Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M83B — Whose sleep better? ATU 1626
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 (or more) characters agree to give food to whoever has the best dream. One talks about a feast he went to in a dream (or says he was in a different world), the second admits that he ate everything alone - he was sure that after the feast, the first one would not qualify for food (which someone who finds himself in a different world does not need food).
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.
M83 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedM83. Each character claims that he is older and appeared before this world or (Ingush) that his father was cosmic in size.
M83a. The characters are arguing which one is older. After some people tell us how long they were born, the latter says that this and that happened in his memory at that time.
M83b. Two (or more) characters agree to give food to whoever has the best dream. One talks about a feast he went to in a dream (or says he was in a different world), the second admits that he ate everything alone - he was sure that after the feast, the first one would not qualify for food (which someone who finds himself in a different world does not need food).
M83c. Animals argue who of them gets drunk easier. The last one falls down because he becomes drunk as soon as somebody talks about alcohol
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L108B1 | 99.85% | To make his voice thin, the character turns to the blacksmith. |
| K93 | 99.73% | After a series of adventures and victories, the hero finds himself in trouble. His twin or brother follows in his footsteps, meets the same characters, but when he encounters the final enemy, he defeats him and revives (frees) the hero. |
| L114B1 | 99.70% | The character sequentially steals various items from the cannibal's house and finally catches or kills him. |
| K8C1 | 99.66% | A tiny man is first accidentally swallowed by a large herbivore, then carried off by a wolf that began to eat the carcass of this animal. |
| L122 | 99.58% | The character rides on a rooster. |
| K147 | 99.49% | The enemy dismembers the hero's body. The remains are tied to the horse's saddle, or the horse itself picks them up and brings them to friendly characters. They revive the hero. |
| L19B3 | 99.49% | A creature with 12 heads is mentioned – either singly or at the end of a series of creatures with fewer heads. |
| C33A | 99.46% | Throughout the year, someone tries to saw through or break the chain or rope that holds him or another character. On a certain day of the year, when the chain has become completely thin, it is restored to its former state, or the pole to which the chain is attached is reinserted into the ground. Cf. motif G8d. |
| F70E1 | 99.45% | An old man needs a son to do men's work. (Only the youngest) daughter takes on this task (successfully passing the test set by her father), pretending to be a man. |
| K77B | 99.45% | Having left their owners, domestic animals find an empty house or build a house. Robbers or predatory animals come there. Domestic animals attack or simply scare them away. Predators do not understand who they are facing and flee. |
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
55 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 55 traditions: Yemen, Arabs of Egypt, Malagasy, Somali, Himachali-Pahari (Western Pahari), Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, 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, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Uzbek, Tajik, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Ossetians, Ingush, Tabasaran, Aghul, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Tats, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Gagauz, Kurds, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mordvins, Chuvash, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Icelanders, Early Russian written sources, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Morocco, Yemen, Russian Federation
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