Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

L5F. Good skull.

.11.12.19.22.23.27.31.36.37.39.-.42. (.43.44.) .45.50. (.73.)

The head, face or skull are a woman's husband, groom or son; it is not dangerous for her, brings wealth, saves her from hunger, etc.

Bantu speaking Africa. Mbundu [the skull offers itself to be a husband to her older sister, who throws it away; the youngest agrees; he leads her to sea, turns out to be handsome, the sea lord Kianda; the eldest marries a handsome man, he takes her to the forest, turns out to be a two-headed quiche; she gives birth to a normal child, then a two-headed child; runs, catches up with her and the baby]: Knappert 1977, No. 17:157-159 (=1997:166); nyamwezi [parents have a son head; asks the brothers to take him to the king, who promised a daughter to the one who will cultivate the field; he is taken to the site, the workers get out of their heads, return after doing their work; the head receives wife; a handsome man comes out of the shell at night; the wife burns the shell; everyone is happy]: Spellig 1929:240-243.

West Africa. Tangale [a woman dies a child, then another; she says that let at least one head be born just to live; a baby head is born, follows her mother everywhere; causes rain, all people happy, praise the Head; a woman gives birth to a normal child; wears a Brother-head; the mother dies, she is buried, the Head disappears]: Jungraithmayr 2002:215-224.

Melanesia. Kanaka [two sisters went to get a weaving bast, spent the night, saw the fire, the eldest sent the youngest to bring smut; by the fire, the youngest saw only the man's face, took the smut; it went out The eldest sent her again, giving food to the owner of the fire; he again allowed the fire to be taken; at night the eldest came to the fire, saw not a face, but a handsome man, brought her to him, he took both sisters as wives; the youngest gave birth to a boy; the eldest went to visit her parents; the youngest came to swim, the spirit woman dragged her under the water, took her form, put on her clothes; the husband notices a change when he hears that his wife is at night snores (perfume snores); next time she sees that a woman has no body and limbs, only a face; tells her returning older sister, she hacked the spirit woman with an ax; found herbs, chewed, spat on the tree, it dried up; she spat on the other side, the younger sister appeared, talked about what had happened; both returned to her husband]: Leenhardt 1932:237-254.

Burma - Indochina. Shana [a woman gave birth to a son who has one head; when he is 16-17 years old, he asks his mother to marry the king's daughter; he orders that in 5 days there should be a tree with silk leaves, gold and silver fruits, giving royal food, otherwise executes; the tree appears; only the youngest of the 7 princesses agrees to take her head as her husband; in her palace, the head is handsome to his wife; is incognito on a holiday on flying horse; Sakya orders a messenger to be sent to him in 7 days; only the younger princess's husband is on assignment; now all older sisters would like to marry him]: Milne 1910:254-257; Burmese [a woman has a son, he only has a head; asks to give him to a merchant (he shows him for money), sell him to someone else's ship (she sails in the calm), leave cannibal giants on the island ( they give him rubies and knowledge of the magic word); a ship arrives, the Head asks him to be taken to the king, marries the princess; summons horsemen from the snuffbox, the king is forced to give his daughter; after the wedding turns handsome]: Aoun 1957:77-79.

South Asia. Birkhor [Raja has seven sons, the youngest does not study; his father gave him a pony and kicked him out; on the way, he consistently pledges ponies, shoes, clothes, one leg, the other, arms, torso for a portion of rice, one head remains; the daughters of the other Raja bathe; the head screams from behind the bush that she is thirsty; the princesses send the youngest to let her head drink; the elders tell the father that the youngest has given a drink to a stranger; her father kicked her out; she has to become a head companion; they stopped at the village chief; the head asks the princess to take that axe and tie it to it with a vine; then the ax knocked down the forest on a huge area; a month later, the dried vegetation was burned and the princess's head told the princess to bring rice husks, and the headman to plow the field and sow the husks; rice grew; the elder squeezed only a little, and the rest of the rice shrunk by itself; the rice was on the current; was threshed; separated from the straw; from the chaff; filled the vessels; the head asked the princess to save a portion of cooked rice to regain her body members, clothes, shoes and ponies; the young settled near the prince's parents; meanwhile, the parents of both the prince and the princess became impoverished; the prince's mother came to beg but did not recognize her son; he told her to bring them all; When the prince opened up to his father, he admitted that the expelled youngest son had taken all the luck with him; they all moved to that elder's village; the princess's sisters came to ask for rice; the youngest reminded them how they complained about her to her father; the elders left, and the youngest and her husband lived well]: Roy 1924, No. 9:436-446.

The Balkans. Albanians: Elsie 2001, No. 11 [the royal horse's leg gets stuck in the swamp; as soon as he promises his eldest daughter to whoever pulls her out, the horse immediately pulls out his leg; the Moor enters, followed by a skull, the Moor says that the skull is the groom; the eldest, middle daughter is terrified, the youngest agrees to go beyond the skull; answers her father that her husband is beautiful; older sisters send the maid asking for the wife of the skull bought a diamond ring; went to the bathhouse; came to a feast; each time she asks the Moor, and he asks a skull, his wife gets gold, lots of carriages, food, etc.; then the older sisters ask permission see the youngest husband; the cat takes the wife of the skull to the garden, where the baby sleeps in the sun, the boy and the girl by the rose bush; the wife of the skull covers the baby, frees the girl's hair entangled in thorns; a girl wakes up, turns her skull into a person; says she is the Beauty of the Earth, she once bewitched a handsome man to keep it for herself; everyone is happy]: (without pagination); Lambertz 1952 [text almost identical to Elsie 2001, No. 11; the horse falls into the grave and cannot be pulled out; he jumps out himself when the king promises a daughter to the one who will save the horse; the eldest daughter is passed off as a skull, the old nanny comes in the morning, the girl returns with her to her father; the same middle girl; the youngest voluntarily goes to the skull]: 124-134.

Baltoscandia. Karely (Kalevalsky District, 1938) [the tree asks the old man not to cut it down, promises to do good; the old man tells his wife, she sends him to cut down a tree; for the third time the old man has to fulfill the old woman's wish; the stump asks the old man to take it too; he replies that he cannot uproot the stump in winter; then the stump gives the old man a golden head; the old woman wants to sell it, the old man is against; the head tells fill the house with food for her relatives; next time with clothes; now the old woman wants a hut; the hut is ready, and now the head wants the old woman to get her bride; one girl agrees at night, the head turns into a guy; the mother scolds her daughter, she has to tell the truth; after that, the head disappears; the old man goes in search, the old widow explains where to go to grab her son; the son enters the hut, the old man jumps on him, falls, the son disappears again; the old woman is the same; the wife goes, grabs him, but the husband disappears again; the widow promises to help, but tells her sheep to be sheared; the old man on horseback says that sheep will fight wolves, wool must be picked up; the widow sends for a trough to the lord of the sea; the rider brings a trough, the woman gives him money; the widow orders him to bring birdo from the forest; the husband brings Birdeau widow, stays with his wife]: Concca 1959, No. 30:134-141; Finns [wife gave birth, but baby one head; grew up and demanded that a princess be married to him; king demands 5 alive by tomorrow fox; son got the head; the same - 5 bears; create a castle like a king; wedding; husband warns his wife not to say that he is turning into a man, his legs are silver, his hands are golden, the sun on his forehead, the moon on the back of her head; but her mother-in-law gave her a drink and she told her; when she said, flowers were falling from her mouth and nose; when she heard this, her husband became a dove, broke the window and flew south; the wife went to look for him; 7 years later she went to at home; they said that her husband flew by 7 years ago and left a parcel for her; 7 years later, the same in another house; in the first package there was food and drink, in the second - clothes; they told her to go to the city, where her husband - a noble man; she met him; he sent letters asking whether marriage was true first or second; everyone said it was the first; he sent away the new bride; they returned home, all is well ]: Löwis of Menar 1922, No. 39:119-123

Eastern Siberia. Evenki of the Baikal region [the elder brother asks Ivol to put a plague on the river; he tries to put it in the water, asks the deer to help, they do not help, he kills them; his brother tells them to bring roots make a net, I. cuts off the children's heels, brings (one word for root and heel); brother goes hunting to an old woman whose house all wild ungulates live; tells I. to spit on the burning and drag the beast; I. spits on the moose, cannot hold it, asks the old woman to help; she cuts off his head; his head rolls, wants to cross the river; does not get into the boat of a man, an old woman, sits down with a girl; at her house she does not want to sit next to her parents, smiles when a girl sits her next to her; does not want to lie down with an old man, with an old woman, lies down with a girl; becomes human in the morning ; an old woman makes Ivil's skin; his brother comes and shoots an old woman with a bow; she tells moose, roe deer, musk deer and other animals to go to the taiga; wild animals have lived there ever since]: Voskoboynikov 1967, No. 16:53-55.

Amur - Sakhalin. Negidals [The skull rolls to the house of two, then three, again three; their blankets hang near the houses; the skull drops one of them each time; the women beat it, the last brings it home; her sisters tell her father that his daughter lives with a skull; the father tells the servant to take her away; the servant and the girl build a house, live together; the girl throws away the skull; he returns as a handsome man, takes her as a wife; he is a good hunter; the girl's parents and sisters come to visit them, the sisters are ashamed to choke; women who have previously beaten the skull come and ask them to take them; The skull hits them, drives them away]: Cincius 1982, No. 32:161- 164 (in Voskoboynikov, Menovshchikov 1951:337-341 instead of the Skull of Knives); the Udege people [The roe deer came to the city, it was torn apart by dogs, the head remains; the head comes to the prince; only the youngest of his three The blanket is well done for her daughters; she finds the head of a roe deer in her fallen blanket, brings her home; at night she feels the young man's hand on her chest, waking up and does not see anyone; the older sister talks about it parents; the father expels the youngest, taking away her clothes; the older brother's wife gives her hers; the roe deer leads her head; she cooks porridge in the thickets, feeds her head; she shows her chopped firewood; they come to the city, to the house; the girl sees that it is sleeping well with his head under his head with a roe deer; takes her head away, they stay together, give birth to children]: Kormushin 1998, No. 28:138-141; Bikin Nanai [in fanza her head was lying, the horse brought her to a beautiful Amfudi Amucha ("single woman"), who cohabited with her burkhans; she cooks her head, puts it under the blanket at night; tells one of Burkhanov throw their heads into the lake, hoping that it will turn into handsome; the lake dries up, there is a silver stick in the river; A. in the form of a haaz duck approaches her; the stick says that A. wanted to kill her, tells the duck's wings to grow to the snags, swims away; in the village, a girl catches a stick, undresses to dry her clothes; her head turns into a man; people who come running ask why he wanted to steal a girl, he kills them; goes on a journey, boats across the sea; released A. tries to destroy him, quarrels with the owner of the fanza, whom he kills; the sisters of the victim in the form of two ruffs say that A. will fly in the form of a haaz bird, become an otter; he kills A. with an arrow, marries both wives and both sisters of the owner he killed, a girl who also caught a stick, lives well with five wives]: Shimkevich 1896:92-98.

SV Asia. Chukchi [young husband dies; wife keeps his head (skull) in her bag in her bedroom; skull laughs all the time; woman's mother finds him; parents migrate, leaving daughter and skull alone; skull asks to put him in the fire; he is reborn as an old man; his wife gives birth to him a son, who grows up quickly; they ride reindeer to heaven; the wife turns around, the last sledge with poles and skins falls from the plague; in the sky, the husband repairs the plague, stretching her skins; the heavenly woman asks the earthly woman to look into the lake; she sees the earth below; she drops a tear, while it's raining on the ground]: Bogoras 1928, No. 5:324-325.

The Arctic. Asian Eskimos: Kozlov 1956 (Naukan) [girls pick berries, Ilga cannot stand up; left alone, he sees a skull, he asks for food; gradually becomes flesh, she takes it into the canopy ; the father finds, sticks a needle in his eye, throws it out of the house; I. goes to look for it, the river directs her to the sea master; finds the Master's one-eyed son; the Master sends her to heaven behind his son's second eye; I. She wakes up to heavenly people; she is brought a bag of eyes, she chooses the most beautiful one, brings her son to the Sea Master, marries him; her father's family migrates from the shore to the tundra]: 157-162; Menovshchikov 1985, No. 109 [the young man sleeps with his cousin; his father kills him; his lover saves his skull, he talks to her; her parents leave her alone; the skull tells him to be put into the fire, the young man comes to life; turns the bush into deer; his wife gives birth to a son; her parents return; young spouses with a child, deer and property disappear in their fire]: 263-265; Rubtsova 1954, No. 28 [girl sews a tag on the clothes of a night lover; recognizes the son of her father's brother; continues to sleep with him; her father finds out the truth; the father's brother kills his son; the girl cuts off the head of the murdered man, brings him to him, the head comes to life; the girl's and boy's parents migrate, leaving her alone; the head asks her to be thrown into the fire, finds a body; the young man gets a lot of meat, his wife gives birth to a son; people return; husband, wife and a child rises into the sky on a column of smoke; people turn into stones]: 333-337; St. Lawrence [daughter and son of two brothers fall in love; one of the brothers kills his son; the girl's mother hears her giggling at night, finds her lover's living head in the bag; takes her lover's living head to cut the willow fuel, goes home, all people go by boat; the head asks the girl to throw her into the fire, jumps out as a whole man, his clothes are in the snow; says he has been looking for a finger carried away by foxes for a long time; they cut out willow reindeer figures turn into real deer; they have a lot of meat and skins, a son is born; seeing the girl's parents returning, her husband puts her and the child on sledges, harnesses the deer, they rise to the sky]: Slwooko 1979:77-81; central Yupik [summary; a woman marries a man who is all one head; he tells him to throw him before dawn and not look back; returns with seals]: Fienup-Riordan 1983:220; Bering Strait inupiate (recorded in the village of Shishmaref, but the action on the Kobuk River) [a man in his buddies has a separate head; one day, returning from home for dancing, the head says it will come later; flies into the dugout of a girl who did not want to marry, she throws her away; the third time she accepts her husband; the head tells her to tie a rope to her, throw it, brings killed caribou; one day flies too far and never comes back]: Keithahn 1958:36-38; Northern Alaska Inupiate: Hall 1975, No. PM172 (Noatak) [woman's son - separate head; girl refuses the grooms; her head comes to her, she throws her away, untwisted her long hair; the sound of falling is not heard; this happens several times; finally, the girl agrees to take her head as her husband; caribou disappear; the head tells you to leave him as the girl did before; leads Caribou]: 400-401; Ostermann 1952 (Point Hope) [the girl rejects the grooms, sees a separate head on the ground, takes it as a husband; father finds her head, pierces her eye with a stick, throws her away; the girl follows a bloody trail to the bottom of the sea; there is a husband, wife and their son with a gouged eye; he drives her away; one road is straight to the ground, the other up to the sky; the girl goes up, the husband-head screams that this is the wrong road, but the girl continues to rise; in the sky a man pulls off all her clothes; the old woman hides them, gives a bucket of water and pieces of whale skin; a girl splashes it into that man's face, killing him; in the house of the Month, all marine animals are in a bucket of water; through a hole in the floor, a girl sees her house on the ground; an old woman and a girl weave her a rope made of suchodiles; on the ground, a girl does not open her eyes quickly enough, turns into a spider (the origin of spiders)]: 226-228; Kakinya, Paneak 1987 [a woman takes a head separated from her body as her husband] : 189-193:77-79 in Sheppard 1998:159; McKenzie's estuary [a woman takes a skull as her husband; when she hits him on the forehead, he brings her a caribou, a whale; at night he turns into a man]: Ostermann 1942:126-127; copper [woman husbands a skull; body eaten by cannibals; Skull has a dog the size of a mountain, scaring cannibals away; husband and wife hunt while sitting in a dog's ear]: Rasmussen 1952:261-262; Western Greenland (Saqqaq) [Mikisoq refuses all men, then a skull comes to her, turns into a man in the house, then back into a skull; brings many seals and other animals, M. is happily married ]: Millman 2004:134.

Subarctic. Koyukon [a woman with her husband and baby migrate; the wife asks her husband to visit her parents; he comes back, says they are OK; she finds her younger brother's finger in his bag, realizes that he killed her parents; while sailing in a boat, he talks about it; he sinks the boat, the child sinks, but the wife swims out unnoticed by her husband; walks, finds a skull, he hunts for her, at night turns into man; tells me to put herself on a rope into the water; she does it, the flood begins; her angry husband and his two new wives drown; she lifts her skull out of the water, buries it]: Attla 1989:229-241; upper cuskoquim [girl rejects grooms; goes to cut grass, finds a living Head, takes it with her; at night, the mother hears laughter from her daughter's bed; finds the Head, burns her eyes, throws it away, Head rolled away; the girl throws herself into the water, finds herself in another world, walks up the river in the footsteps of the Head; at the entrance to the house, a man covering his eye with his hand; he advises to follow the path where she is familiar from the fork a piece of white caribou wool, don't go where a piece of wool is tied to something; she goes along the second path (a path where the white tuft is too steep); comes to the lake, where a person crochets one at a time her garments, then herself; brings her into the house, there is an old woman, her insects on her face, she says that she should have obeyed; tells her to run along the path uphill to another old woman, she will protect; the old woman invites her to his house, closes all entrances tightly, touching them with his hair; tells them to sew garments; when they are ready, tells them to go further up the path, throw the pursuer one piece of clothing at a time; each once the pursuer picks up an object, looks for a pond, admires his reflection; the last one is thrown a bag of ocher, the pursuer paints; the girl runs into the old woman's house, she closes the entrances (like first); the stalker climbs a fir tree near the house; the old woman blows at her (with scraps of hair?) , the fir is engulfed in flame, the stalker burns; the old woman's son returns, refuses to lie next to the girl; the old woman bathes the girl in hot caribou fat, each time her stolen goods come out of her childhood (scraps of skin, dried fish, etc.); after the third cleansing, the old woman's son takes the girl as his wife; the old woman shows the girl the ground through the hole, she sees her parents; the old woman weaves a rope for her from her tendons, a girl goes down to her parents; an Eagle (this is her husband) arrives, demands his wife back; she refuses to go out; in the evening, a red sunset means that the old woman who helped her is killed; the Eagle carries away wife, says her mother died because of her, leaves, picks up, leaves again, she crashes]: Ruppert, Bernet 2001:290-295.

NW Coast. Eyak [a woman brings Dolphin's head (porpoise), at night her head becomes a man; while she picks berries for her head, people find it, throw it into the sea; the woman goes in search of her husband , asking mollusks of different species if they have seen him; they each time answer that the chief's son has passed; the woman finds her husband, he is surprised she found him; she stays with him]: Johnson 1978:30-31; Haida (Masset) [the chief and his wife refuse their daughter's suitors; Half-Head (hereinafter also referred to as Head, Human Head, Skull; apparently it's a skull); he's invisible (or looks like a skull), but objects (as if in his hands) move by themselves; young men throw stones at the skull, they do not harm him; he easily tears off young men's arms and legs, splits their heads; he is a good hunter; while he is hunting, his wife fell ill and died; her husband goes missing]: Swanton 1908a, No. 61:625-630.

(Wed. Coasts - Plateau. Kalispel [a young woman was collecting firewood; a human head offered to be her husband, followed her to her house, rolled on her dress; she began to decorate her with beads; her sister hit her arm, but she kept decorating; her head stayed with her as her husband]: Teit 1917 e, No. 21:128).

(Wed. The Midwest. Eastern Swamp Cree (Winisk River) [husband is dead; mother tells sons not to be surprised if they see or hear something; a voice tells them to tell their mother to come; only the youngest remembers the request; the mother brings a man with only the upper body; he tells him to speak if the boys see a deer (moose); they hear him ski after the reindeer, kill him; now they have meat plenty; one day they peek, see a full-fledged person; he leaves because the boys broke the ban]: Bird 2007:161-165).

Northeast. Malesit [two brothers don't tell her sister to go south; she walks, sees the sea for the first time, picks up a red stone in the shape of a baby; at home, he turns into a girl called Mekweisit (common name for "little ones" red people"); younger brother (he is a shaman, medeulin, knows everything in advance) is happy, the elder is dissatisfied; the sister dies, M. grows up quickly, the eldest wants to marry her; the younger one tells me to run, they hide in a hollow, the eldest thinks that his dog is barking at the beast, killing it, leaving; going to meet the eldest, the youngest tells M., in the event of his death, to take care of his head, put his kneecaps in the elder's food; he choked, died; a giant approaches M., she herself becomes a giantess for a while, kills him; the frog woman swallows M. to hide from the daughters of the Fishing Marten (Fisher), who kill those who come girls; belches, M. lives with the Old Groundhog; Marten's daughters offer to play altestaganuk, Groundhog gives M. his set to play; while the game is on, the Groundhog opens the bundle, Uncle M.'s head flies out, bites, kills; Marten's daughters invite M. to dance four times; she agrees when she learns that there is a headless man among the wrestlers; this is her uncle, she puts his head and head on her body grows, both are leaving]: Mechling 1914, No. 15:69-74.

The Great Southwest. Pima [girl rejects grooms; husbands a skull; everyone laughs; at night the skull turns handsome; 1) they hunt, all the deer go to the Skull, which kills them with his gaze; 2) The skull is the first to walk the distance by chasing the ball in front of it; they don't laugh at it anymore]: Russel 1908:241.

(Wed. Southern Brazil. Ofaye [the brother warns the hunter in vain to be careful; he wanted to kill Agouti, but Agouti tore off his head; his head rolled to his wife, began hunting for his family; his wife brought her to a basket into the woods, her head turned into a fat man, easily killed animals with a bow; a woman told her daughter that she hunted on her own; the daughter peeked, saw something shapeless roll after the deer; the daughter laughed, her head became a battleship, he dug underground]: Ribeiro 1951, No. 9:131-132).