The Mythology and Folklore Database
E9L - The magical wife – mouse.
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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
Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat).Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms
E9 has 21 other sub-motifsE9. The character notices that someone is running the house in his absence and catches the person doing so by surprise. E9a. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a fox. E9aa. A man searches for a missing woman, who is a fox by nature, and comes to the burrow where she has hidden. Various bird or animal women come out of the burrow and offer themselves in place of the fox. Then they let him inside. E9b. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of an elephant (elephant tusk). E9c. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a large hoofed mammal (buffalo, antelope, moose, etc.). E9d. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a dog or puppy (wolf cub). E9e. An animal or object received by a young man from supernatural beings as a reward for his kindness, upon the young man's return home (to earth), turns into a girl. E9f. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a parrot. E9g. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a vulture. E9h. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a dove. E9i1. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a swan. E9i2. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper, adopted daughter) takes the form of a duck. E9i3. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a goose. E9i4. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a crane. e9i5. Before meeting the hero, his wife takes the form of a snail. E9j. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a monkey, or the man hides the woman and pretends that the mistress is a monkey. e9j1. Humans are considered descendants of monkeys. E9k. The husband or wife is the embodiment of honey or a human bee. E9l. Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat). E9m. A man marries a bear (white or grizzly) that takes the form of a woman, or a woman who takes the form of a bear. E9n. A man marries a female seal, seal or dolphin that has taken the form of a woman and lives with her among people. E9o. A man marries a woman who has the appearance of a frog or toad. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of E9's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L130 | 99.99% | Two or more characters have only one eye between them. |
| K128A | 99.92% | Each of the three brothers brings the princess (prince) a gift of fruit (less often fish, etc.) and encounters a character who punishes rudeness and rewards politeness. As a result (after additional trials), the youngest brother enters into the desired marriage. |
| K35A4 | 99.88% | In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns. |
| K61C1 | 99.86% | A person will die if they cannot find the answer to the demon's question. A person or their acquaintance accidentally learns the answer by overhearing the demon talking to himself or to another demon. See motif C29. |
| K56A7 | 99.78% | In winter, a girl (rarely a boy) is sent to bring something that is normally only available in summer. She brings it. |
| A32DD | 99.75% | The lunar disc shows the figure or imprint of an anthropomorphic character carrying a bundle of wood or brushwood. |
| A2C1 | 99.74% | The Sun is going to have children. One of the animals warns that if the Sun has children, the world will burn. The Sun has to (refuse marriage and) remain childless. |
| K66A | 99.70% | The princess (inheritance) is given to the one who builds (obtains) a ship capable of moving on land (flying through the air). |
| K76E | 99.65% | The son (daughter) or foster child of a married couple is a pig. He marries a princess and turns into a handsome man (she marries a handsome man). |
| H7B2 | 99.59% | A man named Poverty makes Death swear that it will never come to him. Therefore, poverty is inevitable in the world. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 14 traditions: England, British, Bretons, France, Dutch, Flemish, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Czech, Czechs, Latvians, Finns, Karelians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Norwegians, Swedes, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Mustang