The Mythology and Folklore Database
L5F - The good skull.
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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
Head, face or skull – a woman's husband, fiancé or son; not dangerous to her, brings wealth, saves from hunger, etc.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L5 has 11 other sub-motifsL5. Describes or depicts a creature in the form of a skull or head without a body. L5A. A rolling head turns into a celestial object that emits or eclipses light (sun, moon, stars, fireball; it is the cause of eclipses). See motif L5. L5B. A rolling head turns into lightning/thunder. See motif L83. L5c. The monster head pursues celestial bodies, people, or attaches itself to someone else's body. See motif L5. L5d. The rolling head suffers from thirst. See motif L5. L5e. The decapitated body of a woman pursues her husband, while her head pursues their children. L5e1. A woman who has become a monster pursues her own children. L5f. Head, face or skull – a woman's husband, fiancé or son; not dangerous to her, brings wealth, saves from hunger, etc. L5g. Only the head remains of one of the sisters. It rolls after the other sister or sisters, or they take it with them; in the end, the head finds a place where it wants to settle. L5h. Two sisters or two brothers find themselves in the demon's house or in front of an obstacle. One of them crawls through a narrow hole. The other gets stuck. The brother or sister pulls him or her by the head, and the head is torn off. L5i. A multitude of rolling heads or skulls try to take a woman away. L5j. The rolling head laughs for no reason. See motif L5. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L5's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L73B | 90.79% | The fugitive draws a line on the ground (ice), creating an obstacle in the path of the pursuer. |
| L102A | 88.25% | A seagull kidnaps a girl or woman, but she manages to return to people. |
| E9A | 88.07% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a fox. |
| L42A | 87.87% | The cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves. |
| M30C | 87.18% | A character flying through the air falls, violating the ban on talking, looking down, flying over villages, etc. (The character is not dropped by the person carrying it and flies above the ground, not descends from the sky or rises to the sky). |
| M29A | 85.52% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| B38 | 84.88% | The character decorates birds or animals, or they decorate each other. Some are dissatisfied with the result. |
| M46D | 84.40% | 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. |
| I36 | 84.36% | Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightnings) – characters related by kinship, marriage or property. |
| B38D | 83.55% | The Raven and the Owl paint each other. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Mbundu (Umbundu, Kimbundu, Chimbundu, Ovimbundu), Kwanyama, Owambo (=Ambo), Other West Chadic: Ngas, Bolanchi, Tangale, Burmese, Intha, Albanians, Balkarians, Finns, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Udeghe, Nanai, Negidal, Chukchi, Koyukon, North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Eyak, Haida, Coeur D'Alene, Kalispel (Pend d'Oreille; incl Spokane), Pima, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Ofaie