Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M193 — Rolling home.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewTo avoid predators (suitors) on the way back, the character climbs inside a pumpkin, a round cauldron, etc. and rolls down the road or walks, disguised beyond recognition.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M157A3 | 98.68% | A character demands that another provide him with offspring or milk from a male animal. |
| L44 | 97.79% | A demon or powerful beast demands that a person or weak animal show certain parts of their body. The person shows parts of a large animal's body or certain objects. The opponent decides that the hero is more frightening and powerful than them. |
| B125B | 97.38% | A zoomorphic character goes to a festival and asks another to lend him a part of his body, which will make him look more attractive. |
| M145 | 97.07% | One character (usually zoomorphic) shows another his reflection in a body of water. The latter believes that a beast resembling him is challenging his seniority, invites him to visit, etc.; usually throws himself into the water and perishes. |
| M152A | 96.33% | A strong predator (a giant cannibal) and a weak predator are tied together with a rope to feel more confident. The strong one flees and drags the weak one behind him. |
| M149A | 96.28% | The character, either recklessly or against his own will, finds himself bound by a contract with a predator, which he cannot or does not want to fulfil, or which he breaks. The predator intends to eat him, but the character remains alive. |
| A23D | 95.76% | Animals argue about which of them should start the cycle of 12 months or years. The mouse wins the primacy. |
| M152 | 95.36% | Seeing a predator (a giant, etc.) approaching, the weak character pretends to thank the one who is leading the predator for his promise to bring prey, or his wife and children (rarely: he himself) begin to talk aloud about how they are going to eat the predator or how they have eaten his companions before. |
| L128 | 95.36% | When a demonic character or predator reveals who he is, the hero or herbivorous animal responds by calling himself a name that implies his superiority over his opponent. |
| K145A | 95.09% | A person is predicted to die at the hands of an animal. He is killed (or attempted to be killed) by a living image of an animal or a statue in the form of an animal that falls on him. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Cite this map
Distribution of the traditions attesting motif M193, ‘Rolling home.’, as recorded in the Berezkin–Duvakin Analytical Catalogue of Folklore Motifs (15 traditions mapped). Geolocation and cartography by Jonathan Fielder-White, Folklore Database, release 1.26206.1 (25 July 2026), https://www.folkloredatabase.com/motif/M193 (accessed 8 August 2026). Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Traditions
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Zande (Azande, incl Nzakara), Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Sindhi, Konkani (incl Goa), Dards (Kalash, Kho, Kohistani, Shina, Pashai), Portuguese, Portugal, Tajik, Persians, Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Mustang, Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Bhutan
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How to cite: Fielder-White, Jonathan (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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