Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L93 — The discarded axe.
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 demon, a man-eater, chops down a tree or a rock on top of which the hero is hiding. While he is resting, the animal throws his axe into the water, carries it away or damages it. See motif L92.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L93 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedL93. A demon, a man-eater, chops down a tree or a rock on top of which the hero is hiding. While he is resting, the animal throws his axe into the water, carries it away or damages it. See motif L92.
L93a. The fox, jackal or coyote, resorting to cunning, helps the hero, heroine or people in general, saving them.
L93b. The hare or rabbit, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saving them.
L93c. The monkey, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saves them.
l93d. The hedgehog, resorting to cunning, helps the hero and saves him.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| H40 | 94.23% | The dog guards and protects (successfully or unsuccessfully) a human figure that has not been completely finished by the creator, or the entrance to paradise. |
| L92 | 94.21% | A demon, a cannibal, chops down a tree or rock on top of which the hero has climbed. Another character offers the cannibal a rest and takes over the chopping, but only spoils his work or (among the Athapaskans) kills him as soon as the cannibal hands him his axe. (African variants are clearly borrowed from Eurasia). |
| H27A | 93.87% | When creating the earth, a negative character asks a positive character for as much earth as is necessary to prop up a staff, stake. |
| I20A | 93.75% | Anthropomorphic inhabitants of the upper world â giants. |
| N10 | 92.79% | A woman or (rarely) a man with a transparent body is described. This transparency is a sign of beauty. |
| M133 | 92.74% | Cumulative tale: a bird is injured by a thorny plant and asks for it to be punished, but everyone refuses because someone else has failed to do something; the last to be asked is the wind, which blows and causes all the characters to perform the necessary actions one after another. |
| I12 | 92.65% | A tree, a pole with branches, rarely a smooth pole connects the tiers of the universe. The most distinct variants, according to which the tiers of the universe are strung on a tree, are marked in italics. |
| N28H | 91.86% | In a list of things that do not exist in the world, horns of the horse are mentioned |
| I91 | 91.77% | At the foot or around the base of a tree connecting the tiers of the universe or of gigantic size and considered the main tree of the world, there is a spring or water body, the water of which usually has unusual properties. |
| J26A | 91.67% | Among children of a woman or two women living together, there is a boy and a puppy, or a puppy was placed with a woman, and her son was thrown out. The puppy lives with the woman and helps her. |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Lithuanians, Kazakh, Uyghur, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Udmurt, Mansi, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori
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