Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L90E — Heads on stakes.
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
OverviewHuman heads are impaled on stakes outside the house of a dangerous character, and one head is missing (or there is a wall of heads, with one missing). It is assumed that the head of the hero of the story should be there.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
L90 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedL90. One lip (one fang, horn, etc.) of the creature reaches the sky, while the other drags along the ground.
L90a. Describes a house that stands on the legs or a single leg of a bird or small animal and/or rotates (is capable of turning).
L90b. One tooth (fang) of the creature touches the sky, the other reaches the earth or the underworld.
L90c. One horn of an animal (deer, ram, bull, goat, wolverine) touches the ground, while the other is raised to the sky or reaches the sky.
L90d. The hero attaches the upper lip (jaw) of the monster to the sky, and the lower lip to the earth.
L90E. Human heads are impaled on stakes outside the house of a dangerous character, and one head is missing (or there is a wall of heads, with one missing). It is assumed that the head of the hero of the story should be there.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | 0.00% | Another sun — less powerful or less favourable to humans — existed before the appearance of the current one. |
| A10 | 0.00% | The sun gets its sparkling eyes (eye) from an animal. |
| A11A | 0.00% | The visible sun or moon are their eyes; if the eyes of the luminaries were not damaged, it would be much brighter and hotter. |
| A11B | 0.00% | The sun or moon has one eye (usually the second eye is knocked out or sucked out, but sometimes the reason is not explained; among the Munduruku, the sun of the rainy season has lost both eyes, while the sun of the dry season has retained both). See motif 11A. |
| A11C | 0.00% | The Sun and Moon kill a monster whose eyes shine differently. At first, the Moon takes the brighter eye, but then swaps with the Sun. |
| A12 | 0.00% | A creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, winter and summer, night and day, phases of the moon) or occasionally (eclipses, eschatological catastrophes) attack the luminaries or block their light. |
| A12A | 0.00% | During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12. |
| A12B | 0.00% | During an eclipse or at sunset (marked *), the luminaries are swallowed by a toad or frog. |
| A12C | 0.00% | Eclipses of the sun, moon or their setting (marked*) are caused by a snake, lizard, dragon, fish or crocodile; these creatures attack the luminaries now or attacked them at the beginning of time. See motif A12. |
| A12D | 0.00% | Birds attack the sun or moon during an eclipse (covering them with their wings) or (*) cover the sun during sunrise or sunset. See motif A12. |
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
25 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 25 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Tunisia Arabs, Malagasy, Sangir Islands, Ireland, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Estonians, Karelians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Armenians, Mordvins, Mansi, Chechens, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Lutsi (Ludza), Russian Federation
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