Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M206 — Half of the reward, ATU 1610.
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 guard (nobleman) agrees to let a man pass to an authoritative figure on condition that he gives him half of the expected reward. The man asks for a beating as a reward or expected it from the outset.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| K130 | 99.95% | A woman (rarely: a man) asks who is the most beautiful of all and receives the answer that she (he) is. One day she (he) is told that someone else is more beautiful. |
| K33E | 99.83% | Newborn children disappear (die) one after another, but are returned to their wife or husband grown up and in good health. |
| K107A1 | 99.72% | When the head of the household leaves on business, those left behind ask him to bring them gifts. The elders ask for something of obvious value (usually clothing and jewellery), while the youngest ask for something unusual and, at first glance, of little value (a flower, a bird, etc.). As a result, it is the youngest who, having overcome trials, achieves success in life. |
| K57C | 99.69% | The prince puts a ring on the finger of a beautiful girl, not knowing that she is the very girl who works in his kitchen. The girl slips the ring into the prince's food, and he recognises it. |
| K165 | 99.63% | The young man has never experienced fear and wants to know what it is like. Robbers and evil spirits do not frighten him. |
| I59A | 99.59% | Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with stories about the theft of various items, the value of which is insignificant (straw, firewood, cabbage, etc.). |
| M164A | 99.58% | Asking animals whether his mouth really smells bad (or his lair is dirty), the predator (lion, wolf) kills both those who answer honestly and those who flatter him. The cunning one says he cannot answer because he has a cold (he forgot his glasses). |
| M106E | 99.54% | A man says that provisions have been made for the winter, in case of need, etc. In the absence of the owner, a man enters the house and claims that his name is Winter (Ramadan, Necessity, etc.). The woman thinks that her husband meant this man and gives him all the provisions. |
| K155B | 99.53% | A girl lets down her hair, which another character uses to climb up to her. |
| K65C | 99.51% | A woman (rarely a man) hides some of her children (less often, all of them) or some of her domestic animals from God. According to God, the hidden children become either poor people or creatures of a non-human nature, and the hidden domestic animals become wild. |
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
39 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 39 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Egypt, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Ireland, Spain, Spaniards, Aragon, 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, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Swedes, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Uzbek, Persians, Georgians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Frisians, Faroe Islands, Berbers of Algeria, Russian Federation
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