Question 1 of 16Correct: 0
How do you distinguish borrowed plots from accidental similarities?
Why do many peoples have a flood story?
Why do monsters in myths often live at boundaries and crossings?
What does a hero's victory over a monster usually test?
Why does an invulnerable hero still have a weak spot?
Why does the plot need an unbeatable hero's vulnerability?
When does the hero receive a magical helper?
Who usually does the main work in a fairy tale?
Why is the hero given a prohibition in these stories?
What does the hero usually bring back from the world of the dead?
What does a trickster most often do in myths?
Why do mythologies need this kind of character?
How does a cultural hero differ from a creator of the world?
What detail appears most often in these myths?
How does a hero differ from a demigod?
How were heroes worshiped?
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Why Different Myths Tell Similar Stories0/2Where Monsters in Myths Come Fromin the app0/2Why every hero has a weak spot0/2Why the Hero Needs a Magical Helperin the app0/2Why the Hero Descends into the Underworldin the app0/2Who Is the Trickster0/2What Is a Cultural Hero0/2How a Hero Differs from a Demigodin the app0/2
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Answers and explanations16 questions
- How do you distinguish borrowed plots from accidental similarities? By matching small, nonessential detailsA pattern can match for many reasons, while a strange detail almost always points to a relationship between the stories.From “Why Different Myths Tell Similar Stories”
- Why do many peoples have a flood story? Floods happened wherever people settled near waterThe same events can produce the same stories without any borrowing.From “Why Different Myths Tell Similar Stories”
- Why do monsters in myths often live at boundaries and crossings? They mark the path between the familiar and the unknownA monster marks the boundary where the unknown begins and where it is better not to go.From “Where Monsters in Myths Come From”
- What does a hero's victory over a monster usually test? The mind and the ability to find a clever way outMythical monsters have special traits, so the hero usually needs cunning, not muscle.From “Where Monsters in Myths Come From”
- Why does an invulnerable hero still have a weak spot? It remains as a trace of a ritual or contractIn myth, invulnerability is made through a ritual or contract, and that almost always leaves a gap.From “Why every hero has a weak spot”
- Why does the plot need an unbeatable hero's vulnerability? To bring back fear for the hero and tensionA weak spot brings the risk of death back into the story, so the fight's outcome no longer feels known in advance.From “Why every hero has a weak spot”
- When does the hero receive a magical helper? After a small selfless testWhat is tested is not strength or intelligence, but a willingness to do the human thing when it is not in your interest.From “Why the Hero Needs a Magical Helper”
- Who usually does the main work in a fairy tale? The helper, while the hero makes the choiceThis is very different from the modern idea of a hero who succeeds through their own efforts.From “Why the Hero Needs a Magical Helper”
- Why is the hero given a prohibition in these stories? To create drama and a price for crossing the boundaryThe prohibition makes the plot dramatic: it is almost inevitably broken, and crossing the boundary comes at a price.From “Why the Hero Descends into the Underworld”
- What does the hero usually bring back from the world of the dead? Knowledge, paid for with something importantThe hero returns changed: she gains knowledge, but the journey back is almost always tied to a loss.From “Why the Hero Descends into the Underworld”
- What does a trickster most often do in myths? Brings people something new by obtaining it through deceptionIn these stories, fire, stories, and crafts arrive through breaking the rules.From “Who Is the Trickster”
- Why do mythologies need this kind of character? Without disrupting order, the story cannot beginIn a world where everything is in its place, nothing can happen.From “Who Is the Trickster”
- How does a cultural hero differ from a creator of the world? They bring people something that already existed but was inaccessibleA creator makes the world, while a cultural hero obtains fire, writing, or grain and passes it on to people.From “What Is a Cultural Hero”
- What detail appears most often in these myths? The hero breaks the rules and then pays for itTheft, deception, or breaking a prohibition, followed by punishment, is a recurring part of the story across cultures.From “What Is a Cultural Hero”
- How does a hero differ from a demigod? A demigod is about ancestry; a hero is about a role in the storySo a hero may be a demigod, but he may also be an ordinary person with no divine ancestors.From “How a Hero Differs from a Demigod”
- How were heroes worshiped? At the grave, as an ancestor, tied to a specific placeA hero's grave made a city significant and served as an argument in disputes with neighboring cities.From “How a Hero Differs from a Demigod”