Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L85E — Temporarily splits in two.
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 is temporarily split vertically into two halves and then rejoined.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
L85 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedL85. The character has only half a body (vertically). See also L85C, "Half-chicken".
L85a. The character is born as half a person or becomes one as a result of an accident. He or she does not belong to a special category of mythical half-beings and usually regains physical completeness. See motif L85, cf. motif L112.
L85b. A pregnant woman curses the Sun, Rain or another powerful character. Because of this, the child is born physically disabled. He possesses magical powers and usually acquires a normal body.
L85b1. After ascending to the sky (meeting God, returning from the sky to earth), a physically disabled young man (usually with only half a body) becomes whole.
L85c. A character with half a body â a hen, a chick. Sometimes it is only a name, and the character's appearance is more anthropomorphic.
L85d. The hero encounters a giant and a strongman (usually a ploughman) with one arm, one leg, or one eye. He was crippled by a character who turned out to be much bigger and stronger than him.
L85e. The character is temporarily split vertically into two halves and then rejoined.
L85F. The character has only one leg (and one arm), which does not prevent him from moving. Unlike motif L85 (half-creatures), the character has a complete body, not divided in half vertically.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B42M | 88.34% | The three stars of the Big Dipper's handle are three men (hunters, thieves). The stars of the dipper are the object they seek to obtain (the hunted animal; the bed). Alcor (a faint star near Mizar) is a container, a vessel carried by the second of the three characters. |
| K9 | 87.28% | The heavenly leader (deity), accusing or suspecting a woman of infidelity, relations with an animal, incest, or a desire to rule over him, throws her down. She becomes the mistress of the lower or middle world or part of it, or the mother of the master of the lower world, and gives birth to humans. Cf. motif J18. |
| J22C | 85.28% | There is a demonic character in the form of Siamese twins â two semi-fused women. |
| K70 | 84.37% | One man marries a girl, another (usually the brother of the first) marries a frog or a toad, or the girl and the frog are the wives of one man. Usually, the wives are given certain tests, and the girl is recognised as a worthy wife, while the frog is recognised as worthless. |
| B42L | 82.82% | The stars of the handle of the Big Dipper are hunters, the dipper itself is a bear, an elk or a meat storehouse where the bear climbs. |
| B42M2 | 79.26% | The stars of the Big Dipper's handle are three hunters chasing a beast. Each has a distinct character (one is boastful, another is hasty, etc.). In Siberia, the hunters are identified with people of different nationalities, and in the North American Northeast, with birds of different species. |
| M60B | 78.09% | The deceiver, promising to cure a wounded or sick person, finishes him off and eats him or offers a remedy that is only worse for him. |
| I22A | 77.96% | The sky constantly beats against the earth like the lid of a boiling cauldron. |
| K44A | 77.30% | A frog or toad (coastal Koryaks: triton) kidnaps or finds a boy and lies that she is his real mother. See motif K44. |
| B42MN | 75.96% | Only one character (rather than several) chases an animal (elk or bear) across the sky, associated with one of the circumpolar constellations, but not with the Pleiades or Orion. (In the Kalevala tradition, there is no identification with stars). |
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
2 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 2 traditions: Nenets, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga)
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