The Mythology and Folklore Database
L118A - Imitation: knife to the throat.
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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
In order to get rid of a dangerous but foolish character, a person performs certain actions, which the character imitates, not realising that he is harming himself.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M153A | 98.13% | A predator is about to eat a human or herbivorous animal. The intended victim asks to be allowed to wash first, and as a result is saved. (Among the Transylvanian Saxons, this involves being baptised with water). |
| K27Q | 98.11% | Task: to obtain the milk of a wild animal or milk possessed by a dangerous creature. See motif K27. |
| M39A4 | 97.62% | fool takes his own shadow for a character chasing him and gives her his property. |
| L37B | 97.14% | By accidentally overhearing a conversation between animals or spirits, a person learns how to help themselves and others. |
| K38 | 97.01% | For doing good to chicks (rarely: young of non-ornithomorphic flying creatures), their mother or father does a favour for the person. |
| K36 | 96.65% | 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). |
| K76B | 96.60% | The son or foster son of snake spouses. He turns into a human. The snake is the princess's magical spouse, lost and returned. |
| M170 | 96.42% | 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. |
| M57C | 96.19% | An animal (donkey, bull, horse, goat, bear, leopard) or inanimate object makes gold or food stand out, or a character makes others believe that this is the case. |
| L116A | 96.13% | While chasing a roe deer (fallow deer, deer), the hero finds himself in the lair of a demon or wizard; the roe deer is an enchanted person or demon. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Lepcha, Portuguese, Portugal, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Tajik, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Ossetians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)