Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K35B — The most delicious dish.
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 hero gives his rivals the food that the king sent them all to get, but what the rivals got turns out to be poisonous, useless, or tasteless, while what the hero brought, regardless of how it looks, gets praised.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K35 has 13 other sub-motifs
RelatedK35. The deceiver pretends to be a hero in order to take his place (to possess his woman). (This motif includes all texts with motif K35a3).
K35a. In exchange for improving his current situation, the character agrees to have his body injured or branded.
K35a1. Setting off on a journey, a person (often against the advice of their horse) picks up a precious feather. Upon learning of this, an authoritative character gives them difficult tasks.
K35a2. A man kills an animal with glowing fur. Upon learning of this, an authoritative figure gives him difficult tasks.
K35a3. In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him.
K35a4. In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns.
K35a5. An authoritative character leaves an object (a letter) for a little boy, by which he will be able to recognise him when he grows up and comes to him.
K35a6. The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found.
K35a7. A character finds a feather, the touch of which brings health and beauty.
K35b. The hero gives his rivals the food that the king sent them all to get, but what the rivals got turns out to be poisonous, useless, or tasteless, while what the hero brought, regardless of how it looks, gets praised.
K35c. The dev (ajdaha, sea king) did not kill the man who descended to him, as people assumed, but rewarded him because he greeted him and/or answered his question correctly.
K35c1. The young man is not killed, but rewarded, because he answered correctly (evasively) the question of a powerful character â which of the two women he should marry, which is more beautiful, which object or material is more valuable, etc.
K35c2. When the ship unexpectedly stops, the hero descends to the bottom of the sea, behaves correctly with the local inhabitants, and returns to the ship.
K35c3. For reasons that are not immediately clear, the ship stops in the middle of the sea (rarely: a horse stops in the middle of the road).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I87A1 | 99.35% | Two people engage in a dialogue, contradicting each other in their descriptions of the sizes of creatures and objects. |
| K99A2 | 99.30% | One person has a dream, and another buys it and obtains what was predicted in the dream. |
| N6 | 99.27% | horse tells the rider to whip it so hard that his blood splashes, his skin peels off, the meat is cut to the bone, etc. The rider follows these instructions. |
| K27L1 | 99.15% | Voluntarily subjecting himself to trials, the character allows himself to be frozen in ice and cannot free himself. |
| M198A2 | 99.14% | A person determines, based on characteristics invisible to others, that a valuable item (a gemstone, an expensive sword) has a flaw and is of little value. |
| L125A | 99.01% | The woman with whom the man has come together is a creature of a non-human nature. This becomes clear after she suffers from thirst at night and, finding no water in the house, takes on her true form, turning into a snake, separating her limbs from her torso, etc. |
| M148 | 98.99% | One zoomorphic character asks another to agree to be eaten â usually saying that he will be resurrected and compensated for the inconvenience caused. The animal agrees. |
| B73 | 98.98% | The character turns into a cuckoo. This happens so quickly that one foot remains unshod or one braid remains unbraided. Therefore, it is believed that the cuckoo's legs or wings are different. See motif A43A. |
| M197D | 98.98% | To find the thief, a man gives sticks to the assembled crowd and says that the thief's stick will become longer overnight. The thief cuts off the end of his stick and is thus discovered. |
| N20 | 98.96% | fairy tale text ends with a formula that says that the characters have achieved their desires, goals and/or happiness, or that God has fulfilled their wishes. |
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
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Somali, Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Uzbek, Wakhi, Ishkashimi (including Sanglich), Munji, Yazgulami, Tajik, Ingush, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kalmyk, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kazakh, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Daur (Daghur), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori
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