Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M159 — The Lion's Share, ATU 51.
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 strongest character (usually a lion) offers to divide the spoils (harvest). The more cunning character refuses his share, but remains unharmed. Usually a wolf (hyena, jackal) divides the spoils, giving the lion the larger share, but the lion beats him. The third character gives the lion everything. The lion asks who taught him to divide so well and receives the answer: the one whom the lion mauled.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| M127 | 98.58% | The character is saved, but is left without a tail (without an ear), after which he tries to make other members of his species (social group) lose their tails (ears) as well. |
| M197 | 97.34% | Seriously or demonstrating the absurdity of such actions, the character tries to fry or cook something on a fire (source of light) located far from the object that needs to be heated. |
| F5 | 96.77% | The character does not want to or cannot give all the suitors his daughters in marriage and turns them into girls of various animals. (Usually after the flood or at the beginning of time, men want to marry the only daughter of a deity or patriarch). |
| K88B | 96.74% | The character suffers from thirst or hunger. His companion promises to share water or food with him (to make him rich) if he allows himself to be blinded. |
| I25A | 96.43% | The character gives herbivorous animals food intended for carnivores, and carnivores food intended for herbivores; the character sees that the animals have food that is inedible for them and corrects the situation. |
| L94E | 96.41% | A supernatural character who helps the hero or heroine under certain conditions – the white wolf. |
| L19B1 | 96.15% | Describes or depicts a monster (usually a reptile) with seven heads (except in cases where snakes with an increasing number of heads are described sequentially and "seven" is not the largest number). |
| K35A | 96.14% | In exchange for improving his current situation, the character agrees to have his body injured or branded. |
| M160 | 96.09% | A strong wild beast and a man become friends. The man breaks a promise he made to the beast or speaks contemptuously of it. The beast asks to be physically hurt and says that the insult inflicted by words is more painful (the wound on the body has healed, but the wound on the soul has not; or the beast dies of grief). |
| M154A | 96.01% | One of the domestic animals (usually a donkey) persuades another to pretend to be sick. After that, the advisor has to work for both of them. Then he tells the pretend sick animal that the owner is going to slaughter him, and the animal rushes to work. |
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
60 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 60 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Arabs of Egypt, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Western Sahara and Mauritania Arabs; Berbers of Mauritania (Zenaga), Morocco Arabs, Tunisia Arabs, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Nuba, Somali, Amhara; Zay, Harari; Silte, Gogot, Oromo (Galla), Konso, Sidamo, Darasa, Bussa (Bassa), Kambata, Guji, Luba (Baluba, Luba-Katanga, Shaba), (Ba)Holoholo, Tumbwe, Bena-Piana, Tabwa, Benabena-Mitumba, Zela, Bene-Marungu, Hausa, Biu-Mandara: Margi, Kilba, Bura, Kera, Karekare (Kerri-Kerri), Bachama, Zulgo, Giziga, Hdi, Kapsiki, Mandara (incl Mukulehe, Matakam), Mofu (Mofu-Gudur), Somrai (Sibine, Shibha), Zaghawa, Soninke, Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Sindhi, Spain, Spaniards, Catalan, 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, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Tajik, Baluch, Pashto, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Ingush, Laks, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Kurds, Kazakh, Uyghur, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Early Russian written sources, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Rohingya, Frisians, Berbers of Algeria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.