The Mythology and Folklore Database
H54B - Deadly gaze.
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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's gaze brings death (and destruction).Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
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
H54 has 4 other sub-motifsH54. In order for a character's eyes to be (wide) open, their eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) must be raised, propped up, spread apart (rarely: cut off). H54a. A man meets an old man whose face is completely covered with hair or snot. He cuts (wipes) it off and receives a reward for doing so. H54b. The character's gaze brings death (and destruction). H54c. The character's eyelids are crucified so that he cannot close them, or he does so himself on the advice of another. h54d. A character whose eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) are so heavy that he cannot open his eyes without help, possesses enormous power and is dangerous to heroes and people in general. He is often associated with the underworld or with a bygone era. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of H54's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K35A4 | 99.27% | In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns. |
| A23C | 99.18% | Birds argue about which of them will fly higher or arrive first. The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely (he hides in the feathers of a strong bird and flies away with it). |
| A2C1 | 99.14% | 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. |
| L130 | 99.11% | Two or more characters have only one eye between them. |
| E9L | 99.06% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat). |
| K56A7 | 98.98% | In winter, a girl (rarely a boy) is sent to bring something that is normally only available in summer. She brings it. |
| K61C1 | 98.97% | A person will die if they cannot find the answer to the demon's question. A person or their acquaintance accidentally learns the answer by overhearing the demon talking to himself or to another demon. See motif C29. |
| B113 | 98.95% | Due to certain events during the time of creation, women have cold backsides (and men have cold knees, or vice versa). |
| F54E | 98.94% | Not knowing who is in front of him, a young man kills his father. |
| M199O | 98.86% | A man and his opponent agree to pierce a hole in a tree trunk (stump) with their head (finger, penis) or to knock down a tree with a blow to the head. The man has made a hole in advance (sawed the tree). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Niue, Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Koreans, Poles, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Western Ukrainians