Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K51B — Smiles on the faces of the dead.
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 bodies of the slain are left in such a position that it seems as if they are rejoicing – smiling, laughing, dancing.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K51 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedK51. The husband feigns death, disappears or leaves home for a long time. The wife learns that he has married another woman, finds and, as a rule, kills her husband and/or rival, who often turns out to be a creature of non-human nature.
K51a. One woman comes to another in the absence of a man and kills her by pushing her rival's head into boiling liquid or pouring boiling water or hot fat into her ear. See motif K51.
K51b. The bodies of the slain are left in such a position that it seems as if they are rejoicing – smiling, laughing, dancing.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M68 | 98.69% | Because of his own stubbornness, the character suffers from an irrepressible gas eruption and scares away the game with a loud sound. Almost starves to death. |
| M46C | 98.49% | The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif. |
| L102 | 98.43% | A girl or woman (for various reasons, jokingly or seriously) calls an animal or animal remains her husband, or steps on bones and addresses them. The animal (comes to life and) carries her away. Her human husband, parents or brother come for her, and they flee; usually the animal husband pursues them, but stops the chase or dies. |
| M29A1 | 98.43% | In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow) |
| I133 | 98.13% | Star objects in different parts of the sky are associated with separate parts (as well as items of clothing, jewellery, etc.) of a single anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figure. |
| A13A1 | 98.07% | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). |
| C19A | 98.00% | The character (except Quileut: Raven) turns into a child, asks for and receives heavenly bodies to play, or (Chukchi) comes to play with the little daughter of the owner of the stars. |
| L10 | 98.00% | The character has a sharp (biting) tail or a protrusion on its back. See motif L9, cf. motif L9C. |
| M46B | 97.90% | The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif. |
| F30A | 97.75% | A woman nurses a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) instead of a child; people kill the monster. |
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
14 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 14 traditions: Numfoor, Warope, Wamesa (Wandamen, Windesi), Chukchi, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Aleuts, Central Yupik, Chugach, Athna, Ingalik (Der Hit’an), Koyukon, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Assiniboine, Crow, Klamath, Modoc, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet
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