The Mythology and Folklore Database
C30A - A pound of flesh, ATU 890.
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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
A man borrows money on the condition that if he fails to repay it by a certain date, he will have to give the lender a certain amount of his own flesh. The lender cannot cut off the flesh, because he is unable to fulfil the formally logical but essentially absurd demand made of him.Berezkin category: Disasters
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior
C30 has 4 other sub-motifsC30. In order to free himself from an obligation, the character sets a condition that is formally logical and uncomplicated, but in reality impossible to fulfil. C30a. A man borrows money on the condition that if he fails to repay it by a certain date, he will have to give the lender a certain amount of his own flesh. The lender cannot cut off the flesh, because he is unable to fulfil the formally logical but essentially absurd demand made of him. C30b. In response to the claims of an animal or spirit, a person offers to remove their traces from the field or to walk without leaving any traces. The spirit is unable to do so. C30c. A man promises to drink the sea (to count how many drops of water there are in the sea), but asks his opponent to first separate the sea water from the water of the rivers flowing into the sea. C30d. The character agrees that his locus will be contaminated with excrement, but only on condition that not a drop of urine is spilled. It turns out to be impossible to fulfil this condition. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of C30's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27R2 | 99.60% | Task: bring objects (fruit, wood, water, etc.) that perform actions characteristic of humans (sing, dance, yawn, laugh, etc.). |
| K100G | 99.59% | In order to revive or heal a friend (to heal oneself, to fulfil a vow), the character agrees to sacrifice his son (children). The slain person usually comes back to life, or the person's willingness to make the sacrifice is sufficient to satisfy supernatural forces. |
| K33A | 99.57% | Young siblings (most often a brother and sister) leave home. One of them (rarely: several brothers) accidentally breaks a taboo and is transformed into an animal (usually a hoofed animal) or (rarely) a bird; later, the spell is usually broken. |
| J62C | 99.54% | In order to destroy the young man, the antagonist arouses in his sister (rarely: in him himself) a desire to possess wonderful objects, the attempt to obtain which is deadly dangerous. The young man sets off to obtain the objects. |
| M91C5 | 99.49% | 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. |
| K67A | 99.43% | A character of low status annoys characters of high status. Learning of the intention of the characters of high status to drown him or his property (rarely: to strangle him), he arranges for one of them or their property to be drowned instead. |
| M75B1 | 99.37% | A person (usually of high status) learns that a poor boy who is born will inherit his property or become king. He tries to stop it, but what he predicted comes true. |
| L100D | 99.37% | A man or several men pursue the love of a beautiful woman. Having agreed in advance with her husband, she pretends to agree, arranging a date (with each) for a specific time. Before the first suitor's desires are satisfied, the second arrives. The woman hides the first, then the second, and so on. The husband enters and the couple mocks the admirers who find themselves in a humiliating position. |
| M39A6H | 99.34% | The king tells the commoner to pluck a goose (geese, shear a ram, etc.). He understands correctly: to rob the vizier. |
| K152 | 99.32% | A man saves a devil who is suffering from the proximity of a certain character or object. To reward his saviour, the devil promises to possess a princess and leave her when the man comes to treat her. The devil either breaks his promise or warns the man not to try to cure those whom the devil will possess later. The man informs the devil that the character or object he fears so much is approaching again. The devil flees and never returns. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 30 traditions: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Hausa, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Sindhi, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Koreans, Ireland, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Hungarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Latvians, Finns, Norwegians, Swedes, Tajik, Persians, Anatolia Turks, 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), Bashkirs, Icelanders, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Bahrain