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K73B5 - And so the mother could not eat her child.
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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 is accused of actions that she could not have committed by her very nature. To refute the accusation, an example of something equally absurd and impossible is given, or it is pointed out that the interlocutor accepts the impossible but does not believe in the possible.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K73 has 21 other sub-motifsK73. A young wife (promises to give birth and) gives birth to wonderful children (or one son). In the absence of her husband, attempts are made to kill the wife or her child (usually by slandering them to the husband), but they remain alive. (For medieval European variants, see Newell 1906). K73a. Malicious women replace the newborn with an animal or an inanimate object (they tell the baby's father that his wife gave birth to an animal or an object). See motif K73. K73a1. After hiding or discarding a newborn baby, the woman's rivals replace it with an inanimate object and/or inform the father that his wife has given birth to a stone, a broom, etc. See motifs k73a2, k73a2a, k73a3. K73a2. The ill-wishers of the new mother replace the baby with a broom (they tell the father that his wife has given birth to a broom). K73a2a. After hiding or discarding a newborn baby, ill-wishers replace it with a piece of wood and/or inform the father that his wife has given birth to a piece of wood. K73a3. The midwife's ill-wishers replace the baby with a statue or doll (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a doll). K73a4. Malicious women replace the newborn with a puppy (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a puppy). See motifs K73, K73A. K73a5. Malicious women replace the newborn with a kitten (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a kitten). See motifs K73, K73A. k73a5a. Malicious women replace a newborn baby with a monkey (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a monkey). K73a6. Malicious women kill (throw away) her wonderful children. Trees (flowers) grow from their remains, later reincarnating into humans. K73a7. A woman gives birth to three (not two or many) miraculous children – two boys and a girl. They grow up and triumph over their enemies. K73a8. A woman gives birth to a miraculous boy and girl. They are replaced by animals or objects and thrown away, but they escape and triumph over their enemies. k73a9. Lying on the marital bed, the deceiver, who has taken the place of the real wife, hears the conversation of her rival or her children, and in the morning orders the bed to be destroyed. K73b. A woman falsely accused of murdering her newborn child, or of giving birth to a puppy instead of a child, etc., is subjected to cruel and humiliating punishment or execution. See motif K73. K73b1. A woman with her newborn son (pregnant with a boy) or a girl with a young man are placed in a barrel (box; rarely: in a boat) and lowered into the sea (river). K73b2. It is necessary to boil the pot by telling an incredible but nevertheless true story. K73b3. A person who is asked to count the nuts in a barrel (taking them out one by one) accompanies his actions with a revealing story. K73b4. A person is asked to fill a bag (cauldron) with truth (lies, fairy tales). He fulfils the request by telling a revealing story. K73b5. A woman is accused of actions that she could not have committed by her very nature. To refute the accusation, an example of something equally absurd and impossible is given, or it is pointed out that the interlocutor accepts the impossible but does not believe in the possible. K73b6. The wife of a powerful character gives birth to wonderful children. Her jealous sisters conspire to make her husband order her to be disposed of (usually by locking her and the child in a barrel and throwing it into the water). The boy immediately grows up and rescues his mother and himself. He himself (in the form of a bird, animal, insect, or flying in on a miraculous object) or his puppy brother enters his father's lair and, eavesdropping on the conversation, learns of the existence of miraculous objects. Upon returning, he obtains them or already possesses them and demonstrates them to his father when they meet (the objects may include the young man's brothers). K73b7. The hero saves the magical wife from her enemy at a time when both the future wife and the enemy have zoomorphic appearances. Later, the rescued woman becomes a woman. K73c. A girl finds herself in a bird's nest (usually the bird carries the baby girl away). The bird takes care of the girl, who grows up to be a beauty. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K73's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| K154 | 99.32% | A person finds a skull on which a mysterious and gloomy prophecy is written or which utters it. Then it becomes clear what it means. |
| F9F1 | 99.18% | Inside the woman there is a snake (snakes, scorpions, just poison) that comes out of her mouth. {Motifs F9f1 and K100C are almost identical, but the first can be included in the cosmological-etiological category and is associated with the idea of a dangerous woman, while the second belongs to the adventure category}. |
| L72C | 99.17% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws a mirror behind him, which turns into an obstacle for his pursuer (ice, lake, etc.) or attracts his attention and causes him to lose time. (In the Udmurt version, objects destroy obstacles in the character's path). |
| K100C | 99.11% | A woman (rarely a young man) does not know that inside her (him) there is something dangerous for her (his) marriage partner (usually a snake), or that on her wedding night she will turn into a snake, or that a snake will crawl in on her wedding night. The hero or his companion eliminates the danger. {Motif K100C is similar to F9f1, but the latter belongs to the cosmological-etiological category and is associated with the idea of a dangerous woman, while K100C is adventurous}. |
| A35A | 98.83% | Moon spots - mud (manure, clay, ash, dough, dirty rag) thrown in the face of the Moon/Moon as a result of a family or love conflict - often by a brother/sister or mother. |
| E9H | 98.73% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a dove. |
| K154A | 98.66% | By solving a riddle, a boy or young man (rarely a girl) exposes the daughter, wife or assistants of an authoritative character: the daughter or wife has a lover; the assistant is plotting a conspiracy. |
| M198A3 | 98.09% | One of the brothers secretly takes valuables belonging to all of them or is illegitimate. The brothers come to an authoritative figure to determine who is the thief or illegitimate child. Usually, the figure tells a story and determines the culprit based on the reaction of those who have come. |
| M198 | 98.09% | In the house of the khan (judge, king, etc.), three brothers (rarely one person) determine that the food and drink served to them smell of dead flesh, dog, goat, etc., and (or that) the host who receives them is illegitimate or of low birth. After questioning the servants and his mother, the host is convinced that the brothers are right. |
| B51A | 98.05% | The snake is the enemy of the swallow (usually because the swallow prevents the snake from destroying people – the snake sends a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect to find out whose blood tastes better; the mosquito returns to report that it is human blood; the swallow bites off its tongue, and the snake plucks the feathers from the swallow's tail). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Bengali, Kashmiri, Himachali-Pahari (Western Pahari), Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Lithuanians, Yagnobi, Persians, Azeris (Azerbaijanis)