ATU 834 The Poor Brother's Treasure
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The tale in brief
A treasure is meant for a poor man (in the title, a poor brother); when someone else digs it up, he finds only carrion or dung, and when he throws it into the poor man's house to spite him, it turns into money. In several Estonian legends the poor man will not even go to dig, saying that if the money is meant for him, it will be brought to him.
Summary written for RunoVerse and checked against the Finnic texts linked on this page.
Estonian treasure legends
Types of Estonian treasure legends that RunoVerse links to this tale type. A canonical reference rests on a catalogue number in the legend type’s name; strong parallels and experimental matches rest on a shared plot or shared motifs.
- P 834: Raibe/pask rahaks (ATU 834; varem P 811) · 8 records · canonical reference
- P 835: Ekskremendid rahaks · 2 records · strong parallel
- P 109: Jutu tegelasele juhatatakse unenäos varandus, millest peavad osa saama vaesed või sandid. Leidja ... · 97 records · experimental match
RunoVerse’s note: Another tale: a treasure shown in a dream must be shared with the poor, and it vanishes when the finder refuses.
Finnic and Finland-Swedish sources cited in the catalogue
The entries of the catalogue’s list of literature and variants that concern Finnic tradition.
Finnish Rausmaa 1982ff. II, No. 73, Jauhiainen 1998, No. P562
Finnish-Swedish Hackman 1917ff. II, No. 289
Estonian Aarne 1918
Livonian Loorits 1926
Full references:
- Rausmaa 1982ff.: Rausmaa, Pirkko-Liisa (ed.): Suomalaiset kansansadut 1–6. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1982–2000.
- Jauhiainen 1998: Jauhiainen, Marjatta: The Type and Motif Index of Finnish Belief Legends and Memorates. FF Communications 267. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1998.
- Aarne 1918: Aarne, Antti: Estnische Märchen- und Sagenvarianten. Verzeichnis der zu den Hurt'schen Handschriftensammlungen gehörenden Aufzeichnungen. FF Communications 25. Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918.
- Loorits 1926: Loorits, Oskar: Livische Märchen- und Sagenvarianten. FF Communications 66. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1926.
Motifs and related tale types
Motifs: Parts of Human Body Furnish Treasure D1454·Snake Turns to Gold in Answer to Dream N182·Treasure Discovered Through Dream N531
Combines with: ATU 831 Clergyman in Disguise as the Devil (previously The Dishonest Priest)·ATU 841 One Beggar Trusts in God, the Other the King
Related types: ATU 947A Bad Luck Cannot Be Arrested·ATU 1645 The Treasure at Home
Sources
Tale-type number, title, classification, related types and the Finnic sources: Hans-Jörg Uther, The Types of International Folktales (FF Communications 284–286, Helsinki 2004). · Uther 2004, part I (FF Communications 284), free online ↗
Treasure-legend links: RunoVerse’s matching of the Estonian treasure-legend types with the tale types.
Motifs and combinations with other tale types: the Trilogy dataset, from Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature and the ATU catalogue.
The plot summary, the notes and the arrangement of this page are RunoVerse’s own.