The Mythology and Folklore Database
I117A - The bat helps to descend.

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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

The bat helps the hero descend to the ground from a high cliff.

Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar

I11 has 2 other sub-motifs I11.  The turtle (toad, frog) serves as a support (embodiment) of the earth (sky), or the supports of the sky are made from its body. I11a.  Describes how, in the process of creation, the earth is placed on the back of a turtle or frog, which becomes its support. I11b.  The pillars of the sky are made from the legs of a four-legged animal (usually a turtle).  Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I11's motifs?

Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Motif	Similarity	Motif Summary
A5A	100.00%	The younger brother (usually the Sun) is made from the urine and swaddling clothes of his older brother (usually the Moon), who was kidnapped as a baby. See motif A5.
B107	100.00%	During the (world) fire, the oyster burns, which is why oyster shells are black.
B28B	100.00%	The inhabitants of the area where the hero finds himself are afraid of creatures that are tools, utensils, and plants that are now harmless. The hero easily defeats these creatures and usually transforms them into what they are now.
B28D1	100.00%	Not understanding who he is facing, the man promises to kill the Transformer. The Transformer turns his weapon into deer antlers and him into a deer.
B61	100.00%	The mole had to hold up the fallen sky and sun. Since then, its paw (hand) has remained dislocated backwards.
B64C	100.00%	Fish, together with other earthly creatures, wage war on the inhabitants of the sky. Falling to the ground, they break their bones, which is why fish have many small bones in their bodies. See motif B64.
B91	100.00%	The snail had (the most keen-eyed) eyes. Another character borrows them and does not return them.
D1A	100.00%	A girl marries a man whose mother is fire.
D4I	100.00%	The beaver obtains fire for humans. See motif D4A.
D4Q	100.00%	The fly rubs its legs together and produces fire.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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Terrain Minimal Countries

This motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Kiowa Apache, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Southern Paiute, Navajo, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Zuni

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