Nose

Figures that bear it

A model judged each figure against its own description, one term at a time. Is: the figure is, or is partly, this thing. Bears: it carries the thing or is marked by it. What a figure does is filed under motifs and powers. Open "why" for the sentence the judgement rests on.

• Berchta bears Alpine folklore
  why

  Berchta comes down as small, old and badly kept: the hair uncombed, the eyes small and glittering, the nose long with a hook in it — and, the detail no other winter figure carries, one foot spread wide and flattened by years on a spinning treadle.

• Ogre bears European folklore (general)
  why

  Their faces are characterized by exaggerated features: bulbous noses, jutting jaws with protruding tusks or fangs, and small, beady eyes that gleam with a predatory light.

• Tengu bears Japanese folklore
  why

  These supernatural beings are often depicted with human-like bodies adorned with feathers, sharp claws, and distinctive long noses or beaks.