The Mythology and Folklore Database
M38D7 - Sausage makes soup, (ATU 85)




14 Myths, Legends and Folktales
14 Unique Narratives for Motif M38D7
10 Cultures & Traditions where M38D7 is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
20 Sub-Motifs of Motif M38D7


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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

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

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.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
M18497.73%The swift-footed and slow characters agree to race each other. The swift-footed is confident of victory and takes his time, while the slow one stubbornly moves towards the goal and arrives first.
B9496.88%Trees (and animals) used to talk, asking people not to cut them down or kill them.
F28A396.08%A girl (woman) possesses an object that is pleasant (useful). Once in the hands of others, it becomes harmful (dangerous).
I110A95.91%Orion (rarely - another constellation) - plough.
D4H95.83%The swallow obtains fire for people. See motif D4A.
K33C95.35%A young man obtains a girl who is inside a fruit or (rarely) a flower, stem, leaf, or egg.
L37B195.34%To cure a sick person or rid a house of other misfortunes, one must kill (catch, expel) a toad, frog or snake hiding in the house (in the garden, under the roots).
I3895.29%There are creatures that combine the characteristics of dogs and humans (usually people with dog faces or heads).
M14095.27%The character pretends to be dead, sick or infirm, is picked up, and eats the food that others are carrying – usually after first throwing it out of the cart, sleigh, sack, etc.
I11095.26%Constellations are associated with agricultural tools or with people engaged in agricultural work (most often ploughing and haymaking). See motifs I110A (plough), I110B (haymaking).

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 10 traditions: France, 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, Latvians, Western Ukrainians, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)


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