The Mythology and Folklore Database
H24B - Souls fly out of the vessel.




20 Myths, Legends and Folktales
11 Unique Narratives for Motif H24B
16 Cultures & Traditions where H24B is told
35 Mythemes Indexed
7 Sub-Motifs of Motif H24B


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 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 must open the vessel containing the soul of the deceased when he reaches the place or after a certain time has passed; if he opens it before the time is up, the soul flies away. See motif H24.

Berezkin category: Paradise Lost

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 4, Origin of death, diseases and hard life


H24 has 7 other sub-motifs


H24.  A vessel or other small container with valuables or living beings (creatures) is opened (prematurely). Its contents get out of control or disappear.
H24a.  Opening the bag, the character releases stars that rush chaotically into the sky.
H24b.  The character must open the vessel containing the soul of the deceased when he reaches the place or after a certain time has passed; if he opens it before the time is up, the soul flies away. See motif H24.
H24c.  People open a vessel (a bundle, a basket, etc.) containing death (or old age, illness), and therefore they are mortal.
H24d.  An animal character who released the contents (darkness, insects, reptiles) from a vessel is still trying to gather everything back (etiology of the behaviour of a certain species of animal).
H24e.  Having brought the seeds of humanity into our world, the character drops or prematurely opens what he has brought. (Sometimes this explains the inequality of people and disorder in society).
H24f.  The character has the ability to put a large amount of meat or fish into a bag or container that is easy to carry.
H24g.  A woman returned from the other world or obtained there disappears when a man opens the vessel in which she is kept prematurely.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
J3498.65%After killing a dangerous enemy, the heroes make a scarecrow out of him to frighten the household.
K1H98.12%The character finds himself inside a tree trunk or inside a rock; someone frees him by making a hole from the outside.
C1097.87%During the flood, some birds or animals escape to a mountain, a tree, a boat, or by clinging to the sky; their tails or other parts of their bodies remain in the water and as a result acquire their current colour or shape. Cf. A2211.7 ("During the flood, birds cling to the sky; their tails acquire their current colour").
F28C97.36%A woman masturbates with the penis of a large animal that one of the men killed while hunting.
H24A97.33%Opening the bag, the character releases stars that rush chaotically into the sky.
I10597.10%One of the constellations is associated with the hand (with five marked fingers).
J3997.01%The antagonist makes the woman his slave. Other characters secretly come to her and kill a small animal or bird for her. The antagonist suspects that the woman could not have caught the game herself, but she insists that she did.
K21A96.95%A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband.
B44D96.78%Night and day alternate because the slain beast was black and white, spotted.
I37E96.78%Tree mushrooms cry out like people.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Yuchi, Plains Ojibwa, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Coeur D'Alene, Kalispel (Pend d'Oreille; incl Spokane), Klamath, Modoc, Alabama, Koasati, Cherokee, Washo, Huichol, Tzutujil, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet


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