The Mythology and Folklore Database
L96 - The changed appearance is sold and returns (ATU 325).
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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
The character has the ability to transform into animals or objects. Sold in this form, he achieves his goal and becomes human again.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
L96 has 3 other sub-motifsL96. The character has the ability to transform into animals or objects. Sold in this form, he achieves his goal and becomes human again. L96a. A person sighs, after which a character named Oh, Uh, Hey-way, etc. appears. L96b. A person encounters an ascetic, demon, etc. The latter intends to kill him by pushing him into a boiling cauldron or cutting off his head when he bows before the deity. The person asks the ascetic to do everything first, then pushes him into the cauldron or cuts off his head himself. L96c. A young man is learning magic. In order for the sorcerer to let him go, he must pretend that he is incapable of learning. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L96's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K160A | 99.62% | A woman living in the house of a supernatural character hides a man who has come to her and asks the character questions, the answers to which the man must find out. |
| K135 | 99.61% | By accidentally defeating powerful opponents, a physically weak and timid person gains honour. |
| K27G | 99.55% | The character is ordered to bathe in (hot) milk, in boiling water, to jump into the fire; he remains unharmed, while his opponent usually perishes. |
| K27U | 99.51% | Task: to hide (the hero finds the antagonist, and/or the antagonist cannot find the hero). See motif K27. |
| K27F1 | 99.49% | A character builds a bridge (usually from precious materials) in an implausibly short time. |
| M91C5 | 99.48% | The person himself or his little son goes to the bazaar to sell a cow (or another large pet). The crook convinces him that it is a sheep (or another animal that is smaller and cheaper). Each of the crook's friends confirms the score or gives an even lower grade. A man at a loss sells a cow for the price of a sheep. |
| K2B | 99.46% | The occupations or names of the hero's companions are unusual and different for each one, but their specific abilities, which can be inferred from these names, are insignificant for the development of the plot. Cf. motif K66, "Heroes with different abilities". |
| L42G1 | 99.46% | Father (stepfather) takes children into the forest and slips away unnoticed. To make the children think he is nearby chopping wood, father hangs a board, pumpkin, etc. on a tree, which bangs against the trunk in the wind. |
| M137 | 99.38% | A weaker predator tries to imitate a stronger one, but cannot perform the actions that the strong one performs easily. |
| K131 | 99.37% | Certain characters argue over the possession of magical objects, but the objects go to the hero. Usually, he suggests that the disputants race each other or asks them to let him try out the objects, after which he hides, taking the objects with him. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 64 traditions: Algeria Arabs, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Sinhalese; Vedda, Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Koreans, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, France, 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, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Norwegians, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, 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), Uzbek, Yazgulami, Sarikoli, Tajik, Baluch, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Ingush, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Georgians, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Gagauz, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kara Kalpak, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Turkmen, Mordvins, Chuvash, Udmurt, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Mongols (Khalkha), Central Yakuts (Sakha), Mustang, Terek Cossacks, Morocco, Egypt