Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

M197B — Rusted stallions and foaled mares.

15 Myths, legends and folktales
15 Unique narratives for motif M197B
14 Cultures & traditions where M197B is told
0 Sub-motifs of motif M197B
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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 owner claims that other mares foaled or aborted because his stallions, which were far away from the mares, whinnied, that any foal born was from his mare, etc. The young man begins to kill the owner's dogs: they did not chase away the wolves (they scared away the game, etc.), although they were far from the scene. The owner acknowledges the absurdity of his claim.

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
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
C33A199.78%A bird of prey flies to the chained character every day and pecks at his internal organs. The character recovers overnight, and the cycle repeats itself.
M114A99.66%The character is offered to sew clothes or shoes from stone or iron, or to remove the skin from the stone.
B10599.57%The father-in-law or mother-in-law catches the daughter-in-law in a situation she is ashamed of (with her hair down, bathing, etc.). Out of shame, she turns into a bird (usually a hoopoe) or a turtle.
J32C99.45%At night, a demonic character comes to the grave of the deceased, intending to harm him.
C3399.30%A strongman-god-fighter is chained to a rock or a pillar for centuries.
B73A99.19%A girl (a young man, a girl with her brother; two little brothers) searches for a lost horse, cow, sheep and, as a result (alone or with her brother; both brothers), turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) with a characteristic call.
K95A99.09%The lovers are buried in the same grave or nearby. Two plants grow in this place, reaching towards each other, and between them is a thorny bush, embodying the character who separated the lovers.
M29Z99.00%hero of the story is a character named “Beardless” or Aldar-Kose (Aldar is a “deceiver”, a braid is “beardless”).
N798.97%fairy-tale text ends with a formula that says that three apples fell from the sky or tree, at least one of which went to the narrator. Or it is said that someone give/should give the narrator one or three apples.
I8798.87%The characters use an object belonging to the world of giants (a skull, an animal shoulder blade, a mitten) as a shelter. Cf. I87C: animals use an object belonging to the world of humans (a skull, a mitten, a sieve, etc.) as a shelter.

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

14 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 14 traditions: Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Ossetians, Ingush, Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Nogai, Georgians, Kazakh, Bashkirs, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Early Russian written sources, Greece

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