L42G1 — A knock is heard, the father has left.

Father (stepfather) takes children into the forest and slips away unnoticed. To make the children think he is nearby chopping wood, father hangs a board, pumpkin, etc. on a tree, which bangs against the trunk in the wind.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

L42.  After capturing the character, the enemy brings the prey home or to the place where he intends to eat it. The character runs away and escapes.
L42a.  The cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves.
L42b.  After capturing the hero, the antagonist brings him home and leaves him in the care of a family member. The latter believes the hero's words and follows his instructions. See motif L42.
L42b1.  A character kidnapped by a demon advises him to stack pots, pans and other kitchen items on top of each other and climb up them. He does so, falls and breaks.
L42c.  The character hides from someone stronger, sometimes inside the house, sometimes outside, and the stronger character cannot catch him.
L42d.  A man runs away from a cannibal across the ice, the cannibal pursues him, licks the blood spilled on the ice, his tongue freezes, he dies, or falls to his death after slipping on the ice.
L42e.  A demon catches the hero, carries him home, but the hero escapes on the way. The demon returns, catches the hero again, and this time brings him to his home. Or the demon catches and carries several children, but they escape on the way, leaving only one, whom the demon brings to his home.
L42f.  The character intended for consumption slips away unnoticed. The master of the house thinks that his wife has eaten him alone and cuts open her stomach.
L42g.  The stepmother, and more often the father (usually at the insistence of his new wife), leaves the children in a deserted place or sends them into the forest. They end up in the house of a cannibal or cannibals, all (or at least one of them) survive and achieve success.
L42g1.  Father (stepfather) takes children into the forest and slips away unnoticed. To make the children think he is nearby chopping wood, father hangs a board, pumpkin, etc. on a tree, which bangs against the trunk in the wind.
L42g2.  A person leaves traces behind by dropping seeds, pebbles, etc., or leaving drops of blood. These traces are unintentionally destroyed by birds, animals, wind, etc.
L42g3.  In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials.
L42h.  A cannibal catches the hero and invites other cannibals to a feast. The hero escapes, and the cannibals eat the one who invited them.
L42i.  Creatures from another world carry off a little boy. His sister takes him and safely escapes from their pursuers. Usually the boy has two or three sisters, and only the youngest succeeds.
L42i1.  A boy is rowing a boat. A witch lures him out and carries him away. The boy escapes.
L42j.  The ogre catches children (usually mice), puts them in a bag, orders a tree (pole, crossbar in the house) to bend over, hangs the bag, orders the tree to straighten up again, and leaves. Another character (usually a fox) orders the tree (pole, etc.) to bend over and frees the children.
L42k.  A demonic character regurgitates an axe (adze) to cut down a tree.

This motif has been recorded in 41 traditions: Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Konds (Khonds; language is Kui, incl Kuttia, Konda-Dora), Koya; Pengo, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Konkani (incl Goa), Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Sicily, Sicilians, France, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Slovakians, Slovaks, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Uzbek, Yazgulami, Persians, Nogai, Tats, Armenians, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kirghiz, Uyghur, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Mordvins, Chuvash, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Mongols (Khalkha), Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Cañari, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria, Terek Cossacks, Morocco, Russian Federation