The Mythology and Folklore Database
L116 - The Singer in the Sack, ATU 311B.
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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
A cannibal (old man, gypsy) grabs a girl, carries her away, and forces her to sing (beg). People recognise the girl's voice and free her.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L114 | 98.71% | A group of young men or women arrives at the demon's lair. The younger brother or sister, or a character who is considered sick, unpleasant, unfit, and often goes with others against their will, saves them all. See motif L113. |
| M112 | 98.32% | A zoomorphic character refuses to dig, clean or fill a source of drinking water and is forbidden to use the water. {List of African variants in Paulme 1977. In cases where the protagonist is a kite, hawk, buzzard, saker (and possibly also an eagle), it is most likely the same bird - Buteo buteo from the hawk family}. |
| L113 | 97.02% | A girl who has long rejected suitors falls in love with a handsome man who turns out to be a demon, a werewolf, or a dangerous animal. The girl barely escapes or perishes. |
| B2F1 | 96.26% | (While the earth does not yet exist or has not yet hardened), birds bury the dead in their bodies – usually in their beaks or heads, which explains the unpleasant smell or the origin of the crest, swelling on the beak, etc. |
| M25 | 96.17% | To take part in a festival in heaven or visit a deity, a flightless character manages to climb high into the sky. He usually cannot go down the same way, falls and as a result dies, maims or metamorphoses. |
| K140 | 95.78% | Travelling with his sister or brother, the young man regularly kills his saviours and helpers, exposing himself to ever new dangers. |
| L108B | 95.17% | To prevent his victim from recognising him, the predator, the cannibal, makes his voice thinner by mechanical means - he smears his throat (tongue) with fat, cauterises it with a hot stone or iron, exposes it to ant bites, consults a blacksmith, etc. |
| G8B | 94.32% | A person hides in a tree or (Kazakhs) hides behind walls. Another tries to cut down the tree (break down the walls) to get the person, but the cut tree grows back (or the already felled tree rises, the wall is restored). |
| L110 | 93.69% | A character swallows many people and/or animals. In the end, his stomach is cut open, and those who were swallowed unharmed come out or are extracted and revived. Cf. motif K8a. |
| D4B | 93.30% | Those who stole or asked for fire and/or those who received fire are punished by the deity. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, 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, Sakata, Zulu, Swazi, Kosa (Xosa, Xhosa), Duala (Douala), Basa (Basaá), Kwiri (Kweli), Isubu, Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Khoekhoe (=Hottentot; incl Nama, Korana); Damara, Rajasthani (Radjasthan and Madhya Pradesh), Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Aragon, Baluch, Morocco, Egypt, Russian Federation