The Mythology and Folklore Database
K107B - Prohibition on lighting candles.




36 Myths, Legends and Folktales
34 Unique Narratives for Motif K107B
19 Cultures & Traditions where K107B is told
92 Mythemes Indexed
9 Sub-Motifs of Motif K107B


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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

One spouse forbids the other from seeing them. When the other willingly or unwillingly breaks the prohibition, the first disappears (gets into trouble). (In the Tuscan version, the prohibition is broken by the woman's mother).

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

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


K10 has 9 other sub-motifs


K10.  A monstrous bird (bat) attacks people, heroes engage in battle with it. See motifs K10A – K10G.
K10a.  Heroes kill a dangerous bird; during or before the battle, they hide in a shelter (hut, cage, vessel, sack, well) or cover themselves with an object that protects the body.
K10b.  A huge bird carries away to its nest a cage, bag or other container in which people are located. See motif 10A.
K10c.  The hero (twins) is weighed down with the blood-filled intestines of an animal. A bird pierces them with its claw, blood flows, the bird thinks its prey is dead, and brings the man to its nest. He kills the adult bird and either kills or transforms the chicks. Cf. motif M91A.
K10d.  A flying monster carries the hero away to a distant island. The hero kills the monster and uses a boat, bridge or rope made from part of the monster's body to return.
K10e.  In the bird's habitat, the hero finds the people it has kidnapped and helps them return home.
K10f.  The character turns the children of a flying monster into ordinary eagles or owls.
K10g.  Finding himself in the nest of a giant bird on a tree or rock, a man descends to the ground with the help of an adult bird (attaching its feathers or wings to himself), and more often - a chick (grabbing its legs, sitting on the chick, attaching its feathers or wings).
K10h.  A bird carries a woman or boy to its nest, feeds them, but does not let them go. The captive runs away.
K10i.  The tree opens its trunk and hides the hero fleeing from a man-eating bird. The monster that flies in after him is held tightly by the tree, which squeezes its trunk again.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
L15G99.83%A person's life is connected to an object that can be burned. As soon as the object is burned, the person dies.
M38C99.82%blacksmith (supposedly) forges a person, rejuvenating or revitalizing him.
M106H99.81%A man puts his hat on the ground and pretends that there is something valuable under it. In reality, there is only shit. Those who believe the deceiver lose their property.
K132A99.79%The husband (rarely: the wife) sends the rooster out to earn money, and it brings back money. The wife (husband) sends the hen (cat, her half of the rooster, etc.) and receives only mice, filth, etc. Or, instead of money, the rooster brings the wife something bad or nothing at all.
K107D99.79%After overcoming difficulties, a girl (rarely a boy) finds a magical spouse, but at first cannot wake him (her) up.
K61C99.76%A demon agrees to help (agrees not to harm) a person on condition that the person guesses his name. At the last moment, the person accidentally learns the demon's name, and the demon disappears or rewards the person.
M179B99.76%One zoomorphic character asks another (or a human) to let him in to dry off, warm up, etc. Once inside, he wreaks such havoc on the dwelling that it becomes difficult for the owner to stay there. Usually, in response to reproaches, he says that if the owner doesn't like it, there's the door.
F5A99.76%God was going to make Eve from Adam's rib. The rib was stolen by a dog (cat, fox, monkey, devil). God (or an angel sent by him) chased after the thief, grabbed him by the tail and tore it off. God made Eve from this tail. Either God first made a woman from edible material and the dog ate this figure. He had to make a new one from Adam's rib. Or God cut off Adam's tail and made Eve from it.
K61C199.72%A person will die if they cannot find the answer to the demon's question. A person or their acquaintance accidentally learns the answer by overhearing the demon talking to himself or to another demon. See motif C29.
K101A99.71%A man spends several nights next to a dead girl who has become a dangerous demonic creature. As a result, the girl is exorcised.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 19 traditions: England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, France, 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, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Ancient Greece, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Danish, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Icelanders, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Morocco, Tunisia


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