The Mythology and Folklore Database
L103 - Magical flight: Atalanta, R231.
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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
The fugitive throws or creates objects behind him, which the pursuer, wasting time, collects, eats or destroys, even though they do not hinder his progress.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L10 has 1 other sub-motifsL10. The character has a sharp (biting) tail or a protrusion on its back. See motif L9, cf. motif L9C. L10a. 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. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L10's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| J23 | 93.33% | People in general or older brothers (siblings, older sister) disappear one after another. A woman raises a boy or twins from infancy. Sometimes, left alone, she miraculously conceives a son or finds a baby. He defeats the antagonists, usually reviving or freeing the missing ones. |
| M23 | 92.60% | The character pretends to be afraid of only one method of killing, which in reality is not dangerous for him (K581: turtle: If you throw me into the water, I will drown! ). {All American variants with a rabbit are most likely of African origin and are not included in the correlation table}. |
| M30 | 91.76% | character who has no natural wings or can't fly long distances rises into the air, but falls or, having lost its wings, stays where he can't return from. (The motive includes several options, but even when taken together, they don't cover the whole world. Texts with M25 and M28 motifs are counted as including the M30 motif). |
| I36 | 91.63% | Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightnings) – characters related by kinship, marriage or property. |
| K28 | 91.55% | The uncle on the mother's side or the father of the young hero (or grandfather, if he replaces the father, who is not mentioned) is his enemy and rival, giving him difficult tasks with the aim of destroying him. |
| L72 | 90.01% | While fleeing, the character throws small objects behind him, which turn into powerful obstacles in the path of the pursuer, or (rarely) the pursuer creates such obstacles in the path of the fugitives. (Cf. SUS 1979, No. 313H = AA 313I, p. 114: escape by throwing magical objects, an episode in various types of fairy tales). |
| K27 | 89.12% | The character receives tasks that are deadly dangerous or can only be accomplished with supernatural abilities or helpers; the hero completes the tasks and/or miraculously survives. The confrontation between the characters unfolds as a game or competition in which the loser loses their life or status. |
| K27N | 88.88% | A young man must complete difficult tasks or win a competition in order to obtain permission to marry. The person giving the tasks is indicated in square brackets. See motif K27. |
| L85 | 88.78% | The character has only half a body (vertically). See also L85C, "Half-chicken". |
| B2A | 88.49% | The earth is a female character (alone or alongside a male character) and is considered to be female or associated with women. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 83 traditions: Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Mangbetu (Ngbetu), Mangbutu, Moru, Madi, Lugbara, Lendu (=Bale), Zande (Azande, incl Nzakara), Shone (Shona, =Mashona, =Karanga), Makoni (Shoni dialect), Remba (=Hungwe, Wahungwe); Zezuru, Rozwi, Ndau (Vandau), Malawi (incl Nyanja, Banyanja, Manganja), Tumbuka (incl Henga), Nsenga, Matengo, (Ba)Wenda, Rwanda (incl Hutu, Tutsi, Kiga), Rundi, (Ma)Shi, Banyabungu; Rega, Sakata, Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Lingala, (Ba)Ngala, Ntomba, Kioque, (Ki)Bangi, Bolia, Balolo, Boloki, (Ba)Akwa, (U)Poto, Mbundu (Umbundu, Kimbundu, Chimbundu, Ovimbundu), Kwanyama, Owambo (=Ambo), Zulu, Swazi, Tswana (Chwana), Suto (Soto; incl Pedi, Mbire), Enenga, Mpongwe, Kuta (Koto), Nkomi, Masango, Mindumu, Mbede, Mitsogo, Bawunga, Ndumu (Ndumbo), Duma, Teke, (B)wende, Tuareg, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Akan, Ashanti, Akwapim; Ga (Accra), Kra, Twi (Chwi, Chi), Melanesians of Admiralty Islands (incl Manus); Seimat (Western Islands), Santa Cruz Islands (incl Nguna, Reef Islands), Niue, Yap, Truk, Eastern Fayu, Losap, Pulap, Puluwat, Mortlock (incl. Satawan), Ponape, Ngaik, Mwoakil (Mokil), Kusaie (Kosrae), Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Early Chinese written sources, England, British, Bretons, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Slovakians, Slovaks, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Estonians, Finns, Western Sami, Norwegians, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Western Ukrainians, 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, Baluch, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, 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), Bashkirs, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Darkhad, Khakas, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Chukchi, North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Caribou, Polar Inuit, Baffin Land Inuit, West Greenland, Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Tsimshian, Micmac, Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Blackfoot, Arapaho, Osage, Omaha, Ponca, Pawnee, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Plains Ojibwa, Crow, Kalapuya, Alabama, Koasati, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Creols of Eastern and Central Cuba, Sanema, Anambe, Vilela, Kodiak, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Morocco