The Mythology and Folklore Database
M110 - The forgotten liver, ATU 91.
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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
Upon learning that it is being transported by water to be eaten, the land animal explains to the transporter that it has forgotten on the shore the organ without which the meat is not tasty, which must be used as medicine, etc. The transporter agrees to return for this organ, and the animal runs away.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
M11 has 4 other sub-motifsM11. The character gives others food extracted from his or someone else's body or contaminated with bodily secretions, without revealing the source of the food. M11a. The character gives others the fish extracted from his body. M11b. A woman feeds a man with good-quality meat or fat, which she cuts from her own flesh or extracts from her body, and stops doing so when he learns about the source of the food. M11c. Without harming himself, a male character cuts off, pierces, roasts, holds over a fire, etc. a part of his body (or his wife's body). The character cooks the meat, fat, etc. obtained in this way and treats his guest to it. This food is not perceived as unclean (cf. motifs M11B and M38). m11d. The character makes food taste good by adding salt to it. Another character learns that the cook extracts this salt from his own body (it is contained in his bodily secretions). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of M11's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M151 | 98.32% | A dangerous character pretends to be dead or absent, or pretends to be an inanimate object. The potential victim says aloud that the deceased (object or place – house, burrow, log, etc.) should do or say something. The character does so, revealing himself. |
| I97 | 97.47% | Rainbow – hoofed animal (horse, bull, goat, sheep). |
| L44B | 96.45% | The blind and deaf (lame) began to live together, helping each other. After being mortally frightened or fighting, both (less often, one of them) got rid of their disabilities. |
| B77B | 95.49% | The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a long object (a pestle, a broom, etc.) during work. Cf. motifs B77b1 and B77b2. |
| L93C | 93.98% | The monkey, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saves them. |
| H6BB | 93.41% | A character is sent to deliver a certain object or substance to people, the possession of which is essential to them. The messenger loses these objects or brings others. Usually, this refers to the ability to be reborn after death. Traditions not related to the explanation of human mortality are marked with an asterisk*. |
| L93B | 92.64% | The hare or rabbit, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saving them. |
| C30D | 92.27% | The character agrees that his locus will be contaminated with excrement, but only on condition that not a drop of urine is spilled. It turns out to be impossible to fulfil this condition. |
| K144 | 91.81% | When the animal, object, or person that was supposed to cause the character's death has already died or is far away, the character's remains or images become the cause of death. |
| I38A | 91.11% | The husbands of human women are dogs or dog-headed creatures. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 31 traditions: Acoli (Acholi), Lur (Alur, Luri), Lango, Amhara; Zay, Harari; Silte, Gogot, Malawi (incl Nyanja, Banyanja, Manganja), Tumbuka (incl Henga), Nsenga, Matengo, (Ba)Wenda, Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Hehe, Pangwa (Upper Rufudji area), Bena, Matumbi, Ngoni, Pogolo, (Ma)konde, Mawiha, 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, Lingala, (Ba)Ngala, Ntomba, Kioque, (Ki)Bangi, Bolia, Balolo, Boloki, (Ba)Akwa, (U)Poto, Limba, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Northern Halmahera Papuans: Galela, Loda, Pagu, Modole, Tabaru (Tobaru), Tobelo, Tidore, Ternate, Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Burmese, Intha, Khmer, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Kashmiri, Nepali; Tharu, Koreans, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Western Ukrainians, Persians, Kurds, 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), Mongols (Khalkha), Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Morocco