Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K107A1 — The head of the household brings the promised gifts, (ATU 425C).
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
OverviewWhen the head of the household leaves on business, those left behind ask him to bring them gifts. The elders ask for something of obvious value (usually clothing and jewellery), while the youngest ask for something unusual and, at first glance, of little value (a flower, a bird, etc.). As a result, it is the youngest who, having overcome trials, achieves success in life.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K10 has 9 other sub-motifs
RelatedK10. A monstrous bird (bat) attacks people, heroes engage in battle with it. See motifs K10A – K10G.
K10a. Heroes kill a dangerous bird; during or before the battle, they hide in a shelter (hut, cage, vessel, sack, well) or cover themselves with an object that protects the body.
K10b. A huge bird carries away to its nest a cage, bag or other container in which people are located. See motif 10A.
K10c. The hero (twins) is weighed down with the blood-filled intestines of an animal. A bird pierces them with its claw, blood flows, the bird thinks its prey is dead, and brings the man to its nest. He kills the adult bird and either kills or transforms the chicks. Cf. motif M91A.
K10d. A flying monster carries the hero away to a distant island. The hero kills the monster and uses a boat, bridge or rope made from part of the monster's body to return.
K10e. In the bird's habitat, the hero finds the people it has kidnapped and helps them return home.
K10f. The character turns the children of a flying monster into ordinary eagles or owls.
K10g. Finding himself in the nest of a giant bird on a tree or rock, a man descends to the ground with the help of an adult bird (attaching its feathers or wings to himself), and more often - a chick (grabbing its legs, sitting on the chick, attaching its feathers or wings).
K10h. A bird carries a woman or boy to its nest, feeds them, but does not let them go. The captive runs away.
K10i. The tree opens its trunk and hides the hero fleeing from a man-eating bird. The monster that flies in after him is held tightly by the tree, which squeezes its trunk again.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M206 | 99.72% | A guard (nobleman) agrees to let a man pass to an authoritative figure on condition that he gives him half of the expected reward. The man asks for a beating as a reward or expected it from the outset. |
| M106E | 99.71% | A man says that provisions have been made for the winter, in case of need, etc. In the absence of the owner, a man enters the house and claims that his name is Winter (Ramadan, Necessity, etc.). The woman thinks that her husband meant this man and gives him all the provisions. |
| M118A | 99.69% | The chieftain (demon) brings robbers (other demons) to the courtyard of someone else's house, hiding them in empty jugs, barrels, etc. At night, they are supposed to attack the owners. A girl or young woman (less often, the owner of the house) learns of the danger and destroys the robbers (usually by pouring boiling water into each jug or barrel). |
| K65C | 99.66% | A woman (rarely a man) hides some of her children (less often, all of them) or some of her domestic animals from God. According to God, the hidden children become either poor people or creatures of a non-human nature, and the hidden domestic animals become wild. |
| I59A | 99.65% | Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with stories about the theft of various items, the value of which is insignificant (straw, firewood, cabbage, etc.). |
| K33E | 99.63% | Newborn children disappear (die) one after another, but are returned to their wife or husband grown up and in good health. |
| K130 | 99.58% | A woman (rarely: a man) asks who is the most beautiful of all and receives the answer that she (he) is. One day she (he) is told that someone else is more beautiful. |
| K165 | 99.58% | The young man has never experienced fear and wants to know what it is like. Robbers and evil spirits do not frighten him. |
| M164A | 99.53% | Asking animals whether his mouth really smells bad (or his lair is dirty), the predator (lion, wolf) kills both those who answer honestly and those who flatter him. The cunning one says he cannot answer because he has a cold (he forgot his glasses). |
| K57C | 99.51% | The prince puts a ring on the finger of a beautiful girl, not knowing that she is the very girl who works in his kitchen. The girl slips the ring into the prince's food, and he recognises it. |
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
49 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 49 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Morocco Arabs, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Nuba, Hausa, Bengali, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Aragon, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Georgians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Wallons, Picardie, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Frisians, Faroe Islands, Iraq, Russian Federation
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