The Mythology and Folklore Database
I50B - Many-legged beast (predator).




15 Myths, Legends and Folktales
15 Unique Narratives for Motif I50B
7 Cultures & Traditions where I50B is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
4 Sub-Motifs of Motif I50B


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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

Describes or depicts a predatory animal with six or more legs.

Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects


I50 has 4 other sub-motifs


I50.  Describes or depicts a hoofed animal with six or more legs.
I50a.  A demon sequentially tears off the legs of an animal that helps the hero (usually the horse on which the hero rides).
i50a1.  The character sequentially tears off the dog's legs, but the dog continues to do what it considers necessary.
I50b.  Describes or depicts a predatory animal with six or more legs.
I50c.  Describes a hoofed animal with a second set of legs on its back that runs either normally or upside down. This makes it tireless.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
B38C95.94%The raven and the loon paint each other.
M94A95.74%The demonic character kills his victims, provoking them to slide down the mountain.
B16B94.87%The sea is salty because a wolverine or a fox bathed in it or urinated in it.
B38B94.87%Two quadrupeds (or a quadruped and another creature) adorn each other themselves or are adorned by someone else.
M9493.54%One character invites the other to roll down the mountain to destroy him. Cf. Motive L42C.
A31A91.91%Upon learning that her husband or lover has committed an act incompatible with accepted norms, a woman cuts off her breast and shows it to him.
B42F90.61%The Big Dipper (as a whole or only the dipper) is identified with a large hoofed animal (elk, deer, mountain sheep). Unless otherwise specified, see motif B42 in the description of cosmic hunting.
M123D90.37%A bird from the corvid family is rejected after its mate or relatives discover that it eats carrion or filth.
L102A86.60%A seagull kidnaps a girl or woman, but she manages to return to people.
L17A286.60%Instead of a beautiful woman, a man takes a devil with an odd number of eyes.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Nuba, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Chukchi, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Greenland


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