The Mythology and Folklore Database
K76G - The crab son.
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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
The son or foster son of a married couple – a crab. He marries a princess and turns into a handsome man.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 9, Identification of protagonists of the stories with particular animals or persons with particular qualities
K76 has 9 other sub-motifsK76. A boy who is born or found has a strange or ugly appearance (ball, nut, sack, half-human, dwarf, animal), but then demonstrates magical powers and turns out to be handsome (usually getting a bride of high status). The princess's magical spouse initially has a non-human or ugly appearance. K76a. A frog or toad marries a beautiful woman, or a handsome young man marries a frog. K76b. The son or foster son of snake spouses. He turns into a human. The snake is the princess's magical spouse, lost and returned. K76c. The son (rarely – daughter) or foster child of a married couple emerges from a pumpkin (rarely: watermelon, nut) or is found inside it. k76c1. A woman gives birth to a pumpkin, inside which there is a person (many people) or which turns into a person. K76d. The son or foster child of a married couple is a hedgehog. He marries a princess and turns into a handsome man. K76e. 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). K76f. A young man with the appearance of a calf marries and then turns into a handsome man. K76g. The son or foster son of a married couple – a crab. He marries a princess and turns into a handsome man. K76h. A young man, temporarily having a strange or monstrous appearance (freak, animal, etc.), woos a princess, but is rejected. Then he causes natural disasters or creates personal troubles for the king, who is forced to give up his daughter. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K76's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L37B1 | 99.38% | To cure a sick person or rid a house of other misfortunes, one must kill (catch, expel) a toad, frog or snake hiding in the house (in the garden, under the roots). |
| I110A | 99.05% | Orion (rarely - another constellation) - plough. |
| L37C | 98.54% | A person encounters the incarnations of Fortune (and Misfortune) – his own or someone else's. He manages to influence their behaviour and change (for himself) the course of events for the better. |
| B33H | 98.43% | The sun has a mother who lives with him (less often with her) in the same house. Cf. motif K27x6b ("The character goes to the mother of the sun") |
| I110 | 98.38% | Constellations are associated with agricultural tools or with people engaged in agricultural work (most often ploughing and haymaking). See motifs I110A (plough), I110B (haymaking). |
| K119C | 98.38% | The antagonist believes that he has been attacked by the lord of thunder (the father of the bride, whom a zoomorphic assistant has tricked into marrying a poor young man, motif K119). |
| L23A | 98.38% | In an attempt to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance, in particular turning into fire (and water). |
| L42B1 | 98.38% | A character kidnapped by a demon advises him to stack pots, pans and other kitchen items on top of each other and climb up them. He does so, falls and breaks. |
| M120B | 98.27% | The character is looking for a nanny (nurse, wet nurse, shepherd, husband) and consistently rejects those whose voice he does not like. He settles on the one with the most beautiful voice, but the choice turns out to be unsuccessful (usually the nurse eats the child, the sick person, the sheep, etc.). |
| M75B1A | 98.20% | A high-ranking person finds out that a (just born) poor or ugly girl is intended for him, or the girl herself finds out that she is destined to become a man's wife of high origin. A betrothed or someone else tries to kill a girl, but only hurts her and the prediction is fulfilled; if the girl is ugly, she becomes beautiful. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Oraon (Kurukh), Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Warli, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation