The Mythology and Folklore Database
H13 - The returned dead come back to life.




48 Myths, Legends and Folktales
46 Unique Narratives for Motif H13
25 Cultures & Traditions where H13 is told
120 Mythemes Indexed
0 Sub-Motifs of Motif H13


Please log on to view the narratives.




 Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths



Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.



Summary of Motif

The character comes to the underworld, brings back the dead person or brings back their remains. The dead person comes back to life and (for a while) remains among the living.

Berezkin category: Paradise Lost

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures



Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
D5A92.20%The first fire is hidden in a woman's genitals or anus.
B5C88.56%At the beginning of time, there are an old woman and a young woman. One or both of them conceive in a miraculous way. A son or twins are born, who settle the world.
B52A87.07%Flying over the world, a bird (usually a vulture) dries the earth after a flood with its wings or otherwise gives it its present appearance.
L2886.47%A person who eats unusual or forbidden meat or fish, or touches something forbidden, turns into a reptile or a fish.
L2986.23%A person catches fish where it should not be, usually in a small forest pond isolated from running water; those who eat this fish die, undergo metamorphosis and/or are attacked by monsters. See motif L28.
K3486.02%The character puts others on the swing and, after swinging them, throws them (or threatens to throw them) into the water, onto rocks, etc.
K27X85.33%A man marries a woman from another world; the wife leaves for her world, the man follows her; there, the woman has another fiancé(e) or husband, or the woman's brothers want to destroy the man; he undergoes trials and brings his wife back. See motif K27.
K2684.47%Approaching an opening or making one, the character sees the world below (usually seeing the earth from the sky). See motif K25.
M60A84.13%The creature/character runs away or swims away with a hook, harpoon, arrow, or other object thrown by the hero in his body. Local shamans can't heal an existence/character. The hero or his friend comes to the wounded man's village, takes out the object that caused the injury, or drives him even deeper into the body. The patient recovers or dies accordingly. See L105 and M60 motifs.
I282.79%Lightning bolts fly from the eyes or mouth {specified} of a creature embodying a thunderstorm. See motif I1.

 See more...

Please log on to view the narratives.



Map of Motif Dispersal

Click here for a clustered map

Drag the map around by clicking and using the mouse, use the wheel to zoom



This motif has been recorded in 25 traditions: Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Society Islands: Tahiti, Borabora, Raiatea, Mangareva, Hawaii, Tuvalu (Ellice), Yap, Ulithi, Ngulu, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Kalmyk, Micmac, Menominee, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Winnebago, Yuchi, Pawnee, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Tillamook, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Klamath, Modoc, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Amuesha, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Tokelau


Please log on to view the narratives.