Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L50 — Cannibal by the trail, G321.
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 character kills travellers passing by. Usually, he does not attack them unexpectedly, but distracts their attention first. Often, he pushes his victims down somewhere.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| M29Y | 99.35% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| J23A | 99.11% | A woman cries, and the discharge from her nose (her tears) turns into a boy, who grows up and defeats strong opponents. |
| K50 | 99.09% | A man approaches the enemy disguised as a woman and kills him at night (usually cutting off his head and taking it with him). |
| D4K | 99.03% | The deer obtains fire for humans. See motif D4A. |
| H15 | 99.01% | The dead or spirits cannot hear cries when the living call them, but they can hear whispers, yawns, gurgles, etc. See motif H12. |
| K43B | 98.99% | People leave a boy, a girl, a sister and brother, a young woman or young spouses alone and leave, or drive them away. Those who are left behind or driven away discover unusual abilities or helpers, obtaining blood and food. Those who are abandoned eat their fill, while those who abandon them go hungry. A character (often a bird - a crow, magpie, seagull, etc.) visits the abandoned and brings a piece of fat or meat to the camp of the starving. |
| L72F | 98.98% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws behind him the entrails or stomach contents of an animal, which become an obstacle in the path of his pursuer. |
| K25C | 98.84% | While digging roots, gathering shellfish, etc., a woman finds a baby. He grows up and enters into a struggle with dangerous characters. |
| K52A | 98.73% | The hero goes to the bottom of the sea for a woman. The slave pours water into the hearth in the house of the water dwellers. Hiding behind clouds of steam, the hero takes the woman away. See motif K52. |
| M81A | 98.66% | The hero meets two blind women and makes them sighted. These women are birds (geese, ducks, hazel grouses, partridges). |
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
36 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 36 traditions: Khoekhoe (=Hottentot; incl Nama, Korana); Damara, Arnhem Land: Enindhilyagwa (Groote Eilandt), KuTiwi, Yulengor, Mara, Oenpelli, Murngin, Roper River, Maung, Murinbata, Murngin (Duwal), Millingimbi, Goulburn Island, Ngulugwongga, Yirrkalla, Voctoria River Downs, Alawa, Anu, Kunwinjku, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Georgians, Tutchone, Kaska, Beaver, Polar Inuit, Micmac, Arapaho, Kiowa Apache, Carrier, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Coeur D'Alene, Kalispel (Pend d'Oreille; incl Spokane), Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Yurok, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Navajo, Jicarilla, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Zuni, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Eastern Keres (Cochiti, Sia, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Paguate, Seama), Lipan, Toba (incl Pilagá)
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