Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F56 — Temptation and incest.
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
OverviewUpon seeing the vagina of his mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, niece, or mother-in-law, a man or boy thinks about incest or commits it.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.
F56 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedF56. Upon seeing the vagina of his mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, niece, or mother-in-law, a man or boy thinks about incest or commits it.
F56a. To see a woman's genitals, a man throws something that flashes brightly into the hearth. The woman recoils, exposing her genitals.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J22A | 99.36% | Two men or a brother and sister emerge from a single body or embryo cut in half, or the second emerges from a part of the body or from the secretions of the first. Cf. motif M37. |
| L40A | 98.98% | An unattractive woman sees the reflection of a young man sitting in a tree in the water and thinks that she has become beautiful. |
| K18B | 98.80% | Men or women approach the little boy one after another or take him in their arms. The person who makes the boy stop crying is recognised as his parent. See motif K18. |
| F45B | 98.23% | A woman gives birth to a son conceived by (the rays or light of) the sun. |
| F55 | 97.89% | Not understanding what her interlocutor of the opposite sex wants, a woman or girl names or shows various objects and body parts. The interlocutor is satisfied when she names or exposes her genitals. Cf. motif f55a. |
| J52 | 97.59% | A character (usually zoomorphic and female) treacherously kills another. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children. |
| J57 | 97.34% | Conceived by the Sun, a woman gives birth to sons or a son; when they come of age, they visit their father. See motif J56. |
| J53A1 | 97.33% | The children of the murdered man kill the murderer's children, luring them to a place where they perish from heat or smoke. |
| J53B | 97.32% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her, brings her meat home and starts cooking it. The children of the deceased notice their mother's breasts (in California â eyes or liver), or the mother's breasts themselves turn to her children. |
| F21 | 97.22% | While the character copulates with a woman, she turns into a tree or a rock. His penis gets stuck in her. |
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
Traditions
28 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 28 traditions: Melanesians of the islands of Massim District ( =Milke Bay Province) to the east of New Guinea: Dobu, Rossel, Fergusson, Goodenough, Murua (Woodlark), Trobrian Islands, d'Entrecasteau Islands, Yap, Bunak, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Arapaho, Plains Ojibwa, Crow, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Kalapuya, Coos, Klamath, Modoc, Wintu, Patwin, Nomlaki, Yana, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Southern Paiute, Iranxe, Umotina (Umutina), Chamacoco (Ishir), Yamana (Yaghan), Alacaluf, Papua-New Guinea Southern Lowland Papuan groups (Trans New Guinea and unclassified): Gimi, Kiwai, Bina, Mawabula, Mawatta, Keraki, Gambadi (incl. Kwavaru), Purari River delta, Masingara, Wiram (=Suki), Ngain, Daga, Elema, Northeastern Yakuts (Sakha): Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma Basins
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