth, the trickster kills her or him and gets to avoid any punishment




Motif

b81


Name_eng: 
Rifle for the dog
Description: 

Creator and his opponent ponder upon should the dog be able to use a bow or fire-arms




Motif

c6c


Name_eng: 
The diver is a bird
Description: 

An aquatic bird dives and brings the desired object from the bottom




Motif

e36


Name_eng: 
Hard covering of the body
Description: 

Human body was or could be protected with a hard layer (rare: with hair) but it has been preserved only on fingers and toes (on the head)




Motif

j23


Name_eng: 
A late son kills monsters
Description: 

People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy or twins. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared




Motif

k27r1


Name_eng: 
The burnt person proves to be unharmed
Description: 

The antagonist believes that the hero was burned but returned from the other world alive and prosperous therefore he asks burn him (her) or his representatives




Motif

k177


Name_eng: 
The travelling heroine
Description: 

A girl or young woman sets off to find or return her fience or her husband or she escapes from a fanger and ultimately marries happily




Motif

k176


Name_eng: 
A man in search of the woman
Description: 

A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife




Motif

h16a


Name_eng: 
Rivers of blood
Description: 

Rivers (lakes) of blood (also of puss, bones, sweat or water used for washing of corpses) are mentioned in narratives (in different context)




Motif

i29


Name_eng: 
Animal’s hole leads to the underworld
Description: 

Person follows an animala through its hole or digs a hole himself and gets into the lower world where the animals who dig holes live




Motif

i56a


Name_eng: 
In the land of the ghosts human being is an evil spirit
Description: 

When a man who had got to the land of spirits touches a local dweller the latter dies or becomes sick




Motif

f35a


Name_eng: 
Feeding with the kin’s meat
Description: 

Person does not know that he or she eats or cooks the meat of the member of his or her household (blood relation, more rare a spouse or servant) or serves it to his or her friends, or uses her or his bones for everyday needs, or slowly kills him ort her




Motif

j54


Name_eng: 
The last female survives
Description: 

Animals of particular species that were enemies of the heroes are exterminated besides the only pregnant female (rare a female and a male). Thanks to this, these animals still exist




Motif

l73c


Name_eng: 
A towel opens or blocks the pass
Description: 

Waving a piece of cloth (throwing it on the ground, putting on water, etc.) person creates obstacles (on the way of the pursuer) or a means to overcome them (bridge, dry path between waters, etc.)




Motif

b68b


Name_eng: 
One who tried to scare the God
Description: 

(Animal) person who tried to scare the God (people) with his/its, behavior, strange look or sudden appearance is punished being transformed into an animal (of different characteristics than it was before)




Motif

m11


Name_eng: 
The unclean food
Description: 

Person feeds others a food that is extracted from his, hers or somebody else’ body or is polluted by body extractions not informing about the source of the food




Motif

m108


Name_eng: 
Trickster carries away people's property
Description: 

Person suggests to do some work (usually to ferry people's property across river) but carries away the property that he was entrusted to control




Motif

d1


Name_eng: 
Female spirit of fire
Description: 

Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire




Motif

k15b


Name_eng: 
Substituted barrel of water
Description: 

Because containers with alive and dead water (one makes one stronger, another weaker) are imperceptibly exchanged, during the battle the hero drinks the alive water and overcomes his enemy who drinks the dead water




Motif

i84


Name_eng: 
Milky Way is a snow-shoes track
Description: 

Milky Way is a path of a person who was walking on snow-shoes




Motif

k25a7


Name_eng: 
Two brothers and the winged maiden
Description: 

The elder brother is a hunter, the younger one is a housekeeper. When the elder brother gets to catch the winged maiden, the younger foolishly gives her winged back and she flies away. The elder brother sets off to return his wife




Motif

e9i1


Name_eng: 
Swan-wife
Description: 

A man marries supernatural woman who is a swan




Motif

i22c


Name_eng: 
A plank from the stern of Argo
Description: 

Person succeeds in getting through the opening which is going to bang shut but the stern of his boat, the tail of an animal or a bird, the body of his horse, or his own heel is flatterned, torn off, etc.




Motif

i22g


Name_eng: 
Clapping rocks
Description: 

There are mountains or rocks which permanently collide and separate again from each other or a crack (jaws) in a vertical cliff which is opening and closing




Motif

b75a


Name_eng: 
Sounds of the time of creation: voice of a person
Description: 

Voice of a person who lived in the bygone times is still heard (most often it is an echo)




Motif

c6j


Name_eng: 
The acquiring of the earth linked to the creation of man
Description: 

The acquiring of the earth from the sea bottom or from the lower world, the creation of humans and attempt to spoil it are successive episodes of the same narrative




Motif

c6c4


Name_eng: 
The duck is successful diver
Description: 

The duck (or an aquatic bird similar to the duck) dives and brings a piece of earth that is transformed into the dry land (it is the only or the only successful diver)




Motif

j23c


Name_eng: 
Youngest brother kills monsters
Description: 

People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared




Motif

m39a4i


Name_eng: 
Fontanelle of a baby
Description: 

Fool sees fontanelle on a baby’s head, takes it for abscess and squeezes off. The baby becomes silent, the fool thinks that he fell asleep





Similar traditions based on Cosmology and Etiology motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 6 Tradition: Western Tungus/Evenki: Podkamennaya Tunguska, Katanga, Nepa, Kamenka, Upper Lena
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Tungus.Evenki) of Russian Far East
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Khakas
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Evens (Lamuts)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Nivkh
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Buryats: Western (cis Baikal)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Tundra Nenets
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Central Yakuts (Sakha)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir (Oduls)

Similar traditions based on Adventures and Tricks motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Northeastern Yakuts (Sakha): Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma Basins
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Central Yakuts (Sakha)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Nanai
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Buryats: Western (cis Baikal)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Tungus.Evenki) of Russian Far East
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Sym Tungus/Evenki
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition:
Udeghe
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition:
Enets
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition:
Evens (Lamuts)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition:
Oroch