Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K13A — Severed leg: a person ascends to the sky.
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 character's leg (rarely: both legs) is cut off, bitten off, torn off, or damaged. The character ascends to the sky: to the moon; becomes the moon; turns into a star or constellation; becomes the sun; blood flowing from the leg colours the sky.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K13 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedK13a. The character's leg (rarely: both legs) is cut off, bitten off, torn off, or damaged. The character ascends to the sky: to the moon; becomes the moon; turns into a star or constellation; becomes the sun; blood flowing from the leg colours the sky.
K13b. A man crosses a body of water on the back of a caiman. The caiman bites off his leg. The cripple undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a constellation or an animal.
K13c. The cannibal's daughter takes revenge on her husband for her mother's death and manages to cut off his leg. See motif K13A.
K13d. A group of boys reaches the sky, the last one's leg is cut off or torn off.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I83 | 99.08% | Birds (especially vultures and eagles) lived or live in the sky, usually on one of several tiers of the upper world. |
| F13 | 99.01% | The genitals of humans or monkeys acquire their current shape and colour as a result of copulation with a girl who had a toothy womb or no vagina. |
| A27 | 98.93% | The light and/or heat of the sun and/or moon is contained in their crowns, necklaces or clothing (made of feathers or animal teeth). |
| D7 | 98.81% | The frog or toad possesses the first fire, steals it from its original owner, and tries to extinguish it or save it from dying out. See motif D4. |
| L24 | 98.33% | Demons (or one of them) attack people and then hide. People destroy the demons' lair and kill all or most of them by spreading a smoky fire around the demons' refuge. |
| G13 | 98.32% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba – Ceiba L., balsa – Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
| J28A | 98.22% | When asking how one of his parents died, the hero receives a series of false answers. He often exposes himself to the same dangers, but remains alive, proving the falsity of the proposed versions. |
| F40A | 98.02% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| J43 | 97.69% | To destroy his antagonists, the hero creates edible bait for them, usually a fruit tree on the other side of the river. |
| M107 | 97.69% | A small character kills or maims a large four-legged animal by clinging to its genitals. |
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
29 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Tanana, Makiritare (Yecuana), Warao, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Trio, Akuriyo (incl Turaekare), Hixkariyana, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Akawai, Locono, Palikur, Orinoco Kariña, Yaruri, Tamanak, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Chayahuita , Karijona, Bora, Yagua, Ticuna (Tucuna), Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Ashaninca (Campa), Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Tacana, Caraja, Chamacoco (Ishir), Caduveo, Mbaya, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa
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