Motif
destructive servant subverts assigned tasks
destructive_servant_subverts_assigned_tasks
A motif of the Trickster and Boundary Crosser family, within the sub-family Household, Ritual, and Boundary Breaches. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
finnish karelian
-
Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD. / THE KALEVALA. / PROEM / BOOK II; lines 17616-17811 confidence: high
Kullervo is made to tend and rock an infant, but on the third day he blinds the child, breaks its fingers, kills it while it sleeps, throws the body into the waters, and breaks and burns the cradle.
Kullervo is repeatedly given practical work but turns each task into harm or useless excess: infant care becomes murder, forest clearing becomes waste and curse, fence building creates an impassable barrier, and threshing destroys the grain.
read in the book →