Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M187B — Harvest to the fastest runner.
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
OverviewTwo animal characters agree to give the harvest from the field they have cultivated together to the one who runs faster than the other.
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.
M18 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedM18. The character turns into an object of fishing or hunting and presents himself as a target. The fisherman or hunter does not harm them, but they take away what they use: arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, bait; or they catch fish, having turned themselves into hooks; or they are caught but escape death by taking on human form again.
M18a. The character becomes the object of fishing or hunting, presenting himself as a target for enemies. Numerous arrows, darts, and harpoons stick into his body without causing harm, and he carries them away. See motif M18.
M18b. The character turns into a fishing object in order to carry away the hook with which he is caught or the spear with which they try to harpoon him, or he turns into a hook to catch fish. See motif M18.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I59 | 96.65% | The Milky Way is associated with agriculture and scattered objects – straw, chaff, less commonly flour, hay, peas. |
| M75C | 96.51% | A person is offered to climb a rock or tree to get treasures. A return descent is not possible. Doomed to death, the hero remains alive. |
| L40B | 96.48% | To make the character come closer, absurd actions are performed in front of him. The character does not understand the deception and comes closer to explain how to act correctly. |
| I68A | 96.38% | Once a year, water briefly acquires unusual properties. |
| K32L | 96.38% | The ruler distributes horses (cows) to his subjects for fattening. Only the heroine returns hers well-fed. |
| K38F2 | 96.12% | The girl saved by the hero smears him with the blood of the monster he has slain. When the deceiver claims that he killed the dragon, the hero shows the bloodstain on his body, thus proving that he is the victor. |
| K561 | 95.99% | A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them approppriately. The first man does it again. |
| K88A | 95.88% | The stepmother (aunt, rival) blinds a young woman. The latter regains her eyesight (often by exchanging them for some valuable item). |
| M39A5B | 95.81% | The wife throws fish into the furrows or into the beds. My husband believes that the fish ended up there on its own, he is mistaken for a madman. |
| M75B | 95.71% | A person hides in the skin or carcass of a large animal. A bird brings a skin or carcass to the nest without knowing what it brought the person. |
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
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Algeria Arabs, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Maltese, France, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Yazgulami, Tajik, Baluch, Lezgians, Archin, Kürin; Khinalug, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Galicians
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