Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L1F — Sister avenges her lover.
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 sister, using magic or transforming herself into a monster, kills her brothers in revenge for the death of her lover or husband.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L1 has 8 other sub-motifs
RelatedL1a. A young woman turns into a bear (in Asia, a tigress) and attacks her close relatives or husband.
L1b. A young woman turns into a monstrous bear and kills most people except her younger sister (Ojibwa: the younger sister of her former husband). Their brothers (or one brother) return from hunting and kill the bear, or she dies while chasing them. Cf. motif L65D.
L1b1. A woman comes into conflict with her brothers and turns into a dangerous demon.
L1c. Those fleeing from the monstrous bear ascend to the sky and turn into stars.
L1c1. Fleeing from demonic characters, a group of men â relatives of a girl â ascend to the sky and remain there. See motif L1C.
L1c2. Fleeing from a demonic creature, the characters hide their children (younger brother or sister) in a camouflaged pit, usually under the hearth. See motif L1C.
L1d. The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives.
L1e. A monstrous bird is created from a small amount of human or animal flesh (usually from the heart) or from lumps of manioc starch.
L1f. The sister, using magic or transforming herself into a monster, kills her brothers in revenge for the death of her lover or husband.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B35 | 99.98% | The bear hastily puts his left moccasin on his right foot and vice versa, which is why he is club-footed. |
| K52 | 99.98% | A woman or young man who approaches the shore is carried away by predatory sea creatures to the bottom of the sea; a character descends to rescue the kidnapped person and brings him or her back with the help of cunning and shamanic powers. |
| K52B | 99.89% | The hero comes to capture the daughter of a supernatural creature. He sees a slave breaking an axe (adze, wedge). The hero repairs the axe, and the slave helps him in return. See motif K52. |
| K52A | 99.68% | The hero goes to the bottom of the sea for a woman. The slave pours water into the hearth in the house of the water dwellers. Hiding behind clouds of steam, the hero takes the woman away. See motif K52. |
| M61A | 99.45% | To get valuables, the character provokes a quarrel between their owners. When they start fighting each other, valuables fall out of their bodies and end up at the character's disposal. |
| L72F | 99.35% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws behind him the entrails or stomach contents of an animal, which become an obstacle in the path of his pursuer. |
| K43A | 99.18% | People leave a boy, a girl, a sister and brother, a young woman or young spouses alone and depart. Someone sympathises with those who have been abandoned and secretly hides fire for them. |
| K27B | 99.03% | Test: smoke a huge or poisonous pipe or breathe in clouds of poisonous smoke. See motif K27. |
| L57 | 98.99% | The character loses an internal organ or part of the body, which is taken away by others; he approaches unnoticed and takes back what was lost. |
| K43B | 98.73% | People leave a boy, a girl, a sister and brother, a young woman or young spouses alone and leave, or drive them away. Those who are left behind or driven away discover unusual abilities or helpers, obtaining blood and food. Those who are abandoned eat their fill, while those who abandon them go hungry. A character (often a bird - a crow, magpie, seagull, etc.) visits the abandoned and brings a piece of fat or meat to the camp of the starving. |
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
13 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Carrier, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Navajo, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Zuni
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