Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M169 — Medicine from a wolf's skin, ATU 50.
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
OverviewIn the presence of an authoritative figure, one of the subordinates plots against another. The latter says that the problem can be solved by maiming the former (usually using a part of his body as medicine). The schemer is killed or maimed.
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.
M16 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedM16. The wife or relatives (often the mother) of the sick person do not care for him. He recovers, and those who treated him badly are punished. Cf. motifs F62 and F96.
M16a. A character (usually a loon) restores a person's sight and/or health by diving into the water with them. See motif M16.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| H7 | 99.37% | Death (as well as illness and old age) is a special character, distinct from the lord of the underworld. It takes away a person's soul or otherwise causes their death. |
| K80A1 | 99.20% | A bird (usually arising from the remains of the murdered person or embodying their soul) tells of the crime committed or takes revenge on the murderer itself. |
| M154 | 99.03% | A man who has learned the language of animals laughs when he hears them talking. His wife or mother-in-law (rarely someone else) demands that he explain what is going on. The man is ready to comply with his wife's demand, even though he knows he will die if he reveals the secret. Usually, he hears the domestic animals condemning their master's stupidity and decides not to say anything. |
| M157A2 | 98.68% | The character claims that the calf (kid, etc.) was not born (brought) by a cow (goat, etc.) belonging to another owner, but by his own animal of a different species or male sex, or by an inanimate object (usually a cart). |
| L108A | 97.90% | A predator or cannibal swallows people and animals. A goat (rarely a sheep) punishes it and usually rescues those who have been swallowed (most often by cutting open its belly, allowing those who have been swallowed to escape alive). |
| I120 | 97.81% | Food and clothing can be obtained from the horns of domestic animals (oxen, cows, goats). |
| K119A | 97.48% | An animal saves a human, does him a favour, and he humiliates or kills it. See motifs K119, M161. |
| L19B1 | 97.40% | Describes or depicts a monster (usually a reptile) with seven heads (except in cases where snakes with an increasing number of heads are described sequentially and "seven" is not the largest number). |
| M176 | 97.39% | The characters agree to jump over a ditch, stream, fire, etc., or walk across a log, rope, etc. One or all of them {specified in brackets} fall. |
| K61A | 97.34% | In order to find out the exact number, a specific object in a certain set, the name of a specific character, or the reason for a certain phenomenon, the character tries to surprise (or unintentionally surprises) the owner of such knowledge. The latter begins to talk to himself, involuntarily revealing the necessary information to the hero standing nearby. |
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
53 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 53 traditions: Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Nuba, Somali, Amhara; Zay, Harari; Silte, Gogot, Hausa, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Tenda (incl Bedik, Basari), Biafada, Nalu, Pajadinka, Badyara (Badiaranke), Temne (Timne), Malay; Temuan (incl Mantra or Mentra), Jakun (Moken), Santali, Turi, Mahli, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Konkani (incl Goa), Koreans, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, France, Dutch, Flemish, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Norwegians, Western Ukrainians, Tajik, Pashto, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Ingush, Laks, Georgians, Anatolia Turks, Kazakh, Bashkirs, Kono (=Kone), Wai, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Lao, Wolof, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Early Russian written sources, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)
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