The Mythology and Folklore Database
M158 - Tops and roots, ATU 1030.
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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 human and an animal (devil) or two animals decide to cultivate a field and divide the harvest so that one gets the above-ground part and the other gets the underground part. One of the characters (always) loses out.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
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K80A | 99.68% | An object or creature that has emerged from the remains, jewellery, etc. of the murdered person tells about the murder, exposing the criminal. The East Slavic texts in this section were mainly provided by K.Y. Rakhno. |
| M101A | 99.63% | Learning that humans are supposedly stronger than him, a large predator finds a human and challenges him to a contest of strength. This ends badly for him. Cf. motif M101. |
| M39A7 | 99.56% | When instructed to wash the old man with warm water, the fool steams him with boiling water. |
| M39A1 | 99.55% | character misunderstands the first instruction, promises to do the right thing next time; literally follows a memorized rule that does not correspond to the new situation; so multiple times. |
| K67B | 99.51% | A character of low social status (without supernatural abilities) takes a job with a character of high social status (with supernatural abilities) on the condition that the employer will not get angry with the employee. By repeatedly annoying the employer, the employee causes him to become angry and, as a result, be severely punished or pay a large sum of money. |
| K107 | 99.48% | A magical husband leaves his wife. She finds and returns him. |
| K81 | 99.48% | For a minor offence or on false charges, a young woman is maimed and expelled from her home (rarely: she is killed or maims herself). The cripple miraculously recovers (the dead woman is resurrected). |
| M141B | 99.47% | An insignificant event (a falling leaf, acorn, etc.) is taken by an animal as the beginning of a catastrophe (the end of the world, war, the falling of the sky, etc.) and it flees. Other animals join the fleeing animal. |
| K73A5 | 99.46% | Malicious women replace the newborn with a kitten (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a kitten). See motifs K73, K73A. |
| K113 | 99.44% | Young men (usually three brothers) find wives (usually by shooting arrows or other objects at random, see motif K113A). The wife of the youngest brother is initially ugly or appears in the form of an animal (often a frog or snake), but turns out to be a beauty and a sorceress. Alternatively, the girls choose their husbands, and the wife of the youngest brother is a sorceress. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 69 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Bobo (Bobo-Fin), Thai of Vietnam, Tai Lue, Khao (Kho, Tai Don, White Tai), Tai Dam (Black Tai), Nung; Zhuang, Buyi; Shui, Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Kashmiri, Gujarati, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Assamese, Ireland, Wales, England, British, Bretons, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Aragon, 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, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Livonians, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, 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, Tajik, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Anatolia Turks, Talysh, 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, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Chuvash, Udmurt, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Mongols (Khalkha), Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tsetsaut, Wallons, Picardie, Galicians, Maldives, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Faroe Islands, Berbers of Algeria