Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M83A — He cries for dead children
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 characters are arguing which one is older. After some people tell us how long they were born, the latter says that this and that happened in his memory at that time.
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.
M83 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedM83. Each character claims that he is older and appeared before this world or (Ingush) that his father was cosmic in size.
M83a. The characters are arguing which one is older. After some people tell us how long they were born, the latter says that this and that happened in his memory at that time.
M83b. Two (or more) characters agree to give food to whoever has the best dream. One talks about a feast he went to in a dream (or says he was in a different world), the second admits that he ate everything alone - he was sure that after the feast, the first one would not qualify for food (which someone who finds himself in a different world does not need food).
M83c. Animals argue who of them gets drunk easier. The last one falls down because he becomes drunk as soon as somebody talks about alcohol
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B115 | 99.60% | Conifers and some other trees and shrubs (small shrubs) became evergreen after the elixir of immortality was accidentally spilled on them. Cf. motif H6b. |
| K38B1 | 99.45% | Every time a mare gives birth to a wonderful foal, a bird carries it away. Setting out in search of the foals, the hero kills the snake that was devouring the bird's chicks. The bird returns the foals. |
| M170B | 99.45% | A zoomorphic character stuck its head into a vessel, which broke, leaving the rim on its neck. The character uses this as proof of its high status. |
| I87A1 | 99.36% | Two people engage in a dialogue, contradicting each other in their descriptions of the sizes of creatures and objects. |
| K159 | 99.34% | When two characters are fighting, someone nearby wants one of them to slip (while the other remains firmly on their feet) and throws something under their feet for this purpose. |
| K109 | 99.28% | The hero is advised to ask supernatural characters for something insignificant (a puppy, a cup) in return for his service. What he receives turns out to be the daughter of a deity. Another character unsuccessfully tries to take the hero's wife away from him. |
| N6 | 99.23% | horse tells the rider to whip it so hard that his blood splashes, his skin peels off, the meat is cut to the bone, etc. The rider follows these instructions. |
| K27ZZ4 | 99.16% | A conceited prince (the son of a merchant) beats his wife every day (he marries on the condition that he will beat his wife every day). She saves him by demonstrating her superiority. |
| L81A1 | 99.16% | Noticing a red bead (pebble) that has fallen into the hearth, the character thinks it is a coal and does not understand that the fire in the hearth has gone out. |
| L95A | 99.15% | A person sees lungs or a liver lying on the ground or floating in the water. As soon as he touches them, a demonic character appears before him. |
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
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Koreans, Estonians, Uzbek, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Karachays, Balkar, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Georgians, Kalmyk, Stavropol Turkmen (recent migrants from Mangyshlak Peninsular), Kazakh, Kirghiz, Turkmen, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori
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