The Mythology and Folklore Database
J32 - Brothers guard the night thief, ATU 530.
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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
Someone regularly steals livestock (horses, sheep, etc.) or crops (apples, hay, peas, flowers, etc.). Those who undertake to guard them (usually the older brothers) fail to catch the thief, and only the hero (usually the younger brother) discovers him.Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
J32 has 7 other sub-motifsJ32. Someone regularly steals livestock (horses, sheep, etc.) or crops (apples, hay, peas, flowers, etc.). Those who undertake to guard them (usually the older brothers) fail to catch the thief, and only the hero (usually the younger brother) discovers him. J32a. When dying, a person orders that someone spend the night at his grave or bring something to the grave. J32a1. But at night someone tramples the field, steals hay, etc. The hero learns that it is horses doing this. J32b. 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. J32c. At night, a demonic character comes to the grave of the deceased, intending to harm him. J32d. The girl will be won by the one who, on horseback or by some other means, quickly reaches a hard-to-reach place (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top steps of a staircase, a bridge, the bottom of a chasm, jumps over a moat, etc.). Usually, the girl herself is located where the suitor must climb or (rarely) descend. In Italian versions, the hero wins tournaments. J32e. Every time a mare foals, the foal is stolen. The hero finds out who is doing this. J32f. While standing guard, the hero discovers who is stealing fruit (usually apples) from the garden. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of J32's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27G | 99.48% | The character is ordered to bathe in (hot) milk, in boiling water, to jump into the fire; he remains unharmed, while his opponent usually perishes. |
| J62C | 99.48% | 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. |
| K99 | 99.45% | A person dreams about an upcoming celebration for himself or a member of his family (rarely: he daydreams about it). Either another person buys the dream and becomes the protagonist of the story, or the person who saw it hides its content from everyone, or he is persecuted for excessive conceit, as evidenced by the content of the dream. The meaning of the dream is revealed at the end of the story. Often, the young man ascends to the throne and marries the heiresses of two kingdoms (in the dream, these were two suns or the sun and the moon). |
| K27F | 99.44% | An authoritative character demands that the hero obtain a woman. |
| K131 | 99.41% | Certain characters argue over the possession of magical objects, but the objects go to the hero. Usually, he suggests that the disputants race each other or asks them to let him try out the objects, after which he hides, taking the objects with him. |
| K118 | 99.37% | Upon leaving, the character allows another to take charge of the house, but not to look into a certain room or container. The other violates the prohibition. |
| K39 | 99.37% | The character must feed a powerful creature by regularly throwing it pieces of meat. When the prepared meat runs out, he cuts off the last piece from his own flesh. See motif K38 (the bird carries the hero where he needs to go; on the way, he throws pieces of prepared meat into its beak; when the supplies run out, he gives the bird a piece of his own flesh). |
| K64A | 99.37% | A man blinds a sleeping or immobile giant-cannibal and escapes from him. |
| M153 | 99.33% | A hoofed animal asks a predator to examine its hoof under various pretexts, and then kills or maims it with a kick. |
| K27NN | 99.24% | Someone from the entourage of a powerful figure seeks to destroy the hero and persuades others to give him difficult tasks. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 81 traditions: Aramaic (Syrians), Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Western Sahara and Mauritania Arabs; Berbers of Mauritania (Zenaga), Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Konkani (incl Goa), Ireland, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, 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, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Livonians, Setu, Finns, Vepsians, Western Sami, Norwegians, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, 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, Wakhi, Ishkashimi (including Sanglich), Munji, Yagnobi, Tajik, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Ingush, Nogai, Svans, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kara Kalpak, 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, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash, Udmurt, Mansi, Forest Nenets, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Shor, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Chechens, Wallons, Picardie, Kordofan, Parya of Gissar (Hisor) Valley (Tajikistan), Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria