Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M137 — A weak predator imitates a strong one, ATU 47D.
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 weaker predator tries to imitate a stronger one, but cannot perform the actions that the strong one performs easily.
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.
M13 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedM13. A person appeals to higher powers with a request, without considering that his words may have a different meaning than he intended. Either a person accidentally utters the wrong word or accidentally and hastily expresses an empty or absurd desire. As a result, something happens that he did not want at all. Cf. motifs I58B and M13A.Most of the references in ATU 775 (Midas' short-sighted wish) are either incorrect or impossible to verify. In connection with this plot, the reference to Uther 2000 is taken into account only for the Lithuanian variant, since there is a summary of the Latvian one, and for the Greek one, since the motif exists in Ancient Greece and among the neighbouring South Slavs. For ATU 750A, the reference to Bäcker 1988 in connection with the "Chinese" is incorrect; these are Manchus, not Chinese, and the stated motif is not present in the text.
M13a. A deity and a human meet so that the former can fulfil the latter's request. As a result, the human is turned to stone. Usually (except for the Squamish), one of the supplicants wants eternal life and is turned to stone. See motif M13.
M13B. People are promised the fulfilment of two (three, four) wishes. Without thinking, they wish for something they do not want at all. The last wish is spent on returning to the original state.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M116 | 99.69% | People must kill their fathers (or mothers; Nyoro: deprive them of power and property; Baluchi: do not take them with you on a journey). One young man hides his father, and his wise advice helps to avoid trouble. |
| L96 | 99.38% | The character has the ability to transform into animals or objects. Sold in this form, he achieves his goal and becomes human again. |
| K160A | 99.32% | A woman living in the house of a supernatural character hides a man who has come to her and asks the character questions, the answers to which the man must find out. |
| K27G | 99.19% | The character is ordered to bathe in (hot) milk, in boiling water, to jump into the fire; he remains unharmed, while his opponent usually perishes. |
| K27NN | 99.10% | Someone from the entourage of a powerful figure seeks to destroy the hero and persuades others to give him difficult tasks. |
| K119A | 99.09% | An animal saves a human, does him a favour, and he humiliates or kills it. See motifs K119, M161. |
| K38F | 99.08% | A reptilian monster demands human sacrifices (devours people; kidnaps a girl; blocks water sources). The hero kills it. The monster's victims do not play an active role in the action. |
| L104 | 99.00% | The fleeing character successively takes on the appearance of various creatures or objects; the pursuer also changes his appearance, each time transforming into someone who is dangerous to the pursued in his current form. |
| M202 | 98.94% | A man pulls a thorn out of the paw (a bone out of the throat) of a strong and dangerous animal or demon, who is grateful. |
| M57D | 98.92% | A person consistently receives magical items that bring wealth. Others replace them or take them away. A person returns what has been taken - usually by receiving another wonderful object (baton, whip) that hits the kidnappers. |
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
35 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 35 traditions: Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Sara, incl. Ngambaye (Ngambaï), Mbaï, Zaghawa, Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Sinhalese; Vedda, Spain, Spaniards, Catalan, Poles, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Finns, Norwegians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Tajik, Pashto, Ingush, Kumyk, Terekemen, Tats, Kalmyk, Kurds, Kazakh, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Mukulu (Mokilko), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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