The Mythology and Folklore Database
K120A2 - Not by her mother, but by her mother-in-law.




22 Myths, Legends and Folktales
22 Unique Narratives for Motif K120A2
16 Cultures & Traditions where K120A2 is told
60 Mythemes Indexed
2 Sub-Motifs of Motif K120A2


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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

Family members want to marry their daughter off to a man who is unacceptable to her (usually they want to marry her off to her own brother). The girl refuses to address her father, mother, etc. as close relatives, but calls them in-laws (mother-in-law, sister-in-law, etc.) or enemies; or the relatives themselves demand that the girl address them as in-laws.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

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


K12 has 2 other sub-motifs


K12.  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).

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
K27Z2C97.62%After marrying a poor girl, the prince locks her up. She turns out to be more cunning than him.
K136C97.01%Upon leaving, the demon temporarily kills or puts the girl to sleep, and upon returning, revives her.
L81A96.50%A girl offends a cat (rarely: a dog, a rooster) and the cat takes revenge by causing misfortune to befall the girl (usually by extinguishing the fire, after which the girl falls into the hands of a demon).
M60A196.35%The hero meets a servant (usually a shepherd) and takes his form, after asking how he acts, how he talks to the hostess (usually finds out what to say in order transport the herd across the river).
K92A96.15%A girl who has been driven from her home or has become the wife of an insignificant pauper becomes rich and respected.
I12796.00%Ursa Major – bed, couch.
K27Z495.93%The character always wins bets or outplays others thanks to a trained cat (mouse, rat) that holds (or extinguishes in time) a lamp, turns dice, etc. The hero releases the mouse (or cat, mongoose, respectively), the cat rushes after it (or the mouse is afraid to come out), and the character loses.
K17495.90%To signal their arrival, a person places, or more often discreetly throws, a ring or other small item of personal jewellery or toiletries into the jug of a maid or servant. Upon discovering it, the other person understands that the first is nearby.
K27ZZ195.59%Several wives are thrown into a dungeon (banished), each gives birth to a child, but only one manages to save hers. The boy grows up and rescues the women.
L12594.96%After meeting a beautiful woman, a man finds her in a situation where her inhuman nature is revealed. After that, the marriage falls apart.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Algeria Arabs, Bilin (Blin, Bilen), Ngbakka, Mbum (incl Mbai), Mundang, Fali, Tupuri, Maya (=Bali), Nyong, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Lithuanians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Yazgulami, Sarikoli, Yagnobi, Tajik, 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), Turkmen, Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Tunisia


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