The Mythology and Folklore Database
L81 - Demon's fire.
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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 man who goes in search of fire finds it with a demon. The demon pursues the man, harms him, and kills him. Traditions in which there is only a story about men who are promised fire for a fairy tale (a tall tale) are marked with an asterisk*.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L81 has 7 other sub-motifsL81. A man who goes in search of fire finds it with a demon. The demon pursues the man, harms him, and kills him. Traditions in which there is only a story about men who are promised fire for a fairy tale (a tall tale) are marked with an asterisk*. L81a. A girl offends a cat (rarely: a dog, a rooster) and the cat takes revenge by causing misfortune to befall the girl (usually by extinguishing the fire, after which the girl falls into the hands of a demon). L81a1. Noticing a red bead (pebble) that has fallen into the hearth, the character thinks it is a coal and does not understand that the fire in the hearth has gone out. L81a2. While the men are away, a demonic character comes to a girl or woman to drink her blood or otherwise torment her. The men notice that the girl is wasting away, but at first they do not know the reason. L81a3. A girl sees a demon in a frightening and repulsive form. When he asks her what she said about him (what she saw), the girl replies that she praised his beauty and manners (she saw him in an attractive form). Usually, the girl eventually tells the truth, and the men hiding in ambush kill the enraged demon. L81b. The hero's rivals abandon him, cutting off his legs (usually leaving a sword at the entrance to his tent, and when the hero rushes out, the blade wounds him). L81c. The legless man lives together with the blind and armless man (or with one of the two). By working together, they are healed. L81d. Two cripples with different physical disabilities quarrel and fight, and as a result become whole and healthy. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L81's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27N1 | 98.70% | A character who gives the hero tasks that are impossible for an ordinary person (subjecting the hero to difficult trials), or a character who requires the suitors of his daughter to fulfil certain conditions, is the head of a community or supra-community collective and is neither a member of the same family collective as the hero nor a mythical creature. See motif K27. |
| K73A | 97.86% | Malicious women replace the newborn with an animal or an inanimate object (they tell the baby's father that his wife gave birth to an animal or an object). See motif K73. |
| K73 | 97.80% | A young wife (promises to give birth and) gives birth to wonderful children (or one son). In the absence of her husband, attempts are made to kill the wife or her child (usually by slandering them to the husband), but they remain alive. (For medieval European variants, see Newell 1906). |
| M91C2 | 97.79% | character is placed in a bag or chest, locked in a cage, tied, etc., to drown, burn, etc. When left for a while, the character pretends to be in the bag voluntarily or because he does not want to become a chief, marry, etc.; the other agrees to take his place. See M91c1 motif. |
| K74 | 97.76% | Of two or more characters, each one stays at home or goes to fetch fire for cooking or brings food to the house. Each time, a certain character appears who eats the food and/or defeats the one who stayed behind or came to fetch fire. |
| L19B | 97.36% | Creatures (any, except ornithomorphic ones) with more than 10 heads or an odd (but more than one) number of heads are described or depicted (in the case of listing creatures in order of increasing number of heads, the series ends with an odd number). |
| K66 | 97.23% | Each of several companions or brothers excels others in some way (sees, hears, runs, etc. better than anyone else). Cf. motif K2B, "Gorynya and Dubyna". |
| M91C1 | 97.00% | The character (pretends to) take possession of someone's property (usually setting the owner to be killed instead of him), says that he got everything at the bottom of the river, in the abyss, etc., to him they believe. |
| M170 | 96.93% | Pretending to be concerned only with performing religious rituals or following rules (confessing sins, going on pilgrimages, giving up meat, etc.), a zoomorphic character kills those who trust him. |
| K76B | 96.68% | The son or foster son of snake spouses. He turns into a human. The snake is the princess's magical spouse, lost and returned. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 90 traditions: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Algeria Arabs, Shone (Shona, =Mashona, =Karanga), Makoni (Shoni dialect), Remba (=Hungwe, Wahungwe); Zezuru, Rozwi, Ndau (Vandau), Kikuyu, Chuka, Embu, Emberre, Mwimbe, Ganda, (Ba)Nyoro, Nyankole, Masaba (Gisu), Luia (=Luyia, Haya, Luhya, Bantu Kawirondo; incl. Vugusu, Maragoli), Other West Chadic: Ngas, Bolanchi, Tangale, Zaghawa, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Melanesians and Papuans of Bismark Archipelago: New Britain (Paparatava, Lakalai, Kuni, Sulka, Gazelle peninsula), New Ireland, St Matthias Group, Mioko (Melanesians between New Britain and New Ireland), Santa Cruz Islands (incl Nguna, Reef Islands), Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Tuvalu (Ellice), Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Mentawai, Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Dhanwar, Marathi (incl. Bhamta; incl. Mumbai area), Sinhalese; Vedda, Lepcha, Spain, Spaniards, Basques, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Byelarusians, Belarusians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Uzbek, Sarikoli, Yagnobi, Tajik, Baluch, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Ingush, Tats, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kara Kalpak, Uyghur, 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, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Chuvash, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Evens (Lamuts), Tlingit, Quinault, Sibundoy: Kamsa, Ingano (Inga), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Chechens, Chulym Turks, Salars, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Bhutan, Congo, Tunisia