Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M188A — Jackal on the throne.
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 demands to be addressed as a ruler (usually sits on a pile of rubbish and demands to be recognised as king). One of the animals exposes him.
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.
M18 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedM18. The character turns into an object of fishing or hunting and presents himself as a target. The fisherman or hunter does not harm them, but they take away what they use: arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, bait; or they catch fish, having turned themselves into hooks; or they are caught but escape death by taking on human form again.
M18a. The character becomes the object of fishing or hunting, presenting himself as a target for enemies. Numerous arrows, darts, and harpoons stick into his body without causing harm, and he carries them away. See motif M18.
M18b. The character turns into a fishing object in order to carry away the hook with which he is caught or the spear with which they try to harpoon him, or he turns into a hook to catch fish. See motif M18.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B47A | 99.89% | A cow steps on the Pleiades stars lying on the ground, which were demonic creatures. Some of the stars slipped through her split hoof. |
| F100B | 99.70% | Thanks to her virtue, a woman is capable of doing what others cannot, but she succeeds only after she remembers a minor transgression she committed in her youth. |
| I27D | 99.70% | There is a certain black or red dog that (is associated with objects in the night sky and) negatively affects people's lives. |
| K138 | 99.70% | A person gains the ability to revive the dead by incarnating in their body. While they remain in it, their own body is dead. Another person takes the body of the first, leaving them with the body of an animal. |
| K155C | 99.70% | The father regularly weighs his daughter and learns of her pregnancy when she becomes heavier. |
| K27V1 | 99.68% | The character must hit the eye of a needle with an arrow (the eye of a needle). |
| M91B | 99.53% | A person manages to fraudulently sell or exchange ash for gold and money. Others are unsuccessfully offering ash for sale. |
| M83C | 99.47% | Animals argue who of them gets drunk easier. The last one falls down because he becomes drunk as soon as somebody talks about alcohol |
| K12A | 99.16% | An unrecognised hero arrives at a place where his bride or wife is to be given to another man or turned into a servant. Contrary to expectations, he manages to draw a tight bow (raise a spear), with which he kills his rivals. |
| M114B2 | 99.10% | A man (an authoritative character) asks a girl (a subordinate) a question about the number of routine actions she has performed (or small items she has), which no one counts. She asks a counter-question about the number of similar actions performed by the questioner. |
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
8 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Sindhi, Nepali; Tharu, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Dards (Kalash, Kho, Kohistani, Shina, Pashai), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali
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