M75C — Treasures on the mountain, ATU 936

A person is offered to climb a rock or tree to get treasures. A return descent is not possible. Doomed to death, the hero remains alive.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

M75.  The character attracts and catches corpse eaters (usually birds) and as a result obtains valuables or returns something valuable (fire, woman, animals, etc.).
M75a.  The character lures a veteran to avenge his fall from the sky. Either the (potauatomi) shovel drops the character or leaves him on top to avenge being lured and caught.
M75b.  A person hides in the skin or carcass of a large animal. A bird brings a skin or carcass to the nest without knowing what it brought the person.
M75b1.  A person (usually of high status) learns that a poor boy who is born will inherit his property or become king. He tries to stop it, but what he predicted comes true.
M75b1a.  A high-ranking person finds out that a (just born) poor or ugly girl is intended for him, or the girl herself finds out that she is destined to become a man's wife of high origin. A betrothed or someone else tries to kill a girl, but only hurts her and the prediction is fulfilled; if the girl is ugly, she becomes beautiful.
M75b2.  bird tries in vain to prevent the marriage, which she learned was inevitable when the future spouses were still children.
M75b3.  Enemies are shown a life-size or larger image of a horse or bull. Not realizing that this is a ruse, they bring the figure to their own territory and are defeated as a result.
M75b4.  To master a woman, the hero hides inside the hollow figure of a horse (bull, deer) or in an animal carcass. The character guarding the woman takes her to her. The hero gets outside and becomes a woman's lover. Or a woman hides inside the figure of a horse, which is taken to the man's chambers.
M75c.  A person is offered to climb a rock or tree to get treasures. A return descent is not possible. Doomed to death, the hero remains alive.
M75d.  A man bereaves vultures of their hunting weapons or amulets

This motif has been recorded in 49 traditions: Yemen, Arabs of Egypt, Arabs of Libya, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Nuba, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Czech, Czechs, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Latvians, Finns, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Uzbek, Tajik, Persians, Karachays, Balkar, Lezgians, Archin, Kürin; Khinalug, Georgians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kara Kalpak, Kirghiz, Uyghur, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Udmurt, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Luri, Bakhtiari, Arabs of Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, Emirates, Oman,, Kordofan, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Morocco, Berbers of Algeria, Tunisia, China, Russian Federation