The Mythology and Folklore Database
C22 - The Toad in Search of Thunder.
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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
During a severe drought or global fire, birds and animals are sent to the thunder gods living at the edge of the world to bring rain. The last of those sent achieves the goal. The toad plays an important role in the action.Berezkin category: Disasters
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K15C | 99.00% | The owner of stone (ice) clothing kills people. By hiding or replacing his clothing, the hero kills him. |
| F94 | 97.59% | A man ascends to the upper world, where he can choose a wife associated with either life or death. |
| I9A | 97.47% | Zenith and/or nadir are considered together with the four cardinal directions as one (or two) more main directions. |
| A40 | 97.30% | The Toad or Frog is the wife (or one of the wives) of the Sun or Moon. Traditions in which the frog jumps onto the face (chest, back) of the Moon and remains there are highlighted in italics; those in which the frog is visible on the lunar disc are marked with an asterisk; traditions in which the frog or toad is the wife of the Sun are marked with a hash (#). |
| B14 | 96.91% | In order to regulate the flow of the river in a certain way, the character creates rapids and waterfalls. |
| B1G | 96.48% | Four brothers change the world, freeing it from monsters, transforming its inhabitants and obtaining valuable resources (water, fire, cultivated plants, etc.). Usually one of the brothers is the leader, and the others help him. All four often have a common name. |
| F28D | 96.22% | By masturbating with an artificial penis, a woman conceives children. |
| A34 | 95.44% | The jackal, coyote or fox are associated with the moon (usually with the appearance of lunar spots). |
| H24E | 94.87% | Having brought the seeds of humanity into our world, the character drops or prematurely opens what he has brought. (Sometimes this explains the inequality of people and disorder in society). |
| J50B | 94.87% | The father (alone or with his brother) is only partially resurrected and is unable to live among people (he cannot be a warrior). The hero leaves him (in another world) or allows him to die completely. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: Viet, Muong, Oraon (Kurukh), Mayo, Yaqui, Sinaloa, Guaymi, Bocota, Dorasque; XVI century data on Western Panama