Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J32A1 — Nocturnal pests – horses.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewBut at night someone tramples the field, steals hay, etc. The hero learns that it is horses doing this.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
J32 has 7 other sub-motifs
RelatedJ32. Someone regularly steals livestock (horses, sheep, etc.) or crops (apples, hay, peas, flowers, etc.). Those who undertake to guard them (usually the older brothers) fail to catch the thief, and only the hero (usually the younger brother) discovers him.
J32a. When dying, a person orders that someone spend the night at his grave or bring something to the grave.
J32a1. But at night someone tramples the field, steals hay, etc. The hero learns that it is horses doing this.
J32b. In order to accomplish what he wants, the hero prolongs the night by changing the behaviour of the character on whom the alternation of day and night depends.
J32c. At night, a demonic character comes to the grave of the deceased, intending to harm him.
J32d. The girl will be won by the one who, on horseback or by some other means, quickly reaches a hard-to-reach place (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top steps of a staircase, a bridge, the bottom of a chasm, jumps over a moat, etc.). Usually, the girl herself is located where the suitor must climb or (rarely) descend. In Italian versions, the hero wins tournaments.
J32e. Every time a mare foals, the foal is stolen. The hero finds out who is doing this.
J32f. While standing guard, the hero discovers who is stealing fruit (usually apples) from the garden.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M84A | 99.40% | After supernatural characters put the bones of a dead and eaten deer, cow, ram, or goat in its skin, the animal is whole (and usually comes to life). See M84 motif. |
| M152B | 99.30% | When seeing a herbivorous ungulate (usually a donkey) for the first time, a large predator thinks that it is strong and dangerous. The herbivore's subsequent behaviour usually convinces the predator that its first impression was correct. |
| K27SS | 99.26% | A strong man must overtake a woman, often an old woman. This is difficult or impossible to achieve. |
| K96 | 99.25% | Several (more than three) brothers marry or must marry in such a way that their wives are sisters. |
| I35A2 | 99.18% | Thunder is heard when stones or large vessels are rolled, dragged or overturned in the sky. |
| I25A | 99.11% | The character gives herbivorous animals food intended for carnivores, and carnivores food intended for herbivores; the character sees that the animals have food that is inedible for them and corrects the situation. |
| K121 | 98.66% | At the crossroads, it is indicated that one road is safe, another is neutral, and the third is deadly dangerous. There can only be two roads – dangerous and safe. The hero travels along the dangerous road. |
| K73B | 98.57% | A woman falsely accused of murdering her newborn child, or of giving birth to a puppy instead of a child, etc., is subjected to cruel and humiliating punishment or execution. See motif K73. |
| M127A | 98.54% | In response to a character's request to make him laugh or feed him, a bird sits on a person's or animal's head or on a fragile object. Another person tries to knock the bird down, kills or maims the person on whom the bird has landed, or breaks the object. Alternatively, the bird distracts the person's attention, and during this time the character eats the food that the person was carrying. |
| L96A | 98.48% | A person sighs, after which a character named Oh, Uh, Hey-way, etc. appears. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
23 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 23 traditions: Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Catalan, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Slovakians, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Norwegians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Abaza (Abazins), Ossetians, Laks, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Chuvash, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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