Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L58 — The stingy man.
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
OverviewA man refuses to give food to his closest relatives or spouse; as punishment, he or his food changes its nature.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K16A | 98.63% | In an effort to show that he is a good hunter, a man regularly walks in front of a girl, pretending to carry prey. Once he slips, and the imaginary prey turns out to be a scarecrow stuffed with ashes or a bundle of termites. |
| G14 | 98.39% | A man swallowed by a water monster is carried away to an underwater or overseas world, obtains plants, and returns to people. |
| K11 | 98.39% | Brothers (brother and sister) kill a monstrous bird. Its eyes turn into heavenly bodies (among the Oaxacan Indians) or something else (among the present-day Condors of the Yokuts). |
| D4D | 98.31% | The opossum obtains fire for humans. See motif D4A. |
| A24 | 97.60% | The first ancestors live in twilight. When they first find themselves in the rays of the sun, they (spontaneously or by someone's will) perish, turning into animals, spirits, or stones. |
| J24 | 96.75% | The hero, ground into powder, is reborn. |
| A23 | 96.62% | The first ancestors come together to choose who will become the sun, to raise the sun to the sky, to see the sun rise for the first time, and to name the sun correctly. See motif A22. |
| D4G | 95.87% | Hummingbird steals, finds or spreads fire. See motif D4A. |
| L26 | 95.79% | During the (first) initiation, supernatural beings teach boys rituals and kill them for violating rules related to the consumption and distribution of food. |
| M121 | 95.79% | A louse or other similar creature (flea, tick, firefly) is sent to follow a certain character. |
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
27 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 27 traditions: Kosa (Xosa, Xhosa), Tuamotu, incl Pukapuka (different from Pukapuka in Cook Islands), Vahitahi, Anaa, Hao, Fangatau, Sinhalese; Vedda, Udeghe, Athna, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Tillamook, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Karok, Yurok, Chumash, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Mam, Ixil, Aguatec, Avakatec, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Pipil, Gulf Nahuatl, Zapotec, Chatino, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Chorti, Guajiro, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Northern Peru: Sierra (Kechua-speaking communities, Cajamarca, Ancash, Huanuco and San Martin departments; Chavin pre-Columbian iconography; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Kechua-speaking communities of Apurimac, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno departments; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Callawaya (Kechua with Pukina substratum), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)
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