Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L5E1 — A female demon pursues her children.
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
OverviewA woman who has become a monster pursues her own children.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L5 has 11 other sub-motifs
RelatedL5. Describes or depicts a creature in the form of a skull or head without a body.
L5A. A rolling head turns into a celestial object that emits or eclipses light (sun, moon, stars, fireball; it is the cause of eclipses). See motif L5.
L5B. A rolling head turns into lightning/thunder. See motif L83.
L5c. The monster head pursues celestial bodies, people, or attaches itself to someone else's body. See motif L5.
L5d. The rolling head suffers from thirst. See motif L5.
L5e. The decapitated body of a woman pursues her husband, while her head pursues their children.
L5e1. A woman who has become a monster pursues her own children.
L5f. Head, face or skull – a woman's husband, fiancé or son; not dangerous to her, brings wealth, saves from hunger, etc.
L5g. Only the head remains of one of the sisters. It rolls after the other sister or sisters, or they take it with them; in the end, the head finds a place where it wants to settle.
L5h. Two sisters or two brothers find themselves in the demon's house or in front of an obstacle. One of them crawls through a narrow hole. The other gets stuck. The brother or sister pulls him or her by the head, and the head is torn off.
L5i. A multitude of rolling heads or skulls try to take a woman away.
L5j. The rolling head laughs for no reason. See motif L5.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M66 | 98.18% | After eating certain foods frivolously or rubbing his body with his spine, the character suffers from itching, diarrhea, or an irrepressible eruption of intestinal gases. |
| M97 | 97.86% | Blinded or far from the target, the character walks, bumping into trees of various species and asking everyone a question or request. He eventually achieves his goal. |
| M69 | 97.83% | character is attracted by the inside of a large animal's skull (small animals or insects are dancing or feasting inside, or eating some meat); he sticks his head inside , it gets stuck. |
| J19B | 97.59% | An evil spirit kills a woman by burning through her body. |
| M53 | 96.70% | The character invites others to gather around him, focusing on an activity (usually dancing with their eyes closed or lowered), and then kills the crowd (usually one at a time). |
| C6B | 96.69% | The desired object is brought up from the bottom by a muskrat (rarely a beaver or otter). |
| B95 | 96.61% | The appearance of the sphincter or buttocks is explained by the fact that a certain character burned his backside. |
| J12M | 96.61% | A woman or two sisters come to two men and become wives of one of them. The other kills or tries to kill his rival or the women. As a result, the women turn into waterfowl. |
| L86 | 96.40% | Having turned into a demon, a woman pursues her children. Cf. motif K102a2: A mother seeks to destroy her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair and/or sides with his father in a conflict between his parents. |
| A38D | 95.66% | Because the Sun has harmed the character (ruined or burned his cloak, the fur on his skin, etc.), he catches it in a trap or kills it. |
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
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Teton (incl Oglala), Pawnee, Kiowa, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Scythians, Scythe
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