Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K157 — Robbers killed one by one, ATU 304.
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 lures his opponents out one by one and cuts off each one's head as soon as they appear. Less commonly, a multi-headed opponent sticks out its heads one by one, and the hero cuts them off.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K15 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedK15. A woman swears that she has not been with anyone except (her husband and) a dirty beggar. Others do not know that her lover has taken on the appearance of a beggar.
K15a. The hero secretly replaces the weapon or magical tool of a powerful character with a worthless fake. Traditions in which the replaced weapon belongs to Grom are highlighted in bold.
K15b. By secretly switching the vessels containing living and dead (giving and taking away strength) water (rarely: oil, etc.), from which the combatants drink during a duel, the hero defeats his opponent.
K15c. The owner of stone (ice) clothing kills people. By hiding or replacing his clothing, the hero kills him.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27R2 | 99.93% | Task: bring objects (fruit, wood, water, etc.) that perform actions characteristic of humans (sing, dance, yawn, laugh, etc.). |
| J62C | 99.78% | In order to destroy the young man, the antagonist arouses in his sister (rarely: in him himself) a desire to possess wonderful objects, the attempt to obtain which is deadly dangerous. The young man sets off to obtain the objects. |
| K33A | 99.78% | Young siblings (most often a brother and sister) leave home. One of them (rarely: several brothers) accidentally breaks a taboo and is transformed into an animal (usually a hoofed animal) or (rarely) a bird; later, the spell is usually broken. |
| J32D | 99.77% | The girl will be won by the one who, on horseback or by some other means, quickly reaches a hard-to-reach place (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top steps of a staircase, a bridge, the bottom of a chasm, jumps over a moat, etc.). Usually, the girl herself is located where the suitor must climb or (rarely) descend. In Italian versions, the hero wins tournaments. |
| B33A | 99.75% | Deciding that it has become (or will soon become) warm, the character believes that winter is over (most often an old woman goes to graze cattle), but dies from the cold or the cattle driven out to pasture perish. Cf. motif I84A ("The frozen son of God"). |
| M153 | 99.65% | A hoofed animal asks a predator to examine its hoof under various pretexts, and then kills or maims it with a kick. |
| M127B | 99.62% | A character attaches a vessel or part of a vessel to their body, lowers it into the water, and the vessel pulls them along. |
| K152 | 99.61% | A man saves a devil who is suffering from the proximity of a certain character or object. To reward his saviour, the devil promises to possess a princess and leave her when the man comes to treat her. The devil either breaks his promise or warns the man not to try to cure those whom the devil will possess later. The man informs the devil that the character or object he fears so much is approaching again. The devil flees and never returns. |
| K147 | 99.54% | The enemy dismembers the hero's body. The remains are tied to the horse's saddle, or the horse itself picks them up and brings them to friendly characters. They revive the hero. |
| K64A | 99.53% | A man blinds a sleeping or immobile giant-cannibal and escapes from 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
55 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 55 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Egypt, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Morocco Arabs, Somali, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, 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, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Latvians, Karelians, Norwegians, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Rushani, Shughni, Khufi, Bartangi, Tajik, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kara Kalpak, Kirghiz, Uyghur, Turkmen, Bashkirs, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Frisians, Transylvanian Saksons, Russian Federation
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