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M38 - Inept imitation

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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

Person sees how others act using magic or according to their animal nature. He or she imitates their actions and gets into trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and refer to everyday activity, mostly to providing and cooking food

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

M38 has 20 other sub-motifs M38.  Person sees how others act using magic or according to their animal nature. He or she imitates their actions and gets into trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and refer to everyday activity, mostly to providing and cooking food M38a.  On a visit, the character sees how the owner acts with magic or techniques that suit his nature (in Africa, too, deception). He imitates their actions but fails. Actions are not tests or competitions and are not related to performing feats. This is mainly getting or preparing food. M38a1.  The character imitates the sisters' sons-in-law or husbands, or the wife's brothers (shoshone's) or wives (comox and chalkomel). {ATU combines a motive with another}. M38a2.  The hen (other bird) cooks her own eggs and serves them to other animal persons (who imitated her with disastrous consequences) M38b.  The first wife, rejected or taken later than others, performs certain actions with the help of magic. Other wives try to imitate her but are killed, maimed, or disgraced. M38b1.  After the wedding, the wife is silent until her husband says certain words that indicate her origin. {In North Africa, the Pyrenees and the Arabs of Western Asia, the motive is very popular, which suggests that the list of traditions in which it is known may include some records that have so far been supported only with links to pointers, but not by the texts themselves}. M38b2.  Each of the three brothers comes to his father with his wife (fiancée). The younger brother or his fiancée is considered worthless, but the girl turns out to be a sorceress and surpasses the brides of her older brothers in everything. M38b3b.  Mighty bird (more rare other creature/mythological person) helps a man (rare: a woman) because he (she) warms/covers from bad weather its/hers nestlings (children) M38c.  blacksmith (supposedly) forges a person, rejuvenating or revitalizing him. M38c1.  The character (supposedly) forges a person, rejuvenating or reviving him, the other unsuccessfully tries to imitate him. M38c2.  To shove a horse or donkey, Jesus (the saint) cuts off his leg, nails a horseshoe to his hoof, and attaches his leg back. The other character tries to imitate in vain. M38c3.  A conceited smith attempts to rejuvenate an old woman (man). His magic helper tries to save the victim but all that he do is to transform the woman into an animal, usually a monkey M38d.  Two or more characters, which are small objects or small animals, live or travel together and die one by one while committing protozoa actions. M38d1.  bubble-head, the straw leg, the hair-neck are successively dying, trying to act like ordinary people. M38d2.  Several characters (usually three), which are small objects, go traveling and must cross the river. This fails. M38d3.  The character, who is a lump of earth (oatmeal, salt), blurred in the rain or after going to get water. M38d4.  Several characters that embody small objects (and a squirrel with them) travel together. The needle penetrates the body of a large animal and kills it. (In the Baltic-Finnish texts, the needle first finds items that others find useless, but after the animal was caught, everything found turned out to be in demand for cooking meat). M38d5.  Two or three types of cereals talk to each other, act together, etc. M38d6.  Several characters embody small objects and die one at a time. The last one left laughs and rejoices so much that he bursts with laughter (breaks his head, etc.). M38d7.  Person who represents something fat (a sausage, a piece of fat, etc.) prepares a rich soup adding to it its own fat. Another person tries to repeat the trick and dies M38e.  mushroom (pumpkin) thinks that it is as durable as a tree.  Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of M38's motifs?

Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Motif	Similarity	Motif Summary
K8C	94.51%	The character enters the belly of an ordinary land animal, kills it from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. Cf. motif M118.
M30B	91.57%	Birds give a non-flying or ugly character feathers so that he can fly or become beautiful, but then take them away.
M45	91.51%	When a zoomorphic character falls asleep or pretends to be dead (seriously ill), the animals he usually hunts gather to meet him. He catches or kills them, or they run away at the last minute.
K18	90.79%	A boy is born whose father (rarely mother) is unknown. He chooses his true father (mother), who usually occupies the lowest social position. Usually, a group of men or women gather together, each of whom wants the boy to choose him or her.
I100A	90.33%	The Pleiades – a woman or man with children, members of the same family.
M23	88.99%	The character pretends to be afraid of only one method of killing, which in reality is not dangerous for him (K581: turtle: If you throw me into the water, I will drown! ). {All American variants with a rabbit are most likely of African origin and are not included in the correlation table}.
L53	87.95%	The terrifying creature is killed or neutralised by throwing (red-hot) stones, pieces of iron, etc. into its mouth or anus, or the creature retreats when threatened with a stone being thrown into its mouth.
K35	87.95%	The deceiver pretends to be a hero in order to take his place (to possess his woman). (This motif includes all texts with motif K35a3).
M81	87.71%	Wandering, the hero finds himself in a place where blind or blind (two or more) live.
B78	87.52%	When a character dusts himself off (or shakes out his clothes, plucks birds, etc.), snow falls from his hair, feathers, wool, bedding, clothes, etc. onto the ground.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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Terrain Minimal Countries

This motif has been recorded in 131 traditions: Aramaic (Syrians), Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Shilluk, Anuak, Acoli (Acholi), Lur (Alur, Luri), Lango, Efe Pygmies, Kango (Mbuti) Pygmies, Mangbetu (Ngbetu), Mangbutu, Moru, Madi, Lugbara, Lendu (=Bale), Zande (Azande, incl Nzakara), Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Nyatutu, Kiniramba, Isanzu, Chagga (Jagga; incl Wasu), Pare, Digo, Safwa, Mkulwe, Ngonde, Kinga, Nyakusa, Nyamwanga, Ganda, (Ba)Nyoro, Nyankole, Masaba (Gisu), Luia (=Luyia, Haya, Luhya, Bantu Kawirondo; incl. Vugusu, Maragoli), Bemba (Wemba, Babemba; incl Ambo, Lala, Lamba, Bisa), Holoholo, Kaonde, Songe (Kisonge), Bena-Matembo, Sakata, 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, Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Cross-River: Efik, Ibibio, Anaang (Anang), Ikom, Abua, Songhai, Bia: Anyi, Agni, Baule, Nsema, Hadza, Sandawe, Bugi, Macassar, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Nepali; Tharu, Konkani (incl Goa), Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Norwegians, Swedes, 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), Persians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Georgians, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Mari (Cheremis), Udmurt, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Forest Nenets, Nenets, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Oroch, Nanai, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tsimshian, Micmac, Wawenock, Abenaki, Penobscot, Naskapi, Montagnais, Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Miami, Illini, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Winnebago, Yuchi, Arapaho, Osage, Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Arikara, Comanche, Plains Ojibwa, Crow, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Comox, Pentlatch, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Quinault, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Yurok, Caddo, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Alabama, Koasati, Hitchiti, Cherokee, Chumash, Kawaiisu, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Serrano, Cahuilla, Cupeño, Navajo, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Hopi, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Diegueño: Ipai, Tipai, Kamia (Kumeai), Western Mexico Nahuatl, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Witoto, Ocaina, Maue (Mawe), Lower Amazon (XIX century data, mostly from Santarem area), tribal affiliation unknown, Tenetehara, Mundurucu, Curuaia, Kayabi, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Kono (=Kone), Wai, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, Arabs of Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, Emirates, Oman,, Mukulu (Mokilko), Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria, Bhutan, Liberia, Mozambique, Berbers of Algeria

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