Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

H54B — Deadly gaze.

116 Myths, legends and folktales

116 Unique narratives for motif H54B

49 Cultures & traditions where H54B is told

4 Sub-motifs of motif H54B

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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

Overview

The character's gaze brings death (and destruction).

Berezkin category: Paradise Lost

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.

H54 has 4 other sub-motifs

H54.  In order for a character's eyes to be (wide) open, their eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) must be raised, propped up, spread apart (rarely: cut off).
H54a.  A man meets an old man whose face is completely covered with hair or snot. He cuts (wipes) it off and receives a reward for doing so.
H54b.  The character's gaze brings death (and destruction).
H54c.  The character's eyelids are crucified so that he cannot close them, or he does so himself on the advice of another.
h54d.  A character whose eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) are so heavy that he cannot open his eyes without help, possesses enormous power and is dangerous to heroes and people in general. He is often associated with the underworld or with a bygone era.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of H54’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
K35A4	99.27%	In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns.
A23C	99.18%	Birds argue about which of them will fly higher or arrive first. The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely (he hides in the feathers of a strong bird and flies away with it).
A2C1	99.14%	The Sun is going to have children. One of the animals warns that if the Sun has children, the world will burn. The Sun has to (refuse marriage and) remain childless.
L130	99.11%	Two or more characters have only one eye between them.
E9L	99.06%	Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat).
K56A7	98.98%	In winter, a girl (rarely a boy) is sent to bring something that is normally only available in summer. She brings it.
K61C1	98.97%	A person will die if they cannot find the answer to the demon's question. A person or their acquaintance accidentally learns the answer by overhearing the demon talking to himself or to another demon. See motif C29.
B113	98.95%	Due to certain events during the time of creation, women have cold backsides (and men have cold knees, or vice versa).
F54E	98.94%	Not knowing who is in front of him, a young man kills his father.
M199O	98.86%	A man and his opponent agree to pierce a hole in a tree trunk (stump) with their head (finger, penis) or to knock down a tree with a blow to the head. The man has made a hole in advance (sawed the tree).

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

49 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 49 traditions: Biu-Mandara: Margi, Kilba, Bura, Kera, Karekare (Kerri-Kerri), Bachama, Zulgo, Giziga, Hdi, Kapsiki, Mandara (incl Mukulehe, Matakam), Mofu (Mofu-Gudur), Somrai (Sibine, Shibha), Kru: Kru proper, Sapo (Sapã), Grebo, Kran (Krahn, Guere-Krahn; incl. Putu, Tchien), Bete, Neyo, Wobe, Devoin (Dey), Belle (Kuwaa), Bassa, Sikon, Hadza, Niue, Malay; Temuan (incl Mantra or Mentra), Jakun (Moken), Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Koreans, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, Dutch, Flemish, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Macedonians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Setu, Western Ukrainians, Armenians, Manchu, Chukchi, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Han, Koyukon, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Cheyenne, Kiowa Apache, Gros Ventre, Carrier, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Tillamook, Shasta; Chimariko, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Pima, Wayapi, Emerillon, Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Northern and Southern Tehuelche, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Wolof, Icelanders, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Early Russian written sources, Spain

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