Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
C11 — Revenge of the insulted father.
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
OverviewA father with magical powers destroys people (all or many) who have insulted or harmed his son.
Berezkin category: Disasters
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| E14A | 98.64% | People kill demons, examine their bodies, make ritual costumes and masks, reproducing the appearance of the slain. |
| E3 | 97.30% | After the destruction of the previous world, new people (rarely: new earth) are made from the remains of the dead. |
| L63 | 96.66% | The character eats food with the womb or anus. See motif F9A. |
| F28B | 96.04% | A woman uses a penis made of wax, wood, fruit or root. Usually her husband or male relative smears it with pepper, and the woman is maimed or killed. |
| K13C | 95.69% | The cannibal's daughter takes revenge on her husband for her mother's death and manages to cut off his leg. See motif K13A. |
| M12 | 95.55% | Unable, unwilling or unable to obtain game (fish), the hunter (fisherman) cuts flesh from his own body, removes his own entrails and collects his blood. He usually offers this to others under the guise of animal meat or fish. Alternatively, a woman cuts flesh from her own leg to feed her husband. |
| B28 | 95.39% | Travelling from one locality to another, the character successively transforms people into birds and animals, into stones, sanctuaries (or transforms monstrous animals into ordinary ones), establishes cultural norms, determines the biological characteristics of creatures, the appearance of the locality, etc. |
| J30 | 95.32% | Before the heroes defeat their antagonists or flee from them, they find or receive the remains or property of the victim. |
| D4F | 95.00% | Once in the fire, the beaver (in North America) or fish (in South America) scatters and/or carries the fire away from its original owners. See motif D4A. |
| E14 | 94.92% | Rituals received from the spirits of the dead. |
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: Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Blackfoot, Pomo, Kiliwa, Waorani, Kandoshi (Murato, Maina); Iquito, Urarina, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Bororo, Ayoreo, Yamana (Yaghan), Alacaluf, Greece
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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