The Mythology and Folklore Database
K58A - Water in exchange for love.




25 Myths, Legends and Folktales
24 Unique Narratives for Motif K58A
8 Cultures & Traditions where K58A is told
60 Mythemes Indexed
2 Sub-Motifs of Motif K58A


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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

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).

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

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


K58 has 2 other sub-motifs


K58.  To win the hand of his beloved, the character builds a canal or aqueduct or digs a well. Usually, the woman does not end up marrying the person who completed the work, and either she herself or the suitor perishes.
K58a.  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).
K58b.  The character builds a canal, bridge, or dam. For some reason, the work cannot be completed as planned.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
M103100.00%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.
K11A99.17%Plucked feathers of a (huge) bird turn into actual birds (or their plumage) or humans emerge from them.
F2199.16%While the character copulates with a woman, she turns into a tree or a rock. His penis gets stuck in her.
F5299.11%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.
J53A198.68%The children of the murdered man kill the murderer's children, luring them to a place where they perish from heat or smoke.
K4298.43%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.
K18B98.35%Men or women approach the little boy one after another or take him in their arms. The person who makes the boy stop crying is recognised as his parent. See motif K18.
J22A97.46%Two men or a brother and sister emerge from a single body or embryo cut in half, or the second emerges from a part of the body or from the secretions of the first. Cf. motif M37.
C6F97.05%The characters attempt to retrieve a living creature or part of its body that has sunk to the bottom of the water. See motif C6.
M7196.93%A character (usually carried away by a river or fallen from a height) turns into a piece of wood. Someone is picking it up. The character then takes on his true form, usually in the absence of the hosts.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Okanagon, Sanpoil, Flathead, Hupa, Chilula, Wailaki, Mattole, Lassik, Sinkyone, Cahto, Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries)


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