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K32G1 - Forty horses or forty knives?
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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
The guilty party is offered a choice of items of utilitarian value (often forty, seven, three, etc. horses or the same number of knives). The person usually does not understand that these are methods of execution.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K32 has 21 other sub-motifsK32. The man does not (immediately) notice that another woman, an evil spirit or (in Chaco) a male trickster has replaced his wife or bride, who is banished, imprisoned in the underworld, killed, etc. K32a. A man is carrying his wife or daughter. Another woman or demonic character replaces her when the man leaves on a journey (rarely: falls asleep). K32b. The man's mother takes on the appearance of his wife in order to take her place. K32b1. The man's mother-in-law takes on the appearance of her daughter to take her place. See motif K32. K32c. The deceiver takes the place of the real wife, and the real wife becomes an owl. See motif K32. K32d. As a result of the antagonist's intrigues, a noble girl (young woman) or boy (young man) is turned into a servant or servant, sent to graze cattle or chase birds in the field. Everything is revealed – usually after people hear a song in which the hero or heroine tells about the substitution. Most often, the hero or heroine goes to relatives or (less often) to the groom. The deceiver accompanies her or him and is accepted as a relative or bride. The deceiver is executed. Comoros: the deceiver becomes the mistress, turning the girl's parents into peacocks. K32e. A negative character, object or locus is contrasted with one or two positive ones, such as wood with gold and silver. K32f. A woman or girl raises a bird of prey chick, which brings her food and fire. This usually happens after an evil spirit leaves the girl or young woman in a tree or on an island. K32g. The antagonist is executed by being tied to a horse (camel, bull), which drags him along the ground or tears him to pieces. K32g1. The guilty party is offered a choice of items of utilitarian value (often forty, seven, three, etc. horses or the same number of knives). The person usually does not understand that these are methods of execution. k32g2. An authoritative character marries, and an evil woman replaces her with her daughter. After the false wife is exposed and executed, the woman receives cooked meat as a gift, not immediately realising that it is her daughter's body parts. k32g3. The villain is asked what punishment he deserves for committing the crime in question. Not knowing that they are talking about him, he decides for himself how he should be executed. K32h. The antagonist is executed by being buried alive. K32h1. The antagonist is executed by being placed in a barrel (with nails) and rolled down a hill or tied to a horse. K32h2. A man executes his wife by leaving her to be eaten by ants. K32h3. The antagonist is executed by being burned alive. (Episodes in which the burning of the character is not a punishment but a means of getting rid of him are not taken into account). K32i. A girl finds the body of a young man who shows no signs of life and must sit next to him for a certain amount of time so that he comes back to life and takes her as his wife. Usually, she leaves at the last moment and an impostor becomes the wife of the revived man. K32j. Upon learning from a young man that he has a beautiful sister, the ruler wants to marry her. The bride is replaced by an ugly woman. Usually, the ruler accuses her brother of deception and throws him into prison. The deception is revealed. K32k. The false wife, replacing the real one – a foul-smelling beetle or larva. K32l. The ruler distributes horses (cows) to his subjects for fattening. Only the heroine returns hers well-fed. K32M. To take the heroine's place, her rival turns her into an animal or bird without pushing her into the water. Cf. motif k33. k32n. The false wife, who replaces the real one, is a supernatural character - a zoomorphic creature, a deceased woman, a female spirit, etc. See motif K32. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K32's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| B51A | 99.60% | The snake is the enemy of the swallow (usually because the swallow prevents the snake from destroying people – the snake sends a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect to find out whose blood tastes better; the mosquito returns to report that it is human blood; the swallow bites off its tongue, and the snake plucks the feathers from the swallow's tail). |
| N24 | 99.37% | You can see a light that resembles a second moon or a second sun. It comes from a pretty girl. |
| B46A | 99.09% | One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from the others (usually stolen by the stars of the Big Dipper and identified with Alcor). |
| K75A1 | 98.93% | The ruler orders his youngest daughter (and her chosen husband) to live in conditions that do not correspond to her status. He does not know that her chosen one is not a poor wretch, as he seems, but a mighty warrior and a handsome man. |
| N30 | 98.73% | formula that describes the confusion of feelings: when a character looks in one direction, he cries, and when he laughs or smiles in the other direction. |
| L72C | 98.57% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws a mirror behind him, which turns into an obstacle for his pursuer (ice, lake, etc.) or attracts his attention and causes him to lose time. (In the Udmurt version, objects destroy obstacles in the character's path). |
| M39A6D | 98.46% | 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. |
| M91C3 | 98.36% | A person releases an animal or a bird - supposedly with his wife instructing his wife to cook food, etc. Another does not understand deception and buys an animal. |
| M198A3 | 98.35% | One of the brothers secretly takes valuables belonging to all of them or is illegitimate. The brothers come to an authoritative figure to determine who is the thief or illegitimate child. Usually, the figure tells a story and determines the culprit based on the reaction of those who have come. |
| F9F1 | 98.35% | Inside the woman there is a snake (snakes, scorpions, just poison) that comes out of her mouth. {Motifs F9f1 and K100C are almost identical, but the first can be included in the cosmological-etiological category and is associated with the idea of a dangerous woman, while the second belongs to the adventure category}. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 27 traditions: 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, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Albanians, Balkarians, Uzbek, Tajik, Persians, Iranian literary tradition (including Avesta, Pahlevi scripts, Sah-nameh, Marzban-nameh); Zoroastrians of Iran, Indian Parsees, Zoroastrianism, Nogai, Tats, Armenians, Kalmyk, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kazakh, 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), Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvash, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Urums, Rumei, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori