Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
D13E — Hunters laugh at the carcass of an animal.
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
OverviewHunters perish because they laughed at the killed (and revived) animal.
Berezkin category: Fire and Laughter
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
D13 has 11 other sub-motifs
RelatedD13. A character loses their values (gives them away) and/or suffers damage/is healed/is transformed if they laugh or hear laughter.
D13A. To amuse the owner of fire or the Sun, others dance indecently, imitate copulation, display their genitals, or publicly relieve themselves.
D13B. Menstruation passes from men to women after women laugh at an old man.
D13c. Two companions or brothers live together. The older one has a wife, whom he hides. To discover her, the younger one, left alone in the house, makes her laugh.
D13d. One character tries to make another character, who is hiding somewhere in the house, laugh in order to find them.
D13e. Hunters perish because they laughed at the killed (and revived) animal.
D13f. Laughter causes the appearance or spread of fire or the sun. Usually, the owner of fire or the sun loses it after bursting into laughter.
D13g. When the character starts laughing, people see his or her scary mouth (lots of teeth, human flesh on the teeth); they kill the monster or run away.
D13h. Those who have entered the world of the dead should not laugh.
D13hh. A person visiting another world should not laugh or show surprise when seeing strange things. Those who break this rule will perish or suffer harm.
D13i. The character amuses the audience in order to identify the deceiver and thief by his broken tooth. The latter laughs and gives himself away.
D13i1. The characteristics of a character can be determined by his teeth. By laughing and showing his teeth, the character reveals himself.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| G8A | 93.21% | A man cuts down a tree to make a boat or something else from the trunk (Yap: a board for building a house; one of the texts from Ulithi: a wooden bird), goes away to rest, and upon returning finds the tree intact again. Usually, the character who restored the tree in the man's absence then cuts down the tree himself and makes what the hero needs. |
| J67 | 92.11% | At night, the character places light-coloured stones or shells over his eyes. Thinking that the character's eyes are open, the antagonist either does not dare to attack him or takes the stones away instead of gouging out his eyes. |
| I133A | 91.17% | There is a constellation that represents a bird and corresponds to several large constellations in European traditions (mainly equatorial, rather than circumpolar). |
| A21A | 90.45% | The moon is an object that was accidentally released by its owners or stolen from them and ended up in the sky. |
| B118 | 90.45% | A character who was unable to reach the sky or returned from the sky to earth becomes an owl. |
| B74B | 90.45% | The owl is forced to part with the moon and now cries out when it sees the moon. Usually, the story tells how the marriage of the owl and the moon fell apart or did not take place. |
| E39A | 90.45% | An animal (snake, pig) conceives from a man's urine and gives birth to a human child (or twins). |
| F43C | 90.45% | The husbands of the first women, Amazons or single women are small animals - usually flying foxes. |
| K32F | 90.45% | A woman or girl raises a bird of prey chick, which brings her food and fire. This usually happens after an evil spirit leaves the girl or young woman in a tree or on an island. |
| K37D | 90.45% | The character recognises the presence of another by noticing traces of their teeth or nails on fruit or leaves. |
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
3 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 3 traditions: Semang, Senoi, Coos, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”)
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