The Mythology and Folklore Database
K13D - Leg hanging in the sky.




6 Myths, Legends and Folktales
6 Unique Narratives for Motif K13D
4 Cultures & Traditions where K13D is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
3 Sub-Motifs of Motif K13D


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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

A group of boys reaches the sky, the last one's leg is cut off or torn off.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations


K13 has 3 other sub-motifs


K13a.  The character's leg (rarely: both legs) is cut off, bitten off, torn off, or damaged. The character ascends to the sky: to the moon; becomes the moon; turns into a star or constellation; becomes the sun; blood flowing from the leg colours the sky.
K13b.  A man crosses a body of water on the back of a caiman. The caiman bites off his leg. The cripple undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a constellation or an animal.
K13c.  The cannibal's daughter takes revenge on her husband for her mother's death and manages to cut off his leg. See motif K13A.
K13d.  A group of boys reaches the sky, the last one's leg is cut off or torn off.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
I5A100.00%The tapir is associated with the upper world (thunder, sky, moon).
K19F100.00%A star or many stars descend from the sky to work in the fields. See motif K19B.
M139100.00%The fox caught the birds and put them in a bag. Another character secretly replaced them with thorns.
B9999.98%A person or their head left on a tree turns into an insect nest.
L8899.94%A man kills a demon, but when he touches its remains some time later, it comes to life.
J1199.94%The son in his mother's womb asks her to pick flowers or fruit for him (usually when a woman picks flowers, she is bitten by an insect). See motif J9.
J15A99.89%Setting off on a journey (usually in search of a fiancé, husband, or relatives), a woman finds herself in the lair or settlement of large dangerous predators - pumas or jaguars. See motif J15.
B28A99.89%A character pinned to the ground by a rod, transported somewhere to the edge of the world and associated with an object that continues to influence people.
B3299.89%As a result of conflict with their husbands, women turn into fish.
J1099.89%A woman loses her way after being stung by a wasp (or bee, ant, snake). She slaps her stomach (either to kill the insect or to punish her unborn sons, because of whom she went to pick a flower and was stung; see motif J11). The offended sons fall silent, ceasing to show the way. See motif J9.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: Chamacoco (Ishir), Mataco, Caduveo, Mbaya, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa


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