The Mythology and Folklore Database
L4 - The Unmasked Murderer, ATU 311, 312.
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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
The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L4 has 2 other sub-motifsL4. The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains. L4a. To test the loyalty of the heroine (hero), the demon demands that she eat food that humans should not eat. Usually, when the heroine reports that the food has been eaten, the demon asks where the food is, and the food answers him. L4b. The character learns about the violation of the prohibition to enter a certain room, as evidence of this has been preserved on the body of the heroine (hero) or on an object in her (his) hands (often blood on a key or an apple). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L4's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L73 | 97.88% | Trying to drink a river, lake, or sea, the antagonist bursts. |
| K38F6 | 96.52% | A creature consisting of fire is mentioned. |
| I103 | 96.40% | Sirius is associated with a dog or a wolf. |
| I41B | 96.27% | The rainbow drinks (draws into itself) water (and living creatures). |
| K12B | 96.02% | The hero enters a world beyond the human world and marries there. His wife allows him to visit his former world, but on certain conditions. The hero breaks these conditions, which leads to (irreparable) misfortune. Cf. motif F94 (the hero betrays his fairy wife in her world); K25a6 (the hero visits his world together with his fairy wife). |
| A39A | 95.71% | Each of the calendar segments (usually months) that make up the year is represented by a special object or creature. |
| M136B | 95.63% | A man cuts the branch he is sitting on and similar variants (cuts the rope he climbed up on; climbs onto a dry branch that breaks; climbs onto a tree that has been cut down in order to fell it). |
| M114I | 95.61% | When asked where her father, mother, brother, etc. are, the girl or boy answers in such a way that only an intelligent person can guess what is meant (father went to make an enemy out of a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains the meaning of similar phrases uttered by others. |
| K107D1 | 95.60% | Waiting for his magical wife, the young man falls asleep. The wife cannot wake him up and leaves (this episode is often repeated). |
| I121 | 95.59% | Constellations (usually Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) are considered as two similar, paired objects. (For Africa, Eurasia and Alaska – paired names; for most of America – semantic association, but the names are not paired). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 82 traditions: Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Tunisia Arabs, Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Yao, Makua, Hadza, Toda, Kota, Kuruba (Kurumba), Badaga, Maravar, Pulaya, Kadar, Konkani (incl Goa), Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Aragon, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Poles, Slovakians, Slovaks, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Livonians, Estonians, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Norwegians, Swedes, 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, Persians, Ossetians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Kurds, Turkmen, Bashkirs, Mordvins, Udmurt, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Mongols (Khalkha), Udeghe, Tagish, Tsetsaut, Tanana, North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Naskapi, Montagnais, Menominee, Shuswap, Pomo, Colorado (Tsachila), Tupinamba, Tenetehara, Machiguenga, Chacobo, Paresi, Mataco, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Icelanders, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Frisians, Greenland, Tunisia