The Mythology and Folklore Database
F65 - The imaginary dead man.
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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
To satisfy their secret desire, which involves breaking social norms (forbidden sex, refusing to share food with relatives), the character pretends to be dying, abandoned at the burial site.Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior
F65 has 4 other sub-motifsF65. To satisfy their secret desire, which involves breaking social norms (forbidden sex, refusing to share food with relatives), the character pretends to be dying, abandoned at the burial site. F65a. The spouse leaves the character at the burial site; the (pretend) dead person comes back to life and leaves to be with their lover. F65b. The character fakes death in order to eat greedily alone. F65c. A man pretends to be dead (in order to marry his daughter or to be able to eat the meat of hunted animals alone). One of his younger children recognises their (adoptive) father or notices that the supposed dead man is alive (he runs away from the funeral pyre, laughs, etc.). F65d. The character pretends to be dying and is left at the burial site. However, his wife (mother, aunt) finds out about the deception and provokes the supposed dead man, forcing him to reveal himself. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of F65's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I117 | 96.32% | A spider or spider woman lifts a hero or heroine up to the sky, helps them descend to earth, or otherwise helps them cross the path leading to another world. |
| M29I | 95.05% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| M42 | 94.85% | The character takes his eyes out of his orbits and loses them. He usually regains his eyes later, makes new ones, takes away from another character, etc. See the M41 motif. |
| K8C5 | 94.74% | A zoomorphic character no larger than a fox allows itself to be swallowed by a bear and kills it by tearing it apart from the inside. |
| L33 | 94.27% | The stone rolls after the character, trying to crush him. |
| J61 | 94.27% | The character has the ability to move or hover in the air like a feather or a fluff. |
| E10 | 94.24% | Characters who have shed their animal (plant, object) forms become the children of women or spouses who catch them off guard. |
| K21 | 94.18% | A girl ends up in the sky and gets married there. |
| B85A | 94.02% | The wind stops blowing (after blowing too strongly). A character approaches it and establishes the necessary balance. Since then, the wind blows, but usually not too strongly. |
| E30 | 93.86% | A man has no wife or a woman has no husband, and uses a wooden substitute as a spouse. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 68 traditions: Yemen, Kru: Kru proper, Sapo (Sapã), Grebo, Kran (Krahn, Guere-Krahn; incl. Putu, Tchien), Bete, Neyo, Wobe, Devoin (Dey), Belle (Kuwaa), Bassa, Sikon, Songhai, Akan, Ashanti, Akwapim; Ga (Accra), Kra, Twi (Chwi, Chi), Bia: Anyi, Agni, Baule, Nsema, Saibai, Dauan, Boigu, Badu, Waraber, Wet, Warei, Dauar, Badu, Moa, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Basques, Western Ukrainians, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Kets, Chukchi, Aleuts, Nunivak Island, Chugach, Tahltan, Koyukon, Tanana, North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Eyak, Haida, Tsimshian, Lenape (Delaware), Montagnais, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Miami, Illini, Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arapaho, Osage, Arikara, Gros Ventre, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Crow, Hidatsa, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Comox, Pentlatch, Nez Perce, Quinault, Tillamook, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Hupa, Chilula, Pomo, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Kawaiisu, Mono (Monache), Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Chemehuevi, Kitanemuk, Serrano, Navajo, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Colorado (Tsachila), Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Selknam, Kodiak, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Sierra Leone, China