The Mythology and Folklore Database
M57C - The animal defecates with gold




180 Myths, Legends and Folktales
174 Unique Narratives for Motif M57C
93 Cultures & Traditions where M57C is told
243 Mythemes Indexed
11 Sub-Motifs of Motif M57C


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 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

An animal (donkey, bull, horse, goat, bear, leopard) or inanimate object makes gold or food stand out, or a character makes others believe that this is the case.

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


M57 has 11 other sub-motifs


M57a.  Instead of the usual secretions from the human body, beads, flowers, gold and other valuables pour in.
M57a1.  When a beautiful woman walks on the ground, jewels appear under her feet, flowers bloom, etc.
M57a2.  Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a
M57a3.  Instead of common body discharges a a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular female person. See motif m57a
M57b.  Beads or metals are the bodily secretions of a deity.
M57c.  An animal (donkey, bull, horse, goat, bear, leopard) or inanimate object makes gold or food stand out, or a character makes others believe that this is the case.
M57c1.  A man fights a bear or (Malayali) leopard and makes another person believe that this animal is defecating with gold.
M57d.  A person consistently receives magical items that bring wealth. Others replace them or take them away. A person returns what has been taken - usually by receiving another wonderful object (baton, whip) that hits the kidnappers.
M57d1.  bird consistently gives a person magical objects (or gives one, with which he receives the rest) or consistently fulfills his wishes.
M57d2.  The man was about to cut down a tree. It himself, or the creature living on it or in it, asks not to do so and fulfills the person's wishes.
M57d3.  A person receives a reward from a character who is associated with the wind. Cf. Motive K175 (“The wind carried away the flour”).
M57d4.  A person receives a reward from a character who is associated with frost.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
L37B99.31%By accidentally overhearing a conversation between animals or spirits, a person learns how to help themselves and others.
K33H98.89%A person finds a magical object that grants any wish. This object is stolen. It is returned by animals (which the hero had previously saved).
K76B98.81%The son or foster son of snake spouses. He turns into a human. The snake is the princess's magical spouse, lost and returned.
K27HH98.76%The character is tasked with quickly separating small particles of different types (usually seeds of different plant species) mixed together in a single vessel, or counting the number of grains, or gathering scattered or already sown grain.
K2A98.03%The character is sent down to the underworld (into an abyss, a well, etc.). After he sends the treasures (women) he has obtained back up, his envious companions cut the rope, but he manages to return to earth. See motifs K38, K39, K74.
M153A97.88%A predator is about to eat a human or herbivorous animal. The intended victim asks to be allowed to wash first, and as a result is saved. (Among the Transylvanian Saxons, this involves being baptised with water).
K9597.86%Two people who love each other (usually a man and a woman) die prematurely and are buried in the same grave or nearby. After or during the burial, something unusual happens that is connected with the story (special plants grow in that place, the smoke from the two funeral pyres joins together, the dead turn into two birds, two stars, etc.).
L19B297.80%A creature with nine heads is mentioned – either singly or at the end of a series of creatures with fewer heads.
K7397.80%A young wife (promises to give birth and) gives birth to wonderful children (or one son). In the absence of her husband, attempts are made to kill the wife or her child (usually by slandering them to the husband), but they remain alive. (For medieval European variants, see Newell 1906).
K6697.71%Each of several companions or brothers excels others in some way (sees, hears, runs, etc. better than anyone else). Cf. motif K2B, "Gorynya and Dubyna".

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 93 traditions: Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Tunisia Arabs, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Kerewe, Sukuma, Kwaya, Kumbi, Busiba, Gusii, Suba, Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Soninke, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Fula (Fulbe, Fulani, Pular), Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, 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), Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, 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, Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Malayali; Kannikaran, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Bengali, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Nepali; Tharu, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Assamese, Sinhalese; Vedda, Early Chinese written sources, Lepcha, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, France, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Kashubians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Karelians, 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), Uzbek, Sarikoli, Yagnobi, Tajik, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Anatolia Turks, Uyghur, 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, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash, Udmurt, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Udeghe, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Kono (=Kone), Wai, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Senufo, Wallons, Picardie, Salars, Galicians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Bhutan, Terek Cossacks, Berbers of Algeria, Tunisia


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