The Mythology and Folklore Database
M138A - One hundred and twenty years of life.
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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
At the beginning of time, the supreme deity or his messengers decided that the maximum lifespan of a human being would be 120 years.Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms
M13 has 2 other sub-motifsM13. A person appeals to higher powers with a request, without considering that his words may have a different meaning than he intended. Either a person accidentally utters the wrong word or accidentally and hastily expresses an empty or absurd desire. As a result, something happens that he did not want at all. Cf. motifs I58B and M13A.Most of the references in ATU 775 (Midas' short-sighted wish) are either incorrect or impossible to verify. In connection with this plot, the reference to Uther 2000 is taken into account only for the Lithuanian variant, since there is a summary of the Latvian one, and for the Greek one, since the motif exists in Ancient Greece and among the neighbouring South Slavs. For ATU 750A, the reference to Bäcker 1988 in connection with the "Chinese" is incorrect; these are Manchus, not Chinese, and the stated motif is not present in the text. M13a. A deity and a human meet so that the former can fulfil the latter's request. As a result, the human is turned to stone. Usually (except for the Squamish), one of the supplicants wants eternal life and is turned to stone. See motif M13. M13B. People are promised the fulfilment of two (three, four) wishes. Without thinking, they wish for something they do not want at all. The last wish is spent on returning to the original state. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of M13's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M39A4D | 95.35% | Fool sells property a lizard and believes it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure |
| K180 | 94.39% | The ruler demands an explanation of his dream. The snake tells the man that this dream signifies the coming of a time when people tend to behave in a certain way. This happens several times. Each time, the man's behaviour towards the snake confirms her words. |
| I140 | 90.45% | The staff thrown to the ground turns into a living snake. |
| N39 | 90.45% | The image of a three-ply rope is used to describe the invincibility of two close-knit friends |
| K27Z9 | 89.44% | (Dried) fish (water, satyr, etc.) laughs, smiles or spits. The reason is that there is a man dressed as a woman in the house. |
| K33F | 88.92% | Sources of at least two valuable liquid edible products (honey, oil, etc.) are available or imagined. Cf. motif N34. |
| K27Z4A | 88.02% | The cripple claims that the father of the visitor is to blame for his physical disability. The man's wife or the man himself, on someone's advice, promises to return the leg (eye) if the cripple gives him the other one as a sample or brings him a part of a dead person's body and demands money. |
| K27Z2A | 87.04% | Noticing the woman's pregnancy, her relatives or in-laws accuse her of promiscuity, because, according to their calculations, she could not have conceived by her husband or fiancé. After severe trials, the woman meets again the father of the boy she gave birth to. |
| I4E | 85.81% | An anthropomorphic deity (associated with thunder and rain) rides on a cloud or a cloud. |
| F98 | 81.24% | A heavenly anthropomorphic deity descends to earth and mates with a cow. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Old and New Testament, Thai of Vietnam, Tai Lue, Khao (Kho, Tai Don, White Tai), Tai Dam (Black Tai), Nung; Zhuang, Buyi; Shui, Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Hittite, Hurrit, Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali