Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L94B1 — The demon collects the riches back into the box.
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 receives a box (bag, horn, etc.) as a gift, which he must open only at home. Driven by curiosity, he opens it on the way, and everything that should make him wealthy (houses, livestock, etc.) spills out. The demon who appears agrees to return everything, but sets a condition, the severity of which the man does not immediately understand.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L94 has 6 other sub-motifs
RelatedL94. A demon or animal helps a person or agrees to let them go, but in return takes a promise to give them a daughter or son.
L94a. When a person leans over the water, a demon grabs him by the beard and releases him on the promise that he will fulfil his demand.
L94b. A person promises to give to a supernatural character the first thing that comes their way (either something they have not yet seen in their own home, or something that is behind the door, etc.). The person thinks that they will have to give something of little value, but it turns out to be their own child.
L94b1. A man receives a box (bag, horn, etc.) as a gift, which he must open only at home. Driven by curiosity, he opens it on the way, and everything that should make him wealthy (houses, livestock, etc.) spills out. The demon who appears agrees to return everything, but sets a condition, the severity of which the man does not immediately understand.
L94c. If a deity grants victory, a person promises to sacrifice to it the first person who comes out to meet them at home. A son or daughter comes out.
L94d. A demonic character accuses a man of stepping on (tearing off) the tail of a fairy tale. Cf. motif K100E, "Dangerous Fairy Tales".
L94e. A supernatural character who helps the hero or heroine under certain conditions â the white wolf.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M135A | 99.80% | A wolf (or, less commonly, another predator) approaches various (more than one type of) domestic animals (animals and humans) in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil the request, remains hungry and is usually beaten. |
| C3 | 99.74% | The snake (eel, frog) saved the ship (or the whole world) by plugging the hole from which water was pouring with its body. |
| M114B1 | 99.73% | When answering the question of what is the sweetest (fattest, fastest, etc.), a clever person names abstract concepts and entities (while a foolish person names specific objects or creatures). |
| B33D | 99.72% | An elderly woman embodies winter, is associated with snow, and/or at the border between winter and spring (autumn) there are several very cold days associated with a certain old woman. |
| I136 | 99.70% | The rolling wheel (and the character riding on it) is a creature or weapon hostile to the hero (people) that he uses. |
| M199L | 99.68% | When the giant blew, sneezed, etc., or let go of the bent tree on which the man was sitting, the man was thrown far away. The man says that he did it of his own free will (to show how he can fly, to repair the roof, etc.). |
| B103 | 99.66% | The character thinks that since the cornel blooms earlier than other fruit trees, its fruits will ripen earlier than others. The character is mistaken and is left without fruit. |
| B110A | 99.61% | A character who is dragged along the ground or who falls from the sky turns into atmospheric phenomena. |
| K182A | 99.61% | A mighty warrior residing in a cave (or crypt, etc.) will eventually emerge into the light (to assist his people), or he could emerge but chooses not to. |
| M134B | 99.61% | When a predator is about to eat a person, the person asks to be measured first and strikes the predator with an (imaginary) measuring instrument. |
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
36 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 36 traditions: Nuba, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Latvians, Estonians, Setu, Finns, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Kazakh, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mordvins, Chuvash, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Western Tungus (Evenki), Western Siberia Tungus (Evenki): Sym River, Ket River, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area, Russian Federation
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