Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M157D — Grandfather and the Turnip, ATU 2044.
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 (mainly domestic) and/or people join forces to achieve a goal (usually to pull a root vegetable out of the ground). They succeed after the last participant (usually the weakest) joins in.
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B87C | 100.00% | Alcor (the faint star next to the second star of the Big Dipper's handle) – rider, driver, coachman. |
| J51A1 | 100.00% | To retrieve an object from a hard-to-reach place, the girl orders it to be dismembered (or just have its fingers cut off) and then reassembled, after which it comes back to life. |
| K32H1 | 100.00% | The antagonist is executed by being placed in a barrel (with nails) and rolled down a hill or tied to a horse. |
| L129A | 100.00% | The wolf or demon is asked why its body parts and organs are the way they are. It explains sequentially. |
| N8 | 100.00% | fairy-tale text ends with a formula that says that the characters placed the narrator in a gun or gun and fired a shot, or he jumped onto the core himself and thus arrived at the place where the fairy tale was performed |
| H24D | 100.00% | An animal character who released the contents (darkness, insects, reptiles) from a vessel is still trying to gather everything back (etiology of the behaviour of a certain species of animal). |
| M38C2 | 100.00% | To shove a horse or donkey, Jesus (the saint) cuts off his leg, nails a horseshoe to his hoof, and attaches his leg back. The other character tries to imitate in vain. |
| M39A4F | 100.00% | Fool sells property to the statue and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure |
| K27G1 | 99.99% | The character must quickly clean the stable or barn of the manure that has accumulated there over a long period of time. |
| H7B2 | 99.99% | A man named Poverty makes Death swear that it will never come to him. Therefore, poverty is inevitable in the world. |
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
16 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Ireland, Catalan, 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, Czech, Czechs, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Lithuanians, Latvians, Karelians, Norwegians, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
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