Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J12 — Girls in search of a 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
OverviewA 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).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| L54 | 96.47% | To overcome the disaster, hot stones or ashes are thrown into the water. |
| B28 | 96.35% | Travelling from one locality to another, the character successively transforms people into birds and animals, into stones, sanctuaries (or transforms monstrous animals into ordinary ones), establishes cultural norms, determines the biological characteristics of creatures, the appearance of the locality, etc. |
| M8A | 96.33% | Animals, and more often birds, find it difficult to break through a rock from the outside or inside, make a hole in the tree, in the body of an absorber creature, tear fetters, etc., to help a character or get out of the confined space by yourself. The list <b><i>includes</i></b> groups whose texts deal with the exit of the first ancestors to earth from a confined space. |
| K4 | 96.32% | The character climbs a tree or rock to get a bird, bird eggs, or chicks, climbs into a bird's nest, comes into conflict with another character, and/or cannot climb down. See motifs K1, K2A. Traditions in which the nest destroyer is a woman are highlighted in italics; bold italics indicate those in which the character falls into the trap not through the fault of another person, but by accident, or, having climbed up to destroy the nest, does not fall into the trap at all, although he quarrels with his companion; an asterisk* marks those in which the character remains in the trap (undergoes a metamorphosis). |
| J44 | 96.24% | The hero lures the enemy onto a rickety bridge. The enemy falls into the water, into the abyss (see motif J46). See motif J52. |
| D4F | 95.91% | Once in the fire, the beaver (in North America) or fish (in South America) scatters and/or carries the fire away from its original owners. See motif D4A. |
| J59 | 95.90% | To reach the sky, one must shoot an arrow that will pierce the vault of heaven. See motif J58; see motif J59A: a man flies after or on an arrow (without the motif of an arrow piercing the vault of heaven). |
| J30 | 95.88% | Before the heroes defeat their antagonists or flee from them, they find or receive the remains or property of the victim. |
| M22 | 95.20% | A long-necked bird living near water (crane, heron, bittern, swan) helps a fugitive escape from his pursuer (indicated in brackets). See motifs J44-J46 (a long-legged bird helps cross the river, drowns the pursuer; the pursuer is most often a bear). |
| K3 | 94.74% | The hero climbs a tree or rock to get bird eggs, chicks, fruit, honey, etc. He cannot climb down because another character makes the tree (rock) very tall or makes the tree trunk thick. See motif K1A. |
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
116 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 116 traditions: Arnhem Land: Enindhilyagwa (Groote Eilandt), KuTiwi, Yulengor, Mara, Oenpelli, Murngin, Roper River, Maung, Murinbata, Murngin (Duwal), Millingimbi, Goulburn Island, Ngulugwongga, Yirrkalla, Voctoria River Downs, Alawa, Anu, Kunwinjku, Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Melanesians and Papuans of Bismark Archipelago: New Britain (Paparatava, Lakalai, Kuni, Sulka, Gazelle peninsula), New Ireland, St Matthias Group, Mioko (Melanesians between New Britain and New Ireland), Kanaka (New Caledonia), Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Batak (Toba, Dairi), Sinhalese; Vedda, Svans, Ainu, Udeghe, Oroch, Uilta (Orok), Nanai, Nivkh, Chukchi, Central Yupik, Athna, Tanana, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Malecite, Passamaquoddy, Micmac, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Menominee, Potawatomi, Huron (incl Wyandot), Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arapaho, Iowa, Gros Ventre, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Quinault, Tillamook, Kalapuya, Takelma, Coos, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Coeur D'Alene, Kalispel (Pend d'Oreille; incl Spokane), Kutenai, Karok, Klamath, Modoc, Yurok, Caddo, Alabama, Koasati, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Pomo, Wintu, Patwin, Nomlaki, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Achomavi, Yana, Chumash, Kawaiisu, Mono (Monache), Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Washo, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Southern Paiute, Chemehuevi, Serrano, Navajo, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Lipan, Diegueño: Ipai, Tipai, Kamia (Kumeai), Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Papago, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Sicuani, Guayabero, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Chayahuita , Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Tariana, Xipaya, Tupinamba, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Tenetehara, Yuracare, Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Bakairi, Trumai, Iranxe, Bororo, Makka, Mataco, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Chorote, Toba (incl Pilagá), Northern and Southern Tehuelche, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Northeastern Yakuts (Sakha): Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma Basins
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