Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L81C — The legless, the blind, and the armless.
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 legless man lives together with the blind and armless man (or with one of the two). By working together, they are healed.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| B33E | 99.64% | The last cold month regrets that it did not come earlier or that it is too short. In that case, it would have frozen everyone. |
| F70E2 | 99.64% | The father sends his daughters or sons on a difficult task one by one. At the very beginning of the journey, their courage is put to the test. Only the youngest son or daughter passes the test. Usually, the father stands in their way, taking the form of an enemy or a predator, but only the youngest son or daughter bravely enters the fight. |
| I132A | 99.61% | A girl sits on a swing and it lifts her up to the sky. |
| M197C | 99.54% | A man sells sand, dust, etc. as a remedy against fleas, mice, etc. He explains that you need to catch a flea and pour sand into its eyes. The buyer replies that you can crush a caught flea. The seller: that's even easier. |
| K85C | 99.52% | A three-legged horse is strong and fast, but its four-legged brother is faster. |
| M39A2B | 99.52% | After buying salt or sugar, a fool pours them into a pond to salt or sweeten the water. |
| I87AA | 99.49% | Describes a giant bull (rarely: horse): head in one field, body in another; a bathhouse on its tail, a lake on its back; people standing at its head and tail have to walk a long way to meet each other; etc. Usually the bull is killed and eaten (by people in Baltic-Finnish traditions and in Olonets antiquity; by birds in most southern traditions). |
| C31 | 99.40% | The hedgehog is wiser or more cunning than all the gods and animals; it possesses knowledge that is vital for human existence. |
| N33 | 99.36% | hero drives the enemy into the ground, or he and the enemy alternately drive each other into the ground (ankle-deep, waist-deep, etc.). |
| L108E | 99.32% | A fox has a child, usually adopted (she cares for a lamb, a foal, etc.), a wolf or a bear kills it, and the fox takes revenge. |
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: Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Latvians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Uzbek, Yagnobi, Abaza (Abazins), Ossetians, Ingush, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Tats, Armenians, Kalmyk, Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mordvins, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Chechens, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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