Motif family
Storytelling and Narrative as Sacred Power
The act of telling stories as a means of survival, transmission of wisdom, or sacred power. Includes frame narratives, stories within stories, and oral transmission as a technology of cultural memory.
45 traditions
333 occurrences
330 mapped motifs
- afro caribbean
- ainu
- akan
- amazonian
- andamanese
- arctic inuit
- australian aboriginal
- biblical
- buddhist
- celtic irish
- celtic welsh
- christian apocrypha
- confucian
- egyptian
- estonian
- filipino
- finnish karelian
- germanic
- gnostic
- greek
- greek roman
- guiana amerindian
- hindu
- indigenous australian
- inuit
- islamic
- islamicate folklore
- japanese
- maya
- mesopotamian
- nahua
- nahua maya inca
- native american great lakes
- native american northwest coast
- native american plains
- native american southeast
- native american southwest
- navajo
- norse
- persian
- roman
- shan
- slavic
- sufi
- zuni
Conserved neighbors: sacred knowledge · initiation · enchanting music · recognition tokens hidden identity · curse blessing speech
This family has not yet been binned into sub-families; its mapped motifs are listed directly, most widespread first.
Mapped motifs
330 motifs, showing the 60 most attested
- Poetic praise increases warrior courage 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- celtic irish
- Self-composed epitaph before death 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- storytelling as condition for release 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamicate folklore
- Ancestral epic heritage shaping collective identity 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Ancestral landscape populated by story-memory 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- celtic irish
- Ancestral long-ago storytelling 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- animal-centered moral tales 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- animal compelled by threat or fear-producing speech 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- estonian
- Animal-speech parable used as rebuke 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- Animal storyteller frame 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- annihilation of a people reshaped into saga 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- germanic
- Anthropomorphic object and plant riddles 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- afro caribbean
- Art as dangerous enchantment requiring exclusion or defense 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Authorized sacred and heroic praise poetry 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Authorized specialist as innovating keeper of mythic lore 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- authorship as public immortality 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- bard links present hero to ancestral heroic exempla 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- germanic
- bardic inset tale during elite entertainment 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- bardic performance nested within the main narrative 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- benefactors memorialized in epic personages 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Blessed preservation of the tale without alteration 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- celtic irish
- blind poor bard remembered as sweetest singer 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- blind singer remembered as the sweetest bard 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- bone-hole tale with oral performance emphasis 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- afro caribbean
- Book completed by divine favor 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- persian
- Camp-fire and tree-shade oral storytelling 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- australian aboriginal
- camp-fire transmission of stories to children 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- australian aboriginal
- Campfire meal followed by song and storytelling 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- shan
- ceremonial four-night storytelling cycle 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american southwest
- ceremonial praise song attached to narrative 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northwest coast
- Child-centered storytelling around fire 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- indigenous australian
- child survivor preserves the account 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northwest coast
- clever praise rewarded 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Collection and circulation of authoritative songs 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- collector unifies separate songs into a comprehensive poem 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- comic misunderstanding of learned performance 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- communal call-and-response storytelling frame 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- akan
- Communal evening storytelling frame 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- akan
- communal oral preservation of heroic tales 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Communal turn-taking storytelling 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- afro caribbean
- Compelled bardic performance at a feast 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- concealed traveler speaks in riddling verse 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Consolation through recounting other sufferings 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Contest of song between mortals and goddesses 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Contested sacred narrative with continuing authority 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- christian apocrypha
- Corrective palinode after wronging a beloved figure 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- courtly reward for verbal skill 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- Courtly tale-for-hospitality frame 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- celtic welsh
- creation account embedded in feast-song 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- germanic
- dawn interruption as cliff-hanger reprieve 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamicate folklore
- dawn suspense reprieve 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamicate folklore
- deity praised by natural and human singers 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Deliberately unfinished storytelling 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- Demonic storyteller frame 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- diverting tale opposed to sacred guidance 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- divine musician and leader of song 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- divine patron of poetry and song 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- divine patronage of singers and music 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Divine song transforms nature into provisions and wealth 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- finnish karelian
- Divinely affiliated singer with lyre 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
Each motif link opens its evidence page: every tagged passage with its quote, and a path into the book where the passage lives.