Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E31A2 — One is her father, another is her brother, and this one is her husband.
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
OverviewThe girl must be given to one of several men. She herself or someone else explains that one of the suitors can be called her father, another her brother (etc.), and only one can be her husband.
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
E31 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedE31. A man makes a wooden doll and behaves as if it were alive. It does not come to life, or comes to life only partially or temporarily. A real woman replaces the figure and marries the carver.
E31a. Several men (women) participate in the rescue, creation or revival of a girl (man), or mourn her (his) death. The question arises as to whom the revived person should belong to or who contributed more to the revival. Alternatively, three men create something valuable, each contributing their part. The question arises as to whose contribution is more important.
E31a1. Three (rarely four or two) men participate in the creation of the girl: one carves the figure out of wood, another dresses her, and the third brings her to life. To whom should the animated girl belong?
E31a2. The girl must be given to one of several men. She herself or someone else explains that one of the suitors can be called her father, another her brother (etc.), and only one can be her husband.
E31b. Several women participate in reviving a dead man and argue about who did more to revive him.
E31c. Several men, each possessing a unique skill, bring a (kidnapped) girl from a distant country.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| C6I | 99.43% | A zoomorphic character returns from the underworld covered in mud. He shakes himself off, or the mud is scraped off him, and earth emerges from it. |
| B116C | 99.33% | In the past, the people possessed writing and knowledge, but these were lost, or the people missed the opportunity to acquire them. |
| B1C | 99.03% | Two creators agree that the older of them (the main creator) will be the one whose object is in a certain state (usually: whose tree or flower grows or blooms earlier). While one was asleep or absent, the other switched the objects and deceitfully achieved primacy. |
| A37B | 98.98% | A small animal (marmot, rabbit, mole, frog) or a person who turns into such an animal tries to hit a target in the sky (a celestial body or a bird) with arrows and as a result loses their thumbs. |
| K56A8B | 98.98% | A virtuous girl (usually the daughter of a dog) wants to kill herself and puts her hand in a snake's hole. The snake does not bite her, but rewards her. |
| L90D | 98.98% | The hero attaches the upper lip (jaw) of the monster to the sky, and the lower lip to the earth. |
| K27Z2 | 98.81% | A noble woman is forced to leave her home, gives birth to a son, and is separated from him. The young man grows up and almost marries his mother, but at the last moment everything is explained. {The Sudanese text, attributed to this plot in el-Shamy 2004 and subsequently in Uther 2004, does not fit the definition; it is quite possible that the Latvians, Romanians and Ukrainians are also mentioned incorrectly in Uther 2004}. |
| K37E | 98.81% | The clairvoyant cannot identify the person who revealed the secret, because that person does so while hiding among objects that are never found together in everyday life. |
| M78A | 98.36% | A tiny little man emerges from the severed tail of a goat or sheep. |
| M130A | 98.28% | A trickster lures an animal into a hunter's trap. Another animal advises the victim to pretend to be dead and helps it escape. |
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
14 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 14 traditions: Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Khmer, Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Malayali; Kannikaran, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Nepali; Tharu, Marathi (incl. Bhamta; incl. Mumbai area), Gujarati, Rajasthani (Radjasthan and Madhya Pradesh), Sinhalese; Vedda, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori
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