Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

K30B — Went out for a walk and disappeared.

22 Myths, legends and folktales
22 Unique narratives for motif K30B
13 Cultures & traditions where K30B is told
2 Sub-motifs of motif K30B
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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

Overview

A woman or girl is forbidden to go outside. As soon as she does, a flying creature kidnaps her.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

K30 has 2 other sub-motifs

Related

K30.  A flying creature carries a woman away. The kidnapper is killed and/or the woman escapes from him. See also motif L102A (Escape from a seagull husband).
K30a.  The wife of the first ancestor flies away with the vultures (usually voluntarily, after she has already cheated on her husband), and the chief (Uito: her brother) brings her back. See motif K30.
K30b.  A woman or girl is forbidden to go outside. As soon as she does, a flying creature kidnaps her.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of K30’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
H33A100.00%God wanted to throw a newborn baby (over a fence, house, etc.) so that it would immediately stand up and start walking, but the woman was frightened and did not allow it. Therefore, children do not walk from birth. See motif H33.
L23B99.99%Trying to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance. The last transformation is into a spindle.
K27F299.99%A girl demands that her fiancé get her the same pair of shoes (or other items) as hers. These items either exist in a single copy, or it is not known what they look like. Having become invisible, the hero either steals the items (and the owner has to make new ones herself), or finds out what they look like.
N1699.99%fairy-tale text ends with a formula stating that the narrator had a horse and/or harness made of wax, ice, linen, vegetables, etc. In most cases, the narrator loses them (they melt, they are taken away, eaten, etc.).
N3599.99%Somewhere milk rivers flow with banks made of jelly (porridge) - a sign of abundance (impossible in reality). Cf. H16B motive.
M191C99.99%Through singing (threats, pleasantries), the wolf (less often, the bear) gradually forces the old man to give him his domestic animals (and family members).
K56A2B99.97%A supernatural character asks a girl to redeem (feed) his (her) children. These are snakes, beetles or wild animals. The girl does everything she is asked and is rewarded.
K38B3B99.96%A mighty bird (rarely – another creature) helps a person for sheltering (warming) its chicks (offspring, children).
B87B99.94%The Great Bear – a cart harnessed by a wolf or bear. Usually, the shape of the handle of the dipper is explained by the fact that a wolf or bear attacked an ox harnessed to the cart and took its place. In this case, it is associated with Alcor or the last star of the handle of the dipper – η.
M38E99.94%mushroom (pumpkin) thinks that it is as durable as a tree.

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

13 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: 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, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Armenians, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation

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