The Mythology and Folklore Database
F70 - Potiphar's Wife, K2111, T418, ATU 318.
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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 woman falsely accuses a man of assaulting her.Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
F70 has 8 other sub-motifsF70. A woman falsely accuses a man of assaulting her. F70a. Accusing a man or young man of assaulting her (usually sexually), a woman presents fabricated material evidence (tearing her clothes, scratching her body, etc.). See motif F70. F70b. A woman takes revenge on a man who rejected her love (but does not necessarily pretend that the man tried to force himself on her). F70c. A young man loses his male organ, but restores it with magic (and marries happily). Cf. ATU 750K. In ATU 318, this episode is described as one of many possible ones related to the theme of the unfaithful wife. F70d. A girl pretends to be a man or a eunuch, or a girl hides a disability, or a man pretends to be a girl. Someone reveals a secret. At the last moment, the hero or heroine magically gets rid of the disability (acquires male or female nature), the informer is disgraced (executed). F70e. A girl pretends to be a man, magically acquires male nature and lives with his wife. Cf. motif K137 (in Uther 2004, plot 514 mistakenly includes a Karakalpak text with our motif K137). F70e1. An old man needs a son to do men's work. (Only the youngest) daughter takes on this task (successfully passing the test set by her father), pretending to be a man. F70e2. The father sends his daughters or sons on a difficult task one by one. At the very beginning of the journey, their courage is put to the test. Only the youngest son or daughter passes the test. Usually, the father stands in their way, taking the form of an enemy or a predator, but only the youngest son or daughter bravely enters the fight. F70f. Finding themselves in a deserted place, people accidentally change their gender. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of F70's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M83 | 97.74% | Each character claims that he is older and appeared before this world or (Ingush) that his father was cosmic in size. |
| F70B | 97.31% | A woman takes revenge on a man who rejected her love (but does not necessarily pretend that the man tried to force himself on her). |
| F70A | 96.96% | Accusing a man or young man of assaulting her (usually sexually), a woman presents fabricated material evidence (tearing her clothes, scratching her body, etc.). See motif F70. |
| I40 | 94.63% | The rainbow is a bow. |
| J62A | 94.19% | The character turns those who come to him into plants (trees, flowers). The hero (heroine) remains alive and breaks the spell on those who have been transformed. |
| K27N1 | 92.73% | A character who gives the hero tasks that are impossible for an ordinary person (subjecting the hero to difficult trials), or a character who requires the suitors of his daughter to fulfil certain conditions, is the head of a community or supra-community collective and is neither a member of the same family collective as the hero nor a mythical creature. See motif K27. |
| M77 | 92.54% | The character stains another's clothes or bed with sewage or something that looks like sewage, threatens to ruin the air and accuse the other, etc.; taking advantage of the victim's confusion, achieves the goal. |
| M39E | 92.14% | When reviewing the dispute, the judge asks about the secondary circumstances of the case. The offender is exposed by showing that he knows (or, on the contrary, does not know) about them. |
| K38D | 92.13% | A powerful and dangerous character prevents others from using water (or causes floods), but in most cases allows them to take water (promises not to cause floods) in exchange for people or valuables {italicised in the list of traditions}. |
| K27Q | 91.40% | Task: to obtain the milk of a wild animal or milk possessed by a dangerous creature. See motif K27. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 70 traditions: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Yemen, Western Sahara and Mauritania Arabs; Berbers of Mauritania (Zenaga), Algeria Arabs, Somali, Kikuyu, Chuka, Embu, Emberre, Mwimbe, Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, Mbundu (Umbundu, Kimbundu, Chimbundu, Ovimbundu), Kwanyama, Owambo (=Ambo), Soninke, Songhai, Dogon, Khmer, 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), Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Bengali, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Kashmiri, Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Sinhalese; Vedda, Koreans, Ireland, Spain, Spaniards, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, 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), Uzbek, Tajik, Baluch, Persians, Iranian literary tradition (including Avesta, Pahlevi scripts, Sah-nameh, Marzban-nameh); Zoroastrians of Iran, Indian Parsees, Zoroastrianism, Abaza (Abazins), Georgians, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kara Kalpak, 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, Bashkirs, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Beaver, Haida, Tsimshian, Naskapi, Montagnais, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Teton (incl Oglala), Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Hidatsa, Nez Perce, Tunica, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Biloxi, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Wallons, Picardie, Icelanders, Yughs, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), China