The Mythology and Folklore Database
L65A2 - Shot finger.




15 Myths, Legends and Folktales
15 Unique Narratives for Motif L65A2
11 Cultures & Traditions where L65A2 is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
12 Sub-Motifs of Motif L65A2


Please log on to view the narratives.




 Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths



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 man shoots off (damages) the finger of a demonic creature, and then sees that his sister, lying in her cradle, has lost her finger.

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-motifs


L65.  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

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
A32I100.00%A shepherd (shepherd and girl, shepherd and his flock, dogs) can be seen on the lunar disc.
B108100.00%An anthropomorphic character that has fallen apart into pieces turns into snow.
K156100.00%A girl pretends to be a man. To determine who it really is, flowers are placed under the pillow or mattress. If a man is sleeping, they will remain fresh, but if a woman is sleeping, they will wilt by morning (or if a woman is sleeping, the milk left under the bed will sour).
K77B3100.00%Goats encounter a wolf. One goat has one stomach, the second has two, the third has three, and so on. The goat with the most stomachs kills or scares away the wolf.
L85D100.00%The hero encounters a giant and a strongman (usually a ploughman) with one arm, one leg, or one eye. He was crippled by a character who turned out to be much bigger and stronger than him.
M199M100.00%A man explains to a demon that the heavy objects lying by the roadside, such as a harrow or a millstone, are just things used by his grandmother or mother, such as a spindle or a comb.
M39A2E100.00%Forgetting his name, a fool remembers it when he accidentally hears a word.
I87AB99.65%Strong men or a crowd of people cannot move the body of a dead animal or the leg of a motionless person, but a child or a woman can do it easily. Cf. motif B83.
L15A299.65%The human body is tempered (in a furnace, etc.) to make it invulnerable, but one place remains unprotected.
M141A99.65%In a gathering of various animals, one of the participants refers to the weakest as insignificant to the others and bearing an ugly name. That one is eaten. This is repeated several times, each time the weakest of the remaining animals is eaten.

 See more...

Please log on to view the narratives.



Map of Motif Dispersal

Click here for a clustered map

Drag the map around by clicking and using the mouse, use the wheel to zoom



This motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Uzbek, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Ingush, Lezgians, Archin, Kürin; Khinalug, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Armenians, Turkmen, Bashkirs


Please log on to view the narratives.