Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M44C — Food thieves are a young hero
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 young hero steals the older character's food. He is usually caught, but not punished, but invited into the house.
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.
M44 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedM44a. The character discovers that someone is stealing game or fish from his trap, mountain, etc. or ravages his garden, field; he or his messengers wait and catch the thief [magical tales clearly of European origin (e.g. Chamacoco, Wilbert, Simoneau 1987a, No. 121) are not included]. The kidnappers are the first people to get out of the ground, the first men.
M44b. The character discovers that someone is stealing game or fish from his trap, mountain, etc. or ravages his garden, vegetable garden, field; he or his messengers wait and catch the thief. The kidnappers are women, or the aquatic animal is the kidnapper, but when caught, it gives the hero a woman.
M44c. A young hero steals the older character's food. He is usually caught, but not punished, but invited into the house.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| G18 | 94.90% | A boy, woman, or, less commonly, a man asks others to leave him/her in the forest, burn him/her, scatter his/her remains, or drag his/her body to the site of a future vegetable garden. Cultivated plants grow in this place. |
| D5 | 94.08% | The original owner or inventor (but not the embodiment) of fire is a female character. |
| G13B | 91.36% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate mushrooms. Creatures of a non-human nature feed on mushrooms. Mushrooms are imaginary, inferior food. |
| F34B | 91.31% | A girl, woman or group of women voluntarily take as their lover a penis that exists as a special creature, snake, moray eel, lizard, worm, crab, large aquatic animal or aquatic monster, or large terrestrial mammal. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or her offspring, or she herself loses her human nature. The woman's behaviour is condemned. |
| F35 | 90.38% | A character offers another person the meat of his sexual partner, and the other person, unaware, eats or cooks it. |
| F9C | 89.63% | Snake (in Oceania â moray eel) in the vagina; vagina â snake's mouth; snake crawls out of a woman's mouth and bites off a man's penis during intercourse; woman with a toothy womb is associated with a snake. |
| E7 | 89.17% | The path from one part of the world to another passes through a narrow opening. The character gets stuck in the opening, permanently severing the connection between the worlds. |
| B53 | 89.08% | The character's enormous genitals are cut off (usually cut into pieces), thrown away, and transformed into snakes or other creatures or objects. |
| G24 | 89.05% | The first seeds (shoots, tubers) of cultivated or important wild food plants and/or agronomic knowledge were brought from the sky (received from the gods). |
| K10A | 88.82% | Heroes kill a dangerous bird; during or before the battle, they hide in a shelter (hut, cage, vessel, sack, well) or cover themselves with an object that protects the body. |
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
26 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 26 traditions: Malagasy, Melanesians and Papuans of Bismark Archipelago: New Britain (Paparatava, Lakalai, Kuni, Sulka, Gazelle peninsula), New Ireland, St Matthias Group, Mioko (Melanesians between New Britain and New Ireland), Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Rotuma, Ponape, Ngaik, Mwoakil (Mokil), Kusaie (Kosrae), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Arikara, Pawnee, Kiowa, Gros Ventre, Crow, Hidatsa, Yana, Paya (Pech), Sumu, Misquito, Guajiro, Makiritare (Yecuana), Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Wayapi, Emerillon, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Kamayura, Itelmen
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