The Mythology and Folklore Database
L40 - Reflection and shadow, R351.
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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 discovers (rarely: cannot discover) another person on a tree or rock, noticing their reflection or shadow. See motif L39.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L40 has 3 other sub-motifsL40. The character discovers (rarely: cannot discover) another person on a tree or rock, noticing their reflection or shadow. See motif L39. L40a. An unattractive woman sees the reflection of a young man sitting in a tree in the water and thinks that she has become beautiful. L40b. To make the character come closer, absurd actions are performed in front of him. The character does not understand the deception and comes closer to explain how to act correctly. L40c. Relying on the ambiguity of the statement, the buyer of a cheap item claims rights to a much more valuable one. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L40's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I99 | 94.85% | The Pleiades – a group of boys, young men, men or people of different genders, but predominantly male. |
| I8F | 93.47% | The sky, the world rests on a single object (a pillar or tree). |
| I100B | 92.67% | The Pleiades - a group of people of any gender and age. See motifs i99 - i100A, aggregate data. |
| A12 | 92.31% | A creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, winter and summer, night and day, phases of the moon) or occasionally (eclipses, eschatological catastrophes) attack the luminaries or block their light. |
| F7 | 91.57% | A man catches, grabs, meets, or receives a woman associated with the aquatic-chthonic world (a fish, mermaid, snake, crab, seal, etc.) and takes her as his wife. Cf. motifs E26 and K25. |
| F9 | 91.56% | For various reasons, sexual intercourse with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man, or so it seems to him: Teeth, blades or sharp stones in the vagina or on the inside of the thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. See motif F9A. |
| I108 | 91.49% | The Pleiades are a single character, not a group of people. |
| A12A | 90.90% | During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12. |
| I82A | 90.87% | The Morning and/or Evening Star – a male character. |
| A12C | 90.59% | Eclipses of the sun, moon or their setting (marked*) are caused by a snake, lizard, dragon, fish or crocodile; these creatures attack the luminaries now or attacked them at the beginning of time. See motif A12. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 74 traditions: Aramaic (Syrians), Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Algeria Arabs, Soninke, Bia: Anyi, Agni, Baule, Nsema, Southern Vanuatu: Tanna, Aneiteum (Polynesian component not included), Eromanga, Samoa, Tikopia, Bellona, Rennell, partly Aneytium, Futuna (=Erronan, not to be mixed with Futuna in Western Polynesia), Vaeaka-Taumato, incl Matema, Nifeloli, Nukapu, Nupani, Pileni, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Tuvalu (Ellice), Yap, Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Bugi, Macassar, 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, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Konkani (incl Goa), Sinhalese; Vedda, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Koreans, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, Poles, Slovakians, Slovaks, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Estonians, Norwegians, 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), Yazgulami, Yagnobi, Persians, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Southern and Central; Ryukyu Islands: Yaeyama, Miyako, Okinawa, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Menominee, Plains Cree, Comox, Pentlatch, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Nez Perce, Tillamook, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Yurok, Tunica, Navajo, Chiricahua, Hopi, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Tzeltal, Lacandon, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Sicuani, Sanema, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Craho, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Sherente, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Chorote, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa, Urums, Rumei, Papua-New Guinea Southern Lowland Papuan groups (Trans New Guinea and unclassified): Gimi, Kiwai, Bina, Mawabula, Mawatta, Keraki, Gambadi (incl. Kwavaru), Purari River delta, Masingara, Wiram (=Suki), Ngain, Daga, Elema, Galicians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Morocco