Ancient Wisdom Atlas

Motif

coffin-lid withheld to compel a corpse's confession

coffin_lid_withheld_to_compel_a_corpse_s_confession

A motif of the Ancestor Rites and Feeding the Dead family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.

1 occurrences

1 traditions


slavic

  • Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT. / FOOTNOTES: / CHAPTER V. / GHOST STORIES.; lines 13171-13318 confidence: high

    The moujik picks up the coffin-lid; the corpse returns, tracks it to him, demands it, and threatens to tear him apart, while the moujik threatens to chop the corpse with a hatchet.

    The moujik takes the coffin-lid and agrees to return it only when the corpse says where it has been and what it has done.

    read in the book