The Mythology and Folklore Database
K33F - Stream of honey and stream of oil.




33 Myths, Legends and Folktales
32 Unique Narratives for Motif K33F
13 Cultures & Traditions where K33F is told
85 Mythemes Indexed
29 Sub-Motifs of Motif K33F


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 Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths



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

Sources of at least two valuable liquid edible products (honey, oil, etc.) are available or imagined. Cf. motif N34.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 10, Adventures


K33 has 29 other sub-motifs


K33.  When a malevolent woman pushes another woman into a body of water (a well), the latter drowns or loses her human form, but manages to return to the world of humans. Cf. motif k32m
K33a.  Young siblings (most often a brother and sister) leave home. One of them (rarely: several brothers) accidentally breaks a taboo and is transformed into an animal (usually a hoofed animal) or (rarely) a bird; later, the spell is usually broken.
K33a1.  A woman is thrown into a well (pond, pit, etc.) or becomes a water bird. In the water, she gives birth to a child (twins, triplets) or is thrown into the water with her baby. She is rescued along with her children.
K33a1a.  A woman thrown into the water finds herself in the belly of a fish (whale), but is then rescued.
K33a2.  A brother takes his sister to her fiancé. She cannot hear her brother's words, and the witch distorts them (as if the brother is telling his sister to throw herself into the water, to blind her, etc.). Having got rid of the heroine, the witch replaces her with her own daughter.
K33a3.  A woman, turned into a turtle because of her rival's intrigues, tries to establish contact with her children or husband.
K33a4.  A woman, transformed into a medium-sized forest animal (lynx, wolf, vixen) by the machinations of a rival, tries to establish contact with her children or husband.
K33a5.  A woman who has been turned into a duck (goose) by her rival's scheming tries to establish contact with her children or husband.
K33a6.  A kid (lamb, gazelle, etc.) runs up to a pond into which its owner has pushed it and says that knives are being sharpened and water is being boiled to slaughter and cook it.
K33a7.  After the death of a woman, her daughter or son advises her father to marry a neighbour, teacher, etc., who usually persuades the teenager to give such advice. After marrying the widower, the new wife begins to tyrannise her stepdaughter or stepson.
K33a8.  A woman transformed into a dove by the machinations of a rival tries to establish contact with her children or husband.
K33b.  A girl goes with her friends to the forest, to the river; everyone returns home, but she is forced to stay or return. She escapes from a dangerous creature, becomes the wife of a supernatural character, a leader, etc., or dies, but is avenged.
K33c.  A young man obtains a girl who is inside a fruit or (rarely) a flower, stem, leaf, or egg.
K33c1.  A character thrown into the water is transformed into a flower (usually a lotus).
k33c2.  A young man obtains a girl who is inside a pomegranate.
k33c3.  A young man obtains a girl who is inside an orange or other citrus fruit.
k33c4.  A young man obtains a girl who is inside a pumpkin, eggplant or cucumber.
k33c5.  A young man obtains a girl who is inside an egg.
k33c6.  A young man receives several fruits (eggs, reeds). When he opens the first one, the girl who comes out of it disappears, either because the necessary provisions (usually drinking water) have not been prepared for her, or because the fruit has been cut incorrectly. Only the one who comes out of the last fruit (egg, reed) remains. Cf. motif k33c7.
k33c7.  A young man obtains a fruit from which a girl emerges (rarely: two girls from two fruits, both remain with the young man). There is no episode of the loss of the girls who were in the other fruits. Cf. motif k33c6.
k33c8.  A young man obtains a girl who is inside a nut (walnut or hazelnut, but not coconut).
k33c9.  A young man obtains a girl who is inside an apple.
K33d.  A man discovers that a beautiful girl is hiding under the guise of an ugly hag or under the skin of an animal.
K33d1.  The young man does not know that a beautiful girl is hiding inside the object brought to his house.
K33e.  Newborn children disappear (die) one after another, but are returned to their wife or husband grown up and in good health.
K33f.  Sources of at least two valuable liquid edible products (honey, oil, etc.) are available or imagined. Cf. motif N34.
k33f1.  A person promises to create a source from which a valuable product (most often oil) flows and honestly fulfils their promise (rarely: promises to distribute a large amount of such a product).
K33g.  The person who eats the fruit (leaf, etc.) grows horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal, while the other fruit (leaf, etc.) returns to its normal appearance.
K33h.  A person finds a magical object that grants any wish. This object is stolen. It is returned by animals (which the hero had previously saved).
K33h1.  The hero's wife (mother, servant) is unaware of the magical properties of an object kept in the house and exchanges it for something more attractive, but in reality incomparable in value.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
N3495.55%Streams (jets) that consist not of water but of honey (honey and butter, butter and milk, milk and blood) are mentioned as signs of generosity and abundance. Cf. H16 motives - H16B, K33F.
K18095.26%The ruler demands an explanation of his dream. The snake tells the man that this dream signifies the coming of a time when people tend to behave in a certain way. This happens several times. Each time, the man's behaviour towards the snake confirms her words.
K56193.70%A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them approppriately. The first man does it again.
M39A4D93.26%Fool sells property a lizard and believes it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure
K14392.69%The protagonist of the narrative is a bird catcher or bird hunter, or the son of a bird catcher (hunter).
K27Z991.69%(Dried) fish (water, satyr, etc.) laughs, smiles or spits. The reason is that there is a man dressed as a woman in the house.
B46B91.48%Each of the seven main stars of the Big Dipper is a separate female character. {Included in the online database, but not in the correlation table in *sav)}.
K38F291.27%The girl saved by the hero smears him with the blood of the monster he has slain. When the deceiver claims that he killed the dragon, the hero shows the bloodstain on his body, thus proving that he is the victor.
I4E90.67%An anthropomorphic deity (associated with thunder and rain) rides on a cloud or a cloud.
J25A189.87%A woman dies, but remains incorrupt and gives birth to a child in the grave. He is found and brings his mother back to life.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, Yazgulami, Persians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, 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), Morocco, Egypt


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