Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K77B1 — Wolf's Head, ATU 125.
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 they see predators, domestic animals consciously or accidentally behave in such a way that the predators flee in fear.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
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.
K77 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedK77a. Various objects and animals (rarely: only animals, but including those that are safe in reality) defeat a strong enemy (usually joining the hero who is going to take revenge on the strong enemy for an insult and hiding in the house where the enemy is supposed to appear), attacking him in turn; he dies or flees. Either someone or the attacked character himself places objects in his dwelling that then harm that character.
K77b. Having left their owners, domestic animals find an empty house or build a house. Robbers or predatory animals come there. Domestic animals attack or simply scare them away. Predators do not understand who they are facing and flee.
K77b1. When they see predators, domestic animals consciously or accidentally behave in such a way that the predators flee in fear.
K77b2. The goat (goat, ram, etc.) responds to the predator's questions in the sense that parts of its body are weapons and other objects designed to kill the questioner, or that the goat is actually armed.
K77b3. Goats encounter a wolf. One goat has one stomach, the second has two, the third has three, and so on. The goat with the most stomachs kills or scares away the wolf.
K77c. Various objects and/or animals hide in the house where a strong enemy is expected to appear. They take turns attacking or frightening him, and he either dies or flees. See motifs K77a and K77b.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K96 | 98.96% | Several (more than three) brothers marry or must marry in such a way that their wives are sisters. |
| M127A | 98.85% | In response to a character's request to make him laugh or feed him, a bird sits on a person's or animal's head or on a fragile object. Another person tries to knock the bird down, kills or maims the person on whom the bird has landed, or breaks the object. Alternatively, the bird distracts the person's attention, and during this time the character eats the food that the person was carrying. |
| M99A | 98.79% | The character is going to build a house (tower, etc.) from the bones or feathers of birds. |
| I35A2 | 98.40% | Thunder is heard when stones or large vessels are rolled, dragged or overturned in the sky. |
| K27SS | 98.31% | A strong man must overtake a woman, often an old woman. This is difficult or impossible to achieve. |
| J32A1 | 98.30% | But at night someone tramples the field, steals hay, etc. The hero learns that it is horses doing this. |
| K35A | 98.27% | In exchange for improving his current situation, the character agrees to have his body injured or branded. |
| I87AA | 98.26% | Describes a giant bull (rarely: horse): head in one field, body in another; a bathhouse on its tail, a lake on its back; people standing at its head and tail have to walk a long way to meet each other; etc. Usually the bull is killed and eaten (by people in Baltic-Finnish traditions and in Olonets antiquity; by birds in most southern traditions). |
| K126 | 98.21% | A predatory beast or demon eats the hero's horse, but in return is forced or voluntarily helps him. |
| B33 | 98.15% | There is a female character who embodies the wind or is considered the mother or mistress of the winds. |
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
58 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 58 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Arabs of Egypt, Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Algeria Arabs, Hausa, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, 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, Marathi (incl. Bhamta; incl. Mumbai area), Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, France, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Swedes, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Tajik, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Tats, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kazakh, Kirghiz, Uyghur, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash, Udmurt, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Galicians, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori
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