The Mythology and Folklore Database
I29 - To the underworld through an animal's burrow.
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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
A character climbs into an animal's burrow and finds himself in the underworld, or digs a deep hole and finds himself in a world inhabited by burrowing animals.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
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| D2 | 97.62% | A woman gives birth to a son who is very hot. |
| F24 | 96.99% | Women lose blood when they are bitten by fish, snakes, etc. |
| E25 | 95.38% | People learn the art of weaving from a spider or from a person who later becomes a spider; the spider makes fabrics for humans. |
| H8 | 95.35% | Unable to bring themselves to touch something unclean, poisonous, dangerous or hot, people lost their immortality (var.: did not receive the blessings that came to Europeans). |
| E5D | 95.04% | The first people to arrive on earth and settle within a limited space are threatened by a predator or monster. |
| I14A | 94.87% | People without anuses regurgitate what they have eaten through their mouths or other (marked) orifices. See motif I14. |
| J2 | 94.81% | Husband or lover – tree (temporarily transformed into a human). |
| M43 | 93.79% | To kill or catch a monster, he sees a figure made of wood or clay or a living person. Most often, a monster's claws or sharp leg get stuck when they pierce a tree. |
| M11A | 93.79% | The character gives others the fish extracted from his body. |
| E26 | 93.52% | People, or only women, go underwater and turn into fish. Men catch them with fishing gear. Those who are caught become human (women) again. (Narratives about the transformation of only one caught fish into the hero's wife are not included; see motif F7). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 14 traditions: Zulu, Swazi, Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, 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, Ainu, Oroch, Nivkh, Tanana, Guajiro, Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Chayahuita , Craho, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje)