Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M127C — Foolishly frightened.
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
OverviewSeeing an object that has been deliberately left behind or accidentally dropped, or hearing a sound it makes, the character sees it as a sign of danger and reacts inappropriately.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K154A | 98.84% | By solving a riddle, a boy or young man (rarely a girl) exposes the daughter, wife or assistants of an authoritative character: the daughter or wife has a lover; the assistant is plotting a conspiracy. |
| L40B | 98.29% | To make the character come closer, absurd actions are performed in front of him. The character does not understand the deception and comes closer to explain how to act correctly. |
| K154 | 98.09% | A person finds a skull on which a mysterious and gloomy prophecy is written or which utters it. Then it becomes clear what it means. |
| K75B | 97.57% | Wanting to show that it is time for them to marry, daughters of different ages send their father fruits of varying degrees of ripeness (bread baked in different ways). |
| K156B | 97.44% | People suspect that the young man is a girl in disguise. She manages to avoid exposure thanks to a dog (rarely a cat) who learns how to determine his mistress's true gender and tells her about it. |
| K61E | 96.79% | Seeing an absurd situation, a powerful (supernatural) character laughs and is thereby usually cured of his ailment. For this, the people involved in the situation are rewarded and saved from danger. |
| M152C | 96.73% | The weak companion of a large predator pretends to be strong and brave. When he is carried away by the river or drowns in a swamp, and the predator pulls him out, the companion pretends to be angry (for preventing him from catching fish, etc.). |
| M198A | 96.60% | Brothers (rarely: one person) determine the characteristics of a domestic animal they have not seen, or of the person who stole the animal, based on subtle clues. {In ATU, plots 655 and 655A are combined; in Aarne, Thompson 1961 and in regional indexes, our motif M198A corresponds to plot 655A} (Type 655A only in Aarne, Thompson 1984. In ATU mixed with 655). |
| K75A | 96.55% | The character chooses one of many suitors (a woman chooses a husband, a boy chooses a father, a young man chooses a bride) by throwing an object (often an apple) at him. Cf. motif K113A (throwing an object at random, not at a person who is nearby). |
| K56A2A | 96.39% | A girl becomes beautiful or ugly after washing herself with water of a certain colour. |
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
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, East Chadic: Buduma, Mpade (Kotoko), Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Latvians, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Sarikoli, Tajik, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Armenians, Kirghiz, Turkmen, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians
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