Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L81A2 — The demon comes to drink the girl's blood (ATU 709A).
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
OverviewWhile the men are away, a demonic character comes to a girl or woman to drink her blood or otherwise torment her. The men notice that the girl is wasting away, but at first they do not know the reason.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L81 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedL81. A man who goes in search of fire finds it with a demon. The demon pursues the man, harms him, and kills him. Traditions in which there is only a story about men who are promised fire for a fairy tale (a tall tale) are marked with an asterisk*.
L81a. A girl offends a cat (rarely: a dog, a rooster) and the cat takes revenge by causing misfortune to befall the girl (usually by extinguishing the fire, after which the girl falls into the hands of a demon).
L81a1. Noticing a red bead (pebble) that has fallen into the hearth, the character thinks it is a coal and does not understand that the fire in the hearth has gone out.
L81a2. While the men are away, a demonic character comes to a girl or woman to drink her blood or otherwise torment her. The men notice that the girl is wasting away, but at first they do not know the reason.
L81a3. A girl sees a demon in a frightening and repulsive form. When he asks her what she said about him (what she saw), the girl replies that she praised his beauty and manners (she saw him in an attractive form). Usually, the girl eventually tells the truth, and the men hiding in ambush kill the enraged demon.
L81b. The hero's rivals abandon him, cutting off his legs (usually leaving a sword at the entrance to his tent, and when the hero rushes out, the blade wounds him).
L81c. The legless man lives together with the blind and armless man (or with one of the two). By working together, they are healed.
L81d. Two cripples with different physical disabilities quarrel and fight, and as a result become whole and healthy.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J32E | 98.98% | Every time a mare foals, the foal is stolen. The hero finds out who is doing this. |
| K148 | 98.98% | Every night or every year, a mare gives birth to a foal, and every time someone steals it. |
| K80C3 | 98.89% | Before his death, a man asks his murderer to tell his pregnant wife to give their newborn a certain name. Upon hearing the unusual name of the child, a powerful figure begins to investigate the case, and the murderer confesses to his crime. (All texts containing motifs K80c3 and K80c4 also contain the more general motif K80c) |
| K159 | 98.79% | When two characters are fighting, someone nearby wants one of them to slip (while the other remains firmly on their feet) and throws something under their feet for this purpose. |
| M39A6A | 98.71% | After a long search, the ruler finds an intelligent wife for his son. At the mercy of his enemies, he sends a message with one of them, the true content of which is understood only by his daughter-in-law. She destroys enemies and frees her father-in-law. (The boys have a younger wife instead of an intelligent daughter-in-law). |
| K136B | 98.64% | A character finds precious stones or unusual flowers (usually in a river) and learns where they come from. |
| I87A1 | 98.62% | Two people engage in a dialogue, contradicting each other in their descriptions of the sizes of creatures and objects. |
| J28B | 98.58% | Upon learning that a woman (usually the hero's mother) is hiding the truth about his father, mother, brothers, or bride, a young man (rarely a young woman) causes her pain, forcing her to tell the truth (usually by pressing hot bread into her palm or sticking her fingers into hot food). |
| K27ZZ4 | 98.57% | A conceited prince (the son of a merchant) beats his wife every day (he marries on the condition that he will beat his wife every day). She saves him by demonstrating her superiority. |
| L81A1 | 98.57% | Noticing a red bead (pebble) that has fallen into the hearth, the character thinks it is a coal and does not understand that the fire in the hearth has gone out. |
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
41 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 41 traditions: Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Spain, Spaniards, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Wakhi, Ishkashimi (including Sanglich), Munji, Yagnobi, Tajik, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Ossetians, Ingush, Lezgians, Archin, Kürin; Khinalug, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Uyghur, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Chechens, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Tunisia, Russian Federation
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