The Mythology and Folklore Database
L93A - The fox as helper.
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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
The fox, jackal or coyote, resorting to cunning, helps the hero, heroine or people in general, saving them.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 9, Identification of protagonists of the stories with particular animals or persons with particular qualities
L93 has 4 other sub-motifsL93. A demon, a man-eater, chops down a tree or a rock on top of which the hero is hiding. While he is resting, the animal throws his axe into the water, carries it away or damages it. See motif L92. L93a. The fox, jackal or coyote, resorting to cunning, helps the hero, heroine or people in general, saving them. L93b. The hare or rabbit, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saving them. L93c. The monkey, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saves them. l93d. The hedgehog, resorting to cunning, helps the hero and saves him. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of L93's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27X2 | 99.38% | The character is able to get an egg or chick (and put them back) from under a bird in a nest, or change the bird's feathers (pluck feathers), or get a fruit from an animal's womb so that the bird or animal does not notice. |
| K73A4 | 99.16% | Malicious women replace the newborn with a puppy (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a puppy). See motifs K73, K73A. |
| K119 | 99.02% | An animal promises to make a poor man rich (usually by marrying him to a rich bride; or by marrying a poor girl to a prince) and, resorting to deception, fulfils its promise. |
| H16B | 99.01% | The narratives (in various contexts) mention a milk pond (river, lake, wave in the sea) existing on earth (but not among the stars). Cf. motifs H16, K33F, N34. |
| K106 | 98.48% | The hero (a miraculous infant, a magical rooster) is thrown at the feet of animals, but they do not trample him. |
| L104 | 98.45% | The fleeing character successively takes on the appearance of various creatures or objects; the pursuer also changes his appearance, each time transforming into someone who is dangerous to the pursued in his current form. |
| K73A | 98.44% | Malicious women replace the newborn with an animal or an inanimate object (they tell the baby's father that his wife gave birth to an animal or an object). See motif K73. |
| K36 | 98.41% | The hero (heroine) is temporarily transformed into an animal (usually a dog/coyote or a donkey, with the face of the former]: 151-152t to the ground; and the strength of 99 men; if she had taken the hundredth, she would have remained a woman; if the young man had ground, a horse). When he or she is helped to regain their former appearance, the antagonist is transformed into an animal. In some texts, either only the hero or only the antagonist undergoes metamorphosis. Cf. motifs K62B, J62b1 (the character transforms many people into animals). |
| M170 | 98.28% | Pretending to be concerned only with performing religious rituals or following rules (confessing sins, going on pilgrimages, giving up meat, etc.), a zoomorphic character kills those who trust him. |
| K102 | 98.26% | A woman who is initially friendly to the hero (his sister, mother, less often his wife or lover) then tries to destroy him by acting in concert with his enemy. To this end, she persuades the hero to take actions that are fatal to him. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 103 traditions: Aramaic (Syrians), Shilluk, Anuak, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Bengali, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Sindhi, Nepali; Tharu, Marathi (incl. Bhamta; incl. Mumbai area), Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Konkani (incl Goa), Assamese, Sinhalese; Vedda, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, 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, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Setu, Finns, Western Sami, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Danish, 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, Yazgulami, Sarikoli, Tajik, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Ingush, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Uyghur, 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, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Chuvash, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Mansi, Forest Nenets, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Darkhad, Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Southern Selkups, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Nanai, Kerek, Chuvans, Russian-speaking Creols of Markovo, Chukchi, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, North Alaskan Inupiat, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Coeur D'Alene, Kalispel (Pend d'Oreille; incl Spokane), Flathead, Caddo, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Witoto, Ocaina, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Chechens, Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, Wallons, Picardie, Galicians, Arabs of Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, Emirates, Oman,, Parachi, Ormur, Morocco, Berbers of Algeria