The Mythology and Folklore Database
M91C3 - The postman hare
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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 person releases an animal or a bird - supposedly with his wife instructing his wife to cook food, etc. Another does not understand deception and buys an animal.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
M91 has 12 other sub-motifsM91. Pretending that the deceased has just been alive for a relatively long time, the character accuses others of his death, receives a ransom and gifts. M91a. The character pierces a container of animal blood or other red liquid, simulating murder or suicide. Cf. motifs K10C (wrapped in giblets) and M199H (Giant's ripped belly). M91b. A person manages to fraudulently sell or exchange ash for gold and money. Others are unsuccessfully offering ash for sale. M91b1. 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). M91c1. The character (pretends to) take possession of someone's property (usually setting the owner to be killed instead of him), says that he got everything at the bottom of the river, in the abyss, etc., to him they believe. M91c2. character is placed in a bag or chest, locked in a cage, tied, etc., to drown, burn, etc. When left for a while, the character pretends to be in the bag voluntarily or because he does not want to become a chief, marry, etc.; the other agrees to take his place. See M91c1 motif. M91c3. A person releases an animal or a bird - supposedly with his wife instructing his wife to cook food, etc. Another does not understand deception and buys an animal. M91c4. A person removes the pot from the fire, its contents continue to boil, or the person prepares food in advance, puts it in a pot or pit. Another believes that the pot cooks without fire or incredibly fast (or that a stick, if it hits the ground or the pot, creates food), buys a pot (stick). M91c5. The person himself or his little son goes to the bazaar to sell a cow (or another large pet). The crook convinces him that it is a sheep (or another animal that is smaller and cheaper). Each of the crook's friends confirms the score or gives an even lower grade. A man at a loss sells a cow for the price of a sheep. M91c6. A person sells a hat to others, convincing them that it pays the bill, you just have to lift it up (throw it on the floor, etc.). He actually paid the innkeeper in advance. M91c7. When enemies come to kill a person, he pretends to be dead. M91d. The character deceives others by passing off the dead as alive, directing suspicions of murder to innocent people, etc. When a shaman (less often a shaman) is ready to discover the truth, he succeeds in it kill and avoid being charged with murder. M91E. The ruler, the leader, believes that a man who escaped death by cunning returned from the world where he received benefits. It tells you to burn, drown, etc. yourself or your close associates. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of M91's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I89 | 99.64% | There is a star that brings death and misfortune; it is usually told how people mistake a star or constellation rising at night for the Morning Star, set off on a journey and lose their way. |
| M198A4 | 99.57% | Those who listened to the story must answer who they liked more: the husband who let his wife go to another man after the wedding, the robber who did not harm her, or the man who immediately sent her back to her husband. |
| M29Z | 99.38% | hero of the story is a character named “Beardless” or Aldar-Kose (Aldar is a “deceiver”, a braid is “beardless”). |
| N24 | 99.24% | You can see a light that resembles a second moon or a second sun. It comes from a pretty girl. |
| B46A1 | 99.24% | The stars of the Big Dipper – thieves or robbers. |
| C33 | 99.14% | A strongman-god-fighter is chained to a rock or a pillar for centuries. |
| M198A3 | 99.11% | One of the brothers secretly takes valuables belonging to all of them or is illegitimate. The brothers come to an authoritative figure to determine who is the thief or illegitimate child. Usually, the figure tells a story and determines the culprit based on the reaction of those who have come. |
| M39A6 | 99.06% | During the journey, a person allegorically asks someone else to say something, sing, etc., so that time on the road passes faster. He understands instructions literally by doing ridiculous actions. |
| B51A | 99.05% | The snake is the enemy of the swallow (usually because the swallow prevents the snake from destroying people – the snake sends a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect to find out whose blood tastes better; the mosquito returns to report that it is human blood; the swallow bites off its tongue, and the snake plucks the feathers from the swallow's tail). |
| K75B | 98.91% | Wanting to show that it is time for them to marry, daughters of different ages send their father fruits of varying degrees of ripeness (bread baked in different ways). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 37 traditions: Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Khmu (Kammu), Puoc, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Assamese, Ireland, Spain, Spaniards, Sicily, Sicilians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Albanians, Balkarians, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Tajik, Persians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Ingush, Georgians, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), 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, Udmurt, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Shor, Southern Selkups, Wallons, Picardie, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Terek Cossacks, Berbers of Algeria