Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

M171B — A shoulder blade without meat.

21 Myths, legends and folktales
21 Unique narratives for motif M171B
16 Cultures & traditions where M171B is told
2 Sub-motifs of motif M171B
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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

Overview

The character pretends to have brought meat on a shoulder blade and gives it to the hosts to cook. Taking a bare bone without meat out of the pot, he accuses the hosts of stealing the meat.

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.

M17 has 2 other sub-motifs

Related

M17.  A wife, mother or grandmother directs the arrow of a blind man or boy at game, lies that he missed, cooks and eats the meat herself. See motif M16 (man is blind, K333.1).
M17a.  The mother or grandmother of a blind man or boy secretly eats (the meat or fish he has caught), pretending that there is no food in the house.
M17b.  The wife directs the blind man's arrow at game, lies that he has missed, and eats the meat herself.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of M17’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
L42C99.44%The character hides from someone stronger, sometimes inside the house, sometimes outside, and the stronger character cannot catch him.
I55B99.00%The hero chases a deer or elk carrying the sun.
N598.63%Long trips, hikes, flights, or battles are described using a formula that indicates that characters learn about winter through snow or frost, and summer through warmth, rain, dew or other similar signs.
M108A98.33%A lonely elderly couple adopts a trickster. He steals from them (and runs away).
B45B97.88%The bull or cow is the embodiment of cold, the reason why winter is cold.
M38D197.73%bubble-head, the straw leg, the hair-neck are successively dying, trying to act like ordinary people.
B7497.24%The eyes of the capercaillie or black grouse turned red from tears.
K27N3A196.90%In the course of his courtship, the hero enters into a struggle with characters (more than two) who embody the elements, celestial bodies, and parts of the universe.
A32G96.59%On the lunar disc, a character can be seen holding onto a tree or bush and ending up on the moon with them. See motif A32D.
M91D96.19%The character deceives others by passing off the dead as alive, directing suspicions of murder to innocent people, etc. When a shaman (less often a shaman) is ready to discover the truth, he succeeds in it kill and avoid being charged with murder.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

16 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Abaza (Abazins), Nogai, Kalmyk, Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Darkhad, Tofa (Karagas), Khakas, Nenets, Nganasans, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Dolgans, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori

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