Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L44A — Give me your liver!
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 demon demands that the man hiding in the shelter give him parts of his body. The man gives the demon parts of the body of a dead animal. The demon does not understand the deception and dies, giving parts of his own body in return.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L44 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedL44. A demon or powerful beast demands that a person or weak animal show certain parts of their body. The person shows parts of a large animal's body or certain objects. The opponent decides that the hero is more frightening and powerful than them.
L44a. The demon demands that the man hiding in the shelter give him parts of his body. The man gives the demon parts of the body of a dead animal. The demon does not understand the deception and dies, giving parts of his own body in return.
l44a1. A human and a demonic character agree to compare their lice. When the human shows a turtle or a frog, the demon believes that it is scarier and stronger than him.
L44b. The blind and deaf (lame) began to live together, helping each other. After being mortally frightened or fighting, both (less often, one of them) got rid of their disabilities.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M8D | 99.21% | Birds break through the hard cover on the character's body to reach his entrails. |
| L36 | 99.12% | At the moment when the husband climbs or descends from a tree, his wife (or her brother) kills or maims him or turns into a demon that pursues him. |
| K19C | 98.93% | A man brings home a small creature with which he makes love at night. The man's mother, sister or wife finds the creature in his bed or purse. |
| J11 | 98.84% | The son in his mother's womb asks her to pick flowers or fruit for him (usually when a woman picks flowers, she is bitten by an insect). See motif J9. |
| B28A | 98.82% | A character pinned to the ground by a rod, transported somewhere to the edge of the world and associated with an object that continues to influence people. |
| B32 | 98.82% | As a result of conflict with their husbands, women turn into fish. |
| J10 | 98.82% | A woman loses her way after being stung by a wasp (or bee, ant, snake). She slaps her stomach (either to kill the insect or to punish her unborn sons, because of whom she went to pick a flower and was stung; see motif J11). The offended sons fall silent, ceasing to show the way. See motif J9. |
| I5A | 98.81% | The tapir is associated with the upper world (thunder, sky, moon). |
| K13D | 98.81% | A group of boys reaches the sky, the last one's leg is cut off or torn off. |
| K19F | 98.81% | A star or many stars descend from the sky to work in the fields. See motif K19B. |
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
16 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Udeghe, Oroch, Chukchi, Central Yupik, Shasta; Chimariko, Warao, Trio, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Wayana, Aparai, Wayapi, Emerillon, Aguaruna, Huambiza, Urarina, Cocama, Omagua, Xipaya, Tenetehara, Mundurucu, Curuaia
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