Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K120A5 — Luring a woman onto a ship.
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
OverviewTo obtain a woman, a man lures her onto a ship (boat, flying machine, etc.) and takes her away.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K12 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedK12. The hero returns the woman whom his enemy or rival tried to take away from him.
K12a. An unrecognised hero arrives at a place where his bride or wife is to be given to another man or turned into a servant. Contrary to expectations, he manages to draw a tight bow (raise a spear), with which he kills his rivals.
K12b. The hero enters a world beyond the human world and marries there. His wife allows him to visit his former world, but on certain conditions. The hero breaks these conditions, which leads to (irreparable) misfortune. Cf. motif F94 (the hero betrays his fairy wife in her world); K25a6 (the hero visits his world together with his fairy wife).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K33A7 | 99.84% | After the death of a woman, her daughter or son advises her father to marry a neighbour, teacher, etc., who usually persuades the teenager to give such advice. After marrying the widower, the new wife begins to tyrannise her stepdaughter or stepson. |
| K92B | 99.73% | A daughter tells her father (rarely her brother) that she loves him like salt (or that salt is more important than him, etc.). He sends his daughter away (gets angry with his sister), but then realises she is right. |
| K163 | 99.61% | A sorcerer orders a young man to retrieve a magical object (often a lamp) from a hard-to-reach place. The young man finds the object (but refuses to give it up), and the sorcerer grants his wishes. |
| K80B | 99.60% | The mother or stepmother kills the boy (rarely a girl) and usually feeds her husband, i.e. the child's father, his flesh. The boy is reborn, usually (at first) in the form of a bird that tells the story of what happened. Cf. motif K80A. Traditions in which the boy is killed by his own mother are highlighted in bold. |
| I92 | 99.55% | A person who has come into contact with a rainbow in a certain way (walked under it, drunk water where the rainbow drinks, etc.) changes their gender. |
| K120 | 99.42% | The girl's father (rarely: stepfather) intends to marry her (since she is the only one who meets the requirements for a bride). Usually, the girl manages to avoid the marriage. |
| H7C | 99.40% | Death promises to take a man after he finishes his prayer or song (formerly ATU 1199B). The man breaks off his prayer (song) in the middle, and Death cannot take him. |
| K100H | 99.36% | A supernatural character fulfils the wishes of one or more people and later visits them again. The beneficiary or most of them turn out to be ungrateful and chase him away. In response, the character deprives them of what they have gained. |
| M191A | 99.31% | Mice decide to hang a bell around a cat's neck or tail so that they will know when it is approaching. Usually, none of the mice are able to do this. |
| K35C3 | 99.30% | For reasons that are not immediately clear, the ship stops in the middle of the sea (rarely: a horse stops in the middle of the road). |
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
28 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 28 traditions: Soqotri, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Egypt, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Sindhi, England, British, Bretons, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Portuguese, Portugal, France, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Latvians, Finns, Swedes, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Chuvash, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Transylvanian Saksons, Bosnians, Russian Federation
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