The Mythology and Folklore Database
M39I - The Hangman's Treasure, ATU 910D
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
After going broke, a person decides to hang himself, but finds gold (specially put by the father where his son hangs).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
M39 has 56 other sub-motifsM39. After receiving instructions, the character understands (or pretends to understand) them incorrectly or too literally, committing absurdly ridiculous or violent acts. M39a. fool lives with his brother (and mother), is sent on business, does ridiculous things (all or part of the above): releases animals from the trap, kills (trapped) mother ; cuts off the pet's legs or skins; takes the fontanel on the baby's skull for a boil and squeezes it out; tears a large piece of cloth and ties the pieces to swaying reeds; hearing the murmur of water, throws food into the water; puts the plague in the water; wants to salt the water and pours all the salt into the river. (There are other common episodes as well). M39a1. character misunderstands the first instruction, promises to do the right thing next time; literally follows a memorized rule that does not correspond to the new situation; so multiple times. M39a2. The character does ridiculous things, understanding the instructions too literally or one episode late (i.e., doing what was relevant to the previous episode). One episode involves improper handling of a needle and other sharp objects. M39a2a. fool buys spoons and/or a table, tells the table to go on its own feet, throws away spoons because they rattle. The two episodes are usually combined. M39a2b. After buying salt or sugar, a fool pours them into a pond to salt or sweeten the water. M39a2c. A fool (or a character pretending to be crazy) sows salt (small objects) like a grain. M39a2d. Fools plant meat, horns, or bones in the hope of raising animals. M39a2e. Forgetting his name, a fool remembers it when he accidentally hears a word. M39a3. fool kills a man, throws him into a pond, well, etc. A clever man throws a goat there. A fool searches for a corpse in the pond, asks if the victim had horns, etc. Everyone is obviously crazy, and the murder charge has been denied. {The Buryat and Yakut versions may be recent Russian borrowings. The ATU 1581B definition also includes an episode where a human corpse was replaced with a goat carcass, but most of the texts that have been verified do not contain this motive}. M39a3a. fool sees cracked objects (stumps, earth, ice), sympathizes with them and oils them. M39a3b. fool decides that stumps need hats, puts pots on the stumps. M39a4. fool takes his own shadow for a character chasing him and gives her his property. M39a4a. fool sells or gives an animal (plant, statue) meat, pet, cloth, etc., believing that the buyer will pay; or the fool works where no one asked him to, and takes the animal for its owner. When he comes for money, he beats an animal (a tree, a statue, follows an animal) and as a result finds a treasure. M39a4b. foolish woman thinks that frogs will make yarn or cloth for her, or buy yarn and throw the material into the water. M39a4b1. Foolish woman throws her yarn ways (into the water, into the bush) and believes that somebody with weave it M39a4c. Fool sells property to birds and believes that they will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure M39a4d. Fool sells property a lizard and believes it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure M39a4e. Fool sells property to a tree (stump, pole, a cross in the countryside) and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure M39a4f. Fool sells property to the statue and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure M39a4g. Fool sells property to the dogs and believes that they will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure M39a5. fool led the goats to the fruit tree and killed them because they ate the fruit he had thrown. M39a5a. Realizing that a stupid son, wife or (rarely) husband, after telling the truth, will cause trouble for the family, the mother or husband (wife) adjusts that the son, wife or husband describes events that They obviously couldn't have happened. They're mistaken for crazy, the message is ignored. M39a5a1. Realizing that a son or wife, by telling the truth, will cause trouble for the family, the mother or husband makes them believe in the invasion of chickens (geese, crows), in the rain of stones, in the rain, from which they go blind, etc. In all cases, gullible people are planted in a hole covered with skin, in a barrel, etc., and let in the skin of poultry pecking grain (in Kyurins, chickens bite grain in the yard). See M39a5a motif. M39a5a2. My husband found a treasure. He knows his wife will talk about it. In order not to believe her, her husband says, and the wife then repeats, that the judge suffered from the hail that fell at that time (soup spilled from the sky) (lost an eye, ulcers on his face). The judge furiously drives the woman away, the treasure remains with her husband. M39a5a3. Realizing that a wife telling the truth will cause trouble for the family, the husband says that the sounds she hears are the screams of her master (official, etc.) who is beaten, dragged to hell, etc. She repeats this to the master (official), who declares her insane. M39a5b. The wife throws fish into the furrows or into the beds. My husband believes that the fish ended up there on its own, he is mistaken for a madman. M39a6. During the journey, a person allegorically asks someone else to say something, sing, etc., so that time on the road passes faster. He understands instructions literally by doing ridiculous actions. M39a6a. After a long search, the ruler finds an intelligent wife for his son. At the mercy of his enemies, he sends a message with one of them, the true content of which is understood only by his daughter-in-law. She destroys enemies and frees her father-in-law. (The boys have a younger wife instead of an intelligent daughter-in-law). M39a6b. The ruler, to whom the master builder went to work, is going to kill or maim him. The master asks to send a person to his house asking him to bring a forgotten instrument or something else. The daughter-in-law understands the true meaning of the request, captivates the messenger and saves her father-in-law. M39a6c. The poor girl agrees to marry the prince only if he learns a craft. The prince fulfills the condition, then falls into the hands of enemies. He promises to make them an expensive item, let them sell it. His wife or (father, vizier) learns the job, the prisoner is released, the attackers are executed. M39a6d. One of the relatives or spouses transfers a text or object to the other through third parties. Only the recipient understands the meaning of the words or the item handed over, saves the sender and/or destroys his enemies. M39a6e. A person learns a craft (weaving, painting) in order to earn a living for the family. His wife is kidnapped (separated if he is with him). The wife finds out that her husband is there when she sees baskets or other items he has made. M39a6f. The father tells his son to sell the sheep (goat) and return it along with the proceeds. Usually a girl teaches how to sell trimmed wool. M39a6g. person explains that he lends part of his earnings, and pays the debt in the other part, i.e. raises children and supports parents. M39a6h. The king tells the commoner to pluck a goose (geese, shear a ram, etc.). He understands correctly: to rob the vizier. M39a6i. A person sends food or things to another and tells the messenger to give the recipient some words that the messenger does not understand. On the way, he stole or ate some of what he was supposed to bring. From the messenger's words, the recipient understands what exactly was transferred and accuses him of stealing. M39a7. When instructed to wash the old man with warm water, the fool steams him with boiling water. M39a8. A fool drags the door from the house with him (usually raises it to a tree and drops it, scaring the crowd under the tree). M39a8a. A fool or buffoon climbs a tree taking a heavy objects with him and then drops it frightening those who are under the tree M39a8b. Using a stratagem, someone who hides in a tree cuts (bits) off the tongue of a dangerous person and the latter is unable to describe situation to his partners M39a9. The character asks a member of his family to bring vegetable products, cook food, and feed someone. He understands words as if he must kill a child (dog, etc.) and serve his meat. [section incomplete] M39aa. M39b. A person does not notice that he turned and swam back on the way, so he takes his home for enemies, kills his own relatives. M39b1. Once in the boat, some people row in one direction and others in the opposite direction, the boat remains in place. M39c. A fool is told that a round fruit is a mare's egg (donkeys, elephants, etc.). A fool buys fruit for a lot of money. When he throws it or drops it, a small animal (usually a hare) jumps out of the thickets. A person believes that this is a foal (donkey, etc.) that has hatched. M39d. A person consistently and unintentionally harms others. The victims take him to a judge. He saves a person from punishment by making a formally logical but clearly unacceptable decision in each case. M39e. When reviewing the dispute, the judge asks about the secondary circumstances of the case. The offender is exposed by showing that he knows (or, on the contrary, does not know) about them. M39e1. A person appropriates property. The owner or his assistant puts the kidnapper in such a position that he is forced to return everything (usually the victim kidnaps the child of the deceiver). {Apparently, all references in Ting 1978 do not refer to Chinese, but to Tibetans; Uther 2004 refers to the Dagestan text in Levin 1978, No. 52, but it is not clear which group we are talking about; there is also a deaf reference to the “Code of Japanese fairy tales - Tsukan”, it needs to be checked}. M39e1a. The character claims that the mice ate iron (gold). M39e2. Two people hid their valuables together, and one of them secretly took them. He suggests asking the tree that grew in this place for clarification and hides his father in a hollow to broadcast from there. The tree is set on fire and the deception comes out. M39f. A fool is left headless (usually trying to get into a bear's den). When asked whether the deceased had a head, wife or someone else, they say that there was a hat (beard), but they definitely do not remember the head. M39g. The girl weeps, imagining the dangers that threaten her future child; remembering an incident that could end badly; jealous of the fiancé she does not have; distracted from urgent matters, considering the name of the future child instead of meeting the groom. M39g1. fool does not pull pants or boots over his feet, but jumps in them from above. M39g2. Numskulls try to shovel nuts with a pitchfork. F stranger shows them how to do this work more easily with a shovel (a basket) M39h. The wife wants to get rid of her husband and usually asks the spirit to blind him. The husband hides in a hollow, behind an altar, etc., and answers on behalf of the spirit (usually advises to kill her husband with good food), or the husband tells his wife that delicious food can make you blind. Pretending to be blind, the husband kills his lover (and wife). M39i. After going broke, a person decides to hang himself, but finds gold (specially put by the father where his son hangs). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of M39's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K35A5 | 99.92% | 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. |
| I92 | 99.65% | A person who has come into contact with a rainbow in a certain way (walked under it, drunk water where the rainbow drinks, etc.) changes their gender. |
| M182A | 99.57% | A person smears resin on a bull, a horse (usually making a figure that comes to life), or some object; wild animals or demons stick to it. Cf. motif K133. |
| K56F | 99.55% | A man divides a roasted rooster (goose) according to the social ranks of those present (the head to the host, the wings to the daughters, etc.), usually taking the least prestigious but meatiest part for himself. |
| J32B | 99.54% | In order to accomplish what he wants, the hero prolongs the night by changing the behaviour of the character on whom the alternation of day and night depends. |
| M39A2D | 99.54% | Fools plant meat, horns, or bones in the hope of raising animals. |
| I59B3 | 99.53% | The Milky Way – the road of salt traders, "Chumak Way". |
| I22D | 99.30% | To obtain a miraculous life-giving (healing) remedy, one must penetrate the space behind the shifting rocks. |
| M39A4G | 99.30% | Fool sells property to the dogs and believes that they will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure |
| K33A7 | 99.28% | After the death of a woman, her daughter or son advises her father to marry a neighbour, teacher, etc., who usually persuades the teenager to give such advice. After marrying the widower, the new wife begins to tyrannise her stepdaughter or stepson. |
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
This motif has been recorded in 26 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Konkani (incl Goa), England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Dutch, Flemish, Poles, Slovakians, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Norwegians, 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), Persians, Ingush, Georgians, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Anatolia Turks, Kurds, Bashkirs, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Frisians