The Mythology and Folklore Database
K19D - A man freezes in the sky.




34 Myths, Legends and Folktales
34 Unique Narratives for Motif K19D
6 Cultures & Traditions where K19D is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
7 Sub-Motifs of Motif K19D


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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

Once in the sky, the husband of the star suffers from the cold. He freezes to death or perishes after touching forbidden fire.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

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


K19 has 7 other sub-motifs


K19.  A man or woman marries a star. See motifs K19A, K19B.
K19a.  A man marries a star woman.
K19b.  The star man takes an earthly woman as his wife.
K19c.  A man brings home a small creature with which he makes love at night. The man's mother, sister or wife finds the creature in his bed or purse.
K19d.  Once in the sky, the husband of the star suffers from the cold. He freezes to death or perishes after touching forbidden fire.
K19e.  Returning from the sky to earth, a woman or two sisters encounter a male wolverine who tries to capture them. Usually, the women who have descended first find themselves in a tree. Some animals cannot or will not help them descend to the ground. The wolverine descends to take the sisters as wives; they run away from him. See motif K19B.
K19f.  A star or many stars descend from the sky to work in the fields. See motif K19B.
K19g.  One star is an old man, the other is a young man; both stars differ in brightness or colour, but it is impossible to determine the age of the star-man by these characteristics (a dim star may be young and vice versa); usually two girls want to marry stars of different types (one bright, the other dim, one red, the other blue, etc.). See motif K19B.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
A22D100.00%The burned character turns into a constellation or a dark spot on the Milky Way.
B114100.00%A woman or a man (usually old people) turn into anteaters (the origin of anteaters).
B24A100.00%After a character surrounds a group of people with a circle of feathers or throws feathers into their dwellings, the people turn into wild pigs or peccaries.
B36B100.00%Birds find their voices by pecking at a large reptile and smearing themselves with the fluids that flow out of its body.
C17100.00%The men of the community of the first ancestors destroy most of the people and/or themselves on a pyre or in a fire pit.
C2A100.00%Two characters meet a woodpecker and receive an object from it, which causes the ground to catch fire upon contact. The stronger and smarter of the two characters escapes, while the weaker and stupider one is burned or burned to death.
C2B100.00%The Sun and the Moon are caught in a fire. The strong and intelligent Sun escapes, while the weak and foolish Moon is burned or consumed, but the Sun revives it.
E28100.00%People shoot at the Moon, its blood spills onto the earth.
F43B100.00%Leaving the men, the women of the community of the first ancestors hide in a hole underground.
F46A100.00%Men (human-animals) discover a woman at the top of a tree and copulate with her there.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Maka (Makaa), Baya, Kaka, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Makka, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Mataco, Toba (incl Pilagá)


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