Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K35A4 — Thrown into the sea.
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
OverviewIn order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K35 has 13 other sub-motifs
RelatedK35. The deceiver pretends to be a hero in order to take his place (to possess his woman). (This motif includes all texts with motif K35a3).
K35a. In exchange for improving his current situation, the character agrees to have his body injured or branded.
K35a1. Setting off on a journey, a person (often against the advice of their horse) picks up a precious feather. Upon learning of this, an authoritative character gives them difficult tasks.
K35a2. A man kills an animal with glowing fur. Upon learning of this, an authoritative figure gives him difficult tasks.
K35a3. In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him.
K35a4. In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns.
K35a5. An authoritative character leaves an object (a letter) for a little boy, by which he will be able to recognise him when he grows up and comes to him.
K35a6. The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found.
K35a7. A character finds a feather, the touch of which brings health and beauty.
K35b. The hero gives his rivals the food that the king sent them all to get, but what the rivals got turns out to be poisonous, useless, or tasteless, while what the hero brought, regardless of how it looks, gets praised.
K35c. The dev (ajdaha, sea king) did not kill the man who descended to him, as people assumed, but rewarded him because he greeted him and/or answered his question correctly.
K35c1. The young man is not killed, but rewarded, because he answered correctly (evasively) the question of a powerful character – which of the two women he should marry, which is more beautiful, which object or material is more valuable, etc.
K35c2. When the ship unexpectedly stops, the hero descends to the bottom of the sea, behaves correctly with the local inhabitants, and returns to the ship.
K35c3. 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).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L130 | 99.89% | Two or more characters have only one eye between them. |
| E9L | 99.88% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat). |
| K61C1 | 99.83% | A person will die if they cannot find the answer to the demon's question. A person or their acquaintance accidentally learns the answer by overhearing the demon talking to himself or to another demon. See motif C29. |
| K56A7 | 99.82% | In winter, a girl (rarely a boy) is sent to bring something that is normally only available in summer. She brings it. |
| A2C1 | 99.72% | The Sun is going to have children. One of the animals warns that if the Sun has children, the world will burn. The Sun has to (refuse marriage and) remain childless. |
| K128A | 99.61% | Each of the three brothers brings the princess (prince) a gift of fruit (less often fish, etc.) and encounters a character who punishes rudeness and rewards politeness. As a result (after additional trials), the youngest brother enters into the desired marriage. |
| B113 | 99.57% | Due to certain events during the time of creation, women have cold backsides (and men have cold knees, or vice versa). |
| K76E | 99.52% | The son (daughter) or foster child of a married couple is a pig. He marries a princess and turns into a handsome man (she marries a handsome man). |
| H7E | 99.51% | In the past, people knew when they would die, so before their death they stopped doing their work or performed their duties half-heartedly. |
| K33A5 | 99.49% | A woman who has been turned into a duck (goose) by her rival's scheming tries to establish contact with her children or husband. |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Khmer, Palaung (De Ang, Deang), England, British, Bretons, Portuguese, Portugal, Catalan, 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, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Lithuanians, Estonians, Setu, Finns, Danes, Danish, Georgians, Icelanders
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