The Mythology and Folklore Database
L42A - Cannibal steals corpses.
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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 cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A7A | 95.67% | The light of the sun (moon, Venus) is a burning torch in the hand of a celestial body. |
| M46B | 95.50% | The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif. |
| I133 | 94.76% | Star objects in different parts of the sky are associated with separate parts (as well as items of clothing, jewellery, etc.) of a single anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figure. |
| F30A | 94.29% | A woman nurses a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) instead of a child; people kill the monster. |
| L79 | 94.00% | The girl marries a powerful, benevolent character; his first wife is a monster; he kills her or is satisfied that she has been killed by his new wife. |
| C19A | 93.68% | The character (except Quileut: Raven) turns into a child, asks for and receives heavenly bodies to play, or (Chukchi) comes to play with the little daughter of the owner of the stars. |
| M46C | 93.54% | The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif. |
| A13A1 | 93.43% | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). |
| M46D | 93.07% | A small child cries and calms down only after being given a valuable item hidden in the house to play with. After receiving an item, a child or an associated character takes it away. |
| F79 | 92.41% | The character successively marries various women of non-human nature, but each time (usually, except for the last) he is disappointed. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 12 traditions: Khmu (Kammu), Puoc, Aleuts, Netsilik, Caribou, Polar Inuit, Baffin Land Inuit, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Chilkotin, Kpelle (incl Kono), Kodiak