The Mythology and Folklore Database
K35A3 - The master becomes a servant.
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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
In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K35 has 13 other sub-motifsK35. The deceiver pretends to be a hero in order to take his place (to possess his woman). (This motif includes all texts with motif K35a3). K35a. In exchange for improving his current situation, the character agrees to have his body injured or branded. K35a1. Setting off on a journey, a person (often against the advice of their horse) picks up a precious feather. Upon learning of this, an authoritative character gives them difficult tasks. K35a2. A man kills an animal with glowing fur. Upon learning of this, an authoritative figure gives him difficult tasks. K35a3. In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him. K35a4. In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns. K35a5. An authoritative character leaves an object (a letter) for a little boy, by which he will be able to recognise him when he grows up and comes to him. K35a6. The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found. K35a7. A character finds a feather, the touch of which brings health and beauty. K35b. The hero gives his rivals the food that the king sent them all to get, but what the rivals got turns out to be poisonous, useless, or tasteless, while what the hero brought, regardless of how it looks, gets praised. K35c. The dev (ajdaha, sea king) did not kill the man who descended to him, as people assumed, but rewarded him because he greeted him and/or answered his question correctly. K35c1. The young man is not killed, but rewarded, because he answered correctly (evasively) the question of a powerful character – which of the two women he should marry, which is more beautiful, which object or material is more valuable, etc. K35c2. When the ship unexpectedly stops, the hero descends to the bottom of the sea, behaves correctly with the local inhabitants, and returns to the ship. K35c3. For reasons that are not immediately clear, the ship stops in the middle of the sea (rarely: a horse stops in the middle of the road). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K35's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K151 | 99.95% | A magical helper grants a poor man's simple wish. The poor man or his wife ask for more and more. In the end, the helper punishes the beggar (usually by taking away everything that was given). {Many references to texts outside Europe in Uther 2004 are not related to the plot of ATU 555 and do not contain the K151 motif. This applies in particular to the Arabic and Ossetian variants}. |
| K38F5 | 99.77% | Flames burst from the horse's mouth and/or nostrils, or the entire horse is engulfed in fire. |
| L37C | 99.73% | A person encounters the incarnations of Fortune (and Misfortune) – his own or someone else's. He manages to influence their behaviour and change (for himself) the course of events for the better. |
| M179 | 99.71% | Two zoomorphic characters live nearby, one's house is destroyed, he asks the other to shelter him. Usually he breaks in and drives out the owner, strong animals fear the invader, while weak or small ones drive him away. |
| K119C | 99.68% | The antagonist believes that he has been attacked by the lord of thunder (the father of the bride, whom a zoomorphic assistant has tricked into marrying a poor young man, motif K119). |
| L23A | 99.68% | In an attempt to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance, in particular turning into fire (and water). |
| L42B1 | 99.68% | A character kidnapped by a demon advises him to stack pots, pans and other kitchen items on top of each other and climb up them. He does so, falls and breaks. |
| K142 | 99.65% | After killing several people, a man asks a gravedigger to bury the dead and each time says that the dead man has returned. The gravedigger buries everyone, but believes that there is only one dead man. |
| K100F1 | 99.59% | A man (king) catches a strange (anthropomorphic) creature. His son releases the wondrous captive (after which he flees from his father's wrath or is banished). The freed captive helps him. Cf. motif K161. |
| M106A | 99.57% | The character who caused the damage calls himself by a fictitious name such as "Nobody," "I Myself," etc. Usually, others decide that the victim himself is to blame for what happened. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 32 traditions: Greeks of Cyprus, Boa, Komo, (Ba)Nyanga, Mbole, Other West Chadic: Ngas, Bolanchi, Tangale, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Sinhalese; Vedda, England, British, Bretons, France, Slovakians, Slovaks, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Karelians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Abaza (Abazins), Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Uyghur, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Mari (Cheremis), Mansi, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Russian Federation