The Mythology and Folklore Database
M130B - The traitor is killed instead of the victim.




7 Myths, Legends and Folktales
7 Unique Narratives for Motif M130B
4 Cultures & Traditions where M130B is told
22 Mythemes Indexed
2 Sub-Motifs of Motif M130B


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 Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths



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 herbivorous animal falls into a hunter's trap. The predator does not want to release it, as it hopes to eat its entrails, but the bird helps it to escape. The hunter tries to kill the bird, but instead kills the predator.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior


M13 has 2 other sub-motifs


M13.  A person appeals to higher powers with a request, without considering that his words may have a different meaning than he intended. Either a person accidentally utters the wrong word or accidentally and hastily expresses an empty or absurd desire. As a result, something happens that he did not want at all. Cf. motifs I58B and M13A.Most of the references in ATU 775 (Midas' short-sighted wish) are either incorrect or impossible to verify. In connection with this plot, the reference to Uther 2000 is taken into account only for the Lithuanian variant, since there is a summary of the Latvian one, and for the Greek one, since the motif exists in Ancient Greece and among the neighbouring South Slavs. For ATU 750A, the reference to Bäcker 1988 in connection with the "Chinese" is incorrect; these are Manchus, not Chinese, and the stated motif is not present in the text.
M13a.  A deity and a human meet so that the former can fulfil the latter's request. As a result, the human is turned to stone. Usually (except for the Squamish), one of the supplicants wants eternal life and is turned to stone. See motif M13.
M13B.  People are promised the fulfilment of two (three, four) wishes. Without thinking, they wish for something they do not want at all. The last wish is spent on returning to the original state.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
B116B99.83%A book containing sacred knowledge falls into the water at a crossing or gets wet in some other way. After that, the book disappears or the text becomes unreadable. Either the book is ruined (damaged) when it is dried. Or it is ruined while left unattended on the shore while the people who kept it are swimming; or it burns, although traces remain.
A299.48%There was a time when several, i.e. more than two, suns shone in the sky at the same time.
K116A99.25%The king takes or is about to take the poor man's wife. She suggests that the king put on clothes that are not his own (usually those that belonged to her husband). After that, the king is killed by his own soldiers (dogs), who believe him to be a poor man (jester, devil).
M29W299.23%As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the tiger dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets.
B116A99.07%A person or animal eats a sacred book or its remains. During the ritual, this knowledge is actualised in oral speech, in the sounds of a musical instrument made from part of an animal's body, or in parts of an animal's body used for divination.
K56D198.69%A pumpkin or watermelon (grown from gifted seeds) given to a person turns out to contain treasures.
A4698.67%The sun and moon (Rigveda: only the sun) emerge from the eyes of an anthropomorphic creature.
B3D98.61%The earth is obtained by a worm; it arises from worm excrement, extracted from the worm.
K13698.13%The young man turns out to be the owner and leader of a herd of cattle, and with his herd of cows or buffaloes he is summoned to the king (usually after his hair is found by the princess).
K27ZZ298.13%Several wives of one man (several sisters) go blind – the older ones in both eyes, and the younger one in one eye.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 4 traditions: Khmer, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Sinhalese; Vedda, 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)


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