Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M135A — The wolf's misfortunes, ATU 122A.
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
OverviewA wolf (or, less commonly, another predator) approaches various (more than one type of) domestic animals (animals and humans) in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil the request, remains hungry and is usually beaten.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
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.
M13 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedM13. A person appeals to higher powers with a request, without considering that his words may have a different meaning than he intended. Either a person accidentally utters the wrong word or accidentally and hastily expresses an empty or absurd desire. As a result, something happens that he did not want at all. Cf. motifs I58B and M13A.Most of the references in ATU 775 (Midas' short-sighted wish) are either incorrect or impossible to verify. In connection with this plot, the reference to Uther 2000 is taken into account only for the Lithuanian variant, since there is a summary of the Latvian one, and for the Greek one, since the motif exists in Ancient Greece and among the neighbouring South Slavs. For ATU 750A, the reference to Bäcker 1988 in connection with the "Chinese" is incorrect; these are Manchus, not Chinese, and the stated motif is not present in the text.
M13a. A deity and a human meet so that the former can fulfil the latter's request. As a result, the human is turned to stone. Usually (except for the Squamish), one of the supplicants wants eternal life and is turned to stone. See motif M13.
M13B. People are promised the fulfilment of two (three, four) wishes. Without thinking, they wish for something they do not want at all. The last wish is spent on returning to the original state.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K103B | 99.83% | A cow (goat) miraculously spins or weaves: it chews tow, turning it into thread, orders the yarn to be wound onto its horns, put into its ear, etc. |
| M114B1 | 99.80% | When answering the question of what is the sweetest (fattest, fastest, etc.), a clever person names abstract concepts and entities (while a foolish person names specific objects or creatures). |
| L94B1 | 99.80% | A man receives a box (bag, horn, etc.) as a gift, which he must open only at home. Driven by curiosity, he opens it on the way, and everything that should make him wealthy (houses, livestock, etc.) spills out. The demon who appears agrees to return everything, but sets a condition, the severity of which the man does not immediately understand. |
| C3 | 99.79% | The snake (eel, frog) saved the ship (or the whole world) by plugging the hole from which water was pouring with its body. |
| M135B | 99.75% | The wolf (rarely a bear, jackal, or fox) approaches various domestic animals in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil their request, remains hungry and usually beaten, and in conclusion blames himself ("Am I a mullah to read?" etc.). In the Persian version, the fox tells him this. |
| K27X1 | 99.66% | Having received a difficult task (usually: to bring an object or creature that has no specific characteristics, such as "something, I don't know what," "a strange wonder," etc.), the hero meets an invisible man who serves others; he is kind to him, and the man becomes his assistant. (This motif is certainly present in some texts of the ATU 465A plot, but it is not specifically highlighted in the definition). (Cf. motif K131B). |
| N27B | 99.47% | It is said that someone is only lacking bird’s milk or that somewhere the only thing missing is bird’s milk |
| B33D | 99.46% | An elderly woman embodies winter, is associated with snow, and/or at the border between winter and spring (autumn) there are several very cold days associated with a certain old woman. |
| K56A9 | 99.45% | When a small animal (usually a mouse) rings a bell, beats a drum, etc., a blind or distant antagonist believes that these sounds are made by the hero (heroine). Thanks to this, the hero (heroine) is saved. |
| I136 | 99.41% | The rolling wheel (and the character riding on it) is a creature or weapon hostile to the hero (people) that he uses. |
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
70 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 70 traditions: Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Sinhalese; Vedda, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Aragon, 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, Kashubians, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, 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, Ancient Greece, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Norwegians, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Uzbek, Tajik, Baluch, Pashto, Persians, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Ingush, Laks, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Nogai, Tats, Georgians, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Uyghur, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Daur (Daghur), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Chechens, Salars, Galicians, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria, Faroe Islands, Terek Cossacks, Transylvanian Saksons, Bosnians, Russian Federation
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