The Mythology and Folklore Database
L42G2 - The bird erases the trace.
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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 person leaves traces behind by dropping seeds, pebbles, etc., or leaving drops of blood. These traces are unintentionally destroyed by birds, animals, wind, etc.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L42 has 16 other sub-motifsL42. After capturing the character, the enemy brings the prey home or to the place where he intends to eat it. The character runs away and escapes. L42a. The cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves. L42b. After capturing the hero, the antagonist brings him home and leaves him in the care of a family member. The latter believes the hero's words and follows his instructions. See motif L42. L42b1. A character kidnapped by a demon advises him to stack pots, pans and other kitchen items on top of each other and climb up them. He does so, falls and breaks. L42c. The character hides from someone stronger, sometimes inside the house, sometimes outside, and the stronger character cannot catch him. L42d. A man runs away from a cannibal across the ice, the cannibal pursues him, licks the blood spilled on the ice, his tongue freezes, he dies, or falls to his death after slipping on the ice. L42e. A demon catches the hero, carries him home, but the hero escapes on the way. The demon returns, catches the hero again, and this time brings him to his home. Or the demon catches and carries several children, but they escape on the way, leaving only one, whom the demon brings to his home. L42f. The character intended for consumption slips away unnoticed. The master of the house thinks that his wife has eaten him alone and cuts open her stomach. L42g. The stepmother, and more often the father (usually at the insistence of his new wife), leaves the children in a deserted place or sends them into the forest. They end up in the house of a cannibal or cannibals, all (or at least one of them) survive and achieve success. L42g1. Father (stepfather) takes children into the forest and slips away unnoticed. To make the children think he is nearby chopping wood, father hangs a board, pumpkin, etc. on a tree, which bangs against the trunk in the wind. L42g2. A person leaves traces behind by dropping seeds, pebbles, etc., or leaving drops of blood. These traces are unintentionally destroyed by birds, animals, wind, etc. L42g3. In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials. L42h. A cannibal catches the hero and invites other cannibals to a feast. The hero escapes, and the cannibals eat the one who invited them. L42i. Creatures from another world carry off a little boy. His sister takes him and safely escapes from their pursuers. Usually the boy has two or three sisters, and only the youngest succeeds. L42i1. A boy is rowing a boat. A witch lures him out and carries him away. The boy escapes. L42j. The ogre catches children (usually mice), puts them in a bag, orders a tree (pole, crossbar in the house) to bend over, hangs the bag, orders the tree to straighten up again, and leaves. Another character (usually a fox) orders the tree (pole, etc.) to bend over and frees the children. L42k. A demonic character regurgitates an axe (adze) to cut down a tree. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L42's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| F28A3 | 98.62% | A girl (woman) possesses an object that is pleasant (useful). Once in the hands of others, it becomes harmful (dangerous). |
| A2C1 | 98.36% | The Sun is going to have children. One of the animals warns that if the Sun has children, the world will burn. The Sun has to (refuse marriage and) remain childless. |
| I22G1 | 97.74% | In another world, the hero sees many strange things, including colliding stones (but they do not block his path). |
| L42G3 | 97.68% | In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials. |
| B125A | 97.68% | The nightingale (or, less commonly, someone else) takes the copper's eyes and does not return them, leaving her blind. |
| K27Z8 | 97.56% | A person poses a riddle that can only be solved by knowing the circumstances in which he found himself. |
| B115A | 97.52% | Angry at the carpenters, the character (St. Peter) asks another (Christ) to make the knots in the wood or branches iron. The latter only makes them very hard. |
| H7C1 | 97.52% | The trickster first deceives Death (the devil), and then, also by deception, enters paradise. |
| L130 | 97.37% | Two or more characters have only one eye between them. |
| J51A2 | 97.35% | A girl must penetrate an inaccessible place with the help of chicken bones. She loses one or there are not enough bones. By cutting off her finger and using it as she would use the bones, the girl achieves her goal. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Biu-Mandara: Margi, Kilba, Bura, Kera, Karekare (Kerri-Kerri), Bachama, Zulgo, Giziga, Hdi, Kapsiki, Mandara (incl Mukulehe, Matakam), Mofu (Mofu-Gudur), Somrai (Sibine, Shibha), Catalan, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Latvians, Wallons, Picardie, Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria, Morocco