Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

K64 — Escape from the cave of the herd owner, ATU 1137, K521.1, K603.

175 Myths, legends and folktales

175 Unique narratives for motif K64

81 Cultures & traditions where K64 is told

3 Sub-motifs of motif K64

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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

Overview

Finding himself in the dwelling of the master of the herds or the owner of wild animals, the character fears that the master will kill him. To escape to freedom, he clings to the underside of one of the animals leaving the pen or cave.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

K64 has 3 other sub-motifs

K64.  Finding himself in the dwelling of the master of the herds or the owner of wild animals, the character fears that the master will kill him. To escape to freedom, he clings to the underside of one of the animals leaving the pen or cave.
K64a.  A man blinds a sleeping or immobile giant-cannibal and escapes from him.
K64b.  The hero's opponent provokes him to touch an object that turns out to be sticky. The hero sticks to the object (see Miller 1890: 41). See motif K64.
K64c.  The person who gouges out or burns out the cyclops's only (sighted) eye is a blacksmith.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of K64’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
J32D	99.22%	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.
K152	99.14%	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.
K27R2	99.08%	Task: bring objects (fruit, wood, water, etc.) that perform actions characteristic of humans (sing, dance, yawn, laugh, etc.).
M127B	99.04%	A character attaches a vessel or part of a vessel to their body, lowers it into the water, and the vessel pulls them along.
B33A	99.03%	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").
K85D	99.01%	Covered with skins (coated with resin and sprinkled with sand, etc.), the mighty horse becomes invulnerable to the bites of other horses.
K157	99.00%	The 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.
I4	98.97%	When a vehicle moves across the sky, thunder rumbles.
C33A	98.92%	Throughout the year, someone tries to saw through or break the chain or rope that holds him or another character. On a certain day of the year, when the chain has become completely thin, it is restored to its former state, or the pole to which the chain is attached is reinserted into the ground. Cf. motif G8d.
L114B1	98.90%	The character sequentially steals various items from the cannibal's house and finally catches or kills him.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

81 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 81 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Egypt, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Sindhi, Koreans, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, France, 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, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Livonians, Karelians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Tajik, Baluch, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Ingush, Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Kumyk, Terekemen, Tats, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Georgians, Armenians, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Mari (Cheremis), Udmurt, Darkhad, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Blackfoot, Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, Gros Ventre, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Kutenai, Jicarilla, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Lipan, Lisu, Lolo (incl. Bai), Achang, Yi, Axi, Nasu, Jino, Taungyo, Chechens, Galicians, Icelanders, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Russian Federation

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