Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L49 — Parts of the body fall down.
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
OverviewIndividual parts or pieces of a character's body are successively thrown down. (In American variants, those below usually mistake them for game, honey, or fish).
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L118 | 92.76% | One character provokes another to stick a part of their body into a split log (between two boards, etc.) and knocks out the wedge. |
| D7A | 91.81% | The spider possesses the first fire or steals it from its original owner (texts in which the spider acts together with other animals and does not play the main role are not included). |
| K177 | 90.71% | A girl or woman sets off on a journey to find or return her fiancé or husband, or flees from danger, and her journey ends in a successful marriage. |
| L131A | 89.60% | To get rid of a demonic character (usually a woman), they inform her that the place where her home and/or children are located is engulfed in flames. |
| H33 | 89.57% | At first, children walked, had to walk, or could walk immediately after birth. |
| L4 | 88.61% | The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains. |
| L131 | 88.48% | To get rid of a demonic creature or make a bird or ladybird fly away, they are told that the place where their home and/or children are located is engulfed in fire. |
| K35 | 88.20% | The deceiver pretends to be a hero in order to take his place (to possess his woman). (This motif includes all texts with motif K35a3). |
| I103 | 87.94% | Sirius is associated with a dog or a wolf. |
| K12B | 87.72% | The hero enters a world beyond the human world and marries there. His wife allows him to visit his former world, but on certain conditions. The hero breaks these conditions, which leads to (irreparable) misfortune. Cf. motif F94 (the hero betrays his fairy wife in her world); K25a6 (the hero visits his world together with his fairy wife). |
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
27 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 27 traditions: Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, 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, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Latvians, Danes, Danish, Tats, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Klamath, Modoc, Yana, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Tariana, Ticuna (Tucuna), Tacana, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Rikbaktsa, Galicians, Northeastern Yakuts (Sakha): Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma Basins, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)
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