The Mythology and Folklore Database
K87 - Marriage to an animal ends badly.
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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 becomes the wife of an animal (rarely another non-human creature). The husband takes care of her, but the marriage ends with the murder of the husband, the woman, their offspring, the woman's relatives, the transformation of the woman herself into an animal, leading to hostility between humans and animals, etc.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations
K87 has 3 other sub-motifsK87. A woman becomes the wife of an animal (rarely another non-human creature). The husband takes care of her, but the marriage ends with the murder of the husband, the woman, their offspring, the woman's relatives, the transformation of the woman herself into an animal, leading to hostility between humans and animals, etc. K87a. A forest woman receives or kidnaps a little boy and raises him to be her lover. K87a1. A demonic woman asks the baby's mother to let her hold him or secretly replaces another person who was supposed to take the child. Once she has the baby, the demon takes him away. K87b. A woman is picking berries, steps in bear droppings, and scolds the bears. The offended bear takes her away and marries her. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K87's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M18 | 98.01% | The character turns into an object of fishing or hunting and presents himself as a target. The fisherman or hunter does not harm them, but they take away what they use: arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, bait; or they catch fish, having turned themselves into hooks; or they are caught but escape death by taking on human form again. |
| D8 | 97.58% | The first fire (or summer) is stolen from a large predator – a lion or leopard in Africa, a tiger in Asia, a bear in northern Asia and North America, and a jaguar in South America. |
| B27 | 95.67% | The characters ponder what object or creature they should transform into, and once they have made their choice, they undergo metamorphosis. |
| E13A | 94.67% | Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world. |
| F51 | 94.09% | Someone under cover of night/incognito approaches a person of the opposite sex. The marriage partner deliberately (to determine who it is) or accidentally (thereby exposing the visitor) makes a mark on his/her body (clothing). See motif A31. |
| B37 | 93.19% | The character decorates various birds (less often fish) and distributes fat to animals. Since then, the corresponding species have possessed their current characteristics. |
| H37 | 93.04% | A magical item that makes hunting or fishing easy and reliable falls into the hands of a character who is unable to control it or abuses it. |
| M75 | 92.83% | The character attracts and catches corpse eaters (usually birds) and as a result obtains valuables or returns something valuable (fire, woman, animals, etc.). |
| L9A | 92.41% | The character's leg is crippled (intentionally or accidentally) or originally pointed. He uses the pointed bone for hunting, fishing or killing people. |
| B36 | 92.40% | Birds, fish, and four-legged animals deliberately or accidentally smear themselves with colouring substances or divide parts of another's body among themselves, thereby acquiring their current appearance. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 40 traditions: Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Iranian literary tradition (including Avesta, Pahlevi scripts, Sah-nameh, Marzban-nameh); Zoroastrians of Iran, Indian Parsees, Zoroastrianism, Chuvash, Nanai, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chugach, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Tanana, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Arapaho, Osage, Assiniboine, Comox, Pentlatch, Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Pomo, Lacandon, Sicuani, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Machiguenga, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Marubo, Moseten, Chimane, Chacobo, Kamayura, Nambikwara, Sanapana, Lengua (incl Angaite), Chorote, Caduveo, Mbaya, Ofaie, Selknam