Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L23B — Transformation into a spindle.
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
OverviewTrying to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance. The last transformation is into a spindle.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
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.
L23 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedL23. Trying to free himself, the captured character successively transforms into various substances, materials or animals, or (Urarina, Setebo) orders various dangerous animals to successively attack the person who captured him. (In some cases, only one variant of transformation is mentioned, but in the same context as in typical variants with a series of transformations).
L23a. In an attempt to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance, in particular turning into fire (and water).
L23b. Trying to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance. The last transformation is into a spindle.
L23c. Trying to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance. The last transformation is a small wooden object (usually a spindle). When this object is broken in half, the character permanently regains his human form.
L23d. A man captures a desirable woman. Trying to free herself, she transforms into various substances, materials, animals or (urarina, setebo) orders various dangerous animals to attack the man who captured her.
L23e. A man captures a male character. Trying to free himself, the latter transforms into various substances or animals.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M191C | 100.00% | Through singing (threats, pleasantries), the wolf (less often, the bear) gradually forces the old man to give him his domestic animals (and family members). |
| K30B | 99.99% | A woman or girl is forbidden to go outside. As soon as she does, a flying creature kidnaps her. |
| H33A | 99.99% | God wanted to throw a newborn baby (over a fence, house, etc.) so that it would immediately stand up and start walking, but the woman was frightened and did not allow it. Therefore, children do not walk from birth. See motif H33. |
| K27F2 | 99.97% | A girl demands that her fiancé get her the same pair of shoes (or other items) as hers. These items either exist in a single copy, or it is not known what they look like. Having become invisible, the hero either steals the items (and the owner has to make new ones herself), or finds out what they look like. |
| N16 | 99.97% | fairy-tale text ends with a formula stating that the narrator had a horse and/or harness made of wax, ice, linen, vegetables, etc. In most cases, the narrator loses them (they melt, they are taken away, eaten, etc.). |
| N35 | 99.97% | Somewhere milk rivers flow with banks made of jelly (porridge) - a sign of abundance (impossible in reality). Cf. H16B motive. |
| K56A2B | 99.95% | A supernatural character asks a girl to redeem (feed) his (her) children. These are snakes, beetles or wild animals. The girl does everything she is asked and is rewarded. |
| K38B3B | 99.93% | A mighty bird (rarely – another creature) helps a person for sheltering (warming) its chicks (offspring, children). |
| K101A | 99.92% | A man spends several nights next to a dead girl who has become a dangerous demonic creature. As a result, the girl is exorcised. |
| M109A1 | 99.92% | A zoomorphic character smears his head with dough (sour milk, butter, etc.) to make it look as if his brains are spilling out from the beatings. |
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
9 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Poles, Setu, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Mordvins, Lutsi (Ludza), Russian Federation
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