Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F65B — The imaginary dead man: eats alone, K1867.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewThe character fakes death in order to eat greedily alone.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.
F65 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedF65. To satisfy their secret desire, which involves breaking social norms (forbidden sex, refusing to share food with relatives), the character pretends to be dying, abandoned at the burial site.
F65a. The spouse leaves the character at the burial site; the (pretend) dead person comes back to life and leaves to be with their lover.
F65b. The character fakes death in order to eat greedily alone.
F65c. A man pretends to be dead (in order to marry his daughter or to be able to eat the meat of hunted animals alone). One of his younger children recognises their (adoptive) father or notices that the supposed dead man is alive (he runs away from the funeral pyre, laughs, etc.).
F65d. The character pretends to be dying and is left at the burial site. However, his wife (mother, aunt) finds out about the deception and provokes the supposed dead man, forcing him to reveal himself.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| H41 | 84.17% | Because of the dog, man is weak, mortal, and wicked. Usually, the antagonist bribes the dog with warm wool, and it betrays human figures to him for desecration. |
| B42 | 80.34% | Hunters, their dogs, fleeing or killed animals are visible in the sky in the form of stars and constellations. |
| K32A | 80.31% | A man is carrying his wife or daughter. Another woman or demonic character replaces her when the man leaves on a journey (rarely: falls asleep). |
| D4B | 78.26% | Those who stole or asked for fire and/or those who received fire are punished by the deity. |
| H1C | 77.35% | People cease to be reborn (or no longer come to the living) after the deceased is buried in the ground for the first time or someone tramples the earth on a fresh grave, preventing the deceased from rising from the grave. |
| I55 | 76.90% | Stars – holes in the sky; or holes in the canopy, in the roof of a dwelling, appear to be stars. |
| M60B | 74.45% | The deceiver, promising to cure a wounded or sick person, finishes him off and eats him or offers a remedy that is only worse for him. |
| G8B | 73.87% | A person hides in a tree or (Kazakhs) hides behind walls. Another tries to cut down the tree (break down the walls) to get the person, but the cut tree grows back (or the already felled tree rises, the wall is restored). |
| H36A | 73.41% | The character distorts the message conveyed to him, deliberately lies, brings the wrong thing, loses what he is carrying, delays (and is overtaken by another messenger). As a result, people become mortal (they do not revive after death). |
| L85 | 73.30% | The character has only half a body (vertically). See also L85C, "Half-chicken". |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
33 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 33 traditions: Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Oromo (Galla), Konso, Sidamo, Darasa, Bussa (Bassa), Kambata, Guji, Kru: Kru proper, Sapo (Sapã), Grebo, Kran (Krahn, Guere-Krahn; incl. Putu, Tchien), Bete, Neyo, Wobe, Devoin (Dey), Belle (Kuwaa), Bassa, Sikon, Ewe, Songhai, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Akan, Ashanti, Akwapim; Ga (Accra), Kra, Twi (Chwi, Chi), Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Gondi (mostly Northern Gondi), Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Nenets, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Kets, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chukchi, Asiatic Eskimo (Sirenek, Naukan, Chaplino), Inland Tlingit, Denaina, Koyukon, Tanana, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Comox, Pentlatch, Kono (=Kone), Wai, Itelmen, Sierra Leone
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