Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L131A — Your children are burning: appeal to the demon.
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
OverviewTo get rid of a demonic character (usually a woman), they inform her that the place where her home and/or children are located is engulfed in flames.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of 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
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L131 | 97.61% | To get rid of a demonic creature or make a bird or ladybird fly away, they are told that the place where their home and/or children are located is engulfed in fire. |
| A45 | 95.23% | A man teases and insults the moon and is punished as a result. |
| D7A | 94.82% | The spider possesses the first fire or steals it from its original owner (texts in which the spider acts together with other animals and does not play the main role are not included). |
| L118 | 94.28% | One character provokes another to stick a part of their body into a split log (between two boards, etc.) and knocks out the wedge. |
| F9A1 | 93.69% | A girl or young woman says (pretends) that she has a predatory mouth in her vagina. {Unlike variants characteristic of the circum-Pacific region, the corresponding texts do not suggest that the female womb is actually dangerous}. |
| I41B1 | 93.36% | The rainbow drinks, swallowing fish, people, etc. along with the water. Sometimes this fish falls from the sky to the ground. |
| I131 | 92.71% | Every person's life corresponds to a thread; when the thread breaks, the person dies. |
| J69 | 92.61% | A person is killed (with a cold weapon, dead water) and then revived. Another person asks for the same thing to be done to him, but is not revived. |
| K102A3 | 92.57% | Someone (usually a woman) places a poisonous tooth (bone, nail, etc.) in the hero's bed. The young man dies, but is then revived. |
| D1A4 | 92.56% | Two fires from different dwellings meet and converse. |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Ireland, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Slovakians, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Karelians, Western Ukrainians, Armenians, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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