The Mythology and Folklore Database
K50 - An imaginary wife cuts off the head of an enemy.
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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 approaches the enemy disguised as a woman and kills him at night (usually cutting off his head and taking it with him).Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M59A | 99.70% | After asking a large animal to transport it across the river, a porcupine kills or damages it. See M59 motif. |
| M29R | 99.68% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| K25C | 99.66% | While digging roots, gathering shellfish, etc., a woman finds a baby. He grows up and enters into a struggle with dangerous characters. |
| D4K | 99.63% | The deer obtains fire for humans. See motif D4A. |
| M81A | 99.63% | The hero meets two blind women and makes them sighted. These women are birds (geese, ducks, hazel grouses, partridges). |
| M122 | 99.60% | In a difficult situation, the character asks for advice from his tail, penis, or some creatures in his stomach (these are excrement, intestinal parasites, his "sisters," etc.). |
| J23A | 99.55% | A woman cries, and the discharge from her nose (her tears) turns into a boy, who grows up and defeats strong opponents. |
| M29Y | 99.46% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| K43B | 99.42% | People leave a boy, a girl, a sister and brother, a young woman or young spouses alone and leave, or drive them away. Those who are left behind or driven away discover unusual abilities or helpers, obtaining blood and food. Those who are abandoned eat their fill, while those who abandon them go hungry. A character (often a bird - a crow, magpie, seagull, etc.) visits the abandoned and brings a piece of fat or meat to the camp of the starving. |
| B92 | 99.40% | A character whose body is hard and has broken into small pieces, or (rarely) a small object, turns into flint or other hard stones (the origin of flint). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 23 traditions: Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Inland Tlingit, Athna, Beaver, Tlingit, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Blackfoot, Arapaho, Mandan, Kiowa, Crow, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Lillooet, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Tillamook, Takelma, Coos, Alcea, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez)