The Mythology and Folklore Database
K127A - The silent heroine.
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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 heroine must remain silent for a long time and therefore cannot respond to the accusations. They want to execute her, but at that moment the restrictions expire and she is saved.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures
K12 has 2 other sub-motifsK12. The hero returns the woman whom his enemy or rival tried to take away from him. K12a. An unrecognised hero arrives at a place where his bride or wife is to be given to another man or turned into a servant. Contrary to expectations, he manages to draw a tight bow (raise a spear), with which he kills his rivals. K12b. The hero enters a world beyond the human world and marries there. His wife allows him to visit his former world, but on certain conditions. The hero breaks these conditions, which leads to (irreparable) misfortune. Cf. motif F94 (the hero betrays his fairy wife in her world); K25a6 (the hero visits his world together with his fairy wife). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K12's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L37A2 | 99.96% | A man comes to ask God (fate, the sun, etc.) questions that he was asked to ask by those he met along the way. Someone asks when he will be freed from his duties. Answer: let him leave another person in his place. |
| J47A | 99.83% | A plant (usually not a mighty tree, but a legume) grows unusually fast, and a character climbs it to reach the sky. |
| K57B | 99.82% | To stop a beautiful woman from running away, a man in love with her smears resin or glue on the threshold (porch). The shoe sticks, and all the girls try it on to find its owner. |
| M128 | 99.81% | Having agreed with his opponent that he would get animals with certain external characteristics or behaving in a certain way, the hero takes all or almost all of them when the livestock is divided. |
| K38F1 | 99.81% | After killing a monster or animal, the hero cuts off and hides a part of its body, usually the tongue. (In most cases, the deceiver takes credit for the feat, after which the hero presents the hidden item, thus exposing the deceiver). |
| L129 | 99.74% | The character is asked why his body parts, organs, and tools are the way they are. He answers (or the questioner gives explanations for him). In the end, one kills or maims the other. |
| I82G | 99.69% | Venus or another star (Arcturus, Sirius, etc.) is called the Shepherd's Star (the star of the Shepherd, Sheepherder, Cowherd, Swineherd, etc.). |
| K76E | 99.69% | 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). |
| L42G3 | 99.68% | In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials. |
| K101B1 | 99.63% | The enchanted character (the castle where the action takes place) gradually changes its appearance over several days as the spell wears off: it acquires human features, turning from black to white, from ugly to beautiful. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Ireland, 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, Czech, Czechs, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Lithuanians, Latvians, Livonians, Finns, Norwegians, Danes, Danish, 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), Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)