The Mythology and Folklore Database
L42G3 - Gingerbread house.
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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
In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
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
L42 has 16 other sub-motifsL42. After capturing the character, the enemy brings the prey home or to the place where he intends to eat it. The character runs away and escapes. L42a. The cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves. L42b. After capturing the hero, the antagonist brings him home and leaves him in the care of a family member. The latter believes the hero's words and follows his instructions. See motif L42. L42b1. A character kidnapped by a demon advises him to stack pots, pans and other kitchen items on top of each other and climb up them. He does so, falls and breaks. L42c. The character hides from someone stronger, sometimes inside the house, sometimes outside, and the stronger character cannot catch him. L42d. A man runs away from a cannibal across the ice, the cannibal pursues him, licks the blood spilled on the ice, his tongue freezes, he dies, or falls to his death after slipping on the ice. L42e. A demon catches the hero, carries him home, but the hero escapes on the way. The demon returns, catches the hero again, and this time brings him to his home. Or the demon catches and carries several children, but they escape on the way, leaving only one, whom the demon brings to his home. L42f. The character intended for consumption slips away unnoticed. The master of the house thinks that his wife has eaten him alone and cuts open her stomach. L42g. The stepmother, and more often the father (usually at the insistence of his new wife), leaves the children in a deserted place or sends them into the forest. They end up in the house of a cannibal or cannibals, all (or at least one of them) survive and achieve success. L42g1. Father (stepfather) takes children into the forest and slips away unnoticed. To make the children think he is nearby chopping wood, father hangs a board, pumpkin, etc. on a tree, which bangs against the trunk in the wind. L42g2. A person leaves traces behind by dropping seeds, pebbles, etc., or leaving drops of blood. These traces are unintentionally destroyed by birds, animals, wind, etc. L42g3. In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials. L42h. A cannibal catches the hero and invites other cannibals to a feast. The hero escapes, and the cannibals eat the one who invited them. L42i. Creatures from another world carry off a little boy. His sister takes him and safely escapes from their pursuers. Usually the boy has two or three sisters, and only the youngest succeeds. L42i1. A boy is rowing a boat. A witch lures him out and carries him away. The boy escapes. L42j. The ogre catches children (usually mice), puts them in a bag, orders a tree (pole, crossbar in the house) to bend over, hangs the bag, orders the tree to straighten up again, and leaves. Another character (usually a fox) orders the tree (pole, etc.) to bend over and frees the children. L42k. A demonic character regurgitates an axe (adze) to cut down a tree. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L42's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K127A | 99.68% | The heroine must remain silent for a long time and therefore cannot respond to the accusations. They want to execute her, but at that moment the restrictions expire and she is saved. |
| L37A2 | 99.63% | A man comes to ask God (fate, the sun, etc.) questions that he was asked to ask by those he met along the way. Someone asks when he will be freed from his duties. Answer: let him leave another person in his place. |
| M206 | 99.42% | A guard (nobleman) agrees to let a man pass to an authoritative figure on condition that he gives him half of the expected reward. The man asks for a beating as a reward or expected it from the outset. |
| I20C1 | 99.33% | Dwarves do not live deep underground, but inside hills, in rocks, in mines, etc., and usually come out from there onto the ground. |
| K160 | 99.32% | The hero is given the task of bringing back the hair, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous character. He does this with the help of the character's wife or mother. |
| L129 | 99.29% | The character is asked why his body parts, organs, and tools are the way they are. He answers (or the questioner gives explanations for him). In the end, one kills or maims the other. |
| M128 | 99.29% | Having agreed with his opponent that he would get animals with certain external characteristics or behaving in a certain way, the hero takes all or almost all of them when the livestock is divided. |
| K57B | 99.25% | To stop a beautiful woman from running away, a man in love with her smears resin or glue on the threshold (porch). The shoe sticks, and all the girls try it on to find its owner. |
| K130 | 99.24% | A woman (rarely: a man) asks who is the most beautiful of all and receives the answer that she (he) is. One day she (he) is told that someone else is more beautiful. |
| M164A | 99.20% | Asking animals whether his mouth really smells bad (or his lair is dirty), the predator (lion, wolf) kills both those who answer honestly and those who flatter him. The cunning one says he cannot answer because he has a cold (he forgot his glasses). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 19 traditions: Spain, Spaniards, Catalan, 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, Poles, Slovakians, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Latvians, Estonians, Setu, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Mordvins, Oroch, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria, Morocco, Russian Federation