The Mythology and Folklore Database
K88 - Two Travellers (Truth and Falsehood), ATU 613.
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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
Two people set off on a journey or argue about which is stronger: truth or falsehood (stinginess or generosity, etc.). The evil one abandons the good one, crippling or robbing him, but the good one regains his health and achieves success. The villain usually perishes.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K88 has 3 other sub-motifsK88. Two people set off on a journey or argue about which is stronger: truth or falsehood (stinginess or generosity, etc.). The evil one abandons the good one, crippling or robbing him, but the good one regains his health and achieves success. The villain usually perishes. K88a. The stepmother (aunt, rival) blinds a young woman. The latter regains her eyesight (often by exchanging them for some valuable item). K88b. The character suffers from thirst or hunger. His companion promises to share water or food with him (to make him rich) if he allows himself to be blinded. K88c. The character learns that the blood (brain, etc.) of the dog guarding the neighbouring herd will cure the princess (prince). He uses this medicine and is rewarded. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K88's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M91B1 | 99.52% | A man is going to sell a pet skin. On the way, he gets big money by deception or by chance. Usually, upon return, a person says that he received money for the skin, after which others slaughter their livestock and try unsuccessfully to sell the skins for money they are not worth. (In India, the hero sometimes supposedly sells not skin, but beef, which is forbidden to brahmanas). |
| K103 | 99.50% | A domestic animal (horse, cow, bull, goat, ram, sheep) helps an orphan, a lonely child, or an unfortunate young woman. |
| M157A4 | 99.39% | The character proves the absurdity of another's statements by claiming that he (or someone else) fished on a mountain, extinguished a fire with straw, sowed wheat in the sea, watched flying fish, etc. (or he himself imitates such actions). The absurdity of the statements stems from the incorrectly chosen locus or means for performing certain actions. |
| M114 | 99.38% | The character is asked to make (or actually makes) a rope or other object out of sand, ash, smoke, etc. |
| M57D | 99.32% | 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. |
| K100 | 99.31% | A person learns about the dangers threatening another (and usually that by warning his friend/master, he will turn to stone). The person eliminates the dangers, despite the fact that his behaviour upsets the person he has saved. |
| K2A | 99.24% | 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. |
| M134 | 99.20% | Animals, demons or people stand on top of each other to reach something. The one at the bottom jumps off (leans, jerks), and everyone falls after him. |
| K33H | 98.97% | 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). |
| K92 | 98.95% | The father asks his children a question, the answer to which seems obvious (does his daughter love him, who is the eldest in the family, etc.). The youngest daughter (less often – son) gives an unexpected answer, the father drives her away (deprives her of her inheritance), and later becomes convinced of her intelligence and nobility. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 92 traditions: Aramaic (Syrians), Yemen, Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Algeria Arabs, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Amhara; Zay, Harari; Silte, Gogot, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Duala (Douala), Basa (Basaá), Kwiri (Kweli), Isubu, Hausa, Other West Chadic: Ngas, Bolanchi, Tangale, Tuareg, Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Bengali, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Early Chinese written sources, Namuci (Namuyi), Naxi; Pumi (Primi), Koreans, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Spain, Spaniards, Basques, Catalan, Aragon, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, 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, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Livonians, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Norwegians, Swedes, 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, Yazgulami, Sarikoli, Yagnobi, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Ossetians, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, 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), Mordvins, Chuvash, Udmurt, Mongols (Khalkha), Dongxiang, Baoan, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Wallons, Picardie, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Frisians, Sundanese, Morocco, China