Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

M14. The brutal murder of a wife or son. (.11.18.-.20.23.31.42.43.46.50.57.-.59.62.66.-.68.70.72.)

A man brutally kills his wife (rarely: children, bride, sister) and/or eats her meat himself, or brings her flesh to her relatives (if he kills children, he brings meat to his wife).

Bantu-speaking Africa. Tsonga [Zili invites his wife to visit her family, tells her to carry a vessel of beer with her, takes her to the forest, kills her head and limbs, hides her head and limbs in a tree, wraps the meat in a bag like meat animal; the bird sings about what happened; Z. kills and burns it twice, but it comes to life; sings to the parents of the victim; people invite Z.'s relatives, burn them with him in the same hut]: Junod 1927:259-261.

Australia. Yualarai [stuck a pen in the bee's ass, the Bat followed her, found a hollow of honey; told his wife to get honey, her hand was stuck in the hollow, he cut it off, the woman died; the same with his second wife - sister first; young relatives of the dead arranged a box, invited her husband to dance, and pushed her into the fire]: Parker 1965:153-155.

Melanesia. Kukuku [men and women killed and ate children; the man has two wives, one went for a wallaby, offered to lean over to the hole, plunged a sharp stick into her genitals, fried the meat, brought it in bamboo to another wife under the guise of wallaby meat; a bamboo voice says, My husband killed me, I stink like wallaby]: Fischer 1968, No. 43:403; gadsup [the young man has already paid for the girl but is not yet married on it; went with her for edible mushrooms, killed her, hid the meat under mushrooms, brought it to her mother; everyone ate mushrooms; noticing the hand of spirit from under the mushrooms (others did not see), the young man ran away, capturing his mother and father; forgot to take his sister; when she found a corpse under the mushrooms, the girl's mother sent her brothers in pursuit, they killed the boy's sister]: Du Toit 1964:322; Gazelle Peninsula (New Britain) [father led his son to dig a hunting hole for wild boars; he dug himself, the son carried the ground in the basket (they woven the first soil basket); the son turns to the crawling ants, the father thinks that he is talking about the approach of enemies, is frightened; When she finds out what is going on, she kills the boy, brings a bag of his meat, tells his wife what mushrooms are; eats; the wife opens the bag; heats the stone, puts it on her husband's stomach; the husband is dead]: Meier 1909, No. 10a: 159-163.

Micronesia-Polynesia. Marshall Islands (Wodmej) [Each of the four brothers lives on their own island in the atoll, each has their own fruits, each from the youngest to sail to marry a girl, but she refuses; the most the youngest is beautiful, has the skin of the feathers of the bird he later turned into; when he sails to the girl, she gladly swims to him; he brings two lizards to the sight of fish, the wife notices the skin lizards, demands that her husband take her back; he takes her to the island of one of the brothers, makes an earthen oven, throws breadfruit and his wife there, bakes her; brings meat to her parents, replies that theirs The daughter did not come because she was busy with the housework; four brothers turned into birds of different species]: Kelin 2003:32-36.

South Asia. Gondas [sister carries soup to her brother in the field; he drinks broth, throws rice into the river to Kajal fish; sister is surprised that the brother is still losing weight, spying on him; decides to drain the pond; the fish asks not do this by addressing your father-in-law, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law; parents refuse to fish, sister catches; then the same when to gut the fish; sister cooks it, eats it, leaves a piece for her brother; a piece tells him that he is his girlfriend; his brother makes a cage in the field; when his sister brings him lunch, puts his sister in it, sets it on fire; promises to put it out if she calls him her husband; she keeps calling by his brother, burns; he eats her grilled meat; feeds her parents; tells them what they ate, they cry]: Elwin 1944:377-380 (Zograf translation 1971, No. 29:130-134).

Baltoscandia. Seto [Toomas does not like a young wife, hires a murderer to kill her in the woods; his wife anticipates bad things, but her husband tells me to go for birch sap; his wife is killed, T. is burned; at the stake he advises boys not do as he does] :Sarv 1980:119.

NW Coast. Bellacula [husband beats his wife; she asks for permission to return to her parents; he climbs a tree with her, sharpens the top, puts her on a stake; her brother in the boat hears her screams; takes it off, her sister is already died; he puts on her clothes, comes to her husband; her husband's sister says that his daughter-in-law has men's arms and legs; at night, an imaginary wife cuts off her husband's head; his relatives kill the avenger and all his men; cf. motive J1]: McIlwraith 1948 (2): 451-452; quakiutl [jealous husband tells his wife to climb hemlock for branches; ties to the top, cuts off the lower branches; the woman's four brothers hear her screams; the youngest he manages to get in, but the sister has already died in the heat; the brothers put her clothes and scalp on the younger one; he comes to her husband disguised as his wife; the husband's younger brother says that the daughter-in-law has a man's hand; at night, the brother of the murdered cuts off her husband's head, takes it away]: Boas 1895 (lekviltok) [husband tells him to climb for resin], No. 1:129-130; 1910, No. 30:401-413; chickpea [husband ties his wife to the top of a tree, cuts off branches, leaves; brothers women hear her screams but cannot climb the tree; drops of her sweat turn into strawberries; her younger brother unties her, but already dead; takes her form, comes to her husband; her husband's mother suspects that the wife is not a woman; at night, the victim's brother cuts off her husband's head, brings it to his father and brothers]: Sapir, Swadesh 1939, No. 18:77-81; makah [starts like a noodle; nine brothers; husband is a Woodpecker; the brothers revive the sister; leave the Woodpecker on the island; the whale brings him home; the brothers cut the whale, the Woodpecker kills them with their eyes; the whale parts gather, the whale sails away; the woodpecker revives the dead when his slave Quati says they were nice to him]: Densmore 1939:199-204.

The coast is the Plateau. Halkomel (lower reaches of the Fraser River) [Magpie (Boas has a mistakenly "Swallow") sails in a boat, telling Swan sitting on the shore that his wife is dead and now he is going to the forest for the summer; in fact Magpie's wife tore her bast, met her lover, Magpie put it on the top of the cedar, peeled off the bark from the trunk, so she can't go down; the Swan hears the woman screams; his people take it off, she dies, turns into blueberries; Qäls converter turns Magpie into a swallow]: Boas 1895, No. 1:21-22; lillouette [wife takes Lynx as lover; husband tells her to climb a tree, puts her on a spicy one the top of the head is like a stake; the woman's brothers ask animal people for help; only the Snail climbs the slippery trunk, but the woman is already dead; one of the brothers puts on her clothes and wig, goes to bed; at night slits her husband's throat]: Teit 1912b, No. 339:339-340; quinolt [the girl marries an old man against her will, refuses to sleep with him; he tells her to climb the cedar to tear the bark, ties it to the top of her head, rips off the trunk, making it slippery; her youngest brother (this is the Woodpecker) hears her screams; her tears turn into red berries, Blue Jay eats them; the Bear and the Squirrel can't, the Woodpecker climbs the cedar, lowers her sister; invites her husband to collect shells on a rock into the sea; leaves him, he sinks]: Farrand 1902, No. 12:121-122.

Plains. Mandan [a man follows his wife into the forest, kills her, cuts off her leg, lubricates her with deer hair and blood, hides the corpse; gives a leg to his daughter and son (who is younger than his sister); tells people that children the mother was killed; the chief tells them to leave the children in the forest, leave the village; the children find the migrated, the old woman feeds them; now the children are tied in their skin tied to a pole on the cliff; the old dog is old frees them; they find the supplies left by the old woman; two spirits (the Sun and the Month) are delighted that the boy pierces and cuts off his tongue; now his name is Bez-Tongue; they make him great hunter and warrior, they give a herd of bison; people starve, come back, children give everyone meat and skins, force the father to eat soup until he dies; Bez-Tongue marries the leader's daughter; gives it to an old dog bison skin]: Will 1913:331-337; iowa [by Dorsey 1881-82; a man kills his wife, roasts some of her meat, sends his little son and daughter to eat it; runs away, marries the chief's daughter; children notice the mother's corpse is in a tree, they do not eat her meat; they come to the father; he tells the chief that it was the children who killed their mother; tells them to fill their eyes with glue, leave them alone; the old woman leaves them food; the mouse gnaws out glue; the boy hunts, learns the names of animals from his sister; a man comes to marry her; they have a lot of meat; the tribe is starving, returning; they feed everyone but his father]: Skinner 1925, No. 48:503-506.

The Great Southwest. Yavapai [The raven tells the children to climb a tree, burns them with the tree; feeds their wife with meat; the guest tells her the truth; she tries to hit the Raven, he flies away]: Griffin 1933a: 394-395; Tiva (Taos): Parsons 1940a, No. 23 [contrary to her younger sister's warning, the Apache woman says the bison's skull was handsome, she would marry it; Bison takes her away; Opossum gives her husband magical remedies, warns that Bisons sleep with their eyes open; husband finds his wife in the herd, takes him away, they climb a tree; she urinates, she is noticed by a calf; when her husband kills Chief Bisons with an arrow, a woman cries; he kills her too; bakes his head; tells his son and daughter to go eat meat; The head hisses; the children are hungry, they eat meat; the head chases them; the tribe migrates; the dog (actually a witch doctor) hides for fire gives them food; the old possumic woman reports that their father married Coyotich; gives them good luck, an awl, a brush, a mirror; the children come to the old woman; her leg is swollen to crush the sleeping girl; the boy asks to spare them; the crow says that the old woman needs to bring rotten water, wet firewood; the brother pretends that his sister needs to pee, runs away, carrying her on the back; throws an awl, the old woman takes him for a boy, grabs him, her arms and legs stick (resin doll motif); she can hardly free herself; an abandoned brush turns into a thicket, a mirror into ice; an old woman falls on the ice, crashes to death; children come to people, they starve; children refuse to stay with them], 24 [an apache hunter takes his wife hunting, kills a bison; the wife cries, he shoots at her too, bakes her head; sends son and daughter eat buffalo head; Head hisses: Children, don't eat me; stalks them; brother carries sister on the back; snakes (?) Päköleana transports them across the river, they sit by his horns; P. invites the Head to look for lice; these are frogs; The head rudenly replies that it does not eat lice; P. dives, the head sinks; the Opossum reports children that their father married Coyoticha; she forces their older sister to babysit little Coyotes; brother kills Coyoticha and her children, spits, his father falls through the ground; Opossumicha throws him rope; he breaks the ban on opening his eyes, falls back], 24 var.1 [the Apache chief's wife has a snake lover; she feeds him the best meat; the chief watches her, kills both with arrows, places her head wives on a tree, roasts ribs; sends son and daughter to eat bison meat; Head tells the mother not to eat; pursues children; the chief marries Coyoticha, the tribe migrates; Beaver asks the children to look for it's in his head; there are frogs; the girl bites through the beads from her brother's bracelet, and the frogs fall into the water; the Beaver carries the children across the river; The head tells Beaver it has no arms; Grab the lice with your mouth! - Dirty creature! The head throws the frogs into the water; the Beaver drowns her; the children come to the father; he forces the daughter to babysit the Coyoticha's children, sends her son to hunt; the old woman tells her brother how the sister is struggling; the father pushes his son into a hole, an old woman throws him a rope; he kills the Coyotes; brother and sister sing, the ground lights up; two people escape, from them Apaches come]: 64-70, 70-73, 74-76.

Southern Venezuela. Makiritare [the wife is kidnapped by birds, becomes ugly; the hero kills and roasts her, then revives her as a beauty]: Civrieux 1980:41-42; (cf. Sanema [Colchester 1981, No. 14:59-60; Koshiloli lived with his wife and her brother; his brother killed the parrot, the arrow got stuck on the branches; K. told him to get it; he took it out, and when he went down, K. killed him with a stick; told his wife to cut the corpse; ra told the relatives; they ordered K. to sit against the sun, pretend to look for lice; hacked down a machete]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1990b, No. 245:457-458).

Guiana. If not otherwise: the wife is roasted alive, her son-in-law brings her meat to her mother-in-law. Warrau: Wilbert 1970, No. 1 [husband scolds his wife for flirting; cuts off her head, roasts her body; puts meat in a basket, head on top; invites her brother to look at her; turns into a forest cockerel], 2 [husband gets angry, hangs his hammock in the rain; cuts off his wife's head, roasts her heart and liver, gives them to her brother and father; when he gets away from the chase, he turns into a forest cockerel], 38 [the wife's two younger brothers tie them up her husband, put it in the rain; he tells his wife to weave the basket, roasts it alive in it; invites her brothers to look at the meat; they kill him], 54 [the husband tells his wife that the rain brings him to sleep; her brothers help her tie him up, leave him in a hammock in the rain; he cuts off his wife's head, roasts the meat, gives the liver to her brothers; turns into a forest cockerel]: 41-43, 105, 142-143; kamaracoto [pre- murdered]: Simpson 1940:581-583; curl: Magaña 1983, No. 7 [a man tells his wife he would like to sleep in the rain; it's a joke, but his wife's brothers tie him to a tree for the night; he takes his wife to the forest, asks for help to weave a fish basket, roasts his wife alive in this basket, gives meat to her mother; under the meat she finds her daughter's arms and legs; brothers chase her husband, find his parking lots (all traces of old parking lots left to him in the forest); his leg is cut off; he turns into a mabuculi constellation]: 29-30; Locono: Goeje 1943, No. d30 [killed, fried corpse buried]: 119; Magaña 1988a, No. 11:37 and Roth 1915, No. 207 [killed, roasted, her mother's liver]: 261; oyana: Coudreau 1893 [killed, (roasted?) , eaten by her husband]: 555-556; Goeje 1943, No. d18 [husband weaves a basket, roasts his wife alive in it, eats it in part; her brothers chase him; he rises to heaven, turns into a Month; his wife is stained on disc]: 105; Magaña 1987, No. 2 [a man leads his wife to the forest, kills and roasts; gives meat to his mother-in-law under the guise of game; she recognizes her daughter by a cotton sheath bracelet; his wife's brothers chase her husband; he goes up to heaven, becomes the Month; it shows the remains of his wife], 4 [people leave the blind man in the tree, the wife leaves him; the bird lowers him, regains sight; he roasts his wife, gives her meat to his mother-in-law; rises to heaven, turns into a Month; moonspots are his wife], 21 [wife leaves her blind husband in a tree; he goes down, goes to a voice; the valek bird explains that these are toads; they make a person sighted; he leads his wife into the forest, kills, roasts, gives meat to his mother-in-law; her brothers chase him; playing the flute, he makes a move under the river; one of the pursuers climbs there, meets snakes, wasps, scorpions; comes back sticks her leg out, the passage closes, cutting off her leg; he turns into a turtle], 61 [the woman leaves her blind husband in the tree; the bird regains his sight; he leads his wife to the forest, kills, roasts, gives meat to his mother-in-law; her brothers chase him, he hides in an underground hole; they go in but stop the persecution; he turns into a Month]: 34, 38, 47; trio [before frying, her husband rips her bottom belly]: Koelewijn, Riviere 1987, No. 65:219-222; Magaña 1987, No. 64:144; Caliña: Magaña 1983, No. 2 [the man tells his wife he would like to sleep in the rain; it's a joke, but the wife's brothers they tie him to a tree for the night; he takes his wife to the forest, asks for help weaving a meat basket, roasts his wife alive in this basket, gives meat to her mother; she eats it with her daughter's brothers; finds it under the meat her jewelry; brothers chase her husband, one cuts off his leg; her younger brother turns into a palm tree; Tamoussi agrees to make one-legged his messenger; he becomes the constellation Epietmbo], 4 [as in (2); after losing a leg, a man jumps to the sky; Tamoussi leaves him hanging there as punishment for a crime], 5 [as in (2); brothers cut off his leg and leave him in the boat; he thinks about what to turn; does not want to be a tree (cut down), fish (caught), animals (killed and eaten), etc.; decides to become the constellation of Epietembo], 6 [as in (5); rejects turning into water (drink), wild wild boar (killed and eaten), tree (cut down and burned); turns into constellation E.]: 23-25, 25-26, 26-28, 28-29; 1988a, No. 1-7, 25, 36, 37, 49, 142, 157:11-18, 34-35, 51, 54-55, 76-77, 247-248, 273; Penar in Magaña, Jara 1982 [man to wife: It's raining, I'll sleep well; wife tells brothers he wants to sleep in the rain; they tie him up in a hammock, leave him in a hammock for the night; when hunting he tied him up wife in a basket, fried alive on the grill; fed her mother-in-law meat; brothers catch up with him, cut off his leg; he rejects opportunities to turn into various constellations, becomes Orion]: 119; Galibi : Magaña 1988a, No. 30, 38, 39:53, 55-56; palicur [wife and her brother put her tied husband under mosquito bites for the night; the husband kills his wife, roasts, gives her liver to his brother; after learning what he ate, brother cuts off her husband's shin when he climbs a tree; the husband shoots into the sky, climbs into the sky with a chain of arrows, turns into Orion]: Nimuendaju 1926:90; Yampy: Grenada 1982, No. 38:247-248.

NW Amazon. Carijona [the woman has many lovers, but her husband is not allowed in; he took her to the forest and killed her; cut her, smoked the pieces, brought her to the village in a basket, put her on the ground, spat everything around her; the mother of the murdered calls her, saliva answers her; when she found the basket, the brothers of the victim chased their son-in-law; he climbed onto the rock, began singing, calling the howler monkey killed with smoked meat; did not descend from the cliff]: Schindler 1977b, No. 5:69.

Montagna - Jurua. Sharanahua [wife eaten by husband (no details)]: Siskind 1973:167.

Bolivia - Guaporé. Guaraçu: Riester 1977, No. 10 [husband takes his wife to the forest, asks for firewood while he hunts; puts his tied wife in the fire; mother-in-law explains that the wife is still looking for firewood; mother finds the place of burning, the ashes of the daughter tell her what happened; tobacco grows from the ashes; this is revenge on men: now they are all committed to tobacco], 51 [the husband suspects his wife of infidelity; leads to the forest, burns bonfire, carved genitals are brought to mother-in-law under the guise of animal meat; then tells her the truth], 64 [the husband's brother does not love his wife; takes her to the forest, kills her, burns the corpse, tells her husband that she will come soon; husband finds remains, turns into a Chuúbi bird, its crying voice can still be heard]: 245-246, 305, 316.

Southern Amazon. Kayabi [killed, hand brought to mother]: Grünberg 1970:162-163; nambiquara: [A nightjar husband tells a pregnant wife that she cannot eat termites, she can eat wasp larvae; she violates the ban; he breaks her neck, roasts meat, eats; her mother finds ash; hits her son-in-law, who turns into stone]: Pereira 1983, No. 13:30-32; Iranian: Pereira 1985, No. 33 [men take sacred flutes, go to clear the garden; one sends his son for chicha; follows, hears him telling his mother that men are waiting at the site (it is forbidden to talk to women about this); father speaks to friends that they can eat his son; he is thrown alive into the fire; meat is eaten; the father brings his wife a fried hand under the guise of agouti meat; the mother recognizes the son's hand; leads women towards men; they see flutes kill men with bows, go up the river; a rock appears at their parking lot], 66 [the wife is pregnant for a long time; the husband sees her lying in a hammock, with snakes and butterflies nearby {apparently caterpillars}; those partly crawl back into her womb, partly spread (the origin of snakes, etc.); her husband calls her to the forest, offers her to sit in the basket, burns her alive]: 157-159, 233-234; paresi [ex-bride; killed, fried for food]: Pereira 1987, No. 55:471.

Eastern Brazil. Apinaye [a huge eagle settled on a reaper palm tree, people fled, a couple of old people and their grandchildren Kenkutá and Akréti were left, their parents were eaten by the eagle; grandfather is surprised how easily A. catches up and kills other birds; the brothers stay in a hut by the river, the grandfather brings food there, makes them clubs; the brothers call the tapir a rat; the grandfather builds a hut at the foot of the harvester, A. lures an eagle, hides in the hut; K. does the same less quickly; the eagle is exhausted, the brothers finish him off with clubs; the grandfather plucks him, blows his feathers down the wind, they turn into different birds; another huge Kukád bird lives on a rock, cuts off people's heads with his beak; grandfather builds a hut there, A. lures the bird, hides; K. does not have time, the bird cuts off his head; A. leaves K.'s head on a branch, can no longer lure him out poultry, goes to look for people, meets people with a series, black arar people, monkey people, each group tells what it does; A. finds fellow tribesmen, marries, brings meat to her father-in-law and mother-in-law ( nandu ostriches); calls his wife for honey, offers to put his hand in the hollow, his hand gets stuck, A. kills his wife, roasts her meat, brings her to the village; the victim's brother realizes what he was given, finds her head and bones sisters; people push A. into hot coals; his ashes turn into a nest of earth termites]: Wilbert 1978, No. 172:451-454; crash [wife refuses to wait for her husband to get honey from the hollow of the fallen wood, eats honey greedily; an angry husband kills her with an ax, roasts meat, brings her mother-in-law under the guise of anteater meat; others also eat, only the older brother recognizes the sister's meat; the brothers ask the murdered husband to get from honey trees, kill with arrows, burn a corpse]: Wilbert 1978, No. 148:353-354; (cf. crash [Schultz 1950:153-154; the wife calls her husband to the forest for buriti palm fibers to make baskets, but the husband went hunting deer; the wife goes alone, agrees to become Tapir's mistress; he promises to protect a palm tree for her; she becomes pregnant, confesses to her husband that it is from Tapir; her husband tells her to surrender to Tapir again; she knocked on a tree trunk, at which signal Tapir appeared, and her husband killed him with an arrow; at night, he put a severed tapir penis into her vagina; the woman dies; the woman's mother and sister noticed the tapir's penis; her four brothers called her husband into the field, pushed him into the fire, he burned down; the mother of the burned said her son ran away]: Wilbert 1978, #122:301-303).

Chaco. Toba: Wilbert, Simoneau 1982b, No. 184 [the woman's husband sleeps outside, she is in the house; the son finds her with her lover, tells his father; he asks to snatch a few hairs from his lover, identifies the wool tapira; secretly follows his wife into the forest; shoots tapir when his wife copulates with it; lovers climb different trees but cannot separate for a long time; wife drinks, water spills out of her torn vaginas; the husband kills the deer, then the wife; puts the meat both in the basket, brings it to parents; they cook and eat meat; he reports that it is their daughter's meat; turns himself and his children into birds, they fly away]: 349 -350; 1989a, No. 30 (pilaga) [Yulo is surprised why his wife stays in the forest; sees that after drinking water pours out of her vagina; Yu follows; the woman sings, Tapir whistles back, they copulate; Tapira's penis enters her from vagina to mouth; Yu frightened Tapir, killed his wife with an arrow, fried the meat, brought it to his mother-in-law and her relatives under the guise of nanda meat; father-in-law chases him; Yu and his two sons climb on a tree, from there they fly to heaven, turn into stars; Yu also turns into a bird], 31 (pilaga) [as in (30)], 158 [Lesogó found his wife with another, killed him, stained his neck with blood, she still red], 159 [Lesogó Lesogó found his wife with a tapir; killed her, brought pieces of meat to her parents; he went to heaven himself; the fox gave him a red neckerchief]: 48-50, 51-52, 230-231, 232.