The Mythology and Folklore Database
L65A1 - The horse's legs eaten away.
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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
A demonic character successively devours parts of the horse on which the hero arrived, each time returning to the hero and then leaving to devour another part. (Often asks whether the hero arrived on a three-legged, two-legged or one-legged horse).Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L65 has 12 other sub-motifsL65. An infant or small child turns out to be a demon and kills people. L65a. A daughter is born, or people find a girl; she is a monster or turns into a monster and devours everyone. Her brother escapes (usually leaves, marries, returns), and she pursues him unsuccessfully. L65a1. A demonic character successively devours parts of the horse on which the hero arrived, each time returning to the hero and then leaving to devour another part. (Often asks whether the hero arrived on a three-legged, two-legged or one-legged horse). L65a2. A man shoots off (damages) the finger of a demonic creature, and then sees that his sister, lying in her cradle, has lost her finger. L65b. A demonic woman, less often her lover or another monster, is ready to kill or kills the hero. Dogs (or animals and birds that replace them – lions, bears, eagles, etc.) come running (flying), rescue the hero and kill the demon. L65b1. A man exchanges sheep (goats) for dogs. The exchange seems unequal, but the dogs help him achieve success. L65b2. The hero's dogs have names that speak of their strength and agility (Wind, Ironbreaker, etc.). L65b3. A character who climbs a tree manages to escape from a demon (who usually tries to knock the tree down). L65b4. The character pulls out his tooth to use it as a weapon or tool (often an axe). L65b5. Despite obstacles, the young man's dogs or other animals serving him get to the princess just as she is about to be given away to a deceiver. L65c. The eldest of three or more sisters turns out to be a cannibal, devouring her younger sisters and other people. L65c1. Three or more sisters have the ability to fly and fly away from the cannibal – their older sister or mother. Only the youngest is saved. L65d. When the older sister becomes a cannibal, the younger sister (temporarily) escapes. Cf. motifs L1B, L65C. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L65's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M199A | 99.50% | A man buried something soft and liquid in the ground, and when he stamped on it (shot an arrow into it) and the buried object splashed onto the surface, he said that he had squeezed the brain (innards) out of the earth. |
| K27Z7 | 99.37% | The character promises to fulfil a request if the other person reveals the secret behind someone's strange behaviour. |
| N20 | 99.26% | fairy tale text ends with a formula that says that the characters have achieved their desires, goals and/or happiness, or that God has fulfilled their wishes. |
| K99A3 | 99.20% | A person sees the sun, moon and stars (all together or some of them) in a dream. At the end of the story, the meaning of the dream becomes clear: these are people who love or worship him (often two wives and a child). |
| L10A | 99.09% | A demonic character approaches a man's campfire. The man leaves a log in his place and hides. The character throws himself on the log, mistaking it for a sleeping man; usually, the hunter kills or wounds the demon. |
| M198A2 | 98.94% | A person determines, based on characteristics invisible to others, that a valuable item (a gemstone, an expensive sword) has a flaw and is of little value. |
| J32E | 98.93% | Every time a mare foals, the foal is stolen. The hero finds out who is doing this. |
| K148 | 98.93% | Every night or every year, a mare gives birth to a foal, and every time someone steals it. |
| M153B | 98.85% | The wolf is killed or maimed after agreeing to a domestic animal's offer to ride it. |
| B73A | 98.84% | A girl (a young man, a girl with her brother; two little brothers) searches for a lost horse, cow, sheep and, as a result (alone or with her brother; both brothers), turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) with a characteristic call. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Algeria Arabs, Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Tajik, Baluch, Persians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Ingush, Georgians, Anatolia Turks, 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), Turkmen, Bashkirs, Kets, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir