Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K46 — A woman throws herself 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 a fit of fear or shame, a woman or girl runs to the sea, throws herself into the water or hides on the shore. The suitor tries in vain to catch up with her.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L15A1 | 95.71% | The character's vulnerable spot is located at the bottom of the foot (heel, toe, sole, ankle). |
| F52 | 95.18% | The first ancestor bird puts pubic hair or part of a woman's genitals on its head; since then, birds of this species have had a crest. |
| K11A1 | 94.82% | Pieces of flesh or feathers from a monstrous/unusual bird turn into present-day birds (or their plumage). |
| I37D | 94.61% | Mushrooms are the excrement of a mythological character. See motif I37. |
| K11A | 94.30% | Plucked feathers of a (huge) bird turn into actual birds (or their plumage) or humans emerge from them. |
| K58A | 93.87% | The character brings water for irrigation or a fish river to the place where the girl agrees to meet him, and does not bring water if she refuses. (The parallel between the myths of Peru and Oregon was first noted in Lehmann-Nitsche 1935a; 1936). |
| M103 | 93.87% | One character asks another how her (his) children acquired valuable qualities (became beautiful, obedient, etc.). The other replies that children must be baked in ashes, kept in fire, burned, etc. The first character does so, and her or his children die or are maimed. |
| F21 | 93.08% | While the character copulates with a woman, she turns into a tree or a rock. His penis gets stuck in her. |
| J58B | 93.05% | With the help of a chain of arrows, the sky or the sun is pulled down or pushed up, or a hole is made in the sky. |
| K42 | 92.84% | A young bird woman energetically searches among a group of men for one she likes, takes him by force and makes him her husband; she turns into a monster, pursues and kills men, but is ultimately killed herself. |
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
7 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Basques, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Pomo, Ohlone (Costanoan), Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Kechua-speaking communities of Apurimac, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno departments; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Callawaya (Kechua with Pukina substratum), Greece
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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