The Mythology and Folklore Database
N28B - Stairway to Heaven

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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

In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a ladder or stairway to the sky (variant: a ladder in the sky) is mentioned

Berezkin category: Fabulous and epic formulas

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 13, Formulae

N28 has 7 other sub-motifs N28a.  The roots (belt) of mountains or stones are mentioned in myths, riddles, spells, and songs as something that does not really exist. N28b.  In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a ladder or stairway to the sky (variant: a ladder in the sky) is mentioned N28c.  In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a pillar of the sky is mentioned N28d.  In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a lid or covering for the sea, ocean or river are mentioned N28e.  In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a bridge across the sea, ocean or lake is mentioned N28f.  It is said that water has no boughs or twigs N28g.  In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a gall of horse or ass is mentioned N28h.  In a list of things that do not exist in the world, horns of the horse are mentioned  Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of N28's motifs?

Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Motif	Similarity	Motif Summary
K27V3	99.65%	The character must hit a small ring with an arrow or shoot it through several rings. (The main materials were identified by Y.V. Vasilkov and presented in Vasilkov 2018).
K32G1	98.29%	The guilty party is offered a choice of items of utilitarian value (often forty, seven, three, etc. horses or the same number of knives). The person usually does not understand that these are methods of execution.
K75A1	98.08%	The ruler orders his youngest daughter (and her chosen husband) to live in conditions that do not correspond to her status. He does not know that her chosen one is not a poor wretch, as he seems, but a mighty warrior and a handsome man.
I50A	97.91%	A demon sequentially tears off the legs of an animal that helps the hero (usually the horse on which the hero rides).
B46A	97.90%	One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from the others (usually stolen by the stars of the Big Dipper and identified with Alcor).
K139	97.83%	A servant is so struck by the beauty of a girl (rarely: a boy) that he lets the meat or bread intended for his master burn.
B51A	97.69%	The snake is the enemy of the swallow (usually because the swallow prevents the snake from destroying people – the snake sends a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect to find out whose blood tastes better; the mosquito returns to report that it is human blood; the swallow bites off its tongue, and the snake plucks the feathers from the swallow's tail).
E41A	97.47%	The first ticks were made as a result of observing animals (a dog's crossed paws, two snakes, snake jaws, etc.).
N24	97.34%	You can see a light that resembles a second moon or a second sun. It comes from a pretty girl.
I87A	97.32%	A character of gigantic size turns out to be small in comparison with a character of even greater size, or the same character turns out to be small in some episodes and gigantic in others.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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Terrain Minimal Countries

This motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: 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), Anatolia Turks, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash

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