Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M177A — The one who looks away eats.
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
OverviewOne zoomorphic character teaches another to remain silent, to look at him or away when a third character asks who ate the best piece. It is a trap: the third character decides that the second is guilty.
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
RelatedM17. 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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27L1 | 99.39% | Voluntarily subjecting himself to trials, the character allows himself to be frozen in ice and cannot free himself. |
| I20B | 99.27% | People in the upper world are different from those on earth and gird themselves below or above the waist. |
| C33B | 99.23% | The demise of the first race is associated with the appearance of wind. |
| F100A | 99.23% | In order to revive a man or remove an arrowhead (bullet) from his body, a chaste girl or woman must touch (step over) the dead or wounded man. |
| J59C | 99.23% | A character strikes the remains of the deceased with a whip or a lash, and the deceased comes back to life. |
| K167B | 99.23% | A boy is able to determine the sex and colour of a young animal in the womb. |
| K172 | 99.23% | A man describes his daughter to a potential groom as ugly and crippled. The groom agrees to the marriage, and the bride turns out to be beautiful. |
| K182 | 99.23% | A supernatural defender comes to the rescue upon hearing the alarm, but stops doing so after the alarm has been raised in vain. |
| K27U2 | 99.23% | An authoritative character orders to find out where the tumbleweed is rolling or what news it brings. |
| K73B2 | 99.23% | It is necessary to boil the pot by telling an incredible but nevertheless true story. |
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
10 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 10 traditions: Ossetians, Lezgians, Archin, Kürin; Khinalug, Tabasaran, Aghul, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kalmyk, Kirghiz, Bashkirs, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori
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