Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L93B — The hare as helper.
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
OverviewThe hare or rabbit, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saving them.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 9, Identification of protagonists of the stories with particular animals or persons with particular qualities.
L93 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedL93. A demon, a man-eater, chops down a tree or a rock on top of which the hero is hiding. While he is resting, the animal throws his axe into the water, carries it away or damages it. See motif L92.
L93a. The fox, jackal or coyote, resorting to cunning, helps the hero, heroine or people in general, saving them.
L93b. The hare or rabbit, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saving them.
L93c. The monkey, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saves them.
l93d. The hedgehog, resorting to cunning, helps the hero and saves him.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F28A1 | 98.52% | The living penis is a dangerous creature that attacks people. |
| H6BB | 96.55% | A character is sent to deliver a certain object or substance to people, the possession of which is essential to them. The messenger loses these objects or brings others. Usually, this refers to the ability to be reborn after death. Traditions not related to the explanation of human mortality are marked with an asterisk*. |
| M151 | 96.41% | A dangerous character pretends to be dead or absent, or pretends to be an inanimate object. The potential victim says aloud that the deceased (object or place – house, burrow, log, etc.) should do or say something. The character does so, revealing himself. |
| L81D | 96.01% | Two cripples with different physical disabilities quarrel and fight, and as a result become whole and healthy. |
| L44B | 95.94% | The blind and deaf (lame) began to live together, helping each other. After being mortally frightened or fighting, both (less often, one of them) got rid of their disabilities. |
| C30D | 94.12% | The character agrees that his locus will be contaminated with excrement, but only on condition that not a drop of urine is spilled. It turns out to be impossible to fulfil this condition. |
| I88 | 94.07% | Describes a creature with several tails. |
| H3 | 93.85% | Death is sent to people as punishment for excessive sympathy for a dead animal or for funeral games, during which they bury an animal, tree, etc. |
| M110 | 92.64% | Upon learning that it is being transported by water to be eaten, the land animal explains to the transporter that it has forgotten on the shore the organ without which the meat is not tasty, which must be used as medicine, etc. The transporter agrees to return for this organ, and the animal runs away. |
| E9B | 91.43% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of an elephant (elephant tusk). |
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
29 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Bari (incl Fajulu), Kakwa, Masai, Nyamwesi, Sumbwa, Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Mbundu (Umbundu, Kimbundu, Chimbundu, Ovimbundu), Kwanyama, Owambo (=Ambo), Zulu, Swazi, Dan (=Gio), Guro (=Kweni, incl Gagu, Neio), Toura, Mano, Ngere, Beng, Guro , Songhai, Dogon, Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Burmese, Intha, Thai of Vietnam, Tai Lue, Khao (Kho, Tai Don, White Tai), Tai Dam (Black Tai), Nung; Zhuang, Buyi; Shui, Tjam, Ede, Jörai (Jarai), Khmer, Palaung (De Ang, Deang), Viet, Muong, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Koreans, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Uyghur, Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Bari, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Salars, China
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