The Mythology and Folklore Database
I20 - Underground dwarves, F451.
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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
The inhabitants of the underworld or the land on the horizon where the sky meets the earth are dwarves. See motif I14A.Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects
I20 has 5 other sub-motifsI20. The inhabitants of the underworld or the land on the horizon where the sky meets the earth are dwarves. See motif I14A. I20a. Anthropomorphic inhabitants of the upper world – giants. I20b. People in the upper world are different from those on earth and gird themselves below or above the waist. I20c. Dwarves live in an underground world that partly resembles the earthly world. If dwarves and humans meet, it happens underground. I20c1. Dwarves do not live deep underground, but inside hills, in rocks, in mines, etc., and usually come out from there onto the ground. I20c2. The inhabitants of the land on the horizon (where the sky meets the earth) are dwarves. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I20's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| H27 | 92.86% | Before spreading throughout the world, stinging or blood-sucking insects or reptiles, diseases or evil spirits were kept in a vessel, bag or other small container. See motif H24. |
| K17 | 92.02% | A male character in the form of a winged creature approaches a girl and either magically or unnoticed by her impregnates her. See motif K16: taking the form of an animal or bird, he enters the girl's house. |
| J7 | 91.96% | A woman or girl sets off to her husband (beloved) or relatives, or a man sets off to find a bride. She or he loses their way after a certain character substitutes the signs indicating the way. See motif J12. |
| I122 | 91.28% | The Pleiades – a beehive, a nest, a cluster of bees or wasps. |
| M29K1 | 89.72% | A turtle (toad, frog) gets into unpleasant situations due to its own stupidity or carelessness. See the motives in square brackets. The character is named if it is a toad or frog; otherwise, a turtle. |
| I20C2 | 89.66% | The inhabitants of the land on the horizon (where the sky meets the earth) are dwarves. |
| F39 | 89.09% | In the past or in distant lands, women dominated men, were the active party in marital relations, and engaged in male activities. Men engaged in female activities. Later, the situation changed. Either women missed the opportunity to gain superiority. See motif F38. |
| H34H | 88.24% | Firewood and brushwood came by themselves, flying into the house; there was no need to specially harvest and deliver them. |
| L57B | 88.19% | 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. |
| L23 | 87.39% | Trying to free himself, the captured character successively transforms into various substances, materials or animals, or (Urarina, Setebo) orders various dangerous animals to successively attack the person who captured him. (In some cases, only one variant of transformation is mentioned, but in the same context as in typical variants with a series of transformations). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 50 traditions: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Shilluk, Anuak, Melanesians of southeastern New Guinea: Mekeo, Motu, Sinagoro, Koita (Koitapu), Mukawa (Are), Wagawaga, Taupota, Awaiama, Gelaria, Goodenough Bay, Bartle Bay, Wedau (Wamira village), Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Mindanao and Sulu: Blaan (Bilaan), Bagobo, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Hiligáynon, Binukid, Magindaan (=Magindanao: main Muslim population), Mandaya, Mansaka, Manobo (Agusan, Ata, Dibabawon, Sarangani, Ilianen), Maranao, Samal, Subanon (=Subanun), Subanen, Tboli, Central Taiwan: Bunun (Vonum), La'arua, Tsou, Kanabu, Kanakanabu, Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Nicobarese, Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Ireland, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Kashubians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Estonians, Finns, Swedes, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Western Ukrainians, 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), Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Ingush, Nogai, Udmurt, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Zuni, Warihio (Guarijío), Tarahumara, Western Mexico Nahuatl, Pame, Jonaz (Chichimeca-Jonaz), Mazahua, Otomi, Sayula Popoluca (=Veracruz Mixe), Sierra Popoluca, Veracruz Zoque, Tzotzil, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Paez, Guambia, Pijao; Ilama culture, Yupa (Yukpa), Guayabero, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Waiwai, Locono, Colorado (Tsachila), Puinave, Tacana, Kayapa, Icelanders, Frisians, Faroe Islands, Morocco