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L15I - Life in hair.
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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 dies or loses his strength (or pretends to) if his hair is cut or pulled out.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects
L15 has 21 other sub-motifsL15a. The character's vulnerable spot is located on the surface of the body, but not in vital internal organs. L15a1. The character's vulnerable spot is located at the bottom of the foot (heel, toe, sole, ankle). L15a2. The human body is tempered (in a furnace, etc.) to make it invulnerable, but one place remains unprotected. L15b. The character can only be killed with a specific plant, which is not usually used for making weapons. L15b1. In the battle between positive and negative creators, the positive one chooses the deer horn as a weapon – usually because this is the only weapon that the enemy fears. L15c. A dangerous character asks the hero how he can be killed, what he is afraid of. The hero lies, saying that the named object does not harm him. L15c1. A dangerous character naively reveals what he fears or what his life consists of, and the hero takes advantage of this. L15d. The object in which the character's life is concentrated is separate from him. The character dies when this external form is destroyed. L15d1. When a character is asked to reveal the location of his soul (death, power), he first gives an incorrect answer, and the questioner usually begins to show signs of attention to the corresponding locus or object. L15e. The hero's life is in a certain object, usually his weapon. An enemy steals or discards this object, the hero weakens or dies, his friends or brothers return the object, and the hero comes back to life. {In ATU, this is motif 302B; at least some of the references cited by Uther do not contain the motif in our formulation (not found in Japan or Burma); original publications are required}. L15e1. An ageing character and/or one who senses his death approaching instructs his son, a warrior, or his subjects to throw his cold weapon (sword, sabre or axe) into the sea, a lake or a river. Cf. motifs L15E and L15e2. L15e2. One character instructs another to throw a certain object (usually a sword or sabre) into the water. The messenger claims to have carried out the task, but cannot say what happened as a result, so it becomes clear that he has lied. L15f. A young woman or man dies as soon as her or his jewellery (rarely: organ) is stolen, and comes back to life when the jewellery is returned or when the antagonist removes it. L15g. A person's life is connected to an object that can be burned. As soon as the object is burned, the person dies. L15g1. A person knows a secret on which the life of a loved one (husband, son, wife) depends and, after a quarrel, commits an act that is insignificant to an outside observer but leads to the immediate death of the other. L15h. The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third, and so on (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a chest). Or the animal in which the character's soul is enclosed transforms into other animals as it flees. There are three or more enclosures or transformations. L15h1. The object in which the character's life is contained is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final container of the soul is an egg (to kill the character, the egg must be broken over his head). l15h2. The object in which the character's life is contained is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final repository of the soul is a bird (a chick, several birds or chicks). l15h3. The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final vessel of the soul is an insect or worm. l15h4. The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final container of the soul is a needle, which the hero breaks. L15i. A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends to) if his hair is cut or pulled out. L15J. The character can only be killed by fire. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L15's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| H49 | 97.33% | A dog or other animal kills a creature that threatened a small child. The owner or other people mistake the saviour for an aggressor and kill it. |
| K33G | 97.16% | The person who eats the fruit (leaf, etc.) grows horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal, while the other fruit (leaf, etc.) returns to its normal appearance. |
| L108C | 97.02% | To prevent the victim from recognising him and opening the door, the predator, the cannibal, shows part of his clothing, his hand, his paw, making the victim believe that his mother, teacher, etc. has come. |
| K33A1A | 96.85% | A woman thrown into the water finds herself in the belly of a fish (whale), but is then rescued. |
| I35C | 96.56% | One of the mythological characters who, using his craft skills, first makes (usually forges) tools and natural objects; he is the patron of craftsmen (usually blacksmiths). |
| L37A | 96.12% | On the way to a powerful being, a person meets characters who ask him to ask questions on their behalf (usually to find out the cause of their misfortunes). |
| M198B | 96.09% | A man who is unable to find lost items and expose thieves successfully does so thanks to a fortunate coincidence. |
| M204A | 96.04% | Gold is placed in a person's path so that they can take advantage of it. At that moment, the person accidentally closes their eyes and walks past. |
| K173 | 95.93% | A powerful and wealthy man loses everything, is separated from his wife and children, and they are separated from each other. The man regains his power and wealth, and the family is reunited. |
| K168 | 95.60% | A person experiences an eventful long period of life. Everything turns out to be an illusion, and he finds himself back in the same place and at the same moment in time from which the story began. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 12 traditions: Simeulue, Nias, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Portuguese, Portugal, Poles, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Ancient Greece, 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), Georgians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Evens (Lamuts), Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha)