The Mythology and Folklore Database
H49 - The slain dog sought to save the child, Th B524.1.4.1; B221.2.2; ATU 178A.
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Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of Motif
A dog or other animal kills a creature that threatened a small child. The owner or other people mistake the saviour for an aggressor and kill it.Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
H49 has 4 other sub-motifsH49. A dog or other animal kills a creature that threatened a small child. The owner or other people mistake the saviour for an aggressor and kill it. H49A. A man does not understand that a dog or cat wanted to save his wife or preserve her honour and kills the animal. H49b. A man gives his dog to another man. The dog is of great use to him (it finds stolen goods and drives away thieves). The man who received the dog sends it back with a letter of thanks. The owner thinks that the dog has run away, kills it, and only then finds the letter. H49c. A tame bird (rarely: a domestic animal) shows visible aggression towards its owner (usually a falcon knocks a bowl out of the hands of a thirsty man). The man kills the bird (animal) and then discovers that they saved him from death. H49d. A character (usually a bird) brings a healing (rejuvenating) fruit (seed, branch). Accidentally or maliciously, poison gets into the fruit. The person whom the fruit-bearer wanted to help kills or is about to kill his benefactor, and then learns of his mistake. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of H49's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L108C | 99.60% | To prevent the victim from recognising him and opening the door, the predator, the cannibal, shows part of his clothing, his hand, his paw, making the victim believe that his mother, teacher, etc. has come. |
| K103A | 98.86% | A suddenly grown plant (tree, vine, lotus) bends (raises its branches, etc.), allowing only the hero or heroine to climb it or pick its fruits (flowers). |
| K33G | 98.79% | The person who eats the fruit (leaf, etc.) grows horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal, while the other fruit (leaf, etc.) returns to its normal appearance. |
| M75B3 | 97.79% | Enemies are shown a life-size or larger image of a horse or bull. Not realizing that this is a ruse, they bring the figure to their own territory and are defeated as a result. |
| H46A | 97.63% | The possibility of using cereals for food is determined by the behaviour of the dog in the era of creation. See motif H46. |
| L19B2 | 97.61% | A creature with nine heads is mentioned – either singly or at the end of a series of creatures with fewer heads. |
| M75B1A | 97.55% | A high-ranking person finds out that a (just born) poor or ugly girl is intended for him, or the girl herself finds out that she is destined to become a man's wife of high origin. A betrothed or someone else tries to kill a girl, but only hurts her and the prediction is fulfilled; if the girl is ugly, she becomes beautiful. |
| L15I | 97.33% | A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends to) if his hair is cut or pulled out. |
| K33H | 97.17% | A person finds a magical object that grants any wish. This object is stolen. It is returned by animals (which the hero had previously saved). |
| K27ZY | 96.95% | A young man (woman) lives in the house of a cannibal (witch). In order to destroy him or her, the cannibal orders that a certain object be brought from other cannibals (often from his or her mother or sister). The hero or heroine escapes (and destroys all the cannibals). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 37 traditions: Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Tunisia Arabs, Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Khmu (Kammu), Puoc, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Sinhalese; Vedda, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, 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, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Finns, Karelians, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Baluch, Persians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Anatolia Turks, Kurds, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Frisians, Faroe Islands