The Mythology and Folklore Database
M118 - The source of values is senselessly destroyed, ATU 954.

Please log on to view the narratives.

Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths

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 obtains valuables or finds refuge inside an animal, tree, or building. Later, he himself, or more often someone else following his example, destroys the source of the valuables or makes access to it impossible or too dangerous.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior

M11 has 4 other sub-motifs M11.  The character gives others food extracted from his or someone else's body or contaminated with bodily secretions, without revealing the source of the food. M11a.  The character gives others the fish extracted from his body. M11b.  A woman feeds a man with good-quality meat or fat, which she cuts from her own flesh or extracts from her body, and stops doing so when he learns about the source of the food. M11c.  Without harming himself, a male character cuts off, pierces, roasts, holds over a fire, etc. a part of his body (or his wife's body). The character cooks the meat, fat, etc. obtained in this way and treats his guest to it. This food is not perceived as unclean (cf. motifs M11B and M38). m11d.  The character makes food taste good by adding salt to it. Another character learns that the cook extracts this salt from his own body (it is contained in his bodily secretions).  Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of M11's motifs?

Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Motif	Similarity	Motif Summary
L114C	97.75%	Children or young men (usually brothers) exchange clothes (headgear, jewellery, blankets, sleeping places) with the children of a hostile character, who then kills his own children instead of them at night. Usually, the brothers end up with a cannibal, and the younger brother orders them to swap places (clothes, etc.) with his daughters for the night. Outside Europe, the protagonists are animals.
M180	97.42%	A zoomorphic character invites another to visit, but serves food in such a way that the other cannot take it in his mouth. The other, inviting the first to visit, puts him in a similar position.
I98A	97.39%	The Pleiades (in Tajikistan – Giady) – hen, brooding hen with chicks, chicks, rarely – rooster.
M124	97.37%	The character buries the tail (head, ears) of a domestic animal, claiming that it has fallen into the ground. Usually, he asks others to pull on the tail (head), and when it "breaks off," he accuses others of stealing the animal.
M45B	97.18%	The old man carries a trough and lies down to rest, covered with it. The animals take the trough to the table and bring food. The old man gets up, the animals run away, the old man gets the food.
F28A3	96.67%	A girl (woman) possesses an object that is pleasant (useful). Once in the hands of others, it becomes harmful (dangerous).
K32D	96.08%	As a result of the antagonist's intrigues, a noble girl (young woman) or boy (young man) is turned into a servant or servant, sent to graze cattle or chase birds in the field. Everything is revealed – usually after people hear a song in which the hero or heroine tells about the substitution. Most often, the hero or heroine goes to relatives or (less often) to the groom. The deceiver accompanies her or him and is accepted as a relative or bride. The deceiver is executed. Comoros: the deceiver becomes the mistress, turning the girl's parents into peacocks.
M157A2	95.92%	The character claims that the calf (kid, etc.) was not born (brought) by a cow (goat, etc.) belonging to another owner, but by his own animal of a different species or male sex, or by an inanimate object (usually a cart).
K80A1	95.62%	A bird (usually arising from the remains of the murdered person or embodying their soul) tells of the crime committed or takes revenge on the murderer itself.
I22G1	95.23%	In another world, the hero sees many strange things, including colliding stones (but they do not block his path).

 See more...

Please log on to view the narratives.

Map of Motif Dispersal

Click here for a clustered map

Drag the map around by clicking and using the mouse, use the wheel to zoom

Terrain Minimal Countries

This motif has been recorded in 72 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Ngbakka, Mbum (incl Mbai), Mundang, Fali, Tupuri, Maya (=Bali), Nyong, Masai, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Rwanda (incl Hutu, Tutsi, Kiga), Rundi, (Ma)Shi, Banyabungu; Rega, Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Enenga, Mpongwe, Kuta (Koto), Nkomi, Masango, Mindumu, Mbede, Mitsogo, Bawunga, Ndumu (Ndumbo), Duma, Teke, (B)wende, Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Sara, incl. Ngambaye (Ngambaï), Mbaï, Zaghawa, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Dan (=Gio), Guro (=Kweni, incl Gagu, Neio), Toura, Mano, Ngere, Beng, Guro , Songhai, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Lobi, Akan, Ashanti, Akwapim; Ga (Accra), Kra, Twi (Chwi, Chi), Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Tenda (incl Bedik, Basari), Biafada, Nalu, Pajadinka, Badyara (Badiaranke), Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Early Chinese written sources, Ireland, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Aragon, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Dutch, Flemish, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Livonians, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Norwegians, Swedes, 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), Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Anatolia Turks, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Caddo, Waiwai, Kono (=Kone), Wai, Kpelle (incl Kono), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, Wallons, Picardie, Icelanders, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Bhutan, Faroe Islands, Morocco, Berbers of Algeria, Egypt

Please log on to view the narratives.