Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F83A — Insult conveyed through children, ATU 36.
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
OverviewOne character asks the children of another to convey an insult to their mother or father â usually announcing his intention to make love to their mother. {ATU data is included in the correlation table, but not in the text}.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
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.
F83 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedF83. The character does something forbidden and indecent in a place hidden from prying eyes, and then asks people what's new. They reply that there is no news â except that so-and-so (the character) did such-and-such.
F83a. One character asks the children of another to convey an insult to their mother or father â usually announcing his intention to make love to their mother. {ATU data is included in the correlation table, but not in the text}.
F83b. A strong female animal chases a weak male, but gets stuck between trees, rocks, etc. The fugitive mocks his pursuer, usually raping her. {In ATU, motifs f83a and f83b are described as one plot type, ATU 36. The degree of their plot connection can only be determined by having the original texts}.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K75A3 | 99.96% | Appearing incognito to an authoritative character, the hero works for him as a groom. |
| M199K | 99.85% | A giant sends a man to fetch water, giving him a huge wineskin. The man cannot carry so much water, but he gets out of the situation with a trick (he pretends that he wants to bring the whole well at once; that he has already brought the water and drunk it all himself; etc.). |
| L100G | 99.81% | A servant serves his master a roasted bird, one of whose legs has already been eaten. He tells him to look at the chickens, geese, etc., which are standing on one leg. When they run away, it becomes clear that they all have two legs. Usually, the servant says that if the master had scared the roasted goose, it would have shown its second leg too. |
| M199 | 99.75% | A man and a giant (devil, predator, robber) agree to test their strength by crushing a stone. The man squeezes a piece of cheese, an egg, etc., and the giant believes that he is facing a strong man. {ATU 1060 includes variants in which the character squeezes brains (guts, etc.) out of the ground, without specifying this in the definition; where we were able to verify this, we did not include such traditions}. |
| E9O | 99.63% | A man marries a woman who has the appearance of a frog or toad. |
| F70E | 99.62% | A girl pretends to be a man, magically acquires male nature and lives with his wife. Cf. motif K137 (in Uther 2004, plot 514 mistakenly includes a Karakalpak text with our motif K137). |
| L100 | 99.51% | A young man and woman fleeing from their pursuers take on the appearance of different but associatively related creatures or objects (a pond and a duck, a minaret and a muezzin, etc.). Usually, their pursuers do not recognise them. |
| J62 | 99.48% | The character turns those who come to him into inanimate objects (usually stones). (In variants of the ATU 303 plot, the motif is often absent; original texts are needed). |
| K113A | 99.44% | A young man throws an object, shoots an arrow, etc. Where the arrow lands (where the object falls), the young man finds a wife or a means of obtaining one. |
| K67A | 99.43% | A character of low status annoys characters of high status. Learning of the intention of the characters of high status to drown him or his property (rarely: to strangle him), he arranges for one of them or their property to be drowned instead. |
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
20 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, France, Dutch, Flemish, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Albanians, Balkarians, Latvians, Finns, Western Ukrainians, Tajik, Kazakh, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Frisians, Russian Federation
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