The Mythology and Folklore Database
F51D - Ginseng child.




8 Myths, Legends and Folktales
8 Unique Narratives for Motif F51D
6 Cultures & Traditions where F51D is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
4 Sub-Motifs of Motif F51D


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 Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths



Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.



Summary of Motif

Ginseng roots – boys or girls who help the hero.

Berezkin category: Gender and sex

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar


F51 has 4 other sub-motifs


F51.  Someone under cover of night/incognito approaches a person of the opposite sex. The marriage partner deliberately (to determine who it is) or accidentally (thereby exposing the visitor) makes a mark on his/her body (clothing). See motif A31.
F51a.  After incest is discovered, the sister openly demands her brother as her husband, turns into a monster, and kills people.
F51b.  To find out the nature or location of a character's locus, another person secretly attaches a long thread to it and follows it.
F51c.  Upon learning that her unknown lover is her own brother, the girl shows him her genitals or bare breasts, offering him what he so desired. After that, she runs away, and he rushes after her.
F51d.  Ginseng roots – boys or girls who help the hero.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
A8100.00%The sun, moon and stars – three brothers or three sisters.
B119100.00%A woman of non-human nature agrees to live with a man, but leaves him upon learning of his real or imagined infidelity.
B121100.00%A small bird carries pebbles and sticks, trying to fill the sea.
B49A100.00%Powerful animals could have many cubs, but now they give birth to only one every few years.
B6A100.00%The first woman gives birth to several eggs. One or two of them remain unchanged for a long time and are thrown into the river, believing them to be spoiled. However, it is precisely from these eggs that characters of high status emerge (or should have emerged).
B77B2100.00%The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a broom.
B93A100.00%Once a year, birds form a bridge across the heavenly river with their bodies. Usually, the feathers on their heads are worn away as a result.
C39100.00%When the sky split or partially collapsed, it was repaired.
C39A100.00%A hole in the sky or a crack in the ground was plugged with a piece of ice, which is why it is cold in the north (north-west, north-east).
C40100.00%At first, stones fell from the sky and crushed people.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Koreans, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Udeghe, Manchu, China, Russian Federation


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