Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
D13I — Broken tooth.
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 character amuses the audience in order to identify the deceiver and thief by his broken tooth. The latter laughs and gives himself away.
Berezkin category: Fire and Laughter
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.
D13 has 11 other sub-motifs
RelatedD13. A character loses their values (gives them away) and/or suffers damage/is healed/is transformed if they laugh or hear laughter.
D13A. To amuse the owner of fire or the Sun, others dance indecently, imitate copulation, display their genitals, or publicly relieve themselves.
D13B. Menstruation passes from men to women after women laugh at an old man.
D13c. Two companions or brothers live together. The older one has a wife, whom he hides. To discover her, the younger one, left alone in the house, makes her laugh.
D13d. One character tries to make another character, who is hiding somewhere in the house, laugh in order to find them.
D13e. Hunters perish because they laughed at the killed (and revived) animal.
D13f. Laughter causes the appearance or spread of fire or the sun. Usually, the owner of fire or the sun loses it after bursting into laughter.
D13g. When the character starts laughing, people see his or her scary mouth (lots of teeth, human flesh on the teeth); they kill the monster or run away.
D13h. Those who have entered the world of the dead should not laugh.
D13hh. A person visiting another world should not laugh or show surprise when seeing strange things. Those who break this rule will perish or suffer harm.
D13i. The character amuses the audience in order to identify the deceiver and thief by his broken tooth. The latter laughs and gives himself away.
D13i1. The characteristics of a character can be determined by his teeth. By laughing and showing his teeth, the character reveals himself.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B112 | 99.40% | The character is called upon to help perform a task (usually to transport property or provisions across a river) and takes away what has been entrusted to him. A woodpecker or titmouse returns the stolen goods. The owner of the property paints or dresses the bird, hence the colour of its plumage |
| M108B | 99.40% | The deceiver takes away someone else's property in a boat or carries it away. A bird (usually a woodpecker) deceives him and returns the property to its owners. |
| B109A | 99.00% | Originally, the (human) bear lived in the sky, then descended to earth (and became a bear). |
| M60B1 | 99.00% | The crow promises to cure the fish, and eats it herself. |
| K25A7 | 98.77% | The older brother hunts, the younger brother takes care of the household. After catching the winged maiden, the older brother takes her as his wife, while the younger brother, out of naivety, returns her wings to her. The older brother sets off in search of his wife. |
| K89 | 98.58% | After getting married, the heroine and her rival (witch, frog) must bring gifts from their relatives. The heroine finds her brother, brothers or sister who went missing at the beginning of the story and receives rich gifts from them, while the gifts brought by her rival are worthless. |
| M108 | 98.52% | The character is called upon to help perform a task (usually to transport property or provisions across a river) and takes away what has been entrusted to him. |
| K25A5 | 97.87% | The older brother is a hunter, the younger brother (rarely a sister) is a housekeeper. Learning that bird maidens come down to the younger brother, the older brother teaches the younger brother what he must do so that the older brother can catch one of them and make her his wife. The wife finds feather clothing and flies away (often the younger brother, out of simplicity, gives it to her), and the husband sets off in search of her. |
| L65C | 97.87% | The eldest of three or more sisters turns out to be a cannibal, devouring her younger sisters and other people. |
| K89B | 96.95% | At the beginning of the story, the sister parts with her brothers (or one brother), who die, remain on trees, on a hill, ascend to the sky, etc. Usually, after a successful marriage, the sister meets her brothers again, who have acquired superhuman nature. |
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: Songhai, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Dolgans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Western Tungus (Evenki), Western Siberia Tungus (Evenki): Sym River, Ket River, Udeghe, Oroch, Uilta (Orok), Nanai, Negidal, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area
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