L5C. Stalker Head, D1641.7, D992, D1602.12, R261.1. .11.12.19.21.23.24.29.31.38.40.41.43.-.50.52.
.53.55.58.59.-.62.64.-.68.70.73.
Amonster head chases stars, humans, or sticks to someone else's body. See motif L5.
Bantu-speaking Africa. Kamba; ronga; sakata.
West Africa. Tenda; dark [the old woman gives the Spider a sheep, for this she asks to carry her, refuses to get down, her limbs can lengthen; the Spider asked her what she was afraid of; the old woman replied that humans from a secret society who kill cripples; the spider said that they were coming, the old woman asked to hide it in the bushes, the Spider ran away; when he returned to this place, he found her skull, he jumps on his nose; the blacksmith managed to rip it off with hot mites]: Cronise, Ward 1903:287-290; hausa [the young wife asked her husband to go with her to her parents; when they stayed for the night, the sound of a fall from the forest wood; the man called out, Hey, lumberjack! in response, the skull rolled, rolled after them in the morning; by the river he demanded that the man put it in his pants, otherwise he would bite off his genitals; then refused to get off; when the man ate, the skull took everything for himself; fell asleep; the man took off his pants with his skull in, he and his wife left at night; in the morning the skull caught up with them, first demanded that they give him the man's sword, hat, clothes, then the woman's luggage and dress, then brought cannibal skulls to his village; they sent people to buy firewood to cook with it; they met a spider and he helped them {it's not clear how}; so spiders are not allowed kill]: Lippert 1905, No. 11:246-247;.
Melanesia. Keva; porapora; ibom.
Tibet is the Northeast of India. Dafla [Abo-Tani's mitan bulls and servants sent in search disappear one by one; he goes by himself, comes to the old woman's house, she calls to spend the night; the dog promises to tell you something if AT will feed her; explains that the remains of the dead in the attic, the old Rakshasi woman will give AT a sedative drink; AT takes a mug of holes, only pretends to drink; does not sleep; by morning the old woman falls asleep herself, AT cuts off her head; the flame from the old woman's mouth marks at AT, but incinerates the mortar; AT and the dog leave, the old woman's head chases; AT cuts off the dog's head, leaves it on the way, the old woman's head attaches to her; since then since they sacrifice dogs to evil spirits, take food with them {to sacrifice?}] : Bora 1995, No. 15:20-22
South Asia. Mahabharata, Puranas, Ramayana [when the ploughing of the sea resulted in a vessel with the drink of immortality amrita, the asuras were ready to take possession of them; Vishnu became beautiful, distracted their attention, the gods took possession of Amrita; the dragon Rahu took the image of a god, secretly approached Amrita and venerated him more often; the Sun and the Month recognized and exposed him; Vishnu cut off Rahu's head; Amrita had time reach Rahu's throat, his head remains immortal, ascended to heaven and, hating the Sun and the Month, always tries to swallow them; the tail sometimes appears in the sky in the form of a comet]: Erman, Temkin 1975, No. 12:33 (cf. No. 20 [after killing Vritra, Indra made a bowl out of his skull, cut his body in two; the good part was made of catfish, rose into the sky, became the moon; the demon part became the womb of living beings; therefore, oh Gluttonies are told that they sacrifice to Vritra]: 50; Santals [a bongo man regularly leaves combs, rubs, etc.; only girls see them, men passing by do not they notice; five girls used them, one remained, the bongo grabbed her, took her to the cave, closed the entrance with a stone; all the captive's relatives came to ask her to let her go, it did not help; her brother's horse smashed one stone wall with his hoof, the other could not; the bongo and his wife come to visit her parents; the bread brought turns out to be cow manure; on the way back, the girl's brother cuts off the bongo's head, leads her sister home; the severed head follows; at home they throw it into the fire, burn it; after 8-9 days, the girl complained of a headache, died; her bongo husband took her]: Bodding 1942, No. 3:59-65.
Malaysia-Indonesia. Ngaju.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Karachays: Aleinikov 1883 [the prince had a daughter Dzhelmouth; on the very first night a bucket of water and a calf disappeared, all the cattle gradually disappeared; one of her brothers, Kyyynly (Goremyk), left to the Black Sea coast; he found puppies in the caught fish, raised them; when he went home, he found only a sister and a blacksmith there; the sister tears off one leg from his brother's horse, then the other, etc.; the mouse advises K. to run while J. sharpens his steel teeth; the mouse points J. three times in the other direction, the fourth time she is on the right track; K. calls on his dogs, they tear J. apart, the head remains; one dog grabs the head for the hair, the other for the lower jaw, the head rises with it to the moon; once a year, dogs fall asleep, the head devours the moon, an eclipse occurs; at this time, people make noise to wake up dogs] in Jurtubayev 1991:78-79 (briefly similar text in Potanin 1883:775-776); Chursin 1956 [the prince had a daughter, Jelmage; from that night, calves, then bulls and cows began to disappear; this girl was a giantess Emegena; one of J. Kiily left, settled on the Black Sea coast; went to visit his relatives; there were only J. and the blacksmith there; J. ate one, the other, third, fourth legs of the horse, the whole horse; each time she sharpened the blacksmith's teeth; the mouse told brother to run away; J. pursues, at the last moment her brother's dogs summoned from the house tore her to pieces; clutched her head, she rose with them to the moon; since then, the head has been trying to swallow the moon, and the dogs have tried to swallow it protect]: 153.
Baltoscandia. Estonians (Tapa) [the woodcutter told his son to bring lunch, left pieces of spruce bark on the road; the devil put the bark on the road leading to hell; began to feed well, gave the keys, one big iron from rooms that cannot be unlocked; gave a golden egg, threatened to kill if the boy lost it; he opened it, dropped the egg into a barrel of blood, had difficulty reaching it, but the devil saw blood on his hands and egg; ordered put his head on the chopping block, the boy can't put it right, the devil shows how to do it, the boy cuts off his head, runs away, his head is chasing, screams läll, läll; the boy ran home, father burned the line's head]: Järv et al. 2009, No. 30:130-131.
Japan. The Japanese.
The Arctic. Bering Strait Inupiat (village. Shishmaref).
Subarctic. Kuchin; chipewayan.
The coast is the Plateau. Quarry; shuswap; thompson; ne perse; clickitat; takelma; modoc.
The Midwest. Winnebago; Menominee; Western Forest Cree; Western Marsh Cree; Northern Ojibwa (Sandy Lake); Northern Solto; Ojibwa (including south- East Ontario); Fox; Steppe Cree; Steppe Ojibwa.
Northeast. Seneca; Tuscarora.
Plains. Sarsi; Blacklegs; Assiniboine; Grovantre; Teton; Osage; Omaha; Iowa; Sheena; Arapahoe; Pawnee; kiowa; comanche.
Southeast USA. Natchez.
California. Shasta; vintu; yana; maidu.
Big Pool. Northern Payutes.
The Great Southwest. Tiva (Taos).
Mesoamerica Tsotsil; tseltal; chol; pipili.
Honduras-Panama. Bribri.
The Northern Andes. Paes.
Guiana. Warrau; oyana; aparai; oyampi.
Ecuador. Colorado [a man escaped from animal demons, killed a fox; his wife cuts a carcass, a fox's head sticks to her thigh; shamans let calebasa along the river; when a woman dives, head rushes after a calebass; now lives by the sea, produces lightning]: Mix 1982:73-75.
Western Amazon. Kofan; napo.
NW Amazon. Tariana; tucano? ; bora; witoto; chikuna.
Eastern Amazon. Spiking; tenetekhara.
The Central Andes. Quechua (departments of Cusco, Huancavelica, Jauja, Ancash, Cajamarca, Ayacucho); Aymara.
Montagna - Jurua. Kashinahua; kuniba; sharanaua; yaminaua; matses [there is a rolling head motif that chases the character]: Wistrand MS in Erikson 1994:79.
Bolivia - Guaporé. Takana.
Southern Amazon. Trumai [bees eat the body of a honey collector; the head rolls into the village, attaches to the back of another man's head; he dives into the river, his head sticks to the tapir]: Monod-Becquelin 1975, No. 59:189- 191; paresis.
Eastern Brazil. Kayapo; apinaye.
Southern Brazil. Apapokuwa [a hunter meets a rolling skull; it grabs his heel with his teeth; a man runs, climbs a tree; a skull clings to the leg of a running deer, a deer carries it away]: Nimuendaju 1914: 364.
The Southern Cone. Araucans.