Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M157A4 — Fishing on a mountain.
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 character proves the absurdity of another's statements by claiming that he (or someone else) fished on a mountain, extinguished a fire with straw, sowed wheat in the sea, watched flying fish, etc. (or he himself imitates such actions). The absurdity of the statements stems from the incorrectly chosen locus or means for performing certain actions.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| M91B1 | 99.86% | A man is going to sell a pet skin. On the way, he gets big money by deception or by chance. Usually, upon return, a person says that he received money for the skin, after which others slaughter their livestock and try unsuccessfully to sell the skins for money they are not worth. (In India, the hero sometimes supposedly sells not skin, but beef, which is forbidden to brahmanas). |
| K100 | 99.71% | A person learns about the dangers threatening another (and usually that by warning his friend/master, he will turn to stone). The person eliminates the dangers, despite the fact that his behaviour upsets the person he has saved. |
| M78 | 99.55% | A tiny little man performs a series of tricks, mocks people he meets and opponents. |
| K24C | 99.49% | A young man comes to an old man (less often – to an old woman), who teaches him how to get a magical wife by hiding her bird clothes. Usually, the young man gives away the clothes for the first time and lives with the old man until the girls fly back. |
| M113 | 99.41% | In summer, during the height of the heat, or constantly, birds of a certain species are not allowed to drink from ponds and springs. It is generally believed that they drink only rainwater and cry out, begging for rain. See motif M112. |
| K88 | 99.39% | Two people set off on a journey or argue about which is stronger: truth or falsehood (stinginess or generosity, etc.). The evil one abandons the good one, crippling or robbing him, but the good one regains his health and achieves success. The villain usually perishes. |
| K56C | 99.37% | A man loses his axe. A spirit or chief offers him a golden one, but the man says that the axe is not his and for this he receives axes of gold and silver as a reward. Another man deliberately loses his ordinary axe, seeking to obtain a golden one, but suffers a fiasco. |
| K100F2 | 99.34% | A captured supernatural character breaks his chains and escapes to freedom after being given water (or wine, etc.) to drink. |
| K103 | 99.31% | A domestic animal (horse, cow, bull, goat, ram, sheep) helps an orphan, a lonely child, or an unfortunate young woman. |
| H51 | 99.29% | The horse is a predator or is associated with God's enemy. |
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
67 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 67 traditions: Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Tunisia Arabs, Saho, Afar, Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Burmese, Intha, Khmer, Wa (incl Kawa), Bulang, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Oraon (Kurukh), Konds (Khonds; language is Kui, incl Kuttia, Konda-Dora), Koya; Pengo, Gondi (mostly Northern Gondi), Sindhi, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Sinhalese; Vedda, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, France, Dutch, Flemish, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Estonians, Setu, Finns, Karelians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Swedes, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Persians, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Ingush, Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, Kurds, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Chuvash, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, Galicians, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Transylvanian Saksons, China, Russian Federation
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