Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M191A — Bell on a cat's neck, ATU 110.
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
OverviewMice decide to hang a bell around a cat's neck or tail so that they will know when it is approaching. Usually, none of the mice are able to do this.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| M39A6G | 99.87% | person explains that he lends part of his earnings, and pays the debt in the other part, i.e. raises children and supports parents. |
| J32F | 99.86% | While standing guard, the hero discovers who is stealing fruit (usually apples) from the garden. |
| K67C | 99.83% | The character agrees that under certain conditions another person may tear the skin from his back or cause him some other bodily harm. |
| M90A5 | 99.82% | The story mentions the golden fruits (rarely leaves) of a tree, usually golden apples. |
| M106F | 99.81% | A stranger tells a woman that he has come from the other world. The woman gives him money and belongings with a request to pass them on to her deceased son, husband, etc. Usually, the woman's (new) husband (or son), upon learning of the deception, rides after him, and as a result, the deceiver steals his horse. |
| K80B | 99.78% | The mother or stepmother kills the boy (rarely a girl) and usually feeds her husband, i.e. the child's father, his flesh. The boy is reborn, usually (at first) in the form of a bird that tells the story of what happened. Cf. motif K80A. Traditions in which the boy is killed by his own mother are highlighted in bold. |
| K120 | 99.78% | The girl's father (rarely: stepfather) intends to marry her (since she is the only one who meets the requirements for a bride). Usually, the girl manages to avoid the marriage. |
| K107A | 99.74% | Before reaching their goal, the character must wear out iron shoes or an iron staff. |
| L114B | 99.73% | After receiving the task or on his own initiative, the trickster enters the character's house (usually that of the cannibal) several times, each time taking one of his belongings or one of his family members. |
| F70E | 99.70% | A girl pretends to be a man, magically acquires male nature and lives with his wife. Cf. motif K137 (in Uther 2004, plot 514 mistakenly includes a Karakalpak text with our motif K137). |
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
42 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 42 traditions: Yemen, Somali, Ireland, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, France, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Lithuanians, Latvians, Livonians, Estonians, Finns, Vepsians, Western Sami, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Tajik, Persians, Ossetians, Ingush, Lezgians, Archin, Kürin; Khinalug, Georgians, Armenians, Kurds, Kazakh, Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria, Frisians, Yemen
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.