The Mythology and Folklore Database
M196A - Talking dead people.
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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
Arguing over a trivial matter, a husband and wife (or one of them) lie down and do not move, and people gather to bury them. At the last moment, the supposed dead person opens their mouth, and people think that the dead have come back to life; or the supposed dead person is actually buried in the ground.Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K76A | 99.01% | A frog or toad marries a beautiful woman, or a handsome young man marries a frog. |
| M84D | 97.95% | A person hears trees talking, one of which is (fatally) ill and suffers. |
| K95 | 97.78% | Two people who love each other (usually a man and a woman) die prematurely and are buried in the same grave or nearby. After or during the burial, something unusual happens that is connected with the story (special plants grow in that place, the smoke from the two funeral pyres joins together, the dead turn into two birds, two stars, etc.). |
| K73A6 | 97.66% | Malicious women kill (throw away) her wonderful children. Trees (flowers) grow from their remains, later reincarnating into humans. |
| K15 | 96.80% | A woman swears that she has not been with anyone except (her husband and) a dirty beggar. Others do not know that her lover has taken on the appearance of a beggar. |
| M198B4 | 96.72% | The fake fortune teller, expecting to be exposed, utters words that reflect his state of mind. The thieves standing nearby perceive some of the words as their names, believe that the fortune teller has found out about them, and ask him not to reveal them. |
| M204A | 96.58% | 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. |
| K80 | 96.48% | The character transforms into objects or creatures, which another character systematically destroys. However, the character (usually a young woman) is reborn each time in a new form and eventually in her original form. |
| K27ZY | 95.88% | A young man (woman) lives in the house of a cannibal (witch). In order to destroy him or her, the cannibal orders that a certain object be brought from other cannibals (often from his or her mother or sister). The hero or heroine escapes (and destroys all the cannibals). |
| L108C | 95.52% | 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. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Gondi (mostly Northern Gondi), Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Bengali, Nepali; Tharu, Himachali-Pahari (Western Pahari), Sinhalese; Vedda, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Georgians, Anatolia Turks, Galicians, Morocco