Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M90A5 — Golden apples
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 story mentions the golden fruits (rarely leaves) of a tree, usually golden apples.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
M90 has 9 other sub-motifs
RelatedM90. Someone asks a riddle about the material from which a particular item is made or originated. It is almost impossible to guess, but the character learns the secret, forcing the hero or heroine to fulfill the conditions set. (Usually requires a girl to marry him).
M90a. The girl will marry the person who guessed her name, or someone who will fit the ring, or someone who says what material a particular object is made of or originated, etc. The deceiver fulfills the condition.
M90a1. It is required to sew clothes from the skin of lice (fleas) or guess the origin of a large animal, a large skin, the contents of the box; the animal (skin) arose from lice (fleas), in the box - louse.
M90a2. It should be guessed that the plant grew from a part of the body of a man or a snake or from dirt scraped off from the body
M90a3. plant grows from a killed snake or part of a snake's body.
M90a4. A tree is described on which jewelry or ornaments hang instead of fruits; individual parts of the tree are made of different metals or (semi) precious stones.
M90a5. The story mentions the golden fruits (rarely leaves) of a tree, usually golden apples.
M90a6. Owning some apples ensures eternal youth.
M90b. The character was wrong when he claimed that the sun would never rise in the west or go down after midnight.
M90c. man agreed with another that he could take the first thing he touched from his house. The visitor is going to take his wife, but when he takes up the stepladder to go up to the woman, he is told to pick up the stepladder and leave.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I59B1 | 99.90% | The Milky Way – the road to a distant city, usually with religious significance (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.). |
| M163 | 99.89% | A man arrives in a country where there are many mice (rats, snakes) but no cats. He sells a cat there and receives a reward. |
| K107A | 99.88% | Before reaching their goal, the character must wear out iron shoes or an iron staff. |
| L100F1 | 99.83% | A worker (the young son of the master) arranges things so that the food prepared by the mistress for her lover, who is working in the field, goes to the master, and when the master goes to the man, not knowing that he is his wife's lover, the man thinks that the husband is coming to kill him and flees. |
| M191A | 99.82% | Mice decide to hang a bell around a cat's neck or tail so that they will know when it is approaching. Usually, none of the mice are able to do this. |
| M39A6G | 99.79% | person explains that he lends part of his earnings, and pays the debt in the other part, i.e. raises children and supports parents. |
| K120 | 99.76% | The girl's father (rarely: stepfather) intends to marry her (since she is the only one who meets the requirements for a bride). Usually, the girl manages to avoid the marriage. |
| K80B | 99.76% | The mother or stepmother kills the boy (rarely a girl) and usually feeds her husband, i.e. the child's father, his flesh. The boy is reborn, usually (at first) in the form of a bird that tells the story of what happened. Cf. motif K80A. Traditions in which the boy is killed by his own mother are highlighted in bold. |
| M106F | 99.75% | A stranger tells a woman that he has come from the other world. The woman gives him money and belongings with a request to pass them on to her deceased son, husband, etc. Usually, the woman's (new) husband (or son), upon learning of the deception, rides after him, and as a result, the deceiver steals his horse. |
| J32F | 99.73% | While standing guard, the hero discovers who is stealing fruit (usually apples) from the garden. |
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
54 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 54 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Algeria Arabs, Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Ireland, Wales, England, British, Bretons, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Maltese, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, France, 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, Slovakians, Slovaks, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Hittite, Hurrit, Latvians, Finns, Norwegians, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Ossetians, Ingush, Laks, Nogai, Tats, Svans, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Gagauz, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mordvins, Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Chechens, Wallons, Picardie, Kordofan, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Lutsi (Ludza), Russian Federation, Spain
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