Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M112A — The turtle catches the thief.
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
OverviewAnimals take turns guarding water or food or using water. The deceiver takes what he needs or prevents others from doing so. The turtle, toad or frog proves to be more cunning than the deceiver and catches him. See motif M112.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 9, Identification of protagonists of the stories with particular animals or persons with particular qualities.
M11 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedM11. The character gives others food extracted from his or someone else's body or contaminated with bodily secretions, without revealing the source of the food.
M11a. The character gives others the fish extracted from his body.
M11b. A woman feeds a man with good-quality meat or fat, which she cuts from her own flesh or extracts from her body, and stops doing so when he learns about the source of the food.
M11c. Without harming himself, a male character cuts off, pierces, roasts, holds over a fire, etc. a part of his body (or his wife's body). The character cooks the meat, fat, etc. obtained in this way and treats his guest to it. This food is not perceived as unclean (cf. motifs M11B and M38).
m11d. The character makes food taste good by adding salt to it. Another character learns that the cook extracts this salt from his own body (it is contained in his bodily secretions).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B2G | 100.00% | The chameleon walked on the ground when it had not yet hardened. |
| B98B | 100.00% | The Bat comes into conflict with other creatures in connection with someone's death or funeral. |
| B98C | 100.00% | The heavenly deity could have healed the bat's mother or child, but did not do so, and they died. |
| C30B | 100.00% | In response to the claims of an animal or spirit, a person offers to remove their traces from the field or to walk without leaving any traces. The spirit is unable to do so. |
| D13HH | 100.00% | A person visiting another world should not laugh or show surprise when seeing strange things. Those who break this rule will perish or suffer harm. |
| E1B1 | 100.00% | A man who has married an unusual girl is warned that she must not perform certain tasks or eat certain foods. Other members of his household ensure that the young woman breaks the prohibition, and as a result she dies or disappears. |
| E31B | 100.00% | Several women participate in reviving a dead man and argue about who did more to revive him. |
| F73A | 100.00% | The vulva is an unhealed wound on the body of the first women, or the first humans did not copulate because they thought that the vulva was a wound. |
| H1BB | 100.00% | One character refuses to resurrect another's beloved dog, and this conflict is linked to the loss of the ability to resurrect people. |
| H31 | 100.00% | God summons several characters, including man and the heavenly bodies, and makes man mortal and the heavenly bodies immortal. |
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
23 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 23 traditions: Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Sanye (Aweer), Shone (Shona, =Mashona, =Karanga), Makoni (Shoni dialect), Remba (=Hungwe, Wahungwe); Zezuru, Rozwi, Ndau (Vandau), Tonga, Ila (Baila), Nyungwe (Tete), Nyamwesi, Sumbwa, Nyatutu, Kiniramba, Isanzu, Kikuyu, Chuka, Embu, Emberre, Mwimbe, Kamba, Tharaka, Hehe, Pangwa (Upper Rufudji area), Bena, Matumbi, Ngoni, Pogolo, (Ma)konde, Mawiha, Bemba (Wemba, Babemba; incl Ambo, Lala, Lamba, Bisa), Holoholo, Kaonde, Sakata, Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Boa, Komo, (Ba)Nyanga, Mbole, Mbundu (Umbundu, Kimbundu, Chimbundu, Ovimbundu), Kwanyama, Owambo (=Ambo), Tswana (Chwana), Suto (Soto; incl Pedi, Mbire), Cross-River: Efik, Ibibio, Anaang (Anang), Ikom, Abua, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Khoekhoe (=Hottentot; incl Nama, Korana); Damara, Tonga (Tsonga; incl, Soli, Sala, Lenje), Scythians, Scythe, Comoros
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