The Mythology and Folklore Database
K117A - Making the silent speak.
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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 girl who is constantly silent is promised to the one who can make her speak; or a husband struggles to make his magical wife speak.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 |
|---|---|---|
| E31A1 | 98.84% | Three (rarely four or two) men participate in the creation of the girl: one carves the figure out of wood, another dresses her, and the third brings her to life. To whom should the animated girl belong? |
| M157C | 98.06% | To put a character in an awkward position, others present him with chicken eggs that they have prepared in advance, which the character does not have. (Usually, he crows and says that there are hens around him and only he is a rooster). |
| M39A6C | 98.05% | The poor girl agrees to marry the prince only if he learns a craft. The prince fulfills the condition, then falls into the hands of enemies. He promises to make them an expensive item, let them sell it. His wife or (father, vizier) learns the job, the prisoner is released, the attackers are executed. |
| K56A2A | 97.94% | A girl becomes beautiful or ugly after washing herself with water of a certain colour. |
| K100F | 97.56% | A man catches an unusual fish (rarely: a bird or some kind of aquatic creature). His son (a worker) releases it. For this, the father (king) drives him away, or the one who released the fish leaves on his own. The rescued fish helps him. |
| I35A | 97.34% | Thunder is produced by an old woman in the sky. |
| M177 | 97.33% | A weak predator eats part of its victim's body and explains to the strong one that this part did not exist at all (otherwise he would not have come to a place where he knew he would be eaten). |
| L15F | 97.33% | A young woman or man dies as soon as her or his jewellery (rarely: organ) is stolen, and comes back to life when the jewellery is returned or when the antagonist removes it. |
| M100B | 97.00% | One of the characters persuades another to jump from a high cliff or tree, because, allegedly, the other's ancestor did so. The other jumps, crashes or falls into the clutches of the first. |
| K136B | 96.48% | A character finds precious stones or unusual flowers (usually in a river) and learns where they come from. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 29 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Algeria Arabs, Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Portuguese, Portugal, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Finns, Tajik, Persians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Nogai, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyk, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Talysh, 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, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Arabs of Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, Emirates, Oman,, Morocco