Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J12J — The false suitor turns out to be a jester.
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
OverviewA girl or sisters end up with a false groom who plays the role of a jester in the chief's house. See motif J12.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
J12 has 13 other sub-motifs
RelatedJ12. A girl or two sisters wander, usually in search of a suitable groom or husband who has left or lives far away. Along the way or upon reaching their destination, they encounter false suitors. (Traditions in which two heroines travel rather than one are highlighted in bold (motif j13).
J12a. A girl or two sisters come to an old woman who invites them to marry her son. In reality, he is a worm, a snake or a penis, which his mother hides in a vessel during the day. The girl (sisters) do not allow him to approach them and run away. See motif J12.
J12b. A honey groom or a skilled honey gatherer is attractive to a girl.
J12c. A girl meets her fiancé at a dance and then follows in his footsteps. See motif J12.
J12d. After a girl marries a worthy suitor, the rejected suitor or his relatives kill the rival. See motif J12.
J12E. The false bridegroom - skunk. See motif J12.
J12F. False groom - eagle owl/owl. See motif J12.
J12G. The false bridegroom is a bird that lives on or near water. See motif J12.
J12H. The false groom - the opossum.
J12I. A desirable marriage partner secretes beads instead of saliva or excrement. See motifs J12 and M57.
J12j. A girl or sisters end up with a false groom who plays the role of a jester in the chief's house. See motif J12.
J12k. Desirable and undesirable marriage partners live in the same house. The undesirable partner is a servant or junior partner, usually pretending to be the master.
J12l. The murderer pretends to mourn the victim along with everyone else. The deception is revealed, and the murderer is pursued. See motif J12.
J12m. A woman or two sisters come to two men and become wives of one of them. The other kills or tries to kill his rival or the women. As a result, the women turn into waterfowl.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M29Q | 98.93% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| J19 | 98.83% | While her husband or brother is hunting, an evil spirit comes to his wife or sister; he kills her or takes her away. Her sons, who were torn from her womb or born at that time, are saved. |
| F93A | 98.77% | A man's penis begins to talk incessantly, falling silent only after his mother-in-law takes it in her hand. |
| M24 | 98.71% | turtle goes to war and/or is captured. See M23 motif. Cf. motif K77 “Verlioka”. |
| K68 | 98.62% | A strong man takes food from a weak man and forces him to work for him (usually a son-in-law mistreats his father-in-law). A boy appears in the house of the wronged man from a clot of animal blood that has been collected. He kills the offender. |
| M65B | 98.47% | Having resorted to deception, the character kills the game, but the thieves take the loot. See M53 motif. |
| L91 | 98.43% | Two or four young men go on a journey or return from one. Their path is blocked by a long creature that cannot be bypassed. They burn a passage through it. One eats roasted meat, turns into a snake himself, or dies. See motif L28. |
| K48A | 98.23% | The hero's costume and/or headdress are decorated with live birds or animals. Usually, the antagonist steals the clothes and pretends to be the hero, but the birds and animals on his headdress remain silent or cry out differently. See motif K48. |
| J18 | 98.00% | A pregnant woman or a woman with a child falls from the sky. She or her newborn daughter dies or undergoes a metamorphosis. Her son or her daughter's son survives and grows up. Cf. motif K9. |
| M65 | 97.72% | trickster bakes meat obtained by trick, deception; immobilized by sticking to a tree, ground, or stone; at this time, another character (fox, wolf, coyote, birds) eats all the meat. See M53 motif. |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Nanai, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Huron (incl Wyandot), Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Arapaho, Santee, Iowa, Gros Ventre, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Quinault, Klamath, Modoc, Caddo, Alabama, Koasati
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