Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M62B — When aiming at a hero, they hit each other
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
OverviewTwo or more characters aim their weapons at the hero in between, but they hit each other.
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.
M62 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedM62a. The hero quietly damages each of the two characters; they accuse each other, quarrel, fight.
M62b. Two or more characters aim their weapons at the hero in between, but they hit each other.
M62c. A weak character takes turns negotiating with two strong ones to compete in a tug of war. They don't know they're pulling each other's rope or that they're tied to a tree.
M62d. trickster wears rotten skin, pretends to be another animal, and says that the name (i.e. himself) has caused him to get sick. The animals are frightened, they do not dare to take revenge on the trickster for his tricks. See M62C motif.
M62e. A weak character alternately negotiates with two strong ones to cultivate the site. Each of the strong works in due time and does not know about the existence of the other. As a result, a weak character takes the entire crop.
M62f. The character asks others to come to him (to help him with his work or get a debt). Those called come, each next one is stronger than the previous one and eats it (or the previous one runs away when they see him), the last two die when they fight each other.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M30C | 91.71% | A character flying through the air falls, violating the ban on talking, looking down, flying over villages, etc. (The character is not dropped by the person carrying it and flies above the ground, not descends from the sky or rises to the sky). |
| L99 | 89.87% | Having captured the character, the ogre orders him to bring wood or a spit to roast him. The character deliberately procrastinates, brings the wrong thing, or is helped to escape by some animal. |
| M60 | 88.72% | After injuring a demon (robber), the hero goes to his locus. There he, or (rarely) his assistant, pretends to be a doctor and finishes off an opponent. |
| B42C | 87.83% | In the cosmic hunting plot, the object of pursuit is a bear. See motifs B42 and B42P. |
| M93A | 86.01% | The character punishes a part of his body (burns his ass, breaks his eyes) for not sounding the alarm. See Motive M93; cf. Motive M142. |
| I2 | 85.88% | Lightning bolts fly from the eyes or mouth {specified} of a creature embodying a thunderstorm. See motif I1. |
| C6D | 85.40% | Land (earth) is formed from a small amount of solid substance (silt, sand, clay, mud) that characters retrieve from the underworld (usually from the bottom of the ocean). |
| A38A | 85.34% | The sun is caught in a loop made of a woman's pubic hair. |
| L9B | 85.31% | The sharp elbows or (rarely) knees of the character resemble knives or awls. |
| D4C | 84.87% | Characters obtain the warm season from its original owners. |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Lavrung, Jiarong; Qiang (incl rGyalrong), Ancient Greece, Svans, Georgians, Uyghur, Dolgans, Ainu, Dogrib, Slavey, Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Montagnais, Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Assiniboine, Eastern Shoshone, Amuesha, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal)
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 Š 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.
Š 2024â2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.