Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F51 — Secret lover, H58.
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
OverviewSomeone under cover of night/incognito approaches a person of the opposite sex. The marriage partner deliberately (to determine who it is) or accidentally (thereby exposing the visitor) makes a mark on his/her body (clothing). See motif A31.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.
F51 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedF51. Someone under cover of night/incognito approaches a person of the opposite sex. The marriage partner deliberately (to determine who it is) or accidentally (thereby exposing the visitor) makes a mark on his/her body (clothing). See motif A31.
F51a. After incest is discovered, the sister openly demands her brother as her husband, turns into a monster, and kills people.
F51b. To find out the nature or location of a character's locus, another person secretly attaches a long thread to it and follows it.
F51c. Upon learning that her unknown lover is her own brother, the girl shows him her genitals or bare breasts, offering him what he so desired. After that, she runs away, and he rushes after her.
F51d. Ginseng roots – boys or girls who help the hero.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F33 | 96.56% | A woman or group of women take a water animal or water monster as their lover. The husband(s), brother(s) or (adopted) children of the woman(s) kill or maim the lover and (in some cases) the woman(s). |
| F53 | 96.42% | An unattractive man marries, but hides his face. When he is seen, the marriage is dissolved. |
| M11 | 96.37% | The character gives others food extracted from his or someone else's body or contaminated with bodily secretions, without revealing the source of the food. |
| L46 | 95.82% | The character walks, climbs or descends upside down, or sees the world turned upside down. |
| B27 | 95.59% | The characters ponder what object or creature they should transform into, and once they have made their choice, they undergo metamorphosis. |
| G31 | 95.48% | A character ties trees with rope and effortlessly knocks them all down at once or pretends to do so. |
| L35 | 95.28% | A shaman or spirit comes at night and, reaching his hand into the hut, steals food or disturbs a woman. A man in the hut cuts off or tears off the hand. |
| M18 | 95.24% | The character turns into an object of fishing or hunting and presents himself as a target. The fisherman or hunter does not harm them, but they take away what they use: arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, bait; or they catch fish, having turned themselves into hooks; or they are caught but escape death by taking on human form again. |
| E6 | 94.97% | When a woman of childbearing age (she is menstruating, miscarrying, pregnant, with a child, or simply fat) tries to pass from one world to another, the connection between the worlds is severed forever. |
| E3 | 94.58% | After the destruction of the previous world, new people (rarely: new earth) are made from the remains of the dead. |
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
111 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 111 traditions: Marquesas, Hawaii, Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Koreans, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Lithuanians, Western Ukrainians, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Mongols (Khalkha), Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Kaska, Ingalik (Der Hit’an), Koyukon, North Alaskan Inupiat, Netsilik, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, West Greenland, Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Heiltsuk (Bellabella), Oowekeeno, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Mandan, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Assiniboine, Chilkotin, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Sechelt (incl Sisiatl), Squamish, Halcomelem, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Tillamook, Coos, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Caddo, Cherokee, Atsugewi, Achomavi, Yana, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Sicuani, Yabarana, Panare (Eñape), Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Warao, Waiwai, Trio, Kaxuyana (Warikyana, Arikena), Hixkariyana, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Locono, Wayapi, Emerillon, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Zaparo, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Chayahuita , Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Andoque, Witoto, Ocaina, Bora, Yagua, Ticuna (Tucuna), Xipaya, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Tenetehara, Piro (Yine), Culina, Paumarí, Arauá, Apurina, Cuniba, Kanamari, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Harákmbet (=Mashco), Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Chacobo, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Kamayura, Trumai, Rikbaktsa, Iranxe, Nambikwara, Paresi, Caraja, Suya, Txukarramae, Botocudo, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa, Manao, Katawishi (Teffe lake); groups of uncertain affiliation mostly from Rio Jamunda, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Transylvanian Saksons, China, Japan, Russian Federation, Halkomelem (Snaymuk)
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