The Mythology and Folklore Database
K168A - Food turns into severed body parts, ATU 664*.
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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 person thinks that they are holding something intended for food (a calf's head, a melon, bread, etc.), but these objects turn into human heads or limbs. Cf. motif K80c1.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K16 has 1 other sub-motifsK16. Taking the form of a bird, bat, insect, small animal, or fish, the man enters the young woman's home (her father's house). K16a. In an effort to show that he is a good hunter, a man regularly walks in front of a girl, pretending to carry prey. Once he slips, and the imaginary prey turns out to be a scarecrow stuffed with ashes or a bundle of termites. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K16's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K155A | 99.10% | A man (usually a king) raises his daughter (less often his son) in a closed room, ordering her to be fed boneless meat. One day, a bone is found in the meat, and the girl (boy) uses it to make a hole in the wall and sees the outside world for the first time. |
| K114 | 99.02% | Several brothers leave home immediately after or shortly before their mother gives birth to a girl (usually they want a brother and wait for news about who their mother has given birth to, but accidentally or maliciously a signal is given that a boy has been born). The girl grows up and goes in search of her brothers. |
| M75C | 98.94% | A person is offered to climb a rock or tree to get treasures. A return descent is not possible. Doomed to death, the hero remains alive. |
| M160 | 98.74% | A strong wild beast and a man become friends. The man breaks a promise he made to the beast or speaks contemptuously of it. The beast asks to be physically hurt and says that the insult inflicted by words is more painful (the wound on the body has healed, but the wound on the soul has not; or the beast dies of grief). |
| F9G | 98.54% | A powerful woman defeats and kills her suitors. The hero or his assistant defeats her (usually on their wedding night, subduing her with rods or a whip). The hero marries the heroine. |
| H6C2 | 98.52% | At the edge of the world lies the land of darkness. Those who want to obtain living water or gold strive to get there. |
| I59 | 98.51% | The Milky Way is associated with agriculture and scattered objects – straw, chaff, less commonly flour, hay, peas. |
| M165 | 98.29% | One zoomorphic character promises another to sew a coat (boots), asks him to bring sheep, eats them, and does not sew anything. |
| M75B | 98.29% | A person hides in the skin or carcass of a large animal. A bird brings a skin or carcass to the nest without knowing what it brought the person. |
| K33A6 | 98.28% | A kid (lamb, gazelle, etc.) runs up to a pond into which its owner has pushed it and says that knives are being sharpened and water is being boiled to slaughter and cook it. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Morocco Arabs, Tunisia Arabs, Spain, Spaniards, Catalan, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Tajik, Baluch, Armenians, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Berbers of Algeria, Russian Federation