The Mythology and Folklore Database
K113 - Animal princess, ATU 402.
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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
Young men (usually three brothers) find wives (usually by shooting arrows or other objects at random, see motif K113A). The wife of the youngest brother is initially ugly or appears in the form of an animal (often a frog or snake), but turns out to be a beauty and a sorceress. Alternatively, the girls choose their husbands, and the wife of the youngest brother is a sorceress.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K11 has 5 other sub-motifsK11. Brothers (brother and sister) kill a monstrous bird. Its eyes turn into heavenly bodies (among the Oaxacan Indians) or something else (among the present-day Condors of the Yokuts). K11a. Plucked feathers of a (huge) bird turn into actual birds (or their plumage) or humans emerge from them. K11a1. Pieces of flesh or feathers from a monstrous/unusual bird turn into present-day birds (or their plumage). K11b. The bones of a huge bird are turned into reeds or bamboo for making arrows or sarbacanes. K11C. The plucked feathers of a huge bird turn into plants. K11D. Pieces of flesh from a huge creature that has fallen apart or been cut into pieces turn into ordinary animals, birds or fish. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K11's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M138 | 99.78% | At first, everyone was given 20 or 30 years. For animals, this is a long time, but for humans, it is short. Humans received part of the lifespan of animals. |
| K132 | 99.76% | A small character (usually a rooster) comes to a powerful enemy. Thanks to creatures and objects that he encounters along the way and hides in his body or bag, the character remains unharmed after all attempts to destroy him. Cf. motif L126. |
| M39C | 99.72% | A fool is told that a round fruit is a mare's egg (donkeys, elephants, etc.). A fool buys fruit for a lot of money. When he throws it or drops it, a small animal (usually a hare) jumps out of the thickets. A person believes that this is a foal (donkey, etc.) that has hatched. |
| M39H | 99.65% | The wife wants to get rid of her husband and usually asks the spirit to blind him. The husband hides in a hollow, behind an altar, etc., and answers on behalf of the spirit (usually advises to kill her husband with good food), or the husband tells his wife that delicious food can make you blind. Pretending to be blind, the husband kills his lover (and wife). |
| M114B | 99.64% | When a character is asked to do and not do something at the same time, or not to do it in any of the possible ways (to come dressed and not naked, with a gift and without a gift, etc.), they figure out a solution. |
| B102A | 99.61% | Clouds are associated with horned cattle, especially cows (and rain is their milk). |
| K80A2 | 99.58% | A part of the victim's body or a plant that grew at the site of the murder tells people about the crime that was committed, usually after it has been made into a musical instrument. |
| M136C | 99.58% | Based on indirect signs or someone's words, the fool believes that he has died and lies motionless. |
| K131B | 99.58% | Having received and then lost a magical object, the hero returns it with the help of a new one (a club, a box with an army, etc.), received in exchange for the first or obtained by the hero's brother. The episode may be repeated several times. |
| K101 | 99.57% | A girl or boy disappears at night. Usually, the girl's clothes or shoes are worn out overnight, or the boy looks sick and tired in the morning. The girl or boy is followed and seen spending the night in another world. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 53 traditions: Algeria Arabs, Tuvalu (Ellice), Burmese, Intha, Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Nepali; Tharu, Sinhalese; Vedda, Spain, Spaniards, Catalan, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, 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, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Albanians, Balkarians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Western Sami, Norwegians, Swedes, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, 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, Yagnobi, Tajik, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Georgians, Armenians, Gagauz, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Mono (Monache), Oriya (incl. Dom/Domba/Dombo, Ghasi, Bhat and other Oriya-speaking castes of Odisha), Mustang, Urums, Rumei, Kordofan, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Tunisia, Egypt