The Mythology and Folklore Database
L1B1 - The female demon and her brothers.




36 Myths, Legends and Folktales
35 Unique Narratives for Motif L1B1
23 Cultures & Traditions where L1B1 is told
90 Mythemes Indexed
8 Sub-Motifs of Motif L1B1


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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

A woman comes into conflict with her brothers and turns into a dangerous demon.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures


L1 has 8 other sub-motifs


L1a.  A young woman turns into a bear (in Asia, a tigress) and attacks her close relatives or husband.
L1b.  A young woman turns into a monstrous bear and kills most people except her younger sister (Ojibwa: the younger sister of her former husband). Their brothers (or one brother) return from hunting and kill the bear, or she dies while chasing them. Cf. motif L65D.
L1b1.  A woman comes into conflict with her brothers and turns into a dangerous demon.
L1c.  Those fleeing from the monstrous bear ascend to the sky and turn into stars.
L1c1.  Fleeing from demonic characters, a group of men – relatives of a girl – ascend to the sky and remain there. See motif L1C.
L1c2.  Fleeing from a demonic creature, the characters hide their children (younger brother or sister) in a camouflaged pit, usually under the hearth. See motif L1C.
L1d.  The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives.
L1e.  A monstrous bird is created from a small amount of human or animal flesh (usually from the heart) or from lumps of manioc starch.
L1f.  The sister, using magic or transforming herself into a monster, kills her brothers in revenge for the death of her lover or husband.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
D4M99.38%The thief comes to the owners of fire or light. They feast or dance. He joins them and steals their valuables when the moment is right. See motif D4A.
F6499.13%The character is presented as another person in order to mate with a close relative in the descending or (less commonly) ascending line.
F18C99.13%The character sees a girl on the other side of the river and copulates with her in an unusual way (sends his penis across the river; turns it into a bridge for the girl to cross the river; into a dam that blocks the river in front of her; dives, swimming up to the girl underwater; sends an object into the girl's vagina). See motif F18B.
K21A98.95%A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband.
M49A98.89%hero needs to penetrate unnoticed into the locus of dangerous creatures; he meets an old woman (usually a shaman, a doctor) going there, puts on her skin, and penetrates into dangerous ones in her guise creatures.
M5998.89%A small animal asks a large one to transport it across the river; consistently rejects all the seats on the carrier's body that he offers; climbs to where the carrier is You can kill when the crossing is over.
A32B198.73%A woman sits (jumps) on the face (back) of the Moon Man and is now visible in the silhouette of the moon spots.
M4198.68%The character throws his eyes (an inhaler has a tooth) up or into the distance. At first they return to the eye sockets, but then they disappear.
L33F98.63%A rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces.
L9798.40%Seeing a character who is unable to move (nailed to the ground, his lower body rooted to the ground, petrified, completely absent), the hero himself manages to avoid a similar fate.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 23 traditions: Lepcha, Tutchone, Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Cheyenne, Omaha, Ponca, Arikara, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Kiowa, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Crow, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Shasta; Chimariko, Karok, Klamath, Modoc, Caddo, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Yana, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai


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