The Mythology and Folklore Database
K33C - Girl found inside a foetus, (ATU 408).
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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
A young man obtains a girl who is inside a fruit or (rarely) a flower, stem, leaf, or egg.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K33 has 29 other sub-motifsK33. When a malevolent woman pushes another woman into a body of water (a well), the latter drowns or loses her human form, but manages to return to the world of humans. Cf. motif k32m K33a. Young siblings (most often a brother and sister) leave home. One of them (rarely: several brothers) accidentally breaks a taboo and is transformed into an animal (usually a hoofed animal) or (rarely) a bird; later, the spell is usually broken. K33a1. A woman is thrown into a well (pond, pit, etc.) or becomes a water bird. In the water, she gives birth to a child (twins, triplets) or is thrown into the water with her baby. She is rescued along with her children. K33a1a. A woman thrown into the water finds herself in the belly of a fish (whale), but is then rescued. K33a2. A brother takes his sister to her fiancé. She cannot hear her brother's words, and the witch distorts them (as if the brother is telling his sister to throw herself into the water, to blind her, etc.). Having got rid of the heroine, the witch replaces her with her own daughter. K33a3. A woman, turned into a turtle because of her rival's intrigues, tries to establish contact with her children or husband. K33a4. A woman, transformed into a medium-sized forest animal (lynx, wolf, vixen) by the machinations of a rival, tries to establish contact with her children or husband. K33a5. A woman who has been turned into a duck (goose) by her rival's scheming tries to establish contact with her children or husband. K33a6. A kid (lamb, gazelle, etc.) runs up to a pond into which its owner has pushed it and says that knives are being sharpened and water is being boiled to slaughter and cook it. K33a7. After the death of a woman, her daughter or son advises her father to marry a neighbour, teacher, etc., who usually persuades the teenager to give such advice. After marrying the widower, the new wife begins to tyrannise her stepdaughter or stepson. K33a8. A woman transformed into a dove by the machinations of a rival tries to establish contact with her children or husband. K33b. A girl goes with her friends to the forest, to the river; everyone returns home, but she is forced to stay or return. She escapes from a dangerous creature, becomes the wife of a supernatural character, a leader, etc., or dies, but is avenged. K33c. A young man obtains a girl who is inside a fruit or (rarely) a flower, stem, leaf, or egg. K33c1. A character thrown into the water is transformed into a flower (usually a lotus). k33c2. A young man obtains a girl who is inside a pomegranate. k33c3. A young man obtains a girl who is inside an orange or other citrus fruit. k33c4. A young man obtains a girl who is inside a pumpkin, eggplant or cucumber. k33c5. A young man obtains a girl who is inside an egg. k33c6. A young man receives several fruits (eggs, reeds). When he opens the first one, the girl who comes out of it disappears, either because the necessary provisions (usually drinking water) have not been prepared for her, or because the fruit has been cut incorrectly. Only the one who comes out of the last fruit (egg, reed) remains. Cf. motif k33c7. k33c7. A young man obtains a fruit from which a girl emerges (rarely: two girls from two fruits, both remain with the young man). There is no episode of the loss of the girls who were in the other fruits. Cf. motif k33c6. k33c8. A young man obtains a girl who is inside a nut (walnut or hazelnut, but not coconut). k33c9. A young man obtains a girl who is inside an apple. K33d. A man discovers that a beautiful girl is hiding under the guise of an ugly hag or under the skin of an animal. K33d1. The young man does not know that a beautiful girl is hiding inside the object brought to his house. K33e. Newborn children disappear (die) one after another, but are returned to their wife or husband grown up and in good health. K33f. Sources of at least two valuable liquid edible products (honey, oil, etc.) are available or imagined. Cf. motif N34. k33f1. A person promises to create a source from which a valuable product (most often oil) flows and honestly fulfils their promise (rarely: promises to distribute a large amount of such a product). K33g. The person who eats the fruit (leaf, etc.) grows horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal, while the other fruit (leaf, etc.) returns to its normal appearance. K33h. A person finds a magical object that grants any wish. This object is stolen. It is returned by animals (which the hero had previously saved). K33h1. The hero's wife (mother, servant) is unaware of the magical properties of an object kept in the house and exchanges it for something more attractive, but in reality incomparable in value. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K33's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K73A5 | 99.50% | Malicious women replace the newborn with a kitten (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a kitten). See motifs K73, K73A. |
| M204 | 99.19% | When a deity (an authoritative figure) tries to convey values to a person, they either get them or they don't, despite the unlikely circumstances (such is their fate, such is the will of God). |
| K115 | 99.19% | When a character hides in a shelter, a spider immediately weaves a web at the entrance. Enemies decide that no one has entered the cave or room for a long time and leave. |
| K56E | 99.18% | Two people have the same physical defect (a bump, a hump). The first one finds himself in a place where spirits gather, and they rid him of his defect. The second comes to the spirits, and they double his defect, giving him what they took from the first person. (Uther 2004 mentions Kasevich, Osipov 1976, No. 171; the Karen text is published there and does not correspond to the definition of the motif). |
| M39A7 | 99.17% | When instructed to wash the old man with warm water, the fool steams him with boiling water. |
| K80C | 99.01% | Before dying, the murderer's victim turns to birds (stars, animals, plants, etc.). Later, seeing these birds (the moon, the sun, this plant, etc.), the murderer recalls his deed aloud or otherwise gives himself away. Or the birds, being the only witnesses to the crime, lead the investigators to the murderers. |
| K35A3 | 98.89% | In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him. |
| M101A | 98.87% | Learning that humans are supposedly stronger than him, a large predator finds a human and challenges him to a contest of strength. This ends badly for him. Cf. motif M101. |
| K142 | 98.86% | After killing several people, a man asks a gravedigger to bury the dead and each time says that the dead man has returned. The gravedigger buries everyone, but believes that there is only one dead man. |
| I141 | 98.82% | The wand is an instrument for performing actions whose results cannot be explained rationally. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 46 traditions: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Shone (Shona, =Mashona, =Karanga), Makoni (Shoni dialect), Remba (=Hungwe, Wahungwe); Zezuru, Rozwi, Ndau (Vandau), Swahili, Midjikenda (incl Giryama), Nyika, Duruma; Ngindo, Kiluguru and other Islamic groups of the Eastern Coast of Africa, Soninke, Bunak, Shan, Ahom, Khampti, 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, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Konkani (incl Goa), Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Catalan, Aragon, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Latvians, Norwegians, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Persians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kara Kalpak, Shor, Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Urums, Rumei, Galicians, Arabs of Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, Emirates, Oman,, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)