Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K82A — Pregnancy from snake eggs.
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 malevolent woman forces a woman to swallow a snake egg (snake, something else) so that a man will think that the woman is pregnant out of wedlock (rarely: so that snakes will suck the juices out of her). Cf. motif L89.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K82 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedK82. A man's wife or another woman tries to destroy his sister.
K82a. A malevolent woman forces a woman to swallow a snake egg (snake, something else) so that a man will think that the woman is pregnant out of wedlock (rarely: so that snakes will suck the juices out of her). Cf. motif L89.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27Z2B | 91.07% | The complicated relationship between a simple girl and a prince leads to the prince intending to kill his bride on their wedding night. The girl substitutes a doll for herself, the prince stabs the doll with his sword, mistakes the spurting juice (syrup, honey) for blood, and repents of the murder. The real girl appears, and the young couple are happy. |
| K33D1 | 91.00% | The young man does not know that a beautiful girl is hiding inside the object brought to his house. |
| K80C1 | 90.87% | Someone brings meat or fruit to another person or keeps it for themselves. At the decisive moment, the food turns into the remains of a (supposedly) murdered person. The owner is executed or is about to be executed. Cf. motif K168A. |
| K168 | 90.73% | A person experiences an eventful long period of life. Everything turns out to be an illusion, and he finds himself back in the same place and at the same moment in time from which the story began. |
| F3 | 90.52% | A man accidentally eats a magical remedy intended for a woman to become pregnant and gives birth to a child. The child comes out of a tumour on the man's leg, or in some other way, but the man remains alive. |
| K73C | 90.23% | A girl finds herself in a bird's nest (usually the bird carries the baby girl away). The bird takes care of the girl, who grows up to be a beauty. |
| K27Z2E | 89.71% | During a meeting (sometimes not in their true form), a young man or woman takes certain objects (jewelry) from the other. One of those who met falls ill. A new meeting leads to the healing of the sick person, the identification of the objects, and a wedding. |
| K107C | 89.31% | A magical spouse who arrives in the form of a bird or appears in some other way meets a woman. Jealous sisters (stepmother, brother, etc.) wound him (usually by placing razors, glass shards, etc. in his path). The wounded young man disappears, and the woman goes in search of him. |
| K80D | 89.03% | A young woman or man is enchanted (turned into a bird, animal, immobilised) when a pin or other sharp object is stuck into their body. |
| K33A8 | 88.81% | A woman transformed into a dove by the machinations of a rival tries to establish contact with her children or husband. |
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
21 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 21 traditions: Yemen, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Arabs of Egypt, Berbers of Morocco and adjacent parts of Algeria, Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Western Sahara and Mauritania Arabs; Berbers of Mauritania (Zenaga), Algeria Arabs, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Marathi (incl. Bhamta; incl. Mumbai area), Assamese, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Danes, Danish, Persians, Armenians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Tunisia, Yemen, Russian Federation
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