The Mythology and Folklore Database
M57A2 - The male character exudes values




121 Myths, Legends and Folktales
120 Unique Narratives for Motif M57A2
63 Cultures & Traditions where M57A2 is told
209 Mythemes Indexed
11 Sub-Motifs of Motif M57A2


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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

Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects


M57 has 11 other sub-motifs


M57a.  Instead of the usual secretions from the human body, beads, flowers, gold and other valuables pour in.
M57a1.  When a beautiful woman walks on the ground, jewels appear under her feet, flowers bloom, etc.
M57a2.  Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a
M57a3.  Instead of common body discharges a a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular female person. See motif m57a
M57b.  Beads or metals are the bodily secretions of a deity.
M57c.  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.
M57c1.  A man fights a bear or (Malayali) leopard and makes another person believe that this animal is defecating with gold.
M57d.  A person consistently receives magical items that bring wealth. Others replace them or take them away. A person returns what has been taken - usually by receiving another wonderful object (baton, whip) that hits the kidnappers.
M57d1.  bird consistently gives a person magical objects (or gives one, with which he receives the rest) or consistently fulfills his wishes.
M57d2.  The man was about to cut down a tree. It himself, or the creature living on it or in it, asks not to do so and fulfills the person's wishes.
M57d3.  A person receives a reward from a character who is associated with the wind. Cf. Motive K175 (“The wind carried away the flour”).
M57d4.  A person receives a reward from a character who is associated with frost.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
M57A98.38%Instead of the usual secretions from the human body, beads, flowers, gold and other valuables pour in.
K3795.90%In order to return or obtain a wife, son or husband (in Africa also a domestic animal or object), a person must identify her or him among several identical people or animals (objects).
L15D95.87%The object in which the character's life is concentrated is separate from him. The character dies when this external form is destroyed.
K27E95.35%The character is offered to eat or drink an unusually large amount or poison.
K102A294.97%The mother seeks to destroy her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair. Cf. motif L86: Children flee from their demon mother.
K27N194.93%A character who gives the hero tasks that are impossible for an ordinary person (subjecting the hero to difficult trials), or a character who requires the suitors of his daughter to fulfil certain conditions, is the head of a community or supra-community collective and is neither a member of the same family collective as the hero nor a mythical creature. See motif K27.
K3694.75%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).
K7594.72%The girl (usually the youngest of the sisters) does not reject the hero, who temporarily takes the form of an animal, a freak, an old man, a poor man, or a loser, or she picks up the hero's remains and he comes back to life. After some time, the hero reveals his true nature.
M62A93.81%The hero quietly damages each of the two characters; they accuse each other, quarrel, fight.
M4093.79%The character is sent to get something relatively low in value. He asks for something else and shouts to whoever sent him to confirm the assignment. Usually, a weaker character comes to a stronger wife or son and tells her (him) that her husband (his father) told him to surrender to him, feed him, marry him, etc. {It is highly likely that American versions are borrowed after Columbus}.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 63 traditions: Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Algeria Arabs, Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, Hausa, Bia: Anyi, Agni, Baule, Nsema, Sepik-Ramu stock: Abelam, Yatmul, Aibom, Ayom (incl Tembregak, Asai-river pygmies), Tangu, Porapora (Ambakich), Rao and other groups of Middle Ramu and Upper Keram River tribes; Kwanga, Watam, Kaian, Gamei, Awar; Kire (Lower Ramu), Northern Halmahera Papuans: Galela, Loda, Pagu, Modole, Tabaru (Tobaru), Tobelo, Tidore, Ternate, Burmese, Intha, Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Khmu (Kammu), Puoc, Khasi, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Bengali, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, France, 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, Czech, Czechs, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Latvians, Setu, Vepsians, Western Ukrainians, 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, Yagnobi, Persians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Turkmen, Mari (Cheremis), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Darkhad, Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Blackfoot, Arapaho, Kiowa, Gros Ventre, Plains Cree, Assiniboine, Comox, Pentlatch, Alabama, Koasati, Pomo, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet


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